“And that was the last one?”
The parrot bobbed its head. “Last one! Last one!”
“How much do I put in the soil?”
It rubbed its face against mine. “Big! Big tree! Small! Small tree! No problem!”
“I owe you, Kenzie!” I smushed a kiss into the parrot’s feathery head. “I mean it. When I get back to San Diego, I’m buying you whatever you want. Name it, it’s yours. Crap, crap, crap, you actually did it! You absolute beauty!”
“Go! Tick-tock, tick-tock! Go!” the parrot croaked.
“You’re coming with me, right? This is all you—you’ve got to see if this works.” I lifted the parrot onto my shoulder, but she flapped off to the window.
“Ryann!” it cawed.
My heart lurched. “What?”
“Ryann too!”
“Ryann helped you?” Stupid, tired tears brimmed in my eyes.
The parrot nodded. “Go! Waiting! Go! Tick-tock!”
She’s waiting? I didn’t have time to decipher what Parrot Kenzie meant.
“Go!” it croaked, its feathers ruffling.
“All right, I’m going!” I headed for the door. On the threshold, I turned back. “Thank you. You’ve saved me from going insane. Thank her, too, when you see her.”
The parrot chirped. “Thank her yourself!”
“Now you can do full sentences? Unbelievable.” I flashed a smile. “Wish me luck.”
“Good luck! Punk!”
Laughing and crying in a weird mania, I sprinted out of my room and back to the workshop. I wanted Kenzie to come with me, but I understood why she’d flown away. Etienne would suspect cheating if I suddenly turned up with the formula and a parrot. Still, I wished she could see her work come to fruition. Literally.
Her work and Ryann’s. Knowing Ryann cared was definitely a nice little boost. I couldn’t help the spring in my step.
“You’re supposed to be sleeping,” Mr. Abara scolded the moment I burst through the door and ran for my workbench.
“I had a power nap, I swear.” I grinned up at him and started racking up bottles in a neat line, in the right order. “And it worked wonders.”
Everyone’s necks craned to look at me.
“What do you mean?” Melody peered over. “Did you figure it out?”
I laughed like a madman. “Let’s find out, shall we?” Terrified someone might try to stop me, namely Luke or the Basani Boasters, I hurried to create the mixture, but not so fast that I’d make a mistake. Keeping a steady hand, I dropped various liquids into the beaker, sticking to the instructions.
As the last drop of sea serpent excretion fell into the mix, I frowned at the beaker. It was bright red. You sneaky French snake… Etienne had tried to lead us astray, giving us the wrong color.
“Good luck with that,” Shailene taunted.
“It’s red, dumbass. It’s meant to be blue. That’s all Etienne gave us,” Fay cut in.
I met their gaze. “You think that was a clue?”
“Of course it was,” Oliver chimed in. “That’s what we’ve all been aiming for.”
“Exactly. If you think he gave us any clue, you’re playing the wrong game.” I picked up the beaker, swirled it, and dumped the whole thing into the soil. Just as Kenzie had said—a big amount meant a big tree, a small amount meant a small tree, and I wanted the biggest damn tree I could get. Just to rub Etienne’s face in it.
Immediately, the trunk grew thick and spiraled up, and didn’t stop until it reached a good seven feet. The branches extended outward like a ballet dancer’s arms, leaves growing along them. And those sobbing, wailing little seedlings swelled, no hint of sorrow. The fruits puffed until they hung like big, orange balloons, around the size of a kid-friendly bowling ball, and the branches sagged under their weight. The scent changed, too, going from that foul, decaying smell to a sweeter, citrusy aroma.
“That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” I whooped and hollered until my throat went hoarse. “Finch Merlin, knocking it out of the friggin’ park!” It wasn’t polite to gloat, but this felt unbelievably good. Relief washed over me like I’d taken a nosedive into the Ionian Sea. I could already taste the drink I’d toast my victory with. Of course, I’d think of my little birdies and have a glass for the pair of them. I couldn’t have done this without them.
“You’ve got to be kidding.” Shailene gaped at me.
“How did you do that?” Fay added.
Oliver nodded. “How did you know Etienne was pulling our legs with the blue thing?”
