Harley Merlin 8: Harley Merlin and the Challenge of Chaos

by Forrest, Bella

She nodded slowly. “I shouldn’t have been listening. For as long as I can, I won’t say anything.”

  “Thank you, Louella.” I fed a strand of Empathy toward her to make sure there was no deception coming off her. All I felt was sadness and exasperation, but no hint that she wouldn’t keep her promise. “You really should go and get some rest. You look exhausted.”

  “I could say the same about you,” she replied, with a small smile. I had to admit, I wasn’t feeling too peachy. My head had started to bang for real, and my stomach was still churning. Maybe it was just tiredness, the stress and strain and grief making me ill. Not that I was planning on taking a break anytime soon.

  I chuckled bitterly. “Thing is, I couldn’t sleep, even if I wanted to.”

  “I don’t blame you.”

  “But you should try, if you can.”

  Louella smiled. “I could probably use a bite to eat, to keep my strength up. And the Banquet Hall has chocolate eclairs today, which is always a bonus. Do you want anything?”

  “No, thanks.”

  “Okay, well… I’ll be back in a bit. I’ll bring you something just in case. You should eat, even if you don’t feel like it. Mrs. Devereaux always used to say that whenever I was in one of my funks.” A flicker of pain washed over her face. “I might see if I can take a power nap after, but I’m not counting on it.”

  “It might do you some good.” I kept forgetting that she’d already lost two people she cared about, on top of Isadora. With foster kids, when things went wrong, we always ended up feeling like we were the jinxed ones—like anyone we got close to would somehow get snatched away. I guessed that was why she was so intent on fixing Jacob.

  I watched her leave, wishing she’d had a better life than the one she’d ended up with. She reminded me a lot of myself, and I hoped with all my heart that she’d never lose her fighting spirit. The foster system made us tough, but we had our limits, same as anyone else. I didn’t want the hand she’d been dealt in life to make her cold, the way I’d seen it do to others like her.

  Spinning around on the hospital chair, I turned to look at Levi, who was in the next bed over. He was still deep in unconsciousness, the heartrate monitor beeping steadily. I hated those things, but at least it meant he was still alive. I didn’t know if Raffe would be able to handle it if Levi didn’t pull through this. They might not have been each other’s biggest fans, but Raffe hadn’t been the one who wanted Levi dead. That had been all Kadar. Still, Levi must have been more stable, since Krieger had stopped clucking around him like a worried mother hen. At this very moment, he was in his office with the door locked, no doubt trying to have a power nap of his own.

  “You in there, Levi?” I gave him a tentative nudge. He didn’t move. “Guess not.”

  “As a matter of fact, I am. And I don’t appreciate being prodded like a science experiment.” Levi’s eyes flew open, almost making me topple off my chair in fright. The voice coming out of him didn’t sound like the Levi I knew. It had a weird, gravelly echo to it, and the tone was deeper somehow.

  But that wasn’t the most unsettling part. At first, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I quickly realized they weren’t. Levi’s eyes were a bright, startling red, glinting like rubies, while a faint scarlet tinge had flushed across the visible parts of his skin.

  What the—!

  “You’re… You’re a djinn?” I had to choke the words out, my hands gripping the ancient vinyl of the seat. I was rooted to the spot in fear, not knowing whether to scream for help or try and restrain the beast myself. But he wasn’t moving, and it didn’t look like he was about to leap from the bed to attack me.

  “How sharp you are,” he replied sarcastically. All the djinn certainly seemed to have that tone in common. “And my name is Zalaam, not ‘a djinn.’ I find that highly offensive, though what else should I expect from a meager magical?”

  “But… how can Levi have a djinn?” I was still reeling from the shock, but I had the common sense to speed dial Raffe without Zalaam seeing, leaving the phone on call so he could hear all of this.

  “How do any djinn find themselves attached to mere mortals?” He shot me a withering look. “Leonidas and I were bound at birth, the same as all Levi men. It is their gift and our curse, unfortunately, forged many, many, many years ago by the will of a Persian warlock who took unfavorably to the comments of an unruly, impetuous member of the Levi clan. A trait that has not faded with time, from what I have witnessed. Not all djinn are fated to this, I hasten to add, and most exist autonomously. But an unfortunate few are forced into symbiosis with the men of the Levi family, as per the rules of the curse that was forged with Erebus. We do not get to choose as it is a lottery of sorts, but we must obey.”

