Harley Merlin 6: Harley Merlin and the Cult of Eris Read online

  “You think Naima is your way in?” Astrid pressed.

  Finch nodded. “She’ll be our best shot. She’s the Recruiter, after all.” He paused. “Now, there’s Kenneth Willow to deal with, once we’re actually in the cult. He’ll be loitering around, for sure. He hangs on Katherine’s apron strings like a leech. Since he didn’t manage to get hold of Giverny Le Fay, like you told me, he’ll be doing his best groveling to get back in Katherine’s good books.”

  “How did Kenneth get out of prison in the first place?” Tatyana asked. “I know they took him to a higher security prison in LA after he was in our cells for a while, so he could await his trial, but how did he escape?”

  “He tricked the guards and killed them,” Astrid replied. “I read it in some of Smartie’s files, but they wanted to hush it up so people didn’t get freaked out. He’s been loose for a while.”

  “Would’ve been nice to know,” Finch muttered.

  “My question is, why did Kenneth want Giverny?” Astrid asked. “I have my guesses, but I’d like to be sure.”

  “She’s got some special ability that Katherine really wanted for the last ritual,” Finch said. “Her main goal has been to seek out rare magicals, at any cost, to get all her ducks in a row. You should see some of the abilities she has in her crew. It’s insane. And, from what you’ve said about these kid-snatchings, she hasn’t let up on getting the crème de la crème.”

  I remembered how it’d felt to be briefly under Giverny’s control, when we’d gone to her for the Light blood. “Maybe she was after Giverny’s Hypno power?”

  “I’m not sure of the specifics,” Finch replied. “There might’ve been something else she wanted.”

  Astrid nodded thoughtfully. “Makes sense, considering the nature of the last ritual. Katherine needs twelve powers, and I’m guessing they can’t just be ordinary ones. Otherwise, it would be too easy.”

  “Yeah, that would explain why she’s been hunting out all these magicals and killing off the ones who aren’t powerful enough for her.” I grimaced at the memory of those poor kids who’d been savagely murdered by Katherine and her minions. She likely needed the rarest of abilities, which were only gifted to a sparse number of magicals. I cast a nervous glance at Jacob and Louella, who seemed equally on edge. If that was the case, there was every chance they were still on Katherine’s radar.

  I toyed with the pendant around my neck as I remembered the danger that Jacob had been in at the Smiths’, and how Katherine had used me as bait to get to him. Imogene’s gift sat alongside the St. Christopher necklace that the Smiths had given me, both pieces of jewelry giving me strength. My mom’s replica alongside the gift from the only kind parents I’d ever known—or could remember, at least. I realized they’d likely be back from Hawaii by now, and I should probably drop in on them at some point. Be a good adopted daughter.

  “Bingo.” Finch smiled. “She’s gathering magicals to sacrifice so she can take their powers at the end of the game.”

  “Kenneth isn’t all that powerful though, right?” I got my head back into gear. We had to focus on what we could control now, in the hopes that Katherine would never reach that endgame position.

  “He can’t even get murder right,” Finch said.

  Wade shook his head. “Not particularly, although he’s good with hexes. He’s needy, which is probably why Katherine keeps him around. She knows he’ll do absolutely anything she asks him to. Like killing her son.” He cast a glance at Finch. “Kenneth is a functioning psychopath, but that neediness toward Katherine will work in our favor. We just have to play him right.”

  “And what about Shinsuke Nomura?” I hadn’t forgotten about him, though I’d tried to forget what his father had done to me, shutting me out of my body and locking me in astral projection. “Preceptor Nomura tried to broker a deal for his freedom, using me. Do you think he might be open to persuasion if we can get to him?”

  Finch snorted. “A deal? Don’t make me laugh. Handing you over would have been about as useful to the mighty Hiro as a chocolate teapot. Katherine would never have returned Shinsuke alive to his father. She hates weakness of any kind. Parental weakness, particularly. Sins of the father, and all that. I suppose I should have realized.” His voice stuck again. “Shinsuke will know too much by now. No way she would’ve let him go.”

  “He’ll be too useful to her, too, I imagine,” Wade chimed in. “Even though he’s a known Mediocre, he comes from a family renowned for breaking away from that label and putting in the hard work to be powerful. Plus, I bet she feels really smug about having the son of Hiro Nomura in her ranks.”

