Harley Merlin 2: Harley Merlin and the Mystery Twins

by Bella Forrest

  Astrid smirked. “Laying traps, basically.”

  “And using our kids as bait?!” Linda asked, suddenly alarmed.

  “Well, you two are here, and you can hold your own, right?” I retorted, raising an eyebrow. I lacked Dylan and Santana’s sympathetic and warm nature. I had my own way of dealing with my role as a protector of the coven and its magicals. I focused on the strategy, with less concern for people’s feelings. That probably made me seem coldhearted, but it also allowed me to get tactical in every situation. It just worked for me. “We don’t know what the Ryder twins’ intentions are, but once we set the charms, we’ll know the instant they come back.”

  “Did the Ryder twins seem aggressive or displeased with your decision to keep Mina here?” Astrid asked.

  Dylan left and came back with my charm bag, plopping it on the coffee table. The sound of the zipper coming undone drew Mina’s attention for a moment, before she shifted her focus back to the friendly dinosaur story.

  “No. They smiled and said they understood,” Linda replied. “They also said they’d talk to the director and make a case for us. We thanked them, then they took off. They left the card in case we changed our minds. That was it.”

  Astrid sighed. “I can’t find them in the regional database. There’s another place I can try, but I’ll need Alton’s clearance,” she said, then texted him.

  I took several small leather pouches from the bag and handed some to Dylan. “Do the top floor. I’ll do the ground floor. Find corners, nooks, and holes to stick them in, one per room,” I said.

  He nodded before vanishing up the stairs. Linda left Evan and Mina in the living room with Astrid, following me around the house as I looked for the right spots to hide my little alarm charms. They were rigged to react to foreign magicals, as I’d prepared two separate batches of charms for this type of situation—one for non-magical households, and one for magical families. The latter, which I was using, were more potent and aimed at magical strangers.

  “So, you think we should stay here, then,” Linda said as we stopped in the kitchen.

  I opened the counter door beneath the sink and stuffed one of the bags in the corner, behind the garbage bin. I crinkled my nose at the smell, then got up and washed my hands. Technically speaking, I was a bit of a germaphobe.

  “For the time being, yes,” I replied, and gave her one of my cards. “This is my personal number. If anything feels even remotely strange, call me. Otherwise, carry on with your lives, but please, for Mina’s sake, bring her to the coven, even if it’s just for school hours. She needs a magical environment to properly develop and to understand the secrecy required to protect herself and her loved ones.”

  Linda nodded slowly, tearing up. “I will… I will. I just… I wanted her to have a normal life, even if only for a couple of years.”

  “That’s delusional, and you know it. Mina will never have a normal life,” I replied, then felt a little bad when Linda seemed to get even sadder, close to weeping. “And that’s not a bad thing at all,” I added, giving her a half-smile. “A magical environment will nurture her more than a human school. She’ll come out stronger from it. It’s time you accept that, Mrs. Travis.”

  “I have no choice,” she said, shrugging.

  “Go be with your husband and daughter, Mrs. Travis. Astrid will instruct you on emergency scenarios, while Dylan and I finish warding your house. And thank you for your cooperation.”

  She smiled faintly and returned to the living room.

  I had a couple of minutes to myself in there, enough to notice the small symbols etched into the corners of the glass windows. Linda was doing her part in keeping little Mina safe, but those were lightweight charms, the kind that kept poltergeists and other angry spirits out. They kept potential monsters away, too, in a similar fashion to ultrasound repellent devices that the humans used to fend off rats. Not always 100 percent successful. Still, had to give Linda props for trying.

  They weren’t a stellar magical family, from what I could tell, and from what I’d picked up from Alton’s list and notes this morning. Well, except Mina. Linda and Evan Travis were both Mediocre, according to the info we had on them, which was probably why the Baltimore coven hadn’t been all that strict about them keeping their pledge and had allowed them to go Neutral.

  Movement in the backyard caught my eye.

