Harley Merlin 15: Finch Merlin and the Everlasting Vow Read online

  Still shaking like Jell-O in a tumble dryer, I stared out through the locked terrace doors at the city and had to wonder: What fresh hell had I gotten myself into?

  Eight

  Finch

  I had to lie down. The bed still felt too weird—it wasn’t my bed, and it smelled all… feminine. Not Ryann-feminine, either, so I kept well away. But if I didn’t lie down, these knees were going to buckle. Sinking down, I stretched out on the floor and stared up at the ceiling. My heart raced and my lungs burned. It was as close to an out-of-body experience as I’d ever come.

  Trying to implement some haphazard meditation techniques, I’d just slowed my heart down to a normal pace when the bedroom door opened again. My heartbeat skyrocketed, all my good work undone in… well, a heartbeat. I braced for a whirlwind of royal excuses about recalibration and whatnot. Instead, three figures appeared, looming over me. Luke, Melody, and Nash stared down at me like aliens who’d abducted me and laid me out on a slab for observation.

  "Who let you in?” I murmured.

  “The guard. I think he’s new, so he just let us through the hex shield, after we explained we were your friends. Kaya told him we were allowed to visit, but I don’t think he knew about the supervision part,” Melody replied.

  I nodded slowly. “Good… that’s good. I need a minute.”

  “Any particular reason for lying on the ground?” Nash sounded vaguely concerned, while Huntress padded over and put her head on my chest. I stroked her soft fur, letting the repetition calm me. There was definitely something to be said for emotional support dogs.

  I closed my eyes. “Marriage.”

  “Say no more.” Nash offered a faint chuckle, but I was too far in my own head to come up with a witty retort.

  “Nash has some news that might cheer you up.” Melody came into the conversation, and my eyes opened a crack. She nudged Nash in the ribs.

  “I do?” He frowned at her.

  She sighed and gave an uncharacteristically sassy eye roll. “Yes, you do. Apollo?”

  “Right.” Nash nodded. “Princess Kaya gave me access to him, so I’m following that avenue of interrogation.”

  I blinked up at him. “Is that why you’ve got a Mike Tyson tattoo on your face?”

  He touched his fingertips to his cheek, as if he’d forgotten the garish blue set of wings emblazoned on his skin. “Kaya gave this to me. It’s a mark of authority, which means I can pretty much go anywhere and not get hassled by royal guards. You should probably make sure you copy it when you leave the room.”

  “Copy that,” I replied.

  “Yes, that’s what I said—you’ll need to copy it.”

  I groaned. “My jokes are wasted on you.”

  Nash dropped his hand from his cheek. “Anyway, I learned a thing or two while I was talking to Apollo.”

  “You did? Color me intrigued.” I didn’t quite have the energy to sit up, but I was getting there. The power of humor.

  “I found out Apollo’s father hasn’t had that monogrammed knife for a long time,” Nash continued. “His wife hated them. Thought they were an insult to their marriage, so like any good husband, he dumped them—the knives, not his wife and child.”

  “Where did the knives go?” I pressed, more energized by the second. This was definitely positive news.

  “Well, being the shrewd businessman he apparently is, Apollo’s father decided to bet them while gambling. He lost, and the knives ended up in the hands of a man named Bacchus.” Nash glanced over his shoulder at the closed door before continuing. “This Bacchus guy is a shady individual, from what Apollo said. Pawns everything he wins. And I’ve got a lead for the pawnshop he uses in the Trench.”

  I squinted. “The Trench?”

  “Yeah. Nickname for the area of Atlantis where the ne’er-do-wells hang out. It can’t all be glitter and palaces, now can it?” He fumbled with the top button of his shirt.

  “There’s always a gray area,” I agreed.

  “That’s pretty much the last known location of this knife, before it almost ended up turning Kaya’s heart into a kebab.” Nash puffed air through his lips. “But, since you’ve gotten to the stage of cabin fever where you’ve started lying on floors, I’m guessing you’re going to be the one to follow up on that lead.”

