Harley Merlin 11: Finch Merlin and the Lost Map

by Forrest, Bella

  “Don’t do that, Luke,” Melody said softly.

  He looked puzzled. “Do what?”

  “Antagonize him,” she replied. “Can’t you see he’s tired?”

  “We’re all tired,” Luke retorted.

  “I know, but he doesn’t look like he got any sleep at all. I don’t know what’s gotten into the pair of you, but you don’t have to snipe at each other all the time. You’re not in competition, remember? We can all make it through.” Her tone wasn’t patronizing, just honest. And Luke didn’t make any more comments, so it must have gotten through to him.

  After an hour, I was back in the rhythm of failure. Pouring, mixing, crying, dumping—like a kindergarten sandpit for wannabe mapmakers. That sound will be the death of me. Or, at least, my ears. The crying didn’t get any easier to deal with, and I hadn’t found any wax. I’d thought about jabbing a candlestick in each ear, but common sense had won today. Tomorrow might be a different story.

  “Here, I thought you could use this.” Melody approached with a steaming cup of coffee. I took it gratefully, but I paused as I brought it to my lips.

  What if it’s you? What if you’ve poisoned it?

  “Can you take a sip first, to check if it’s too hot? I think I ate something I’m allergic to. My lips are on fire, and I don’t want to burn them right off,” I lied, handing the cup back.

  She chuckled and blew on the rich, black liquid. How could someone be so innocent? The mind boggled. Tentatively, she took a sip and held the coffee in her mouth before swallowing. “Not too hot, not too cold. The Goldilocks zone of coffee.” She passed it back with a winning smile.

  “Thanks for that.” I took my first sip, like a man possessed. Caffeine…

  “No problem. I don’t usually drink coffee, so I imagine I’ll be buzzing soon.” She grinned and leaned against my bench. “Mom and Dad never allowed anything that could be considered addictive.”

  “I’m not going to have Winchesters banging on my door, blaming me for their daughter’s caffeine addiction, am I?” I took another gulp, praying it’d wake me up. Playing with chemicals while borderline catatonic wasn’t a good idea.

  She shook her head. “I hope not.”

  “How are things going?” I nodded to her workbench, where Luke sat scowling at me.

  “Terribly. Etienne said this was about logic, but there’s no logic to this whatsoever. How can there be, when he hasn’t given us any clues? If we knew the properties of these chemicals, it would be much simpler.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “You sounded like you were rattling off everything there was to know about them yesterday.”

  “I know where they come from, and how they affect the human body, but I don’t know which ones cancel out the others. My knowledge of chemistry still has some gaps, it would seem.” She gave a sweet sigh. “I can’t understand why he hasn’t given us any information. In the real world, we’d have books to aid us. So why not here?”

  “I guess it wouldn’t be as much of a challenge.” I gave a wry chuckle.

  “What are you talking about over here?” Luke finally gave up his scowling and came to investigate. Or keep tabs on Melody. Poor sap. He would have a hard time in life if he couldn’t let the girl he liked chat with other people for more than a minute. That was major stalker territory.

  “How impossible this trial is,” I replied. “And the evils of caffeine.”

  Melody giggled. “Finch asked me to make sure his coffee wasn’t too hot. Who knew it could be so delicious? Then again, everything here is.”

  “Do you think there’s something in the water?” I mused.

  “Magic, you mean?” Melody’s eyes widened.

  I shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “Are you okay?” Melody turned suddenly to Luke. “You feel agitated.”

  Ah, the perils of falling for an Empath. Wade had been through that proverbial gauntlet, and it hadn’t ended so badly.

  Luke stiffened. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just… this task, you know? It’s frustrating the heck out of me. Every time someone fails, we all suffer when those trees start wailing. I don’t know how much more I can take.”

  “You know what you can do to make it stop?” I met his gaze.

  “What’s that?” He walked right into my freshly laid trap.

  I smiled sweetly. “You can give up. Walk out of here, leave the island, and never listen to those trees again.”

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” A muscle twitched in his jaw.