  I stared into his red eyes. “But I’ve never seen you before. I’ve seen Raffe’s djinn, but… well, Levi never mentioned he had one, too. Unless he only lets you out when nobody else is around?”

  “‘Lets me out?’ ‘Lets me out?’ You dare to say that I, a mighty djinn, must be permitted my freedom of speech?” Zalaam glowered at me like he might have wanted to crush my skull like a watermelon. “I am as much a part of this body as Leonidas. I need no permission. I was reborn into this human form, my rich djinn essence dragged into his during a warped variation of a purge. I hold sovereignty just as much as Leonidas does.”

  This djinn was clearly proud, but that didn’t change the facts. “But how come we haven’t seen you? I don’t mean any offense by it; I just didn’t even know you existed. And what do you mean by a ‘warped variation’ of a purge?”

  “I existed before I was forced into this form, having been created by Erebus himself, but I was ‘reborn’ in this vessel. It is part of the curse. We call it a purge to keep it simple. Nevertheless, I had free rein to do as I pleased… until our true love died,” he replied tersely, though his eyes twinkled blue for a fleeting moment. “Grief works upon a djinn in strange ways. It allows the vessel to suppress us. Leonidas used that, the sneaky devil, until Raffe’s djinn almost succeeded in murdering him. As you can see, Leonidas has yet to awaken, but I am here, so who is the mightier one now? Hmph. And I have no desire to be suppressed again. I have been forced down for much too long.”

  “Your true love? You mean Raffe’s mom?”

  “An angel in human form. But, yes, if you must put it so crudely. She was more than Raffe’s mother, and she was more than Leonidas’ wife. She was the other half of my being, and she might still be alive today if she had not birthed that incompetent wretch. The manifested djinn was much too wild—the djinn wasn’t ready, and our love suffered for it.”

  I glanced down at my phone, but Raffe had ended the call. I was grateful he hadn’t heard that last part. Although, if he’d ended the call, then where was he?

  I found out a few minutes later, when the infirmary door burst open and Raffe came barreling into the room. No sooner had he appeared than his entire being changed, his skin flushing red and his eyes glinting scarlet. Smoke wisped away from his body. I braced myself for a fight, in case Kadar tried to kill Levi again. Instead, he staggered back as though he was scared for his life.

  “I said nothing to Raffe, I swear it to you.” Kadar’s voice hissed out of Raffe’s throat. “I kept your secret, as I promised I would.”

  “You impudent fool,” Zalaam shot back. “If you speak the truth, then how is it you have come here the moment I have awoken? Suspicious, is it not?”

  Kadar cowered. “I… Raffe found out. He heard you through the phone.”

  So Kadar knew Zalaam but had never let Raffe in on the secret? I had no idea why, but one thing was for sure: Kadar was freaking terrified of Levi’s djinn. Which meant Zalaam had to be one badass djinn, to instill that level of fear in someone as fearsome as Kadar. And I would’ve bet money on the fact that Zalaam wasn’t too pleased that Kadar had tried to have his vessel murdered.

  This isn’t going to end well…

  Eleven

  Harley

>   “He heard me through the phone?” Zalaam eyed me. “Would you care to explain, Harley?”

  It took a moment for me to find my voice. “You know me?”

  “I might have been suppressed, but I am able to see all that Leonidas sees and hear all that he hears. Now, would you care to explain?”

  I scrambled for a reply. “Uh… I must’ve called Raffe by accident.”

  “Don’t play me for a fool. Why did you call Raffe?”

  “I thought he should be here,” I replied, feeling genuinely worried. One djinn was bad enough, but having two in the same room was a recipe for disaster, especially as there appeared to be some serious beef between them.

  “That wasn’t your decision to make!” Zalaam snapped.

  “Why, because you’ve both been lying to Raffe all this time?” I shot a look at Kadar, who hadn’t taken his eyes off Zalaam. “I didn’t realize I was letting out some big secret.”

