Harley Merlin 19: Persie Merlin and the Door to Nowhere

by Bella Forrest

  Treading water, I felt a manic grin spread across my face. “We did it,” I murmured. “Holy crap, we did it!”

  Thirty-Three

  Persie

  My eyes widened in alarm as the air around the grave crackled. I’d seen the Wisps explode, but what if I’d been mistaken? What if that had been another method of attack, and now they were being called back to pick up where they’d left off? I swam through the filthy water until a hand reached out to haul me from the grave. Charlotte’s hand, back to normal, but slick from the rain and mud. I clung with all my might as she heaved me onto solid ground. I collapsed onto my back, gasping for breath.

  “What’s happening? I thought… it was over.” I struggled to sit up, Boudicca and the two other pixies perching on my shoulders.

  Charlotte eyed the fizzing air. The atmosphere prickled my skin, like the moment just before a storm hit. Only, the storm had gone… hadn’t it?

  “I don’t know, but we should get back.” She reached down and yanked me to my feet, the two of us holding onto one another as we staggered away from the danger zone.

  Ducking behind a gravestone, I peered around the stone edge. I didn’t have the energy to run from another assault, but I could hide. My heart raced like a runaway train in my chest as bronze lines sparked to life, forming a glowing rectangle in the air, not unlike a chalk-door. Was someone coming to save us? Or capture us? Had Victoria figured out that we’d gone AWOL and sent her hunters to drag us back? I wasn’t sure how she’d know our location, but maybe the weird storm had tipped her off.

  A swirling, sparking energy appeared, filling in the outline of the doorway, and I braced for the worst. The energy burst outward and heavenly light spilled out onto the graveyard, the sound of mystical singing drifting over the slumbering souls of the dead. I jolted in surprise—I knew that song.

  “Can you see any Wisps?” Charlotte whispered, peeking through a gap in the circular cross at the top of the headstone.

  I shook my head, my fear morphing into a smile. “No… something far better.”

  Out of the gateway, people poured into the real world. Some were alone, some in couples holding tight to one another’s hands. They wore the old-fashioned clothes I’d seen in Fergus’s realm, the ancient wanderers imprisoned in his world, finally released. Feeling the icy wind on their faces, they paused and turned their faces to the night sky, marveling aloud at its beauty. It must have been a long time since they’d seen real stars. Smiles spread across their faces, and then, as a gust of sea air whistled across the graveyard, their bodies turned to dust, the gray flecks whisked away in a painless conclusion to their long imprisonment.

  “They’re free now,” I said to myself, watching the gateway. It was bittersweet. The lives they might’ve lived had been stolen from them by Fergus and the Wisps, but at least they could be at peace now. Mother Earth and her elements would carry them gently to the next life, where, perhaps, they would be reunited with those who’d mourned them when they’d disappeared. There was beauty in that, no matter the circumstances.

  A few minutes later, people in modern clothes filtered through the newly-positioned Door to Nowhere. It was the abductees from the Institute, all of them staring around in confusion. My heart lurched as wind chased the shadows across the cemetery, terrified that they would turn to dust, as well. But they didn’t. They hadn’t been in Fergus’s world for long enough, their lives and bodies still intact.

  Thank you, thank you, thank you! I didn’t know who I was thanking, exactly. All I knew was that the relief coursing through my veins threatened to overwhelm me. My limbs jittered, my heart pumped erratically, my lungs were barely able to snatch a grateful breath.

  “Where are we?” a young guy muttered, rubbing his head.

  The girl beside him hugged herself, rubbing her arms to fend off the cold. “Beats me. Feels like we’re still in Ireland, though.”

  “Xan!” Charlotte leapt out from behind the tombstone, scaring the girl half to death. I realized that this was the nasty sourpuss who’d insulted Genie in the banquet hall. She took a moment to recognize Charlotte and yelped in excitement. The two girls collided in a fierce hug, jumping around happily. I might not have liked Xanthippe at all, but Charlotte couldn’t have been more overjoyed to see her. Watching them, I felt a pang in my chest. There were still two people who hadn’t come out.

  Where are you? Please… I just… need to see you. I waited.

  And waited.