“He made it clear we need to figure everything out ourselves,” I replied, punching the air like a man possessed. “He never intended to give us a helping hand, in any way, shape, or color.”
“Will you give us the recipe, before Etienne comes back?” Blanche got up hesitantly.
“Yeah, share the love,” Luke demanded. “You wouldn’t even have a plant if Melody hadn’t saved it. You owe us.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “Oh, do I? I thought this was every man, or woman, for themselves. You didn’t seem keen on sharing ideas before.”
Screw all of y’all. I had my favorites, sure, but any of them could be Davin’s spy. Trust no one, and never be disappointed. That had been my mother’s motto, but it rang true. I couldn’t risk that British oxygen thief getting his mitts on the map-making skill before me. Every person eliminated from the island narrowed my suspect pool.
“What, you’re not going to share?” Luke challenged.
“That’s not good sportsmanship.” Oliver folded his arms across his chest.
I shrugged. “You’ve got the same tools as me. You’ve still got time—figure it out for yourselves.” They didn’t have a nifty little parrot with all the intel, but they didn’t need to know that.
The atmosphere changed as everyone huffily returned to their work. I’d become persona non grata, which was fine by me. After all, I wasn’t here to make friends. I was here to get myself out of Erebus’s servitude. Preferably alive.
I was admiring my freshly made orange tree when footsteps sounded. I looked over to see Melody, Blanche, and Mr. Abara making a beeline for me.
“Torture me all you like; you won’t get the recipe.” I was only half joking.
“No torture here, boy.” Mr. Abara grinned. “Just wanted to congratulate you. Well deserved. You’re the only one who managed to stay up through the night. If this win belongs to anyone, it’s you. You worked hardest. It’s only fair.”
Oof, nice guilt trip. And he didn’t even realize.
“My sentiments exactly. You’ve earned this.” Blanche nodded, though she looked nervous. “I’m not gonna lie, I wish you would help us, but that would be cheatin’. What would we learn? Nothin’. I just hope I can manage it in time.”
Melody patted me on the shoulder. “You see what a little rest can do? You were working too hard, frying your brain. You just needed a bit of sleep, and your mind did the rest. The mind is wonderful like that. I’ll never stop being fascinated by the way it can piece things together.”
“I couldn’t have done it without the coffee.” I flashed them a guilty smile.
“I might have to break my promise to my parents as the deadline gets closer,” Melody replied. “Perhaps coffee is precisely what I need. I’m usually good at puzzles, but this is unlike anything I’ve ever had to contend with. Give me a crossword, and I’d have been out of here two days ago.”
“If I don’t make it, promise me you’ll use that map-making for good?” Mr. Abara sounded so sad I almost gave him the recipe there and then. He wanted to save child soldiers and change the world, for Pete’s sake. At least, that was what he’d told me. It could’ve been a lie, and even if it was true, that didn’t mean he wasn’t the spy. So, I held my tongue.
“Hey, you’ve all got it in you, somewhere,” I said. “The day isn’t over. You’ve still got time to get it right.”
Mr. Abara brightened. “I haven’t given up yet. I’m not starting now.”
“That’s more like it.” I smiled, feeling like crap.
“Let’s show Etienne what we make of his tricks.” Melody giggled, a bit of fire back in her voice.
Blanche nodded. “At least Finch has given us one thing.”
“What’s that?” I frowned.
She smiled wide, her eyes twinkling like that wild young woman of her heyday, causing a ruckus wherever she went. “At least now we know it’s red.”
Twenty-Seven
Kenzie
I might’ve left Finch to it, but I wasn’t ready to Morph out of there. I’d helped him with the formula, but he had another, bigger monster to wrangle—Davin’s spy. And he couldn’t go snooping himself with these trials going on. The best thing about folks staying in a monastery under the searing Greek sun? They left their windows open. AC hadn’t reached this island, which worked just fine for me.
Still in parrot mode, I flew the monastery’s perimeter, searching for the rooms of the other challengers. A hallway connected Finch’s room to another branch of the residential setup, its windows open to let the breeze in. I almost flew past it, when a familiar figure made me land on the ledge and hop into the shadows. Etienne himself. He paused beside an alcove in the corridor. A second later, a monk emerged from the darkness, giving me slimy sidekick vibes.