  “Foolish magical,” Zalaam muttered, before glowering at Kadar. “As for you, did you think you could get away with attempting to kill my vessel without any retribution? As if I would allow it. If Leonidas had not suppressed me so intently, I might have fought you to the death.”

  He tried to sit up, but it looked like Levi’s unconsciousness was having an immobilizing effect on the djinn’s movements. I guessed there really was a symbiosis between magical and djinn, made all the stronger over time. If Zalaam had been with Levi since birth, then it stood to reason that the two of them were intertwined even more than Raffe and Kadar—down to a more physical, cellular level, by the looks of it.

  The red flush faded from Kadar’s skin as Raffe emerged. A sheen of sweat glistened on his forehead, letting me know it had taken a lot of energy to regain power over his djinn. I sensed the two of them were going to be in an ongoing fight for supremacy during this encounter with Zalaam. Both of them likely had things they wanted to say.

  “Why did you ask Kadar to lie for you? Why didn’t my dad tell me he had a djinn inside him?” Raffe strode up to the bed and slammed his hands down on the rail. Kadar might have been terrified of Zalaam, but Raffe wasn’t backing down without some answers.

  “Kadar isn’t a name I would have picked. I would have said so, if Levi hadn’t forced me so far down.” Zalaam sounded miffed.

  “Well, that’s his name!” Raffe barked. “Stop changing the subject. Why did you ask Kadar to lie?”

  “It was for the best,” Zalaam replied, his tone softening slightly. It was a strange sight to behold. All of Zalaam’s pomp and circumstance had disappeared the moment he’d heard Raffe defend the name he’d given to his djinn. He wasn’t throwing “puny magical” insults around anymore, at least.

  “What the heck is that supposed to mean? Best for whom?”

  “For you, and for your father.”

  Raffe shook his head angrily. “I’ve never seen you. In all my life, I’ve never even heard a whisper that you existed. I want to know why. Is he ashamed of you? Is that it?” He gripped the bedrail, his knuckles turning white. “Do you realize how alone I’ve felt all these years, thinking I was the only one? It’s not like I could have asked my grandpa, since he died when I was, what, two? If I’d known about you, I could’ve… Things would’ve been different. I wouldn’t have felt like a massive freak, for one. My father has always acted like he’s scared of me and Kadar, or like he felt ashamed of us, when he had you all along! He was exactly the same, and he never said a thing! And don’t try and blame Kadar—I’ll be having words with him soon enough about this secret-keeping, you can count on that.”

  “Leonidas had reason to be afraid, Raffe. We both did.”

  I glanced at Zalaam. “What do you mean?”

  “Kadar is my son, in a manner of speaking. He became my son when he was ‘reborn’ in your body. The familial ties that bind you, bind us. I know what he is capable of. There is reason for fear. As for your grandpa, Raffe, you wouldn’t have wanted to know his djinn. Nasty piece of work. Made Kadar and me look like benevolent fairies.”

  Raffe stalled, like he was buffering. His body began to spasm violently, his skin shifting between his usual olive tone and the spread of crimson that let me know Kadar was pushing through. Eventually, the crimson won out, Kadar’s ruby eyes blinking as he forced his way in.

  “You are afraid of me? That is ludicrous!” Kadar spluttered. “All you’ve done is push me into a corner ever since I was purged with Raffe. I’ve spent my whole life fearing you because of how powerful you are. How can you say that I’m the threat?”

  The parallels were startling. Kadar and Zalaam seemed to be dealing with the same familial mess that Levi and Raffe were, with the father trying to suppress the son out of fear. I couldn’t wrap my head around it, especially as I’d never heard of Purge beasts being related. Were djinn somehow different from ordinary Purge beasts because of that “warped variation” Zalaam had mentioned before? It certainly seemed like it. Even so, why would Levi and Zalaam be so afraid of Kadar? Sure, he was powerful and scary, but Zalaam didn’t exactly give the impression of being some wilting wallflower.

  “Because you are,” Zalaam said simply.

  “Is that why Levi kept trying to stop Raffe from naming me? Was that your doing?” Kadar didn’t seem scared anymore, as he leered over the hospital bed. “You should know, better than anyone, that being named results in greater control from the vessel. If you were so afraid, you would have urged Levi to make Raffe name me. It sounds to me as though you are spouting garbage.”