  And then Genie and Nathan stumbled from the gateway. The last to go in, the last to come out. Genie tripped on a clump of dirt that Charlotte had chucked to the side of Lorelei’s grave, and Nathan’s arms shot out to catch her, pulling her away from a crash landing. She whirled into his arms, their eyes meeting for a lingering moment before she hastily unraveled herself.

  No way am I letting you get the first hug, Nathan. Grinning, I sprinted from my hiding place and weaved through the group of returnees to get to my best friend. Nathan nodded at me, smiling, and Genie turned, her eyes flying wide when she saw me.

  “Genie!” I cried, wrapping my arms around her. Her hands clasped me tight as we fell into an embrace, my exuberance almost knocking her over again. Fortunately, Nathan put up his hands to keep us from toppling over, before taking a few polite steps to the side.

  “You had me so worried,” I murmured, tears of relief trickling down my face. “I didn’t know if I’d be able to get to you in time.”

  She smiled against my shoulder. “Did you free us?”

  “With some unexpected help.” I puffed out an almighty sigh, relishing the moment. “I can’t believe I got you back. I didn’t know if I’d be able to do it, but you’re here, and everything’s okay again.”

  “Thanks to you, it is.” She gripped me tighter until I couldn’t breathe. But I didn’t care. “Look at what you did, Pers. Look at everyone who’s safe because of you. You’re every bit a freaking Merlin! Man, I’m so proud of you my head could burst.”

  My cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “I didn’t do it alone. Nathan helped, and so did Charlotte and the pixies.”

  “Hey, every hero needs sidekicks.” She laughed, rubbing my arms like a proud mom. “You did it! You seriously kicked butt, Persie! None of us would be standing here if you hadn’t. If you didn’t stink to high heaven, I’d smooch you right now!”

  I looked at Nathan, over Genie’s shoulder, and giggled as he took off his specs and wiped them on his polo shirt. The poor guy had never looked more uncomfortable. “I might’ve just swum through a grave, so sorry for the stench.”

  Genie pulled away. “I need to hear all of this story, down to the smallest detail.” She arched a curious eyebrow. “Wait… did you say Charlotte helped?”

  “You missed a lot.” I looked at Nathan. “And there’s a bunch you need filling in on.”

  “It sounds like it,” he replied, placing his glasses back on his nose.

  I was about to regale them when one final figure stepped out of the gateway—the man who’d caused this mess in the first place. Letting go of Genie, I stormed over to Fergus and drew my hand back, slapping my palm across his face with all the anger in my veins. But my hand went right through him, the uninterrupted momentum almost making me stumble. Rallying quickly, I blocked his path, determined to get an explanation even if I couldn’t have the satisfaction of a soap-opera slap. However, as I came face to face with him, all the venting I’d planned got carried away in the wind, like the ashes of those who’d died in his realm. Tears streamed down his cheeks, his expression a confusing blend of happy and sad.

  “Did ye do this, lass?” he asked, bowing his head.

  I nodded slowly. “Yes.”

  “Then I owe ye a debt of gratitude. I never thought, for a moment, that ye’d do this after I hoofed ye out of me world like I did,” he said softly, his breath hitching. “I never thought there were a soul alive who’d put me back where I belong. With her…” His green eyes sought out the headstone, though Lorelei�
�s name had long been erased by the elements. “I know I’m dead as a doornail, but… ye’ve made me feel like I’m alive again, lass. She’s calling me. I can hear her singin’—I’ve missed that sound, like ye wouldn’t believe.”

  He tried to step forward, but I stood in the way. “Not so fast, Fergus. I’ve done something for you, now I want you to tell me everything. Starting with what’s going to happen to this gateway.”

  Fergus wiped a tear from his cheek. “Me love died before she could get te the paradise I built fer us, so her soul never made it there. There ain’t no point in it existin’ now. Burn me bones—both our bones—and it’ll destroy the gateway fer good. Them Wisps, too. They’ll not bother no one again, and nor will I.”

  “Is that why the Wisps chased us?”

  “Aye, they’re crafty kippers. Tryin’ te ruin me life, even after I died. I expect they could’ve brought me love’s soul te me, if they’d wanted… but they knew what’d happen if they did.” Fergus’s eyes glinted with anger. “Well, now they’ll get what’s been comin’ to ‘em.”

