Harley Merlin 16: Finch Merlin and the Blood Tie

by Forrest, Bella

  Huh… that’s new. Her words appeared to be having a strange effect on me, too. The stifled snort retracted back down my throat and gave me a sudden rush of energy. Gaia had described the sensation perfectly. My body felt like it’d just been injected with a hundred syringes of pure adrenaline, a result of my innards getting used to the Sanguine Chaos.

  “Now that we’ve got your attention.” I leapt to my feet, sprightlier than I’d felt in a long while, and crossed the cell to Melody. “Here are the facts, live and in Technicolor. None of us are getting out of this place if we don’t put our heads together. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather try something instead of moping around and complaining about how unfair this is. So here are your choices: keep acting like sulky teenagers or join us and actually do something useful.”

  Apollo opened and closed his mouth like a beached fish. Poor, pampered thing probably hadn’t expected the rough-and-tumble surface dwellers to have any grit. Well, he was about to see how much we had. Right now, my body felt like it could lift an eighteen-wheeler without breaking a sweat, and I had to use that to my advantage before the rush ebbed again.

  “W-what do you suggest?” Thebian stammered. General of the Atlantean armies, my left butt cheek. He was just an elitist who’d gotten himself a cushy position. But hey, if I cracked open this cage and they happened to follow us, who was I to stop them? “I have an idea.” I gave nothing else away.

  Pumped up on raging Chaos, I marched to the cell door. The security hexes thrummed like angry hornets, the faint sheen of powerful magic glinting across the glass. Weirdly, I could almost see the fragments of Chaos holding the hexes together. I felt like I’d slammed back ten cans of energy drink and gained the ability to see sounds and bend time. And I had to make this surge of energy count before I inevitably crashed.

  I lifted my hands, and jolts of magic leapt from palm to palm, crackling violently. I had a fair few hex-breaking spells in my arsenal from my cult days, but there was one I’d never dared try. An only-in-case-of-emergency kind of deal that my mother used to rattle off whenever she came with us to hit a high-security repository, or the Fort Knox of artifact storage. I’d never used it because I’d never had reason to, and, even if I had, I didn’t have the juice to put behind it. Breaking the Suppressor had given me power unlike anything I’d known before, but the energy throbbing in my veins now made that pale in comparison. I was… supercharged. And ready to cause some mayhem.

  “De spiritibus tenebris. Audite me. Frange vincula. Muros conteram. Pluet descendit. Hae necessitudines interficiam. Audite vocem meam. Turn ad cinere. Frange est. Ego succedant.” The half-forgotten words flowed off my tongue, and the lightning that jumped between my palms shivered upward in static spikes. I said the spell over and over, the power building with every repetition. A sparking, fizzing, spitting ball of pure energy twisted in the air above me, awaiting orders. I could sense Thebian watching dumbly. This was how a general behaved.

  “Nunc impetum!” I shouted, struggling to be heard over the roar of the Chaos.

  I threw my head back as potent power surged out of me, traveling directly into that swirling orb. Its center burned, brightening by the second, until I had to close my eyes to spare my retinas.

  “Nunc impetum!” I howled again. Obeying, the hissing orb of destruction slammed into the cell door. A crack, so loud that it shook the entire prison, splintered my eardrums. Through the glass, the guards had finally taken note. Gathering together, they ran straight for us across the treacherous walkways. But they weren’t fast enough.

  “Nunc impetum!” I shouted until my lungs burned. The orb drew back and swung forward, crashing into the cell door again. And again. And again. With every collision, it unleashed another deafening explosion, until the floor beneath my feet trembled from the aftershocks.

  With an almighty shatter, the cell door smashed into a thousand glittering shards. I waited for the adrenaline rush to evaporate, but it didn’t. Bristling energy continued to sprint through my veins, keeping this engine purring like a damned tiger! Chaos was looking out for me… or maybe someone else was. Someone who’d told us she wished she could do more to help with our Atlantis problem.

  Did you slip an extra something into my veins, Gaia? I’d probably never find out, but if this was her doing, then I owed her big.

