Harley Merlin 19: Persie Merlin and the Door to Nowhere

by Bella Forrest

  Terrified they would bolt if they saw me, I used their intense argument to my advantage and I tiptoed off to the side, ducking behind a dumpster. I could hear their high-pitched chatter from where I was, and it didn’t sound friendly. Who knew banana skins could be such a hot commodity?

  Okay, quietly does it. Painfully slowly, I unzipped my bag and took out a puzzle box and the little carton of milk. I placed the puzzle box on the ground and kept the lid firmly on, twisting it until the designs aligned. Still moving at a snail’s pace so I wouldn’t startle the pixies, I peered around the corner of the dumpster and set the puzzle box just in front of it. My fingertip hovered over the harp button for a second before I pressed down. However, another button, which looked like a bushel of leaves, caught my eye. I realized this wasn’t the time to get experimental, but something drew me toward it. An instinct, perhaps. Figuring I could use another box if I messed this one up, I pressed down on the symbol. Immediately, the puzzle box flattened out like a bear trap and the sea-green sides blended into the sticky vinyl floor, leaving it totally camouflaged.

  I almost hissed in frustration. You could’ve told me about that, Naomi! Still, I had to admit, this was insanely smart and cool. All I had left to do was lay the bait.

  Popping the carton open, I placed the milk in the center of the hidden box—at least, what I hoped was the center. That was the trouble with a successful camouflage. Part of me feared the milk carton would set off the trap, and all I’d get for my efforts was captured dairy. But the box stayed open, still invisible to the naked eye.

  Now what? Do I just wait? I sat back against the dumpster and took out a mirror, angling it so I could see approaching pixies. Nerves pummeled through my chest, my heart racing a mile a minute. If they didn’t take the bait, they might escape, and I’d be back at square one. Basically, this had to work, or I’d start flipping dumpsters.

  Sing, my Persephone… A voice slithered into my head, one I knew so very well.

  What are you doing here?” I asked, my chest hot and horrified. He was an ocean away—he wasn’t supposed to be able to come near my mind.

  Sing… he said again. But it didn’t feel the same as when Leviathan had spoken to me on my birthday. It sounded far away, like I’d dredged it up from the darkest corner of my mind. Even so, the violation wasn’t dissimilar. The idea that he’d embedded these words in me, somehow, made me want to pour mosquitoes into his glass box.

  And what did he mean, sing? If he’d ever heard me at karaoke, he’d wish he’d never mentioned it. For me, singing was relegated to the shower, where I could have a private concert without anyone thinking someone was dying. And yet, the moment the thought involuntarily crept into my head, a tune began to form on my tongue. A song I didn’t recognize, in a language I didn’t understand, but my mind seemed to know every word.

  “Thig a-mach às an dorchadas. Mo chlann, mo chlann. Èist ri mo ghuth mar a bhios mi a ’seinn do chridhe. Bu chòir dhut a bhith còmhla rium. Dannsa còmhla rium ann an solas na gealaich agus a ’faireachdainn gàirdeachas. Is e mo chridhe do chridhe. Tha sinn mar an ceudna. Tha ar spioradan ceangailte. Mo chlann, mo chlann. Èist ri mo ghuth mar a bhios mi a ’seinn do chridhe. Bheir mi dhut mo ghràdh. Lorg comhfhurtachd. Tha thu sàbhailte a-nis.”

  My voice rose, clear and sweet, as though my lungs and voice box had been taken over by a cosmic force. It sounded ancient and sad, as though it wasn’t supposed to be heard by human ears. Strange tears welled in my eyes as I repeated the phrase, and a memory came back to me. The song, I realized, was similar to a lullaby I’d heard Tobe sing to a box of faeries when I was a child (and shouldn’t have been eavesdropping).

  The pixies stopped chattering. Lifting the mirror up, I saw them creeping toward my dumpster in the reflection. They gave me such a fright that I almost stopped singing, but my voice held on, ringing out with that mesmerizing sadness.