  I sighed in frustration, still not understanding the whole story. “So, why trap them? Why not pass on when you died, where you’d have been reunited with Lorelei anyway? What if you’ve ruined that chance, by doing what you did?”

  “I’ll hope, with every piece of me blackened soul, that she and I will meet in the beyond. They say if a love’s powerful enough, it’ll happen. Ours were the strongest of all, and I ain’t just sayin’ that. Our paths crossed time and again like it were destiny, ‘til we understood that it were fate what brought us together. As bairns, she saved me from drownin’ in the sea. A few years after, I rescued her when her horse were boltin’. Then, she hid me when them witch hunters were after me, and I hid her when some rogue were wantin’ a piece o’ her. We tried te fight everythin’ te be together—her father, my magic, a whole world what didn’t want us united. I thought we’d finally be safe, in a world all our own. I were wrong.” He lifted his head to the stars and blinked away fresh tears. “All these years, I’ve missed her more and more, until it ate up me innards and left me hollow.”

  “But how come your bones were outside your realm?” I’d seen the grave with my own eyes. Hell, I’d dug it up.

  Fergus gave a bitter laugh. “It were the price I had te pay, in the end. The cost of heaven is always death, lass. But I didn’t ever mean te live in my paradise as a spirit. Nah, that weren’t the plan at all.” His face fell, crumpling as a sob wracked his chest. “I were a Primus Anglicus—one o’ the last. Me family name ain’t written in no fancy books or aught, but it’s true. Mine were a secret bloodline in a magical world, where folks thought we’d all been cut down. And that meant I were still able to beg a favor of the Children. I guess they thought they owed us a courtesy or two, since it were their watered-down magicals who were cullin’ us left, right, and center.”

  Nathan stepped into the conversation, with Genie flanking me on the right. “Was Lorelei a magical?” he asked.

  “Probably would’ve ended up the same way if she were, but no, she didn’t have a drop o’ magic in her, unless ye count the magic of her beauty, and her voice, and the love she gave me.” He held his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking with the weight of centuries of grief. “Our love were thwarted from the off. Her da wouldn’t let me near her, threatened te run me through if I came by again… But we met in secret, in a little glade that no one else knew. The gateway used te stand there, before time smothered it.

  “Then, someone told a tale te her da, who were the ruler in these parts. They said I were a dabbler in devil worship and other evils.” His mouth twisted into a grimace, teardrops running over his lip and into his mouth. “One night, the village elders came fer me, and I had te flee for me life, not knowin’ who’d betrayed me. I left me love a message, tellin’ her where te find me. That’s when I begged the Children fer help, and Gaia answered. She gave me the power te build an eternal world, just fer me and Lorelei. I suppose she took pity, seein’ a fool in love.”

  My heart sank. I could already guess the ending of his sad tale, but I wanted to hear it. “And Lorelei didn’t get your message?”

  “No… she got it.” He crumpled to the ground, his body hunched over as he rocked back and forth, the memories clearly painful. “I waited and I waited, and I begged te Gaia te tell me where she was. And that’s when I found out… It hurts te speak of it, even now.” He sucked in a pained breath. “When she came after me, the Wisps led her off the path, and she drowned in the marshes what used te be around here. Te make it all the worse, Gaia told me that her soul would wander ‘til it were found, because she’d died lost and alone. I… got it wrong. I didn’t understand, ‘til now, what that meant. I didn’t know it could be done like this.”

  I reached out to touch his arm, but my fingertips passed straight through. “You didn’t know her bones had been recovered?”

  He shook his head. “I thought all of her were lost, which is why I pleaded with Gaia te punish the Wisps fer what they’d done. I offered me life in return. She refused, but she’d already fueled up me power.” He swallowed loudly. “I used a forbidden Sanguine spell te do it meself, and that cost me me life. I sucked those spirits into the world I’d created fer me and Lorelei, and I bound ‘em te me, te do me biddin’. If I had te live in eternal suffering without me love, I wanted ‘em to suffer, too.” He paused. “More than that, I wanted ‘em te find her lost soul. I hoped her soul might follow ‘em one day, like she’d followed ‘em off the path. I didn’t realize she were already at peace… already found, just not by me.” He fell apart, sobbing uncontrollably, whispering Lorelei’s name under his breath and repeating the same two words as if he were stuck on one of those trance loops. The most heartbreaking words in the world, in this case: “I’m sorry.”