  Zalaam sighed. “That was my fault. It had nothing to do with Leonidas.”

  Raffe poked through, the rapid blending of the two making my head spin. One minute, his skin was scarlet and his eyes were red, and the next, he was my friend again. Right now, however, I wasn’t sure which one of them was the most alarming. Both were furious, but Raffe definitely had the edge.

  “What do you mean?” Raffe demanded. “My father was the one to tell me not to name Kadar. And since I didn’t even know about you, how can you say that you were the one responsible? Are you trying to cover for my father?”

  Zalaam snorted. “Of course not. I do as I please. Indeed, that is how I sought to ensure that Leonidas would not encourage you to name your djinn. I manipulated Leonidas’s mind from within, unbeknownst to him, and pushed him to force you into not naming Kadar.” He paused. “I knew that, if you and your djinn found balance and managed to get along in a more amenable manner, you would easily be able to overpower me and Leonidas in combat. I did not even have the opportunity to emerge when Kadar attacked us the other day. That has always been a concern.”

  “So, are you saying this is all a freaking pride thing?” Raffe’s jaw dropped.

  “No, it was a matter of self-preservation.” Zalaam stuck out his chin. “While I may have a fondness for my son, I cannot accept being the weaker amongst the Levis. I will not.”

  Raffe narrowed his eyes. “This is a pride thing!”

  “No, it is self-preservation.”

  This is going to go around in circles. “Wait, you said you’ve been with Levi since birth, right?” I interjected, before the broken record could keep spinning.

  Zalaam eyed me curiously, as though he’d forgotten I was there. “That is correct.”

  “And every Levi man ends up with a djinn because of that Persian warlock, or whatever you said it was?”

  He nodded. “Were you not listening? Do you lack ears?”

  “No, I’m just trying to get things clear in my head,” I replied. “Does that mean that every Levi man kills his mother at birth, then?”

  Zalaam shook his head. “Many do, but not all. Our true love was a capable magical, but her body could not take the birth and the Purge process at once, given Kadar’s strength. Several women who have married into the Levi family have suffered similar fates.”

  A wave of sadness hit me, but it didn’t belong to me. It was coming from Raffe and Kadar and pummeling me hard. A few tendrils of grief were drifting
away from Zalaam too, though the emotions felt weird and spiky, without the human buffering of Levi to soften their edges.

  “Let me speak to my father,” Raffe said, shaking off his sadness. I could sense a flicker of longing in him, like he wished Santana were here for moral support. I guessed she’d been somewhere else when I’d called.

  Zalaam laughed coldly. “That will not be happening. I have control of this meat suit now, and I have been suppressed far too long. I do not intend to give this body up again. As my vessel still has a great deal of healing to do, I have nobody to protest, and he will be weaker when he finally awakens. All the better to take control of. He will never force me down again. Never.”

  I cast a worried look at Raffe, who met my gaze with a frown. “Harley, can I speak with you outside for a minute?”

  “I was just going to say the same thing.”

  Zalaam smirked. “Could you make it any more obvious? My ears will be burning.”

  “They’re already looking a little red,” Raffe shot back.

  Skirting around the bed, in case Zalaam suddenly swiped at me, I followed Raffe out into the hallway beyond the infirmary. With Zalaam weakened by Levi’s unconscious state, he wasn’t a flight risk, so at least we could leave him alone in the infirmary without worrying about him escaping or tearing someone to shreds. However, we still had a lot to worry about where Zalaam was concerned.

  “He needs to be locked up!” Kadar emerged, and he wasn’t happy.

  “You need to be locked up.” Raffe shifted back for a moment. “Don’t think I’ve forgiven you for keeping this from me.”

  Kadar snorted. “Pfft, you lock me up, you lock yourself up. With demented Katie on the warpath, I doubt you’ll be doing that anytime soon. Face it, you need me. Yes, I may have told a little white lie, but you have no idea how terrifying Zalaam can be when he wants to be. Have you always gone against everything your father has said? No, you have not. So get out of your glass house before you start hurling your stones.”