Harley Merlin 19: Persie Merlin and the Door to Nowhere

by Bella Forrest

  It thrashed wildly, trying to get free, but Genie was in the flow of the fight now, however one-sided it was. She drew water from the flasks of the students, whose eyes widened in fright. No doubt they were having flashbacks to last night. She shaped the water into a large rectangle of liquid before maneuvering it around the gargoyle. Its fear amped up, and so did mine, in parallel. I felt what it felt, empathizing with its awful situation. Without breaking a sweat, Genie used her Glacial abilities to transform the liquid into a block of solid ice. In the space of a few minutes, she’d immobilized the creature.

  “If you would like to do the honors, Genie?” Hosseini held out the puzzle box. “Press the harp to open it.”

  Stepping over the line, Genie walked to the other side of the room and took the box. She set it down in front of the gargoyle and did as Hosseini had instructed. Red flashes shot out of her, mingling together in a sheet of Fire that made its way down the ice block, melting it away. As the gargoyle’s form emerged from its frosty prison, it disintegrated inch by inch into black mist that spiraled down into the waiting puzzle box, until there was nothing left and the lid snapped shut.

  “Excellent work, Genie.” Hosseini picked up the box and twisted it. Thin, rotating panels appeared in the metal. He spun them into a particular pattern, and the silver designs flared with white light before fading to a barely perceptible glow.

  Applause exploded from the class. Even Teddy put his hands together for Genie’s flawless display. In fact, I was the only one not clapping. I wanted to be thrilled for my friend’s accomplishment, especially since this was our first class and she’d already aced it, but the gargoyle’s pain and anguish still throbbed in my chest. How could I applaud, knowing that gargoyle would spend its life as a punching bag?

  In the end, I put on a smile and hoped Genie didn’t notice that my hands were behind my back.

  Ten

  Persie

  An entire morning passed before I knew it, and barely a minute had gone by that I didn’t spend thinking about the escapees and my impending discussion with Victoria. Seeing that poor gargoyle had amped up my anxiety. If someone caught the pixies before I could explain to the head huntswoman, maybe they’d end up as training material. And though they might’ve pissed me off, I didn’t want that for them. Plus, the longer I spent in classes, the more time they had to cause some damage or get found.

  The rest of Hosseini’s class had involved basic drills with artificial monsters: how to deal with preemptive attacks, surprise attacks, aerial attacks, every kind of attack. For the first, he’d made us sit and meditate, listening for the sound of a monster approaching to sense their incoming direction. I’d been pretty good at that, able to feel the artificial emotion coming off the hologram beasts. As for the surprise attacks, those had mainly involved retaliating with magic, so I’d been forced to improvise, which had mostly involved ducking and rolling, and aerial attacks weren’t much different in terms of how I could defend myself. Hosseini had unveiled different augmented reality scenarios at the touch of a snazzy button—woodland, desert, mountains, and water—and taught us how to use the surroundings to our advantage.

  When he’d asked me to try and capture an artificial monster, I’d muddled through. He’d put me up against a loup-garou in a barren wasteland scenario that weirdly emulated an old dream of mine, minus the red sky and hot wind. The rest of the class, aside from Genie, had watched with smirks, waiting for me to fail. But I’d done my best, following Hosseini’s instruction to try and stun it with rocks. I’d missed, deliberately, but distracted the loup-garou for long enough to skim a puzzle box under it. Regardless, I’d definitely heaved a sigh of relief when it was over.

  “You just need to find your own way, that is all,” Hosseini had told me. “Hunting is not about magical prowess. That merely simplifies the act because these beings stem from magic. Though your road may be more interesting in its challenges, a method will come to you, I am certain.”

  Those had been Hosseini’s parting words to me. I let them bolster my resolve that I belonged there, even if the gargoyle display had left me unsettled.