“Have you any updates for me?” Etienne whispered, casting a glance up and down the corridor. He missed my vantage point completely.
The monk shook his head. “No, sir.”
“Have you kept an eye on him?”
“I have, sir. He’s spent most of his time in the botanical library. I believe he took a brief respite but has since returned to his task.”
“Do you know if he’s any closer to solving the formula?” Etienne shot another look down the hallway.
“He seemed exuberant when he ran past, but he has otherwise been morose. So, it is hard to say,” the monk replied.
“Have you noticed anything strange? Anything that might tie him to Erebus?” Etienne pressed.
The monk paused. “No, there haven’t been any recent breaches or odd behaviors. He hasn’t tried to go to the underground chambers since we found him and Luke wandering around down there. Either he is very sneaky, or he is telling the truth about Erebus.”
“Hmm… continue to watch him and come to me if anything changes. I must know the instant he solves the formula, if he does manage it.”
“Of course, sir.” The monk bowed and hurried down the hallway. Etienne also went on his way, traveling in the opposite direction of his monk friend. I darted through the window and followed him at a safe distance, keeping to the high ceilings, where I could hide at a moment’s notice.
I trailed him through countless halls and passageways, until he halted outside a narrow wooden door. The surrounding wall looked slightly curved, like a spiral staircase that might lead to a tower or a spire. I hung back in the rafters as Etienne unlocked and opened the door, slamming it behind him.
What’s he up to… and what the hell is up there? I flapped down to the door to see if I could jostle the handle open. But my beak and talons weren’t good enough. I’d reached a dead end. I tried to listen through the keyhole, in case I heard him talking… either to himself or someone else. But silence came back.
Even so, his behavior was suspicious. He’d watched Finch all this time, though his monk clearly hadn’t been as thorough as he claimed, or he’d have heard me squawking. But why was he watching Finch, and who was he watching him for? Himself? Davin? I wouldn’t get any answers right now, though Etienne might reveal his true colors once Finch solved the formula.
Back to plan A. I found an open window and soared out. Etienne reeked of ulterior motives, but that didn’t mean he was spying on Finch for Davin. After all, if he was, he would’ve known Finch still worked for Erebus.
Flying back to where I’d entered the hallway, I swept along the outer wall until I found the first room belonging to one of the other challengers. It would be hard to sift through their stuff with talons instead of hands, but I had to make the best of it.
I knew instantly that this room belonged to Melody, from the array of fluffy jackets in her wide-open closet. You could tell a lot by a person’s room, even on first glance. Melody was messy—seriously messy. Clothes, books, and jewelry lay strewn everywhere. The bed was unmade, with last night’s pj’s flung carelessly over the twisted sheets.
I scoured the place for anything of interest. My beady parrot eyes spotted a journal on the desk, and I quickly flew to it. Using my beak, I flicked through a couple pages, but found nothing interesting. Just a blow-by-blow of what she’d done with her day, down to what she’d eaten and the products she’d used to wash her face.
Disappointed, I bent over the edge of the desk and tugged the drawer handle until it skimmed open. Another book lay inside. I hopped down and flicked it open, using my talons to brace the page. Weird writing covered the paper in neat handwriting. I wracked my brain but couldn’t identify the language. A flat, bottle-green lens sat beside the book. Curious, I picked it up in my beak and dropped it on the page. Nothing happened.
Perhaps I didn’t have the right tool to read it. I knew about lenses like this, which could unravel a code or translate a language. Harley and Finch had used one on the Merlin Grimoire, back in the Katherine days. But no way could I crack it in parrot mode. All of my Chaos abilities were back in San Diego, stuck in my real body. I couldn’t channel through my feathery friend.
Still, it was a start. Finch would definitely be interested to hear about it. Although, how would I communicate this level of detail to him? Maybe I’d have to lead him here physically, so he could check it out himself.