  “Yeah, I don’t know too much about him. I was in prison before he joined her, I think. What’s his deal? Any juicy powers I should know about? I’m guessing not, since he’s a Mediocre by birth, but stranger things have happened.” Finch looked at me with a knowing expression.

  “I think he has a peculiar Earth ability,” Krieger said, plucking a file from one of his shelves and flipping through it. “Yes, here. I made a note about it after an evening when Hiro had spoken about his son. His Earth ability seems to be blended with a Magneton ability, which is highly unusual.”

  “See, stranger things,” Finch said triumphantly. “I knew there’d be another reason for Katherine keeping him around. I’d be interested to see how far he’s come under Katherine’s teachings.”

  “Anyone else we should worry about?” I was eager to know everything we were up against.

  “There’s one more,” Finch replied. “Her name’s Thessaly Crux. She’s the one we really need to be careful about. She’s a powerful Electro and mega loyal to Katherine. Naima might be her lieutenant, but Tess is like her second-in-command. She’s a total savage, suspicious of everyone—even me.”

  I frowned. “We met an Electro when we went to see Marie Laveau. She was with Naima. Do you think this Thessaly girl might be the same one?”

  “You went to see Marie Laveau?” Finch sounded stunned. “Why?”

  I smirked. “To break my Suppressor. I went through a lot to do that. Marie Laveau was just the tip of the iceberg.”

  Finch blew out and shrugged. “Well, I guess that Electro you met could’ve been Tess. She was the only Electro in the cult when I was there, so it’s pretty likely. Then again, she might have recruited more of them since I’ve been gone. It’s a rare ability, but Katherine’s been very busy hunting.” He paused. “Tess had a twin with the same power, Larissa, but she wasn’t as bright as Tess. She got killed in a mission to abduct more kids from LA. The kids were more powerful than Rissa had anticipated. Let’s just say it didn’t end well. Blood everywhere. Bits, too. You don’t want to know about the bits.”

  I shuddered at the thought. “So, Naima is our way in, since she’s the Recruiter. But how do we get in? Are we just going to waltz up to Fort Jefferson in disguise, knock on the door, and hope for the best?”

  Finch shot me a withering look. “Oh yeah, because that’d work. We need to be recruited by her. See, it’s in the name already. Recruiter. She’s intelligent, yeah, but she’s not as good with people as she is with Purge beasts. She’ll be the one most easily fooled. I wouldn’t know where to find her, though.”

  “You could always speak to Garrett,” Dr. Krieger suggested, closing his file and replacing it. “He’s working with the LA Coven these days, isn’t he? They’re likely to have more knowledge of Naima’s whereabouts than we are.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, we got some intel that the National Council knows about one of Naima’s playgrounds.”

  “Yes!” Jacob suddenly stepped back and forged a rapid tear in the fabric of the universe, disappearing through his portal. He returned a few minutes later, while the rest of us stared at the empty space in shock. Only, this time, he wasn’t alone. Garrett stood beside him, looking very confused. His eyes drifted across the room and stopped short at Finch.

  His mouth fell open. “What the—?”

  This was going to be good.

&n
bsp; Seven

  Finch

  “Jacob!” Harley looked like Jacob had just smacked her in the face with an octopus.

  Wow, awkward much?

  He shrugged. “Everyone keeps saying we’re running out of time. I figured we need as much help as we can get.”

  I kind of liked this kid. He had guts. I just wished he hadn’t dragged Garrett into this. Man, it felt like I was going on a date or something. My stomach was twisting up with nerves. I hadn’t seen Garrett in weeks, and even when he’d visited, things had been tense. Not that I was going to spill my guts out now. Not in front of these people.

  “Even so, you could’ve warned us first,” Harley complained. She clearly didn’t like surprises. Killjoy. “Someone in the LA Coven could’ve seen you! Not cool, Jacob.”

  To my surprise, Mr. Rule-Follower Wade Crowley was the one to defend the kid. “Hey, he’s the captain of calculated recklessness. And he’s right, we’re running out of time.”

