Harley Merlin 8: Harley Merlin and the Challenge of Chaos Read online

  “Your tricks. I do not mind them, but they may prove fruitless.” He spoke in a weirdly soft tone for something so terrifying. I’d expected instant savagery from him, the moment I stepped into his box. A soft-spoken monster was somehow infinitely more frightening than one who came roaring forward with all the bells and whistles of evil. It made him unpredictable, and I didn’t like that.

  “Is that so?” I sent out another wave, more to prove a point than anything else.

  “Katherine is the enemy, not I. She must burn. She must rot. She must die for what she has done.” Leviathan’s white eyes narrowed with fury, his luminescent spots turning red. This guy was definitely more ancient than Katherine, and though he wasn’t a creature of many words, his disdain for her was obvious.

  “She killed your mother.” I stated the obvious. “Just like she killed mine.”

  “As I said, you have lost what I have lost.”

  “And you want her punished?”

  He flashed his fangs in a sour smile. “I want her destroyed.”

  “Then we’re definitely on the same page.” I hadn’t expected to be having a reasonable conversation with this beast, but weirder things had happened. He was clearly in pain, his emotions throbbing through those lit-up specks.

  “The Challenge should never have been possible,” he said bitterly, still swaying as though he was trying to dodge my reverse Empathy. Crafty creature.

  “Chaos is unpredictable as heck. You think it’s going to do one thing and then—bam!—it goes and does something else, leaving everyone chin-deep in crap.”

  Leviathan laughed darkly. “Indeed. It makes errors, then spends millennia trying to fix them in secret.”

  “It’s like you’re in my head,” I replied. “Chaos just blurts out these major hiccups, tries to resolve them without ‘direct intervention,’ since that’s against the rules—you know, it drops a spell here, a thought there, channels a few ideas through a couple of people, scrambling to make the best of the gigantic mess it made.”

  “The Merlin Grimoire, for example.” He surged forward, his eyes fixed on mine so I couldn’t look away. He let the words hang in the air, while I struggled to keep the reverse Empathy flowing and not give too much away. It was a juggling act, and I was failing miserably. My reverse Empathy didn’t seem to be having any effect on Leviathan whatsoever.

  “You’ve heard about that?”

  He smirked. “That’s the trouble with you magicals. You hear only what you want to.”

  “Do you know much about it? You must be pretty old. No offense.”

  “There is no offense to be found in age, Merlin. With age comes wisdom. Youth is not all it is claimed to be.” I pushed down the nausea that threatened to spill out of my mouth, as Leviathan’s stench filled every sense. “As for the Grimoire, I know a great deal.”

  My heart lurched. “You do?”

  “What would you care to know?” He flicked his wrist casually, as though he was asking what my order was at the drive-thru.

  “What’s in it? Is there something in there that can kill Katherine?”

  He chuckled. “Perhaps there is hope for you. You ask the right questions.” He reeled back, the angler fish lamp glowing white instead of green. “There is magic within those pages that can kill her. I listen and I hear all. Even frozen, my ears and eyes are open to Chaos and its whisperings.”

  “What magic?” I pressed, forgetting about the reverse Empathy completely for a minute.

  “There is a spell that will destroy her. It is intended for that specific purpose. It is Chaos’s final resort. And it is there, within.”

  “Can you tell me anything else about it? I need details, Leviathan. I hate to sound rude, but I really need everything I can get right now.” I paused. “And I’m guessing, since you haven’t killed me yet, you need me to do this so that you can have your revenge, too.”

  He rose up on his coils, his tentacles snapping. “There is always time for me to change my mind.”

  “Well, if you kill me, then Katherine will get away with it. She’ll get away with killing your mother, and my mother, and everyone else who’s died because of her. And there’ll be more to come, if she ascends. If you think you’ll escape with your life, you’re wrong—she’ll use you for her Bestiary, pumping the life and Chaos out of you until there’s nothing left but a shell.”