Could Melody really be the spy? From what I’d seen of her, she wouldn’t say boo to a goose. Then again, that might make her the perfect spy—nobody would suspect her. I did an idiot check of the rest of her room. There were no other oddities to speak of, unless you counted her fashion sense.
Exhilarated that I might’ve actually found something important, I moved on to the next room. This must belong to Mr. Abara. It was as regimented as the man himself. And he didn’t have much. One of the monks could’ve told me the room was unoccupied, and I’d have believed them. Mr. Abara had a spare T-shirt, some fresh underwear, and a pouch of coal, but not much else. There were pictures, too. Shrivel-edged Polaroids of grim-faced kids in dirty, torn clothes, some wearing military caps. A couple tried to smile, but it looked like they’d forgotten how.
That supported his story but didn’t mean he wasn’t hiding something. I ransacked his room as discreetly as possible, worming into every nook and cranny I could find. Nothing in the drawers, nothing on the tables, and nothing on the desk, other than his military cap. I’d seen him with a notebook, but I couldn’t find it—he likely had it on him at all times, which was annoying. Ransacking a room was one thing, but plucking a notebook from someone directly might get me in trouble.
Reaching his closet, I hopped onto the top shelf and riffled around in the dark. My talon hit something solid, and the sound of skittering metal followed. I’d knocked it right out of the closet to the floor.
Fluttering down, I landed beside a signet ring. It boasted a big diamond in the middle. Not strange, considering Mr. Abara’s skillset. But this didn’t look new. And it didn’t look like something he’d wear, either. In fact, I’d seen a very similar one on Finch’s finger, though his had a red stone. I’d asked about it once, and Finch just gave me a vague reply of, “It gets me from A to Z.” Which meant it had to be some sort of portaling stone. But why would Mr. Abara have one? And who was on the other end?
Once again, frustration nagged me. I didn’t have the right skills to use the ring now. But it definitely wasn’t normal to have a personal portaling stone. I picked up the ring and stowed it away so Mr. Abara wouldn’t notice it missing and freak out. I didn’t want any potential spies jumping ship before I’d told Finch.
So far, I’d searched tw
o rooms and found two secrets. I thought about going to Finch immediately, but I needed to check the rest, in case I found something more damning. After all, a ring and a strange notebook could mean anything. It was better to be thorough, and have all the intel, before I went to Finch. Though relaying everything would wear out all the vocab this parrot had.
I found the next room. It wasn’t immediately obvious who it belonged to. Very neat, very tidy, everything in its place. The only weird thing was the cage underneath the window, where two pigeons cuddled together. Who likes birds? I couldn’t remember anyone specifically mentioning them.
I set to snooping. I pried open the wardrobe first and found prim cardigans and crisp blouses. Stylish but demure. The Basani twins wouldn’t have been caught dead in stuff like this, which left Blanche.
I flew to the desk. A packet of elegant stationery lay on the surface, with a cartridge pen beside it. Very Blanche. Peering closer, I tried to make out the indentations in the top piece of paper. I’d seen people do that in spy dramas. If I’d had hands, I could’ve brushed over it with a pencil or something. But I lacked fingers… and a pencil, for that matter. So, it all just looked like nonsense.
Other than that, and some makeup items in pristine order, Blanche didn’t have much going on. A disappointment. But I’d find something else in one of these rooms… I just had to keep looking.
The door opened. Panicking, I flapped behind the curtain above the desk and shrank as much as I could. A monk entered the room. Did Etienne have monks watching everyone?
However, as the door closed, the monk’s skin rippled. The robes and shaven head disappeared, revealing Blanche. She had come back, using her Shapeshifting to avoid notice.
Shouldn’t you be in the lab?
From my vantage point, I couldn’t see much of the room. Just the desk and the path to the door. Blanche headed for the desk and sat, making me shrink farther into my hiding spot. She picked up the pen and started to write. Intrigued, I peered through the gap in the curtain and watched.
Dear D, the letter began. My heart almost burst in my feathery chest. “D” could only be one person, given the secretive context. Blanche had been way down on my list of possible spies. It was all I could do not to squawk in shock. My mind raced. I had to know what she was saying to that creep.
Harley Merlin 11: Finch Merlin and the Lost Map Page 21