  I shook my head. “No Ephemera, no escape. Don’t worry, though, I’ll probably start climbing the walls next, which’ll make a refreshing change. I plan to see this bedroom from every single angle before I get frog-marched down the aisle.”

  “That’s where me and my good news come in!” Melody delved into the pocket of her fluffy jacket and produced a bronze ball. It looked like something you’d find in the dankest depths of a city dump, all rough metal and patchwork shards of glass, smooshed together in a vaguely orb-like shape.

  “A new ball for Huntress to fetch?” Some more life flooded back into my veins with this latest dose of optimism.

  She giggled. “It may not look pretty, but it’s going to work. This is the Ephemera we talked about, made entirely from scratch!” She gazed adoringly at her lover-boy. “Luke helped me with the metal parts, since we didn’t have much handy in the way of tools. It’s incredible what you can do with Magneton abilities and some old-fashioned elbow grease. The glass parts were the trickiest, but we realized we could use filaments of wire from some of the lamps to solder the shards together. Sort of like stained-glass windows… only they’re not colorful or beautiful. But you get the picture.”

  “I thought it’d be smaller.” I dragged my body into a sitting position.

  “It can be! That’s the beauty of having a wealth of transformative spells at my disposal. Watch.” Melody jiggled excitedly and sent a wave of rainbow magic into the Ephemera. Which, frankly, would probably give Nash tetanus before we were done with it. The moment the rainbow tendrils slithered into the orb, the entire thing shrank to the size of the Eye of Erebus around my neck.

  Luke beamed proudly. “You did an amazing job, Melody. She really did think of everything. She even put in extra canisters to collect Chaos, and an additional power source so we can use it a few times, instead of just the once.”

  “Beam me up, Scottie.” I stuck out my hand, now fearing that I’d be the one in need of a tetanus jab. I’d forgotten this part of the Ephemera thing. One jabby little needle, poking into my skin and sucking out my sweet, sweet Chaos.

  Melody knelt beside me and pressed some sort of button on the haphazard ball of scrap metal. Instead of one needle, five sprang out. The thing looked like a rusty porcupine. It took all my old-Finch determination not to yank my hand away.

  “Déjà vu, anyone?” Nash cast me a knowing look.

  “Hey, at least we knew your needles were sterilized first,” I shot back. When we’d needed his vials of blood, I hadn’t hesitated to stick him like a pin cushion. How the tables turned.

  Melody put a hand on my shoulder. “I made sure they were completely disinfected, with another spell I found in my mind palace.”

  I smiled back at her. “Huh, so you really did think of everything.”

  “I’m nothing if not prepared. You know me.”

  She pressed the orb into my palm before I had the chance to wuss out. My eyes scrunched up as the needles bit, siphoning out my Chaos and filling five canisters with my abilities. Silver strands weaved through the metalwork, visible through the soldered glass. I didn’t understand the mechanics of this, but I trusted the little chipmunk. If she understood the inner workings, that was enough for me. And if there were five canisters, that meant I had five potential chances to get the hell out of this room! That was worth a stab in the hand, any day.

  “All done!” Melody chirped, taking the ball away and pressing the button again. The needles retracted, still bearing a faint glint of my blood. Ugh… I looked down at my palm, which displayed a pentagon of bright red dots.

  “Now what?” Nash folded his arms across his chest. He was doing me a massive favor, but he wasn’t happy about
it.

  Melody slid the shrunken ball onto a chain and looped it around Nash’s neck. Jewelry really didn’t suit him, even the rough and ready kind. He eyed it warily before looking back at Melody.

  “You might want to tell him what he has to do with it,” Luke prompted.

  “Right, of course!” Melody gave her forehead a dramatic slap. “Nash, if you wrap your hand around the Ephemera and press the first red button on the side, it’ll start working. It may feel a bit strange at first, but it shouldn’t take long for you to get used to it. I promise the Chaos will last until Finch gets back from following up on this pawn shop lead.”

  Nash shook his head slowly, as if he couldn’t believe he was doing this. “You promise?”

  “I swear it. Cross my heart,” she chirped, making the customary action with her finger. “And I’ll stick with you, as Finch, to lessen the chances of Kaya catching on to what we’re doing. Finch is… well, he’s… uh… he has a lot of… um… unique quirks, but if Luke and I are here to help, then we’ll be able to run interference if she starts to get suspicious.”