  “Come on!” I bellowed, darting back to sling Ryann over my shoulder. To my alarm, she hadn’t woken. Her eyes stayed closed, sleeping peacefully through the kind of fracas that would’ve woken a Snorlax. But I’d have to worry about that later. We had guards incoming.

  Melody and Luke raced to my left, while Nash and Huntress flanked me on the right. I didn’t pay any attention to Apollo and Thebian. If they wanted to use my jailbreak, that was up to them. As a small but mighty taskforce, we strode through the shattered remains of the cell door and met the guards head on. It didn’t matter that I had a person slung over my shoulder—I barely felt her weight.

  Lifting a palm, I shot a fireball so powerful that it almost knocked me off my feet. It burst out of my hand and cannonballed into the squadron of guards, scattering them like bowling pins. One fell from the precarious walkway and landed with a comic squeak on a glass roof below. The rest were back on their feet and regrouping within seconds, a look of panic in their eyes.

  Atlantis, meet Finch Merlin—new and improved! I lashed out with a second fireball that took another guard off the walkway. Beside me, Luke had his palms up. He yanked back like he was tugging a rope, and two spears sailed over our heads, torn from the guards’ hands. Meanwhile, Melody forged some nifty transformation spells, turning a spear into a snake and melting a sword out of one guard’s hands. Although, my personal favorite had to be her turning a guard’s legs into tentacles, sending him flopping about helplessly. It’d wear off, but we’d be long gone by then, with any luck.

  On my right, Huntress and Nash resorted to brute force. They charged forward, Huntress getting bitey and Nash throwing out uppercuts and weighty right-hooks to the baffled sentries.

  After making it through the first round of defenders, we hit the next. A group of guards had formed a phalanx near the elevator shaft that spelled our exit. But, in the infamous words of Shania Twain, this tortoise of spears and shields didn’t impress me much. I screeched to a halt and launched a blast of Air at them, with some added tendrils of Telekinesis to whip away their weapons. Luke followed suit, using his Magneton abilities to grab shields and weapons and send them careening down to the bottom of the prison.

  My head whipped around as a spear flew back over our heads and clattered into what was left of the phalanx. Thebian had a cluster of coins in his hand, his yellow-toned Chaos touching one and turning it into a shiny new spear—the Bellator ability that we’d seen during his attempt to win Kaya’s hand. Well, at least they’d decided to help.

  As for Apollo, he suddenly appeared out of a vortex of wispy black shadow, directly beside the group of guards. He grabbed one and disappeared again, only to reappear on the edge of the nearest walkway, shoving the guard over the side. He fell to the ceiling of the cells below, screaming with rage. Back and forth Apollo went, dropping guard after guard while the rest of us dealt with the remaining ones.

  “I do not feel particularly pleased about fighting my own people.” Apollo popped up beside me as the last guard fell. “But… it must be done. Miss Winchester was correct. If we are to save Kaya and restore law and order to the queendom of Atlantis, then your way is the only way.”

  I flashed him a grin. “Glad you finally came around.”

  “Do not congratulate yourself. It is unbecoming.” He picked his way through the debris of unconscious sentries and opened the elevator door. Despite his words, I had a sneaking suspicion that the frost was thawing between us. After all, if it wasn’t for us, he’d still be licking his wounds in a cell.

  Oh Gaia, if you did this… I’m going to build a friggin’ statue in your honor. For the first time since the wedding, we had the upper h
and.

  Twenty-Seven

  Finch

  Hurtling through the prison on a tide of Chaos, we reached freedom before the rest of the guards could even get their heads out of their backsides. Nash sprinted at my side with Huntress out front and the others a step behind us. The loyal husky seemed to know where she was going, veering left around the side of the prison after we tore through the main exit, leaving the debris of downed guards in our wake. She surged through a network of back alleys that ran behind the ominous building, and we followed without hesitation.

  “Huntress knows her way around, right?” I had to check.

  Nash panted. “She’s run these alleys more than any of us. If there’s a way of getting to Kaya without being caught, Huntress will lead us there. Her nose never fails.”

  The pup barked in agreement and upped her pace, forgetting that we didn’t have the same animal power in our muscles. Although, still juiced up with all this added juju, I wasn’t far off. I could’ve run the Boston Marathon without pausing for breath.