  “Moi? Of course not. I’d hate to see Melody all on her own, without her big, bad bodyguard to keep her safe. That’s why I saved your wet lump of pottery.” I paused for dramatic effect. “But you’re more than just her bodyguard, aren’t you? At least, you’d like to be.”

  Melody gasped. “Finch! That’s nonsense!”

  Luke’s cheeks reddened.

  “Is it, Luke?” I taunted him more. “I might not be an Empath, but I don’t have to be.”

  My assholery served a purpose. Luke was gaga for Melody—Tiresias himself, the blind prophet of Apollo, could’ve seen it. And he seemed set on antagonizing me. I needed to use those traits to my benefit. First, to get a confession out of him that he was Davin’s spy. Maybe Davin had threatened Melody’s life, and that was how he’d ended up doing Davin’s bidding. Secondly, I just loved pushing this guy’s buttons.

  “I think we should get back to the trees. Someone still hasn’t woken up yet, by the looks of it.” Luke’s voice held a warning. “He’s babbling like an idiot.”

  Melody followed him back to their workbenches, looking confused. The cogs were definitely whirring in that incredible mind of hers. For someone so smart, she wasn’t bright in the field of love. She had to be naïve not to see how much Luke adored her. I hoped she didn’t get caught in the crossfire if Luke was Davin’s spy.

  I shook myself. I couldn’t fixate on Luke. Really, it could be any one of these people. I’d seen enough to know appearances could be deceptive. Appearing like good folks didn’t mean they weren’t hiding dark secrets. Davin had tricked far nicer people in his time.

  * * *

  After the second day’s epic failure, I worked right through the night and into day three. Mr. Abara and Blanche joined me in the all-night brigade, though they’d passed out around four, waking every time the saplings sobbed. I’d kept at it, and now I felt loopy, like I didn’t know reality from dreams anymore. Which was probably why I was high-pouring arsenic into a tumbler like a cocktail wizard and singing “The Final Countdown.”

  Staying entertained kept me marginally sane as the pressure mounted. I was nowhere near mixing the poisons right. Luke had stopped biting when I taunted him. Kenzie still hadn’t come back. And Davin’s spy was out there somewhere, watching and waiting.

  As if summoned, the rest of the challengers walked in, with the exception of Melody. The Basani twins went straight to their workbench, whispering in hushed tones. I carried on with what I was doing, keeping my ears pricked.

  “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Shailene murmured.

  Fay nodded. “I think so. I’m still rusty with the Morse code. And it was foggy on the sea last night.”

  Morse code? What?! Had they been talking to someone? My chest gripped with dread. Who had they been talking to?

  “What if it’s not right? What if he was wrong?” Shailene urged.

  Fay shrugged. “At least it’s a start. It’s not like I could say a whole lot. If you want to be sure, you learn Morse code.”

  He? What he? My mind went into overdrive. Naturally, my first thought was Davin. People didn’t always need power in order to make a deal with him. I mean, he was usually the one pursuing the power. But what if he’d made them an offer they couldn’t refuse? Money, maybe? I wasn’t sure what might be tempting enough to make them tick.

  I watched the twins intently, until Shailene looked over and I dropped my gaze like a damn stone. I had to keep my eye on them, that was for sure. If they had
someone helping them from the outside, that rang a massive alarm bell.

  “Are you okay?” Melody walked in with coffee, followed shortly by the rest of the challengers. Without being asked, she took a sip before handing it to me. “You don’t look okay. Did you know that exhaustion can have the same effect on the body as alcohol?”

  “I didn’t.” I took the coffee and downed half in one go.

  “Too much coffee isn’t good for you either. Have you been at this all night?” She sounded worried.

  “Oh yes-indeedy, not that it made a difference. These trees keep on crying, and I keep on torturing them. I started out feeling sorry for them, but now I just want to put them out of their misery.” I didn’t know if it was fatigue or paranoia or what I’d just heard from the Basani twins, but I found myself staring at Melody as I drank the coffee. As if something on her face might make her stick out as the spy. What if the twins were too obvious? What if I was getting my wires crossed? I couldn’t rule anyone out just now.