  “Yeah, and I wasn’t seen. I made sure.” Jacob smiled proudly. Anyone would have thought he’d just solved world peace.

  She shot him a look that could melt steel. “Still, you could’ve said something first, Jake.” Ah, so it was “Jake,” was it? I didn’t know too much about him, other than his rare ability. I knew he’d been on Katherine’s list, and I was pleased she hadn’t managed to get her paws on him. You can’t have everything, Mother dearest.

  “Does someone want to tell me what he is doing here?” Garrett pointed a shaky finger at me. The elephant in the room. “Tell me you weren’t actually stupid enough to break him out of Purgatory.”

  “Surprise!” I gave him my best jazz hands, but he wasn’t amused. The SDC really had lobotomized this bunch.

  “It was a… calculated risk,” Harley replied.

  Garrett shook his head. “If anyone gets wind of this, and I mean anyone, you’re screwed. If you get caught, that’s a life sentence, no parole.”

  Well, hello to you, too.

  “That won’t happen, Garrett,” Harley replied. Ever the optimist. “We covered ourselves. Astrid helped, and so did the rest of the Rag Team. Everything’s in place, and nobody is any the wiser. Do you hear any alarm bells ringing?”

  Garrett pinched the bridge of his nose in a way that made him look like a weary old man. “Not yet.” He let out an equally ancient sigh. “So, what do you want from me? I’ve just left a briefing with the National Council, so I’m pretty beat. Don’t give me the long version, because I don’t think I want to hear it.”

  I stayed silent after that nice rebuffing. I might as well not have been in the room. It’d probably have made Garrett a whole lot happier. Whenever I looked at him, I was reminded of what I’d done. I’d put this distance between us, and I’d have done anything not to have dragged him into Katherine’s plan. He’d said it was okay last time I saw him, but I didn’t believe that. Out of everyone, I regretted betraying him the most. I was pretty much ambivalent to the rest of them.

  All of this was surreal. I’d always been at Katherine’s side, pretending to be part of the SDC. Now, I was truly at their mercy. Which was probably no less than I deserved. Part of me still wondered if I should be left to rot in Purgatory, yet I couldn’t see myself ever going back there. I’d made my promises, but I didn’t intend to keep them. My mind was already on the brink of insanity, reminding me that I needed to take one of the pills in my pocket to smooth out the edges. But these pills wouldn’t work for much longer if they threw me back inside. Another stretch in Purgatory and they may as well have kept me in an asylum instead.

  “We need you to tell us where Naima is, Garrett,” Harley said. Yes, Sis, right to the point.

  Garrett plopped himself down on a stool. “We’ve got our sights on her and one of her favorite haunts for recruiting. The National Council is in the middle of debating what to do about it. That’s all they seem to do—talk about things and never actually do anything, but what do I know? I just sit and listen.” Someone was feeling disenchanted with his new position.

  “How do you know all of this?” Astrid asked. Her eyes had brightened the minute he’d come into the room. Aw, bless her heart. Even so, there was something weird about the human. Half the time, I wondered if the SDC was experimenting with androids. She definitely hadn’t been like this before. Had something happened to her? I was so out of the loop. And I didn’t think Garrett would stoop that low. A non-magical? No way.

  He eyed her with an affection that made me curious and a bit nauseous. “There’s someone inside the cult who’s feeding us information: locations, identities, that sort of thing,” Garrett said. “It’s going to take us a while to verify everything we’ve received, to make sure it’s not coming from some kind of double agent. And the National Council really loves spending a lot of time farting around.”

  Harley grinned. “If they’d been smarter, they would’ve come to us for help. Astrid would’ve verified everything in five minutes flat.”

  “I know she would’ve,” he replied softly, “but they want to keep the SDC out of everything. Seriously, it’s almost comical how they keep saying, ‘But we have to make sure Levi doesn’t know about any of this.’ It’s like a running joke.”

  Garrett, dude. There was definitely something going on between him and Astrid. He got all giddy whenever he looked at her. I supposed it was okay, as long as he was happy. Right? But he could’ve done so much better than a measly human. She was about as impressive as my right armpit. Not that I was in any position to give romantic advice. Adley had loved me unconditionally, and I’d treated her like a tool for my own benefit. She’d come to me, wanting to just do normal couple things, and I’d just keep talking about work or trying to persuade her into doing something for me. She never said she minded, but I could always see how disappointed she was that we weren’t… well, ordinary.