  Occasionally, we stopped for a second to pass Ryann to fresh shoulders—from me, to Luke, to Apollo, to Thebian, and back through the same cycle. She still hadn’t woken up, which worried the crap out of me, but if we stopped out here in the open, she’d be even more screwed. I had to believe this was Lux’s doing. Whether it was to protect Ryann or mess with me, I couldn’t say. But she’d sworn not to use any more tricks, so for now I would trust that Lux had Ryann’s best interests at heart.

  “Tell me again, Apollo, why can’t you teleport us all to the palace?” I skidded around another corner, feet pounding on the cobbled stone. The alley walls towered over us, casting shadows that moved the way a sneaking guard might.

  “There are hexes on the palace,” Nash answered for him, through shallow gasps. “He’d only be able to get us to the perimeter. He can’t teleport into the building.”

  “Exactly. I cannot transport you inside the palace, only to the boundaries—the rest must be done on foot. I can use my teleportation once we are within, but I do not think that would aid us much. The same problem would occur.” Apollo appeared a short distance up ahead, showing off. “You see, I would have to go to the chosen location and come back for everyone, one by one. I can only carry one passenger at a time. And that would leave whoever is at the palace exposed to the sentries who are no doubt gathering, with the same issue repeating once we have entered without the use of magic.”

  I shrugged. “I had to ask, in case we were doing all this running for nothing.”

  “I would have thought you could handle all manner of exercise, Finch, after disintegrating a prison door.” Thebian sped up to draw level with me. “One of our prison doors. I am still trying to comprehend how you managed such a feat when no Atlantean can.”

  I clapped him on the back. “You keep underestimating us surface dwellers.”

  He gave me a wary look. “Yes, I rather think so.”

  “We should turn left here.” Apollo pointed to a fork in the alley labyrinth. Huntress growled her disagreement. “I know these alleys better than anyone. Kaya and I used to use them to walk anonymously through the city. Right is the quicker path, that is true, but it will also be the one that the sentries will swarm once they hear we’ve escaped. The left is longer but lesser known.”

  A wailing siren, like the old ones you’d hear in grainy war movies, pierced the air. An undertone of jangling bells rattled alongside, shredding my eardrums until I had to cover them with my hands. The others mirrored my action. We all stopped dead in our tracks.

  “They have sounded the alarms!” Thebian hissed.

  Nash shot him a withering look. “You don’t say.”

  “You do not understand. These sirens will shriek and those bells will ring until we are found. Every Atlantean knows what it means. It means that prisoners have escaped, and I do not imagine that Ovid has been discreet about our supposed crimes.” Thebian’s gaze darted across the alleyway. “We will have to hide from ordinary people, as well as the military.”

  “Persecuting the innocent,” Apollo spat. “What has this nation become?”

  We started running again, following the left-hand path despite Huntress’s annoyance. But the Atlantean contingent hadn’t finished waxing lyrical, and frankly, it was refreshing to hear them speak with an iota of common sense.

  “Does this mean you agree with us now?” Melody hit Apollo with an expectant gaze. Seriously, for someone with such short legs, she had no problem keeping up with the rest of us. Then again, if you’d ever tried to catch a chipmunk, you’d know just how quick those suckers could be.

  Apollo fixed his eyes on the path ahead. “Let us just say that we are now considering more prudent ways for Atlantis to rise, without conquering the rest of the world. As I said, I do not care for selfishness and violence. I would not want it inflicted upon this city, so why would I inflict it upon the surface realm?”

  “Because that’s what Kaya wanted.” I landed a sly jab.

  “I do not believe that Kaya would have been violent. She does not have a sadistic bone in her body.” Apollo huffed out an irritated sigh. “However, I admit that I may have been hasty in supporting her actions. Time in prison allowed me a private moment to think, and… Miss Winchester’s rousing speech was difficult to ignore.”

  Thebian chuckled uneasily. “If she were sitting on a throne or were in charge of an army, I imagine she could terrify every single person into submission.”