  I raised an eyebrow at her.

  “What? You do have a lot of unique quirks!” Melody protested. “And Nash is funny in his own way, but I’ve never met anyone with your particular sense of humor, so we’ll have to do some improvising.”

  “Suits me, as long as I get out of here for a while,” I replied. I could almost taste freedom. “Besides, you’ve been around me for long enough now, Nash—I’m sure you’ve picked up a thing or two. You’ll have Kaya rolling in the aisles before I’m halfway to the Trench.”

  Nash balled his hands into fists. “I’ll have something rolling, if this all goes south.”

  “It won’t. Trust in the immense wizardry of Winchester.” I could barely contain my excitement. “Now, why don’t you grip that Ephemera real tight so we can get this show on the road?”

  Nash lifted his hand and wrapped it around the small orb. “Why do I feel like I’m going to regret this?”

  “Because you’re a pessimist.” I smiled and delved deep, hoisting up a rippling wave of powerful Mimicry. My cells jittered, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as the Mimicry worked. It swept across every inch of my skin, slightly cold, and tingly like static electricity. I made sure to remember the new tattoo on Nash’s face so I wouldn’t get caught due to my lack of detail.

  I knew when the job was done because Luke’s and Melody’s eyes widened in shock. Always the same impressed reaction. It never got old. But Nash’s face… I could’ve framed that. He gawped at me, his eyes bugging out of his head. Even Huntress gave me a confused head tilt as she looked between me and the real Nash.

  “Your turn, if you can stop gawking for a second.” My voice was a perfect copy of Nash’s, making him turn a shade paler.

  Nash pressed the first button of five. Silver light erupted from the Ephemera and slithered into his chest like a ravenous serpent. His veins glowed, showing the trail of my Mimicry moving inside his body. A few seconds later, a pulse burst outward and a shimmer bristled over him, undulating like a mirage before the transformation set in. His stubble disappeared, and his seasoned features took on a fresher appearance. His clothes and his build and his stance all followed suit, changing to fit the Finch aesthetic. Soon enough, I was standing in front of me, and he was standing in front of him.

  “This feels… weird,” he said, then he yelped. “My voice! What happened to my voice! I’ve gone up an octave!”

  I glared, knowing it’d look even more withering with Nash’s eyes. “My voice isn’t that high.” Although, I had to admit, I kind of liked this gravelly undertone. Very husky, very jazz bar, very masculine.

  “I don’t like this, Finch.” He turned to look at himself in the nearest mirror and immediately spun back around again. “Maybe I’ll skip mirrors for a while. Kaya will definitely smell a rat if I have a heart attack every time I see my reflection.”

  “Please don’t change your mind.” I heard the hint of desperation in my new voice.

  Nash’s expression eased up. “I’m not going to, Finch. But don’t take advantage of this. Do what you have to do, enjoy the freedom, and get back here. No detours. And Huntress is going with you, so I’ll know if you do something stupid.”

  “No detours,” I lied. “No stupid things.”

  “This is weirding me out.” Luke shuddered. He looked at Melody. “Is it weirding you out?”

  She observed us both—Nash and me. “It’s… going to take some getting used to.”

  “I might have to leave every so often, so I don’t keep staring and give the game away,” Luke said nervously. “Plus, someone has to check in with Ryann as often as possible. I’m happy to take that task if it means not tripping over my own tongue.”

  “Well, you’ve always got it sticking out whenever Melody’s around, so Kaya probably wouldn’t notice the difference,” I teased. “But it’s not a bad idea. On a more serious note, it’d make me feel a whole lot calmer knowing that someone’s taking care of Ryann.”

  Luke dipped his head. “Consider it done.”

  “Oh, one other thing.” I took a breath. I hadn’t realized it, but I’d been putting this off. “Kaya told me, before you guys arrived, that she’s going to make the engagement announcement tonight. That’s why I was lying on the floor. The room started spinning, so I figured it was best to be horizontal.”

  Everyone gasped.