  After, sitting in Naomi Hiraku’s engineering lab with a view of the steely sea and its frothing whitecaps, the sour taste of the training session faded. The chic, silver, beech-paneled walls and clunky worn workbenches had a homier flavor than the glass training courts, and I knew no monsters would pop out unawares. Unless the pixies show up. I gulped with every reminder, unable to get comfortable. This should’ve been my zone, but I was too distracted to enjoy it. Still, this was where a non-magical hunter could find their “way.” And if I wanted to get an advantage over the pixies so I could plead with Victoria to let me help later, maybe I’d find it in this class. After all, when magic failed, everyone relied on technology. And the weird and wonderful stuff in here was enough to blow anyone’s mind.

  “Here we have four options for capture. Can you guess which is my favorite?” Naomi laid out four objects on her personal workbench. She had an effervescence about her that proved infectious. When someone called her for help, she hurried to them as if the world might end if she didn’t move fast enough. She never walked anywhere, and I’d seen her sit for all of two seconds before she’d jumped back up to make herbal tea, which she’d then offered to the class. It would’ve looked exhausting if she hadn’t done it all with a bright smile on her berry-stained lips. Her face had an impish quality, framed by a sleek, blunt bob. The drab light, when it hit right, revealed shades of darkest cherry in her black hair.

  I raised my hand. “The puzzle box?”

  “Ah, excellent! But no.” She giggled, and I couldn’t help smiling, despite my nerves. “The puzzle box is a great all-arounder, and I know you’ll all come to wonder how you ever lived without them, but this is my favorite.”

  She picked up a perfectly round, sleek sphere, about the size of a baseball and the color of a black pearl. Which is to say purplish, with tones of pink and gold and gray—not black at all.

  “This is an Omnisphere. Now, call me biased, but this happens to be my baby—designed, patented, and realized by my own two hands. It can catch anything, regardless of strength. There are still a few kinks to iron out and it requires a complex spell to use, so not yet practical. But it will be! Once I’ve had my eureka moment and everything works properly, it’ll be the best new toy in town!”

  Not for me. I admired her enthusiasm, and it looked beautiful, but I needed simpler options. The rest of the class was staring at the Omnisphere agog. She’d made some bold claims, but I doubted an experimental capture object would be of much use to anyone. Still, I hoped she’d iron out those kinks. If she did, she’d go down in magical history.

  “How about this one? Not my favorite, but can anyone tell me what it is? This is easy!” Naomi picked up a Mason jar.

  The class rolled their eyes, a warm collective chuckle spreading through the lab.

  “Mason jar,” everyone chorused.

  “Yes! Very good!” Naomi set the jar down and clapped her hands together. “It’s the most prevalent method of monster capture, used in covens worldwide, but it uses extremely basic hexwork and can be easily broken if you’ve got a case of butterfingers. Most are pre-treated with hexwork these days, to avoid hexing on the go. Useful in a tight spot, but there are better choices. Namely, this one—the puzzle box that Persie mentioned.” She showed off one of the boxes and nodded toward our workbenches. “You’ve all got one at your stations, and I’d like you to write down as many observations about it as you can. Then we’ll reconvene and go through what you’ve found and what it means.”

  One of the Ponytails, Suranne Redmond, raised her hand. “What’s the fourth one?”

  “Goodness, good thing you asked! I’d have forgotten all about it.” Naomi smacked her forehead dramatically, and possibly a bit too hard, and picked up the fourth object. It was an old, neatly painted ceramic bottle, similar to one I’d seen in a display case.

  “This is an Artemis
vase. We don’t use them anymore, but these were the forefathers of the Mason jars and the puzzle boxes. The oldest monsters in the Bestiary were caught with these. Powerful, reliable when you’ve got the knack, but notoriously tricky to get the hang of, as they require a complex spell and the right sequence of buttons. Now, back to the puzzle boxes. Make your notes and be ready to share in ten minutes.”

  Genie cast a glance at me. “Atlantis still uses them.”

  “Huh?” I leaned closer to her.

  “Those vases. Atlantean hunters use them, even now, and they don’t have any trouble getting them to work. They caught Jörmungandr—a freaking World Serpent—with one, for Chaos’s sake.” She shrugged, as if she’d surprised herself by jumping to Atlantis’s defense. “I bet I could catch a pixie in one, given the chance.”

  I propped my chin on my hand. “To do that, they’d have to come out of hiding. I thought we’d at least catch another one during our search.” Especially after a whole night of being duped by them.