  “Then… she’s been waiting for you, as long as you’ve been waiting for her.” My throat tightened. I turned my head to the side, to brush away the tears that fell. Genie sniffled into her sleeve, and even Nathan turned away, overcome.

  He lifted his head, his face a mass of misery. “Aye, and she’s callin’. All this time, she’s been callin’ and I were too stubborn and lonely te hear.” He closed his teary eyes. “Can’t ye hear her? She used te sing when I fell asleep, strokin’ me hair like I were a babe in her arms. If I existed another thousand years, I’d not forget that sound. That’s me true heaven, lass. Her. Only her.”

  I couldn’t even begin to imagine grief like that. The longing, the waiting, the loneliness of two star-crossed lovers who’d spent life and death missing each other, in both senses of the word. I let go of my anger, despite the awful things he’d done. Losing the love of your life was bound to make a person crazy, and he’d done it all in the hopes of Lorelei finding her way back to him. Besides, how could I stay angry at someone who looked so broken?

  I turned to Genie. “Can you lift the casket out of the grave?”

  “You bet I can,” she murmured, her voice thick with emotion. Moving to the graveside, she stood and bowed her head, as though standing vigil at a funeral. Blue threads of Chaos spiraled from her body and plunged into the dirty water, her Water ability pulling the ancient casket from the bottom of the grave. It lifted higher still, until Genie brought it to rest on solid ground.

  I went to help her, pushing off the lid to reveal the gray bones of two skeletons, now jumbled together, and the sack that I’d carried Fergus in. I glanced back at the abductees and noticed Charlotte a few yards away, her hands behind her back. Bronze energy spilled from her palms, creating a shield of some kind that seemed to be hiding us from the abductees.

  I hate to say it, but I think I’m starting to like you, Charlotte. She had just as much reason to hate Fergus as I did, but she’d still allowed us some privacy to talk in peace. Maybe her moral compass swung true north more than I’d thought.

  “I don’t think I’ll be able to get a fire going, with everything so wet.” I gave Genie a discreet nudge.
“Could you do the honors, and send these two back to each other?”

  She covered her mouth as a sob escaped. “Who gets to have a love like that, man? Of course, I’m going to light these bones up.” Vivid scarlet sparks erupted from her, and miraculously caught on the waterlogged wood. She added a crackling torrent of liquid Fire, for good measure, the two of us staring into the flames until the bones turned black and there was nothing left but ash.

  Fergus gasped. “I… see her.”

  “You do?” I whirled around, searching the surrounding area for any sign of a ghost. But his love’s spirit was for his eyes only. As a breath of wind sighed over the graveyard, Fergus dissolved into dust and drifted away in peace. And I prayed, with everything I had, that he’d be reunited with his long-lost love. That was the reward for a love that defied everything, wasn’t it? It had to defy death, too.

  Like my grandparents… I’d never met them, thanks to the evil of Katherine Shipton, but my mom had made sure to keep their memory alive in all of us. They’d been reunited in the afterlife, and it gave me hope for Fergus and Lorelei. Hadn’t they waited long enough?

  “I think we ought to retreat to a safe distance,” Nathan urged suddenly, snapping me out of my reverie. “It looks as if there’s about to be fireworks.”

  As a trio, with the pixies still sitting on my shoulders, we backed away from the Door to Nowhere. A deafening roar exploded from the gateway, the frame juddering violently. Charlotte dropped the shield and instructed everyone to run to safety, with Genie, Nathan, and me bringing up the rear. I looked back as I ran, watching the door beginning to break apart into shards of light that swirled in the center, spinning faster and faster as though the realm itself was imploding.

  “Take cover!” I yelled, and not a moment too soon. Everyone dove to the ground as the gateway crumpled in on itself, before unleashing a shockwave so volatile that it took the tops off several headstones. When I glanced back, the Door to Nowhere had vanished, hopefully never to be seen again.