  The words poured out of me like gunfire. He might have been acting reasonable, but he was still a monster—he didn’t have to let me out of this box alive if he didn’t want to, but I was determined to fight my corner. Especially now that he’d given me that slice of pure, genuine, vibrant hope. There was an actual spell in the Grimoire that could destroy Katherine. An actual freaking spell, crafted for that sole purpose. This wasn’t a wild goose chase anymore, full of uncertainty and a bunch of ifs and maybes. Leviathan’s words had cemented the fact that I was on the right path, headed straight for the weapon that would stop Katherine in her tracks, once and for all. And that was worth everything.

  “But who’s to say you will be victorious?” Leviathan’s eyes narrowed, his lamp glowing red now. Did that mean I’d pissed him off, or had I just hit a nerve?

  “Nobody, but I’m your only shot at getting revenge for your mother.”

  He chuckled. “It is always fun betting on the underdog. That is you, in case you needed clarification.”

  “I’m aware of that.”

  “Why have you finished with your tricks?” He swayed from side to side in a hypnotic rhythm. “Have you given up so quickly? That hardly inspires confidence.”

  “I just thought I’d lure you into a false sense of security.” I smiled, gathering a powerful ball of raw emotion in the center of my chest, dragging every sensation into its core to boost it up. All my anger, my hope, my sadness, my faith, my love—all of the strongest emotions available to mankind. If he thought magicals were puny, he was about to get a taste of what we could really do.

  “I will not make it easy,” he purred. “My mind will not break quickly.”

  “I wouldn’t want you to. My real enemy isn’t going to, so why should you?” I held my ground and felt the swell of that ball of energy inside me. My cells and veins were jangling, the way they had back in the gargoyle box, sweat dripping into my eyes as I battled for control.

  Leviathan swept forward, moving at blinding speed. I staggered back into the glass to avoid him and slammed my head against it, but I kept hold of the ball of energy even though pain hammered at my skull.

  He lunged again, slashing his silver claws at my face. I feinted out of the way, gripping even tighter to that precious ball. I couldn’t drop it now—I couldn’t let it ebb away, or I’d be back at the starting line, and I didn’t know if I had the stamina to keep going.

  I was about to leap back up to my feet, when the lash of his tail caught me in the back of the legs, swiping me off balance and sending me tumbling to the ground. The air escaped my lungs as I hit the deck hard. I scrambled back up, but Leviathan had disappeared into a mist. Shadows danced behind the haze, making it hard to figure out what was real and what wasn’t.

  Leviathan exploded out of the fog, thundering right at me. I ran at him, skidding to my knees and sliding right past him. Blue and purple lights pulsated through the mist. I kept my eyes fixed on them, clawing breath into my burning lungs. I ducked rapidly as sparking orbs shot through the haze. Like homing missiles, they followed me wherever I ran, and the box wasn’t exactly big. One smashed into the glass as I darted out of the way, bursting into a flurry of blue sparks that transformed into icicles, splintering as they hit the floor. I let another of the orbs get that little bit too close, then leapt out of the way. It slammed into the glass, and purple sparks erupted, transforming into oily blobs that slithered as if they were alive.

  I kept my eyes peeled for Leviathan himself. He was lurking in the mist, waiting for his moment to strike. I almost missed his tail sneaking around my feet, but I jumped away before it could do damage. M
y heart was pounding now, blood rushing in my ears.

  I can’t do this for much longer. I was at the opposite end of the box now, as far from the door as it was possible to be, which meant I couldn’t call for Tobe.

  Holding on to the ball of energy in my chest was getting harder by the second. I needed to unleash it or lose it. But I couldn’t even see Leviathan, so how could I direct my energy at him?

  Pressing myself up against the glass, I tried to edge toward the door. The sparking orbs kept coming at me—blue, purple, red, green, white—each one containing a different horrifying entity. There were icicles, those oily blobs, vortexes of fire, clawing fronds of barbed seaweed, and flashes of bright light. My legs were already torn up from the barbed seaweed that had clamped around my ankles and thighs and had sunk their thorns into my skin.

  I tried to duck away from a white orb, a fine sprinkling of dust falling into my eyes. The pain was instant, spreading across my face like a rash, itchy and sore and stinging. My head ached, my limbs felt like stone, and this ball of energy in my chest was about ready to disintegrate me from the inside out.