  I went outside and found a little boy sitting in the small white gazebo. He was probably around eight years old and… dead. His figure was translucent, as if he were just a mirage, a wisp of a being that had once walked this earth. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him, to have died so young, but I wasn’t surprised to see him there.

  As a Kolduny, I could see dead people everywhere. Most passed on, though I didn’t know where. The ones who stayed behind had trouble letting go. They became ghosts, like this little boy. In rare instances and with some rare magical paraphernalia, I could summon the dead who had already moved on, but they never knew where they came from or what sort of place they were going back to. They were all spirits, echoes of the living. My ability was also tied to geography—I could only see and summon the ghosts of those who had died in my location. I was also able to use their abilities if they were magicals, but only if I let them enter my body, which was, more often than not, rather risky, especially since I wasn’t yet an expert in the field.

  The little boy watched me as I approached him, and frowned when he realized I could see him.

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  I glanced around. This was a typical backyard. Short grass, a plethora of flower bushes, a kiddy pool and small patio with a brick barbecue. Mina’s toys were scattered all over: plastic flamingoes, rubber ducklings, and a pair of underwater goggles, for her little “exploratory” missions. I understood why Linda and Evan wanted Mina to hold on to her humanity—she could do more of this and experience the unadulterated joy of just being a kid. I got that.

  “I’m Tatyana,” I said to the little boy.

  Judging by his clothes and haircut, he’d been an altar boy at some point. He’d died in the white robe. I could almost envision him during Sunday mass, his mom and dad present and proud of their little boy. I swallowed back tears, then sat in the gazebo next to him.

  Unlike my family, I never had an easy time with dead people. Death was tragic, and I couldn’t get over the sadness it instilled in me. My parents, my brothers, and everyone else in my family got used to it. Despite my pragmatism and cold nature, death was the one thing I failed to immunize myself against.

  “You can see me,” the boy replied.

  “Yeah, I’m a little different. I’m a magical.” I sighed.

  “Like Mina.”

  “That’s right. And her parents,” I said.

  “Yeah. But Mina’s the strong one.” The little boy chuckled. “She scares her mom and dad all the time with her tricks. They can’t do what she does.”

  “No, they can’t. So, you know about magicals, then?” I asked, and he nodded. “Were you a magical, too?”

  He shook his head. “I was just a boy.”

  “How come you’re still here?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “I like it here. This used to be my house. I lived here with my mom and three sisters.”

  “Oh, wow, three sisters?” I exclaimed, smiling. He mirrored my expression, showing off a small gap between his front teeth. He was the sweetest little thing. “What’s your name?”

  “Will.”

  “What happened to you, Will? Do you remember?” I asked, my voice unsteady. This was always a difficult question to ask. Some spirits didn’t remember, but most did, and it was never a good experience. They were mostly calm and resigned to their fate, in a way, even though ghosts were still stuck in this realm—but when they remembered their deaths, most became irritable, even angry and erratic. Some were so traumatized by what had happened to them that all they did was replay their death, over and over, on a heartbreaking loop. Those were death specters, and it to
ok a lot of time spent as a ghost to degenerate into one.

  Looking at Will, I wished I could say or do something to help him move on, before he, too, got lost in such a loop. There was no cure for ghosts. No way to make them disappear. They had to move on, or they got stuck in limbo. I used to ask the spirits that had passed on for advice—trying to find a way to help ghosts move on, too. But all I ever got was “let go.” That didn’t really help.

  “Someone hurt me,” he replied. “Someone like Mina. Powerful, but mean and evil.”

  My blood ran cold. A magical had killed him. “Do you remember when, Will?”

  He shook his head once more. “It was too long ago. I lost track of time.”

  I would’ve loved to have more time to spend with him, but the dead weren’t going anywhere. I, on the other hand, had other places to be and more magicals to protect. I put my hand out, smiling at him.

  “Touch me,” I said to him.