  Edging closer, they spotted the milk and unleashed a collective “Oooooh.” I wasn’t even sure I needed the song anymore, but I carried on regardless. As I started the third repetition, all five pixies eagerly pounced onto the carton, apparently entranced. One had just stuck its hand down the opening to scoop up a handful of the white stuff when the box snapped shut around the quintet and the lid sprung closed, locking them inside.

  “Chaos, YES!” I lunged for the box and twisted the designs out of sync. Muffled yelps and squeals babbled inside the box for a second, and then… silence. I held it up to the light to observe my victory. Wispy threads of black smoke puffed out of the lid and the designs glowed brightly—a subtle confirmation that I’d freaking done it!

  “I’m sorry, but I promise it won’t be for long,” I whispered to the inmates. “I just need to figure out what to do with you. We might have to hide you in an orb for a bit, but only until we can come up with something better. Okay?”

  The pixies didn’t reply. After all, the box had turned them back into black mist. But I was definitely going to chalk this up as a victory. I’d gotten ahead of the hunters and caught five pixies of my own accord—six, if you counted my first. It comforted me to think I might be able to save some of my creations. I didn’t know how, just yet, but I’d find a way. But, first, I had to get them to a safe place so I could ask them what they knew about Xanthippe and Randolph. I hoped they’d tell me in exchange for their freedom.

  Feeling on top of the world, I slipped the box into the front pocket of my bag and took off down the hall. I hadn’t gone more than a few yards when my bubble of elation was popped by a hunter-shaped needle. A trio of them, not far ahead. I froze, they froze. The only way out was up the stairwell they were blocking. I could lock myself in the refuse room, but they’d either batter it down or wait until I came out.

  “What are you doing down here?” barked a tall guy in the customary black suit. “No one is allowed to be out without permission.”

  I gulped. “I just wanted to drop off some cardboard boxes.”

  “Nice try.” A glowering woman with white-blonde hair folded her arms across her chest. “Why don’t you tell us what’s in the bag?”

  “It’s nothing,” I replied, a beat too fast. “Books and stuff.”

  Their third colleague—a huge woman, built like a bull—stepped forward. “Hand over the bag. If it’s nothing, we’ll find nothing.”

  My legs urged me to run. Perhaps I’d find another stairwell at the opposite end of the hallway. Before I could move a muscle, the guy called out, “And don’t even think about scampering off. Only the guilty run.”

  I’m guilty in your eyes. For the first time ever, I wished a Purge would pour out of my mouth then and there—a big one. Something that would keep them occupied while I made a hasty exit. But I had no sweats, no nausea, no nothing.

  “I’m not guilty, but I don’t see why I should give you my personal things.” I swallowed the tremble in my voice.

  “Because we asked,” the bull-woman grumbled, striding toward me. As hunters went, these ones were really freaking threatening. Her colleagues followed her, and they were on me before I could even contemplate hurtling through the refuse-room door.

  The smaller woman yanked the bag off my shoulders while the bull-woman wrenched my arms behind my back. Pain splintered through my bones, my face contorting. I wondered if Victoria was okay with this sort of violence. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Though that wouldn’t have helped me much. In two seconds, they’d see all the evidence they wanted.

  “Are these… puzzle boxes?” The guy plucked out the one with the pixies inside. “How come it’s glowing? Did you catch something?”

  The other woman sifted through my bag. “She’s got three of them, Gerry. And two Mason jars.”

  “Dearie me, looks like you weren’t just getting rid of cardboard boxes.” The man glared at me. “And you’re not authorized to use this stuff. Did you steal it?”

  I said nothing, not wanting to implicate Naomi.

  He surveyed me for a moment, then said, �
��You look like a troublemaker.”

  The platinum-blonde whispered in his ear. “That’s Persie Merlin-Crowley.”

  “Is that so?” The guy’s expression changed in a split second. “You’re the one who caused all this in the first place, aren’t you? From what I hear, you might just be the mastermind, making these things do your bidding.” He smirked at his colleagues. “Apparently, some student saw her chatting to a pixie. Stinks of deceit to me.”