  I couldn’t even remember taking her out to a movie or dinner. It had always been work, or digging up this info, or that info, or standing her up because Katherine had sent me an urgent message. I’d always tried to make it up to her, but I hadn’t been the best boyfriend I could’ve been, even though I loved her so much. I really did. I’d look at her and want to do those normal things, but Katherine was so embedded in my brain that I couldn’t properly see what I had in front of me. In the end, I’d used the woman I loved, and she’d died because of it. Adley’s death weighed on my shoulders. It always would.

  “You want to tell us this location?” Harley pressed. All business, all the time. I didn’t know whether it was useful or irritating. Time would tell.

  Garrett nodded. “Her favorite recruitment spot is a bar called Azarius. A dive, really, in Salem Coven’s jurisdiction. Katherine is spreading her net wider than we thought. Anyway, it’s in an interdimensional pocket like Waterfront Park. I can give Astrid the coordinates.”

  “That’d be good,” Astrid replied. Her voice was oddly empty. You picked a lame horse, buddy.

  Harley smiled. “Okay then, we have the location, and we have Ephemeras to sneak into the cult, although we still need to finish making those. The only other thing to do now is prepare an alibi. Wade was right about the Orisha duplicate—I don’t want to put that sort of strain on Santana, and we can’t have the duplicate fizzing out while I’m away. We learned that the hard way last time, and we want to keep Levi’s nose out of this.”

  “Any thoughts?” Wade replied. He’d gone all gooey too. It was sickening. All of them were at it. Dylan had his steroidal arm around Tatyana’s shoulders, the Mexican was leaning against Raffe’s chest, and the rest were making goo-goo eyes at each other. Ugh, pass me a bucket.

  “An idea came to me earlier, but I wanted to see what you thought of it.” She beamed at Wade, just as nauseating. “I thought you could stay here with Finch in one of the storage rooms of the infirmary. Meanwhile, I’ll go and speak with Imogene.”

  “Imogene?” Wade didn’t sound convinced. I remembered her well enough. Nice lady. Killer legs. Sharp
mind. Knew how to wear a dress. Totally wasted on the California Mage Council, of course. She was the only decent one among them. And I’d heard she could be a bit feisty when she needed to be. My sort of woman. Although, she’s not Adley. My mind had pulled me up again. There’d never be another Adley as long as I lived. That woman would have done anything for me. She would’ve gotten me out of this mess, if I’d just asked her. She always told me I could be more, that I didn’t need to do these things, and I’d refused to listen. Hindsight was a total kick in the nuts.

  I remembered sitting with her over coffee, and her pleading with me to go to a therapist. My behavior had been erratic, to say the least, with bursts of anger and bouts of depression. She wanted me to see what I’d become, because she said it was miles away from the man she’d met and fallen in love with. I kept telling her she was being controlling. And now, all I wanted was to sit across from her again and look into those big eyes of hers and watch her red lips move as she spoke and laughed and teased me. I wanted to lean over and kiss those lips, the way I’d done a thousand times, taking it for granted that I’d get to again. Those were the moments where everything else fell away, when I kissed her and held her. I forgot what I was, then. Now, I just wanted to sit and listen to what she had to say about her own life. I’d never listened. And now, I’d never get to.

  Harley nodded. “I was supposed to go and speak with her about my abilities, after the Suppressor break, anyway. She might be able to give me a solid alibi, and I’ll just claim it’s for an assignment or something. She hates Levi as much as the rest of us, but that doesn’t mean she won’t say anything. I’ll come up with an excuse that makes her keep it a secret.” Her gaze drifted across the rest of us. “The main thing we need to remember is, Levi has to stay in the dark about all of this.”

  Ugh, Levi… A scrotal paramecium that I hated more than anyone. He had the brain capacity of a toad. How he’d weaseled his way onto the Mage Council still remained a mystery. Money, probably. Had it not been for the Atomic Cuffs during my sentencing, I’d have used my Telekinesis to throw that arrogant ass like a rag doll, until every bone in his body was broken.