  “Have you come up with anything yet?” I asked.

  “Not yet,” she replied.

  “You haven’t found any secret books that contain the answer?”

  She looked away quickly. “Books? Why would I have found a book?”

  “I don’t know. You seem to know a lot about poisons, and I doubt that information is just in your head.” I toned down the intensity so it wouldn’t look like an outright accusation. Although, she was definitely acting shiftier. “I figured you like to read, so a book would be your go-to.”

  “Nope, I haven’t found any book, and I haven’t found any solution,” she mumbled.

  Mr. Abara groaned. “You’re not the only one. None of us are any closer to finding the formula.”

  “I’m starting to think you were right.” I lifted my mug to him, still trying to seem normal. “What if Etienne is messing with us? I mean, it feels like this is a setup for failure. He waltzed on out of here and has probably been giggling himself stupid in his study, thinking of all the screeching we’ve put ourselves through. For nothing, I might add.”

  “I don’t like violence.” Mr. Abara padded over to join the coffee crew. “But, if that’s the case, I might have to throw one punch. For honor’s sake.”

  “Get in line.” I laughed wearily. “Is the room spinning, or is it just me?”

  Melody patted my back. “It’s you, Finch. Why don’t you take a break, at least until you’ve finished your coffee?”

  Take a break? Why would you want me to take a break?

  “I’m seeing colors.” I stared up at the lights, which were ringed in fog.

  Melody frowned. “Are you colorblind?”

  “No.”

  “Then, you can always see colors.” She stifled a giggle.

  “I mean, I can hear colors. Ah, dammit, I don’t know what I mean.” I sagged against the workbench and propped myself up on one hand. “This task has finished me off, lads and ladettes. I don’t know how anyone gets to be a mapmaker, frankly. I wonder what Etienne’s pass rate is. Zero, probably. Hey, do you reckon that’s why he ended up with this place, because he’s the only one who ever passed?”

  Mr. Abara grimaced. “If that is true, maybe there will be two punches. If he stands between me and my goal, I’m not going to be happy. It is more important than a set of trials.”

  “Changing the world, right?” I smiled up at him.

  “Precisely.”

  “That can’t be an easy task, though, can it?” I started along a line that I hoped might make him slip up. “You’d need backup to put something that huge into action.”

  Mr. Abara’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

  “It’d take power and resources, wouldn’t it?”

  “Not necessarily,” he said stiffly. At least he was meeting my gaze, but that didn’t mean much. It might have been a ploy—being bold to make me think he had nothing to hide.

  “No? So, you’re in this solo?” I arched an eyebrow. I remembered him saying he worked in a cell.

  Mr. Abara folded his arms across his chest. “There is a cell of us,” he confirmed. “We all have the same goal. I’m just the one finding a safe haven.”

  “Who else is in your cell?” I pressed.

  “You wouldn’t know them,” he answered gruffly. Tension bristled between us. He clearly didn’t like me asking so many questions. But why? Surely, he should’ve been all too happy to tell all about his savior work? He seemed willing to do a lot for his cause. Maybe Davin had offered to help him with his task in exchange for him being a spy. That kind of power and influence couldn’t be sniffed at, and I knew Davin had ties to the upper echelons of magical society. Their money could’ve helped Mr. Abara a hell of a lot.

  “So, you don’t have sponsors or anything like that? Charitable aid, that sort of thing?” I tried to keep my expression as casual as possible.

  “We don’t welcome outsiders. They can’t be trusted.” A glisten of sweat shone on his upper lip. A sign of deceit, maybe?

  “Map-making wasn’t always like this, you know. They taught it freely in the olden days, but I suppose there were more places to discover,” Melody chimed in. It smacked of a diversion tactic. “Magicals used to use it to find objects and artifacts that had been stolen during conflicts or lost over time. So, I suppose you could say they used it as more of a complex tracking spell, which was probably why less secrecy surrounded the art.”

  “Greed is a powerful motivator,” Mr. Abara said. “The desire to hoard a treasure and make people jump through hoops to get it, for the sake of making it elite. That is why I don’t associate with that sort of person, Finch.”