  “What?! Who said that? That isn’t true! I was just trying to help!” I gasped. “I wanted to clear up my mess, I’m not masterminding anything.”

  He sneered. “Or you wanted to save your little aberrations, so they can keep doing your dirty work.” He glanced at the box, seeing something in the faintly glowing lights that Naomi clearly hadn’t taught us about yet. “Being able to control them would certainly explain how a beginner like you managed to catch five of these.”

  “They’re not aberrations!” I blurted out, instantly regretting it. Evidently, the glow from the box told him how many monsters were inside.

  “Aww, how cute.” The man laughed coldly.

  Flustered, I tried to form the right words. “And I’m not making them do anything. I don’t control them, which should be freaking obvious since they’re evading me as much as they’re evading you! I used knowledge to catch these, not some ability. Oh, and for the last freaking time, they’re not responsible for the disappearances!”

  I’d say it until I was blue in the face, or someone listened—whichever came first. And this group definitely wasn’t listening.

  “Agnes, get her in Cuffs,” the blonde instructed. “We’re taking you back to your room, and we’re going to make sure you stay there this time, until Victoria decides what to do with you.”

  Panic fluttered in my chest as cold metal closed around my wrists. A weird prickly sensation followed, like static electricity—not painful or sapping, just odd, similar to the way it felt when I got too close to Genie in full Verso mode. Magic of some kind, though I could only feel the slightest hint of it. I guessed these weren’t ordinary Cuffs, though slapping a pair of Atomic Cuffs on me seemed like overkill. I wondered if Atomic Cuffs would be able to stop a Purge, if I could make one come? Having felt the force of my previous Purges, I highly doubted it.

  Ignoring my pleas, the huge woman and her fellow hunters marched me down the utility corridor and back up the stairs, all the way to my bedroom. I wondered if these were the same hunters who’d been stationed in my hallway to keep an eye on my Purges.

  I was shoved inside and pushed onto a chair while they set about laying charms and hexes to prevent me from leaving. It took all of ten minutes, but it felt like forever. Finally, with scowls that could’ve curdled the pixies’ milk, they unlocked the Cuffs and stormed out. These hunters weren’t playing around. They had orders to follow, and I’d made the mistake of crossing their path.

  Now I had no way to search for the pixies, and they’d taken the five that I’d already captured. I wasn’t just back at square one, I wasn’t even at the starting line anymore.

  Eighteen

  Persie

  Pixieless and fuming, I paced my bedroom floor and tried to think of a hundred ways I might get back at those hunters.

  “Aberrations? Who does he think he’s calling an aberration?” I snarked, unable to sit for more than a few seconds without jumping back up again.

  In that one sentence, he’d cemented something in my head. These creatures deserved more than the lot they had in life. They hadn’t asked to exist any more than humans had, but we had to share this world, and they’d wound up with the short end of the stick. They gave their energy for our magical empire, for Pete’s sake, and still that hunter had dared to speak about them like they were crud on his shoes.

  When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. Thomas Jefferson’s words inspired fresh anger and determination inside me. I just knew these pixies could help us, if only they were given the chance. Infuriating didn’t even begin to cover this situation. And now, I had to wait for Victoria to come along and bite my head off for breaking her lockdown rules. Two meetings with the head huntswoman, a Purge of pixies, two missing magicals, and I hadn’t even reached a full week at the Institute yet.

  Why couldn’t they see that the pixies weren’t the enemy? The only monster I’d ever met who reeked of evil was Leviathan, but the rest… They had their quirks, sure, but they weren’t the under-your-bed, hiding-in-your-closet, bloodthirsty villains they were made out to be. Those who knew them best and longest all understood that: Tobe, Nathan, and me. Genie had even told me once that her mom and fellow hunters used to have ceremonies to thank the creatures for their service. They were grateful, respectful.