  “Maybe they’re living it up in the orchard. Didn’t you say they liked apples?”

  I tried to remember what Nathan had said. “I don’t know if it’s apples, specifically. I think it’s just sweet fruits, so probably not. Blackberries, maybe? They do like the outdoors, though. And Nathan said they love a party.” A horrifying thought crept into my head. “Oh no, what if they throw a huge gathering outside? That’ll definitely attract attention.”

  I just needed to get through this class. Then, I could go to Victoria, and my anxieties would hopefully be lifted a bit. The pixies just needed to stay hidden until then.

  “We’ll just have to keep a watch out for any tiny keg deliveries.” Genie offered me a reassuring smile. “For now, they’re behaving. Let’s take that as a good sign, until it’s not.”

  “Was that supposed to be comforting?” I lamented.

  She laughed. “Did it work?”

  “Yes and no.” I focused on the puzzle box to distract myself. “Anyway, we’ll have an hour at lunch to… try something else. If they stay hidden, then there’s nothing we can do about it until classes are over. And I refuse to start slipping in my lessons on the first day, pixies or no pixies.”

  I wasn’t furtively keeping my plan to go to Victoria from Genie. I just didn’t want her to sit through these lessons, worrying that her best friend might be in huge trouble. She’d been in her element this morning, with Hosseini, and she deserved to ride that buzz for a while after the night she’d had.

  “I think the staff must’ve put some extra fire in your bagel this morning.” Genie winked, and I smiled back. But the ironic thing was, it wasn’t the bagel or the dream that had kicked my behind into gear; the pixies were responsible for this newfound surge of determination. One pixie, to be precise. She’d shown me that I was capable of hunting, even if putting them in cages afterward didn’t sit too well with me. I just had to remind myself that they had to go in those orbs, and eventually into glass boxes, for a valid reason—the protection of the magical world, and the energy it relied on. Only, that didn’t feel like an entirely valid reason anymore. There had to be a better way.

  Picking up my pen, I started to make notes on the puzzle box. The contraption had clearly been designed by someone with an artistic eye. Each panel displayed a specific image: a sea serpent on one side, a phoenix on another, a Caladrius on the third side, and a rock golem on the fourth. The bottom and top panels had identical pictures of a unicorn dipping its head into a pool.

  “Water, Fire, Air, and Earth,” I realized with a bristle of excitement. “And these panels must be the fifth element: Magic itself.”

  Genie’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, this is so going to be your forte.”

  “It’s a universal language, so anyone can use it.” I jotted my theories down and picked up the box. I felt for those hair-thin indents in the metal that Hosseini had used. Curious, I copied what he’d done, and the images instantly twisted into warped versions of each panel: a sliver of a serpent in the middle of a phoenix, and the back end of a rock golem taking the place of a Caladrius’s head. “That must be how you get the box to lock. The lid opens when you line up the patterns, and you stop the monster escaping by twisting the box out of sync.”

  Genie peered over my shoulder for a better look. “What about that harp thing Hosseini showed me?”

  “It must let the monster in and out again, manually,” I replied.

  Naomi scurried over and paused at our bench. “You certainly have a talent for this, Persie. You’re absolutely right!” She grinned so wide that it felt like a pat on the back. “Once a monster has been captured, the interior hexwork memorizes the unique signature of the beast inside. That means it can be released at the touch of that harp and drawn back in again with a second touch. Twisting the box is the only way to ensure everything is fully locked in. Then, once a new monster is caught, it forgets the old signature and remembers the new one. Nifty stuff! I wish I’d invented it.”

  “I’m sure your Omnisphere will replace these, one day,” I replied. I felt compelled to give her a compliment since she’d given me my first compliment at the Institute.

  She waved a hand at me. “Ah, who knows. One can hope! If I made the sort of money that the inventor of these boxes makes, I’d buy an island somewhere and—”

  I never found out what she’d have done on that island. The lab door burst open and Victoria Jules stormed in with a tempestuous look on her face. A four-strong squadron of hunters flanked her, as well as Hosseini and Nathan.