  Will sighed, sadness settling in his round blue eyes. “I can’t. It goes right through. I tried touching Mina and her parents and everybody else I came across, but I can’t feel anything.”

  “Try it,” I replied.

  He frowned, then put his little hand over mine. I could feel him, cold and almost liquid. He gasped when he realized he could feel me, too. “Whoa. How are you doing that?”

  “I’m a special kind of magical.” I chuckled. “The dead can feel me. It’s weird, I know, but many actually find it comforting.”

  “Yeah,” he murmured, gently caressing my hand.

  A magical had killed this beautiful little boy. The worst part was that Will had died here, or somewhere in the area. Without a timeframe, however, I couldn’t make much of his circumstances.

  “I need your help, Will,” I said. He raised his eyebrows at me, genuinely curious. He seemed willing to help, most likely impressed by the fact that he could touch me. I always employed this little trick to gain a ghost’s cooperation. It worked, most of the time. “Now that you’ve felt me, you can find me anywhere. Just think of me and call out my name, and I will hear you.”

  “Okay…”

  “I need you to keep an eye on Mina for me,” I added. “She may or may not be in danger. We don’t know anything for sure yet. But I’ve charmed the house, and I was hoping you’d stick around and watch over her. If she’s in trouble, just reach out to me.”

  He thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “It’s because of the twins, huh?”

  “You heard that?”

  “Yeah. I saw and heard everything,” he replied. “I always do, even through walls.”

  “Were you here when they came?”

  “I was. But I couldn’t really see them,” Will said, his shoulders dropping in disappointment. “There was something about their faces… I can’t describe it. Mina and her parents couldn’t see it, or they would’ve screamed or gotten scared or something. But I’ll tell you, their faces were made of… black smoke. And I couldn’t hear what they were saying, either. It was all warbled, like a bad radio!”

  This was an interesting account, to say the least. I already knew that ghosts could sometimes see what our eyes couldn’t. That they could hear what we couldn’t. Will’s recollection made me think that the Ryder twins were more than just imposter magicals maybe working for Katherine Shipton. It didn’t feel like such a leap, in my opinion, with what we’d recently been through, particularly since we knew that Finch wasn’t her only “minion.” No self-respecting evil-doer would work alone.

  There was something about them—something that a ghost had registered. Digging through my memories, I remembered reading about charms that could conceal someone from spirits. Maybe the twins had used something similar. I would have to ask my mom about that, and such a phone call was never easy to make. Well, my mom didn’t make it easy. Ever.

  I didn’t yet have the ability to see through a spirit’s eyes. That was a rare and difficult power to attain, and it came with years of practice and all kinds of unsavory herbal cocktails. My mother kept pressuring me to go back to Moscow, so she could initiate me in the process, but I loved San Diego too much. I was just beginning to make friends, to build a life here. I didn’t want to go back.

  The Vasilis clan and I didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye.

  “Sorry I can’t help you more,” Will added, breaking my train of thought.

  “Thank you,” I replied gently. “It’s okay. Take care of yourself, Will.”

  He smiled, watching me as I went back inside the house. Astrid had just finished briefing Linda and Evan, with Mina curiously listening. Dylan came downstairs, giving me a wink and a smile when he reached the ground floor. My heart skipped a beat. There was something about that boy. I felt… different around him, in the best way possible. I wasn’t a Vasilis daughter or a Kolduny when I was around him. I was just Tatyana, and it was such a relief.

  Of course, I didn’t let him know that. I didn’t want him to be aware of the effect he had on me. That was my little secret.

  “House is double-checked and warded,” he announced.

  “Good, we should go,” I replied as we went back inside the living room. “We still have families to visit. Oh, and by the way, I just had a brief chat with a kid who died here. Killed by a magical, but I’ll fill you in on the details later… And I think it’s best not to mention it to the parents at all. I might just end up scaring them over something that could turn out to be really old news. They have enough on their plate.” I didn’t yet know when Will had died, but I was going to find out—provided, of course, that his death had made it into some news or records.