  I screamed in pain as another round of barbed seaweed clamped around my stomach, piercing right through the thick leather of Finch’s jacket. Another orb exploded. Something thick and wet and sticky landed on the bare skin of my neck. I felt something slide across my throat, cold and creeping, and a strange pressure pushed down hard on my windpipe. Not this again. I lifted my hands to try and scrape the oily creatures away, but the blobs covered my fingers, their unexpected strength working like glue to sandwich my fingertips together.

  This is it… I’m dying here…

  Something smacked me in the back of the legs, bringing me to my knees, right where Leviathan wanted me. I couldn’t see, and the pain was only getting worse. However, I sensed Leviathan approaching from the right-hand side, my other senses working overtime to compensate.

  “Do you submit?” His voice echoed nearby. “I confess, I thought you’d be a more worthy adversary.”

  “Never!” The word came out raw and ragged, booming out of my throat until I tasted blood. “I’ll never submit! I’ll never give up, as long as my heart’s still beating!” The glass around me vibrated with the sheer volume of my voice.

  “How…?” Leviathan trailed off.

  “I. Will. Never. Give. Up!” I screamed, the box trembling, the aftershocks shivering through my legs. “Do you hear me, Katherine? I’m never backing down!”

  Leviathan had gone completely silent. Did I do it? Still blinded by the dust of the white orb, I had no way of knowing.

  Seventeen

  Katherine

  Showtime.

  I turned back the sleeves of yet another cream ensemble, sick of them dragging in everything I encountered. Coffee, ink, mysterious dirt—everything. All these shades of white were just begging for stains. It really had to be the most impractical color, especially for someone who, through no fault of her own, seemed to be a magnet for blood and assorted viscera. Granted, Isadora and Suri had definitely been my bad.

  Satisfied with my reflection in the mirror—well, as satisfied as I could be when I had to stare at Imogene’s boring face—I left my office and headed for the infirmary. I’d really gotten into the swing of the SDC and my directorship. As it turned out, it didn’t matter where you were, places like this were always the same. They wanted a leader, they followed a leader, and they did what they were told, begging for instructions like griping schoolkids. What could I say, they loved me. After Levi and his total incompetence, who could blame them? I’d come along like the savior that I was and brought them all back from the brink of complete embarrassment. It really would’ve been a mess without me.

  Then again, the world was. But that’d soon be changing.

  I pulled a sour face as I stepped into the infirmary, bombarded by the clinical glow. Hospital lights were the most unflattering in the world, no question.

  Scanning the empty main ward, my eyes fixed on Levi and Jacob. Morning, my darlings. I hope you’ve been behaving yourselves. I chuckled to myself as I crossed the room toward them, but I paused just short of Levi’s bed. Something was up. I could sense it, like smelling burning toast right before a stroke. My gaze shot to Levi, who was wriggling beneath the covers like a worm on a hook. He definitely seemed more conscious than he had yesterday. Well, that’s a problem.

  “Leonidas?” I said, peering closer.

  “Im… Imogene?” he rasped back. Yeah, not good. The sucker was conscious, when he was supposed to still be out cold. I hated unexpected events, and this was way up on my list of inconveniences. I was glad I’d managed to get to him before anyone else could. There was no sign of the German, and the blinds were down in his office. Sleeping on the job, Krieger? Tut, tut. I was actually pretty impressed that he’d been able to go back in there, after the bloodbath I’d made of his workspace. That was German efficiency, right there. I wasn’t about to smother Levi with his own pillow, though it did cross my mind. But I had to be careful now, after the close call with Isadora and Suri. Another death with me nearby would be way too suspicious. Pity.

  “Leonidas, can you hear me?” I sat down beside his bed with a concerned expression, playing Imogene to perfection. Oh, the tenderness. Just call me Mother Theresa.

  He blinked his eyes open. “Imogene?”

  Yes, we’ve been over that. I was Imogene, he was him, and I wasn’t about to go in pointless circles. “How are you feeling?”

  “Strange.” He writhed as if he were in pain. I glanced at his intravenous drip, wondering if I should up his meds. Not that I had any idea how to do that. Magical supremacy was one thing, medical stuff was another. I’d be as likely to kill him as take his pain away. Although, maybe, if that just happened to be the case, and that jumping green line just happened to flatline, I’d get away with it. I could pin it on Krieger and his exhaustion after losing Isadora. Doctors made mistakes all the time, and even Krieger could slip up.