  Amen to that. The longer I knew Melody, the more I understood exactly why she’d been chosen for the role of Librarian. She had tenacity, spirit, generosity, the kindest heart you could ask for, and a scary streak when agitated. She wasn’t the type of person who would’ve used the Librarian knowledge for her own benefit. I guessed that was why Chaos had to choose carefully. Melody always thought of others and how she could help them. One obvious example: Nash wouldn’t have his freedom without her. She could’ve kept the intel to herself, but she’d put aside her qualms to make it happen for him.

  Melody smiled, looking pleased with herself. “I had to knock some sense into you boys, or you’d still be sitting in that cell, with the door wide open, wondering what on earth to do next.”

  “We must rescue Kaya.” A muscle twitched in Apollo’s jaw. “There is no Atlantis without her. Ovid died. He is no longer king. It does not matter that he came back to life. There is no place in our traditions for loopholes.”

  “Man, it’s nice to hear you change up the record. I’m tired of the old one.” I flashed him a grin, and he managed half a smile in return. I supposed now that we were free of the prison, and I wasn’t married to his beloved anymore, he had no reason to hate me.

  I’m an acquired taste, but most folks learn to like me in the end.

  I paused at a narrow gap in the alley system, taking Ryann off Thebian’s shoulder and slinging her back over mine. Apollo vanished in a twist of black smoke and reappeared on the other side of the gap, peering around it in true Pink Panther style. His eyes widened in alarm.

  Curious, I took a look for myself. Through the opening, I saw the main boulevard that led up to the palace, all that white marble glinting in the fake sunlight. We were clearly taking the scenic route. And we weren’t the only ones. A traffic jam of carts, pulled by Kelpies, thronged the length of the boulevard, right up to the palace gates, where some kind of checkpoint had been set up. There had to be hundreds—maybe thousands—of these wagons, all crammed into one street and streaming in from the roads surrounding it. Rows and rows of stacked glass bottles clinked in the carts. I didn’t need a closer look to know what was in them. My blood sang, responding to the siren call of every drop that’d been collected from the Atlanteans. Another effect of the Sanguine transference? It seemed the likeliest reason.

  “Well, that ain’t good,” Nash said. That was exactly what I’d been thinking.

  I shook my head, chills shooting up my arms and spine. “Ovid’s getting closer to the finish l
ine.”

  Apollo sucked in a breath. “Judging by the number of carts, it appears Ovid will soon have all the blood he requires, once they pass through the palace gates. Any that he has not managed to acquire, he can replace with what he stole from Nash.”

  “It is as I feared,” a voice whispered right behind me. I jumped so hard I nearly dumped Ryann-slash-Lux on the ground. She was immediately displeased. “Please, Finch, if you would cease your manhandling of me, I would appreciate it. I am not a sack of cabbages.”

  I let her down and noted the white glints in her eyes. “What did you do to Ryann? Why wouldn’t she wake up?” All the worst-case scenarios hammered through my skull.

  “She is safe and well. I had to exert more energy than I anticipated to send you and Nash to my sister, and that took a physical toll upon my host. She is resting, nothing more.” Lux glanced out at the swarming carts. “This is the catastrophic consequence of our meddling that Chaos warned us about, and now it is coming to fruition.” Terror dripped from her words.

  “I thought that would only happen if my balance got skewed.” I wanted to shout at her for putting Ryann at risk like that, but I realized I didn’t have a leg to stand on. If she hadn’t, Nash would still be stuck as a magical, and I wouldn’t have had the extra power to shatter the cell to smithereens.

  Lux nodded slowly. “Your balance did get skewed, albeit temporarily, when your memories faded after you took the love potion. And that led you to support Kaya’s scheme to raise Atlantis. She would not have continued without your encouragement, for the legend of the Luminary required you to play along. I did not realize it would have such an effect on you, even though your memories are now restored.”

  “Then what do we do?” Melody chimed in. “Now that you see the royal mess you’ve made, what are you going to do to fix it?”

  “Do you think I need to be reminded of my part in this?” Lux shot back, her eyes blazing. She simmered down after a breath or two and resumed her observation of the blood carts. She likely didn’t appreciate the reminder that, if they didn’t fix this, she and Erebus would be cosmic toast.