  Dylan nodded. “All right.”

  Whoever or whatever the Ryder twins were, I wanted to make sure we could catch them. Whatever their intentions, I was dead set on finding out. If they were after Mina and the other magical kids, they’d have to deal with us.

  Most importantly, if they were in any way involved with Katherine Shipton, they were in a lot of trouble with me, personally. That witch had already ruined so many lives, especially Harley’s. Magic was Chaos and wonder, light and darkness, fire and ice, laughter and tears—a mixture of everything, but always in a splendid balance. What Katherine was doing, through Finch and his gargoyles, through the strings of murders and plotting against our community… it was filthy and obscene.

  And I wasn’t going to have any of it.

  Eight

  Harley

  Contrary to what I’d expected, Alton wasn’t all that furious about my intervention. I didn’t hear the entire conversation he’d had with Wade over the phone, but I didn’t hear any shouting. That, in my book, was a good sign.

  According to Wade, Alton had protested the idea at first, then stopped and rethought the whole thing, in light of these Ryder twins. He’d agreed to let the magical children stay with their families, human or otherwise, so long as we placed charms and traps to notify us of any magical occurrences. These families were our best bet to catch the Ryder twins, and he doubted they’d come after them inside the coven. Alton didn’t say if he knew who the Ryder twins were, but he was going to give Astrid the clearance she needed to do a nationwide search for them.

  Personally, I was still worried about my decision. Maybe it would’ve been better if we took the kids with us, after all. Angry at myself over my own inconsistency, I didn’t say much during our next visit. I let Wade take the lead as he told the parents what was going on with their child, since they were humans and had no idea what a magical was.

  After a barrage of questions and voiced concerns, we managed to get them to send their son to the coven on a daily basis, while Santana left charms and traps, as per the new protocol. The Orisha she’d left with Micah was more for Santana’s peace of mind, as she’d quickly become fond of the boy. She couldn’t leave one at every house, since there were only so many with her to begin with.

  What we were doing wasn’t exactly ethical, since the parents didn’t know about any rumors regarding Katherine Shipton, or t
hat anyone else might be coming for their kids—yet this family had been secretly visited by the Ryder twins, too.

  We found the card in their hallway, stuck in the mirror frame. Just like with the Cranstons, the Ledermeyers had no recollection of such a visit taking place. Only then did we manage to establish a pattern, based on intel from Tatyana, Dylan, and Astrid’s second family visit, where the parents were magicals, like the Travises.

  “The Ryder twins engage the magical parents and try to get them to hand their kids over, politely, and not in a persistent or disturbing manner,” Wade said as we drove through a familiar neighborhood. “They leave the card, their names. They’re seen and remembered. Whereas, with the human parents, they don’t interact. My guess is that they sneak in and leave the card.”

  “As a message to us?” Santana asked from behind.

  “I guess so, since they claim to be from the San Diego Coven,” Wade replied, looking at the twins’ business card. “We were apparently supposed to find the cards. I think they must have some kind of magical pull. Otherwise, what guarantee would there be that we’d even notice them in the houses during a visit? They’re not placed in the most obvious of spots, yet here we are, finding them.”

  “Who could these people be?” Raffe asked, still playing games on his phone. He seemed sullen and distracted, not his usual calm and friendly self. I’d seen him like this before, but I never knew why he experienced these sudden mood changes. My instinct told me to leave him alone, though, so I did.

  “Impostors. But definitely magicals. My money’s on Katherine Shipton. It coincides with the rumors we’ve heard, don’t you think?” Santana replied with a shrug.

  “Which makes me all the more uneasy to leave the kids in their homes,” Wade said, giving me a sideways glance.

  I had nothing to say to that. He was right, and I felt bad about it, but, at the same time, I knew and understood the importance of capturing Katherine Shipton before she did more harm to the magical community. She’d almost killed us all with Finch’s help. It was safe to assume that she would try the same or worse the second time around.