  “Tonight?” Melody’s hand flew to her mouth. “But that’s so soon! I thought she’d deal with the Apollo business first, which was why she put Nash on the task. Oh goodness, I’m so sorry. You must be so stressed out!”

  Nash froze. “Wait… you are going to be back before then, aren’t you? I’ll do my best to trick Kaya, but I don’t think I can keep this up in front of a whole audience!”

  “I’ll be back by then,” I promised. “But I just figured you guys ought to know where we are, and that things seem to be hurtling toward the altar.”

  “That sucks, Finch.” Luke offered a sympathetic look. “But we’ll get you out of this. We promised, and we’re not going back on that.”

  I smiled. “Thanks.” My smile turned into a grimace. “The trouble is, I’m going to have to tell Ryann. Which is why I might need to take one detour, if that’s okay with you, Nash?”

  “Of course,” he answered, looking crazy uncomfortable in my body. “That kind of news should come from you, even if Ryann doesn’t know it’s coming from you. With Lux still hijacking her body, it’d be best if you kept pretending to be me when you tell Ryann.”

  I was worried you’d say that… It made sense, but it would take every ounce of willpower I had not to reveal myself so I could have a moment with the woman I loved before things went insane. We hadn’t counted on a timeline this fast. I still planned to get out of it, but I had to plan for the worst-case scenario. And I definitely wasn’t going to any engagement party without letting Ryann know exactly how I felt about her. Even if it had to come from Nash’s mouth.

  Luke scoffed. “Lux will have a field day when she hears this.”

  “But Ryann…” I said, my chest clenching with sadness. “Not so much.”

  No, this was going to break my damn heart. I just hoped it didn’t break hers, too.

  Nine

  Finch

  I felt as though I ought to be humming the theme to The Great Escape or something, the kind of movie favored by grandpas and fugitives alike. I was out! These feet of mine—well, mine covered in a layer of Nash—touched new ground with every step, none of which belonged inside Kaya’s solitary bedroom. I should’ve been hitting the roof with giddiness, but… what was there to be giddy about, when I had to go and tell the woman I loved that my engagement was being announced tonight? An engagement to someone else completely.

  How was I even going to do this, especially wearing Nash’s face and voice instead of mine?

  Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door of one of the many gue
st rooms in this labyrinthine palace. This was the room my trusty trio had told me Ryann stayed in.

  “Who is it?” Ryann’s voice echoed back, her tone faraway and tinged with sadness. My heart clenched, and I wasn’t even through the door yet.

  “Nash,” I replied in his voice. Huntress stared up at me with her icy blue eyes, but I didn’t have Nash’s connection to her, so she could’ve been asking me for dog chow for all I knew.

  An odd pause stretched out before she spoke again. “Come in.”

  I turned the handle and stepped inside, Huntress padding in beside me. Ryann sat by open French doors, a faint breeze making her hair flutter around that beautiful face of hers. Forget Helen of Troy. Ryann could’ve launched a thousand of my ships, if I had any. I adored everything about her face, from her magical blue eyes which could render me hypnotized without warning, to her strong yet elegant nose, to the deep Cupid’s bow of her upper lip. And the freckles… man, I could sit and count them as if they were constellations, and if I missed one, I’d just start over.

  “Nash?” She tilted her head, and I realized I’d been staring.

  Right… I’m not me. I have to do this the way he’d do it. Honestly, this sucked. I wanted to run to her and scoop her up and smother that sad face in so many kisses she’d need an oxygen tank. But if I did that, looking like Nash, she’d probably have doused me in pepper spray before I even got close.

  “Thought I’d come and check on you.” I fumbled with the edge of my Mimicry-forged plaid shirt, the way I’d seen Nash do a thousand times. “You were missed.”

  Ryann turned her face away. “It’s better this way. I don’t want to make things harder for Finch than they already are, you know?”

  “I know.”

  “And if I just stay here, I won’t end up blipping on Erebus and Davin’s radar,” she continued, as if she was trying to convince herself. “It’s not like doing anything to me will change what’s happening—we all know this is Kaya’s decision. It’s certainly not Finch’s.”