  “Strange how?” I decided against it. It was too much hassle, fiddling with knobs and whatnot.

  He shook his head. “It’s nothing. I’m okay. I’ll be okay.”

  “That’s good news,” I replied, putting on that clipped voice that I despised. It was sexy as heck coming from Davin, with that delicious British accent, but he made it sound natural. Imogene was upper-crust American, and for me, it was a chore.

  “How long have I been out?” He struggled to sit up, and I let him. His hands looked particularly clammy, and I didn’t want to get within ten feet of those sweaty palms. I’d evaded him at enough drunken Christmas parties to know it’d take a tank of Purell to get rid of his cold touch.

  “Several days.” I did my best to look worried. “Are you sure you’re feeling better? You look very pale. Can I get you some water?”

  He gaped at me like a beached fish. “Several days?”

  “Yes, you took quite a hit.”

  “From… From Raffe?” He furrowed his brow, and I could almost see the cogs whirring as he tried to piece everything together.

  “The djinn,” I corrected. “Raffe is very distressed by the entire incident.”

  His face contorted, his hands balling into fists. “Everything’s a bit hazy.”

  “I’m sure it is. Are you sure I can’t fetch you something? You seem to be in a great deal of pain.”

  “No, I’ve got it under control,” he snapped back.

  “I was only asking.” I feigned hurt, though I didn’t give a hoot what he said to me. He’d get all the appropriate punishments when I ascended. And it took a lot more than a snappy tone to wound me.

  He sighed. “I’m sorry, Imogene. I’m not… quite myself.”

  “That is only to be expected after what you’ve been through. You had us all extremely worried.”

  “What happened, exactly?”

  I sat back in the chair. “Where do I begin? It would seem that the djinn took over control of Raffe and tried to harm you. Jacob and Lou
ella managed to save you and bring you here before any severe damage could be done. Dr. Krieger has worked tirelessly to ensure you were healed. From what I have heard, the djinn attempted to crush your skull with his bare hands, which is absolutely horrifying.”

  “I thought I dreamt that,” he said sadly.

  “Then, I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news.”

  “Not to worry, someone had to tell me,” he replied. “Has anything else happened since I’ve been out?”

  I bit my lip, putting on a good show of apprehension, even though I was absolutely gagging to tell him everything. This was going to be deeply satisfying, to make him see just how incompetent he really was. The jester of the coven world. A total laughingstock. I hadn’t even had to use any of my pills on him—he’d made all of those mess-ups by himself. Oh, I was going to enjoy this, and, frankly, I needed a bit of fun. My meeting with Davin had stolen my mojo a bit, and I needed a decent ego boost to get things back on track. This would do the trick, and then some.

  “I’m afraid it has,” I said, squeezing the brim of a tear into my eyes for good measure. “Isadora is no longer with us, alongside a poor human who was caught in the crossfire. Shortly after the incident with Raffe’s djinn, Katherine managed to infiltrate the SDC and murdered Isadora and the poor human girl in cold blood. She was masquerading as Ms. Bonnello, which allowed her to perpetrate this awful tragedy. To make matters worse, she took the detector, and knocked dear Jacob unconscious as she escaped. I attempted to stop her, but she was much too strong for me. My own wounds are still healing, though I imagine the ones inside will take far longer to heal.” I brushed a fingertip across my cheek, more to make sure the cut was actually still there than anything else. Imagine if I’d accidentally healed it! Fortunately, I could still feel the ridge of it, slicing across my cheek. Perfect.

  “What?” Levi gasped, just the way I’d wanted him to.

  I nodded. “It is terribly sad. We were forced to tell the girl’s parents that she died during a fatal mugging, though we can’t release her body to them as of yet. They are devastated, as are we. I believe Jacob had some feelings for the poor thing, so perhaps it’s best that he doesn’t know what happened to her.” I paused. “What’s more, Katherine’s influence continues to grow, now that we are reaching the end of her rituals. With only one left, it’s all rushing toward us at a rather alarming pace, and we’re struggling to keep up, in order to stop her. I’m getting increasingly worried, so I’m grateful that you’ve finally regained consciousness. We can use all the help we can get.”