  “First years, apologies for the intrusion.” She swept a hand through her stylishly short crop. “This is highly unorthodox, and I resent disruption to the Institute’s routine, but classes are suspended until further notice.”

  Colette Requin, a stern-faced French-Canadian, raised her hand. “Why, Ms. Jules?”

  No… Don’t do this now. I was coming to you, I swear! My heart turned somersaults, and Genie grabbed my hand under the workbench. She clearly thought the same thing—we’d left it too long, and now the secret was out. Victoria had discovered the pixie situation before I could tell her, and she was putting the whole Institute on lockdown until they could all be found. Judging by the grim expression on her face, I was about to be in major-league-trouble.

  “I was getting to that,” Victoria replied with uncharacteristic snappishness. “It has come to our attention that a member of the senior class, Xanthippe Evershot, has been missing since last night. She attended the film screening in the banquet hall, left when it dispersed, and has not been seen since.”

  “Isn’t that Charlotte Basani’s friend?” The other Ponytail, Gem Phillips, nudged her hair twin.

  Suranne nodded, lowering her voice, but not so low that I couldn’t hear the gist. “She’s the one who said all those things to little Miss Atlantis.”

  Genie paled as she heard that last part. “Crap…” She turned to me with worried eyes. “They’re going to think it was me, aren’t they? They’re going to start pointing fingers. I swear, I didn’t have anything to do with it. I was mopping up. I—”

  “I know,” I interjected, understanding her anxiety. Genie would never put anyone in harm’s way, no matter how much they antagonized her. It wasn’t in her nature. But she was right—people would want someone to blame, and she’d be their first port of call. If they tried it, though, I’d be right there at her side, backing her up. She had alibis, including Charlotte, and those were watertight. Still, there was a tiny silver lining in this awful news—at least this wasn’t about pixies. Which meant I might still get my opportunity to come clean.

  Victoria gestured toward Nathan. “Show them what has been recovered.”

  Huh? Had they found evidence already? Victoria wouldn’t have canceled class if it wasn’t serious, which meant they suspected Xanthippe wasn’t coming back, or that some foul play had gone on. Horror washed over me as I envisioned crime scenes, blood, victim’s clothing, and then fresh horror washed over me as Nathan produ
ced a Mason jar with three pixies inside.

  Chaos no… Please, no. My mind and heart were strapped into a rollercoaster of emotions. I’d gone from worrying about my secret being uncovered to worrying about Xanthippe, and now I was back to the pixies again. Victoria would immediately guess I was responsible. But, aside from my fairly glaring part in it, she surely didn’t think the two factors were related—the pixies and the disappearance?

  “These unknown creatures were captured early this morning, prowling around the Repository,” Victoria explained, her tone ice cold. “Any information regarding them would be greatly appreciated at this concerning time.”

  Was she talking to me? Victoria didn’t look at me when she said it, but Nathan had his eyes firmly fixed in my direction. His expression didn’t give much away, but I caught a hint of furtiveness. Had he told Victoria about my Purge, because he presumed our agreed deadline had passed? Was she asking me to come forward, in front of everyone? No… if she knew everything, then she would have called me out in private. Maybe he suspected my pixies of causing the girl’s disappearance. My heart lurched into my throat, my head throbbing with too many thoughts. Did anyone else suspect me of creating the pixies? I tried to steal a discreet glance around the room, and everyone seemed to be looking at me. Undoubtedly, they were all thinking the same thing—the pixies were mine.

  Just then, Charlotte appeared in the doorway, her face twisted with anger and her eyes red with tears. “I’d say it’s pretty suspicious that we’ve just found these things loose in the Institute less than a week after Persie Merlin-Crowley’s arrival.” She glared at me, saying what everyone else was already thinking. “Isn’t that what you do, Persie? Purge monsters?”

  Sitting beneath the fierce heat of so many eyes, I had no answer to give that they would accept. Everyone knew what I could do. It wasn’t a secret, though I wished it could’ve been. Genie squeezed my hand tighter to let me know she was there. But I doubted she, or anyone else, could get me out of this scrape. I’d made the pixies, and a girl had gone missing. Deep in my heart, I felt certain that the two couldn’t possibly be related, but there was no way anyone else would believe it.