  Melody nodded slowly. “I agree with you, to some extent, but sometimes it’s important for places to stay hidden. If map-making wasn’t so difficult to access, then those places wouldn’t stay hidden for long. They’d be overrun by people. Is it important to you, Mr. Abara, that the place you’re looking for remains a secret to the majority of the world?”

  “It is,” he replied, visibly mulling it over. “I suppose you’re right. If map-making were free to all, there’d be no place like the one I’m looking for. You’re wise beyond your years, Melody. Very smart.”

  “Having these trials weeds out the time-wasters, too,” Melody went on. “You need a dedicated cause to go through this. I think we all have one, or we wouldn’t be here.”

  Mr. Abara smiled. “If I fulfill my cause, I’ll die a happy man.”

  And what would you give for that cause? And what would you give, Melody, to find your hidden place? The light in Mr. Abara’s eyes was intense with hope. But hope could lead to desperation. Making a deal with Davin wouldn’t mean his heart wasn’t in the right place. Look at what I’d done with Erebus. And Mr. Abara certainly looked like a man with a mission. I didn’t exactly know what a lost oasis had to do with child soldiers, but if he knew, then he’d do everything to achieve that.

  “There’s one place on Earth that has never been mapped. It’s called the Last Unknown. That’s why I’m here,” Melody explained. “It has a lot of other names, in many different languages, but the Last Unknown has a ring to it. It makes me feel like an explorer, discovering the last true mystery on our planet.”

  “If it’s unknown, how do you know it exists?” Mr. Abara asked.

  “There are countless legends surrounding it, and I’ve always found them fascinating. It’s ancient—even the old magicals of bygone days only whispered about it. And, if it exists, it can be found by map-making.” She gazed at Mr. Abara and me, and I realized the two of us had leaned closer, drawn by the mystique.

  “What’s special about this place?” I asked. Maybe that would give me an indication of where Melody’s motivations lay.

  Melody nodded. “It’s wrapped in myth, so nothing is certain, but… we have reason to believe it’s where the last true-blooded descendants of the Primus Anglicus lived.”

  I snorted. “Inbreds, you mean?”

  “No, not inbreds.” S
he rolled her eyes, amused. “There were many clans and global branches of the Primus Anglicus, so they wouldn’t have had to inbreed. It’s thought that they fled there to escape persecution. It’s likely ruins by now, after so many centuries.”

  “Who was persecuting them?” Mr. Abara seemed equally intrigued.

  Melody rubbed her chin. “Nobody knows. It could have been other magical factions, or self-preservation of the true bloodlines. We can’t know, because no one ever found where they went."

  “Do you think the gods who used to live here might’ve gone there?” I pointed to a statue of Hermes precariously balanced on an upper balcony. What if Davin was searching for old bloodlines?

  “Again, nobody knows. It’s the last true mystery.” She smiled, clearly reveling in our interest.

  A more interesting mystery than the one I’m dealing with. I could’ve listened to her all day, if I had the luxury of time. I was still fumbling in the dark with the formula, and everyone seemed suspicious. Even Oliver seemed suspicious, simply by working alone. He hadn’t really made any bonds with anyone. Was that on purpose? Was he keeping to himself, so he didn’t slip up and reveal he was the spy?

  I looked back at my workbench, pretty disheartened by the trials, the spy, all of it. I’d created every formula combination I could think of, writing them down as I went along, and the saplings blubbered at every attempt. Like they were mocking me.

  For the first time since starting these missions for Erebus, I was genuinely stumped. No light at the end of the tunnel, no leads to follow. I really didn’t know if I could pull this off. Options and time were quickly running out. It boiled me up inside. I needed to succeed, for all the usual Erebus-related reasons—i.e., him hurting people I cared about. I needed to find Davin’s spy before they decided to take me out. And I needed to free myself from Erebus’s service, or I’d only have more of this to look forward to. But I was no closer to achieving any of it.

  “Finch?” Melody peered at me. “Are you okay? You disappeared for a minute.”