  “Did you do this, Leviathan? Did you scramble my brain when you gave me this curse?” I all but shouted. “Is this what you wanted me to see? Is this how you wanted me to feel?” I had no other explanation for my no-matter-what instinct to protect the pixies. Was this his attempt at strengthening our bond? Had he left secret messages in my head for me to find along the way so he could prod me around to his way of thinking? Before I could Purge, I’d loved visiting the beasts in the Bestiary, but I hadn’t given much thought to what they did or what they gave. I’d seen them the way everyone else did—as fuel for a greater cause. All that had been turned on its head when I’d held that she-pixie in my hands. No… before that. When the griffin bowed, and then when it squawked sadly, like it didn’t understand why I was trying to capture it.

  There’s so much you don’t know. So much you don’t understand. I aimed my furious thoughts at the hunters, and everyone whose minds were so narrow that they couldn’t even contemplate a different perspective. Heck, there was so much I didn’t know and didn’t understand, but I was, at least, open to learning. Truthfully, my brain didn’t feel scrambled at all. It felt clearer than it ever had; I just feared where that clarity had hailed from.

  I sat at my desk and held my head in my hands. Just when I thought I was swinging one way, something else pushed me back in the other direction. And I was tired of being jostled from pillar to post, not knowing if my thoughts were my own or if they’d been jammed in there by Leviathan. What else had this curse done to my body without my knowledge? Only he had the answers, and he was a world away.

  My head lifted at the sound of the door opening, and Victoria strode through a moment later.

  “Persie.” That one word struck terror into my heart. “I didn’t think we’d be having a chat like this again quite so soon.”

  I sat up straighter, to be polite. “Neither did I.”

  “You flouted my rules. What else did you think would happen?” Her voice sounded strained, her black eyes hard as onyx pebbles.

  “I… just wanted to help. I caught five pixies, didn’t I? That’s not flouting, that’s assisting.”

  Victoria ran a stressed hand through her hair. “Be that as it may, the situation calls for obedience. I told you to leave it to the experts. I’m not keeping everyone in their rooms for my pleasure, Persie. I don’t give instructions like that without thought.” She walked to the desk and leaned against it. “While you were out hunting, against procedure, five more people went missing. That brings the total to seven. One of those people could’ve been you, Persie. If someone had checked your room and found you weren’t there, that could have caused problems. We might have wasted valuable resources and effort trying to find you when you were fine all along. This isn’t a game, Persie. This is serious, and you have to let the experts handle it.”

  Five? My stomach lurched, but my resolve didn’t waver. There was absolutely no way the pixies could have taken seven people. I’d found the creatures squabbling over rotten fruit, for crying out loud. They weren’t bothered about snatching personnel—they just wanted to go about their business. I mean, they were probably oblivious to the fact that the Institute was in a state of mass upheaval.

  “Wait… That means those five people got taken
during the lockdown.” I squinted, trying to work out the logic. There hadn’t been an announcement about it, which meant Victoria was keeping secrets. I guessed the Institute would be under intense scrutiny if the outside world found out about this, and she’d likely have done anything to avoid its reputation being tarnished. “Why hasn’t anything been said about them?”

  Victoria straightened up, if that were even possible given her exemplary posture. “That is the best course of action for now, to avoid mass panic. If people attempt to flee, it will be impossible to know who has been taken and who has simply run away. Should this continue, however, I will be making other arrangements for the safety of the Institute and its residents.”

  “So, not to be rude, but it wouldn’t have mattered if I was walking around the Institute or stuck in my room. Whoever is taking people is doing it regardless,” I said coolly. Her excuse balanced, just about. Even if it smarted of dishonesty. People deserved to know if the numbers were increasing, but she was the head of this place. To her mind, its longevity and position of respect was likely as important as people’s lives.

  Victoria sighed. “We don’t know if the other abductees were also walking around against protocol, so that’s no certainty.” She pushed off the desk and walked a few paces. “Nevertheless, the Institute will be going into its code red scenario as of now. You will hear the announcement shortly.”

  “What’s that?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. What security measures could possibly be higher than the lockdown already in place?

  She turned slowly. “It’s regrettable, but pixies will now be considered lethal, and therefore we will use all force necessary to make sure they are stopped. I don’t like to give this kind of order, because I don’t believe in the killing of Purge beasts, but it’s the only choice I have left.”