“We’ll have to wait and see.” He was looking at me in a strange way, as if he was trying to figure me out. “Hopefully, we won’t need to use it.”
“Way to burst my bubble, Sis.” A chuckle bubbled out of his throat. A real, genuine laugh that took me by surprise. I knew we’d have to get to know each other better on this mission, but I’d been nervous about it up until now. For some reason, that laugh dispersed some of my fears. At the end of the day, we’d both always wanted the same thing—a family. Now, we had the mutual desire to take down Katherine Shipton to add to the mix.
Maybe we aren’t so different, after all…
“So, once you’ve met with Naima, what happens next?” Wade chimed in, his eyes fixed on me. He was worried, and rightly so. I was already going out of my mind, and we hadn’t even left the SDC yet.
“We go with her to the Cult of Eris and let Finch lead the way to Hester’s spirit.” The name stuck in my throat, lodged behind a big ball of sadness. I was both dreading and looking forward to seeing my mom’s spirit. Seeing her again, even in spirit form… I couldn’t even begin to imagine how it would feel. I just hoped my emotions didn’t get the better of me when it finally came down to it.
“And then what?” Raffe replied.
I took a breath. “Jacob, Astrid, and Dylan are going to portal to Key West while we’re in Salem, and Astrid is going to take a boat to the islands, where she’ll plant an emergency device in case you have no other way out. It has to be Astrid because she’s human, so she won’t alert any magical sensors. We get ourselves out of Fort Jefferson once we have the spirit by causing a commotion in the Bestiary if we have to. We press these other buttons you’ve given us, if we can, and Isadora will come to get us out.” I tapped the pendants around my neck, which Krieger had altered to create emergency get-out buttons that would signal our location to Isadora. There was no way Jacob was coming to get us from the cult itself. Having to portal to the opposite dock in Key West was close enough.
“And, in the meantime, I’ll be controlling the two duplicates,” Santana added. “With Raffe for support. Keeping two duplicates running, when they’re so far away, is going to be a tough egg to crack, but Louella is going to keep researching to help me get through it.”
Isadora nodded. “Meanwhile, Tatyana, Wade, and I will run interference and make sure nobody knows about any of this. Wade and I will be waiting for your signal to come and get you.” Her eyes hadn’t left me throughout all of this, and I could feel her anxiety coming at me in waves. I was going right into the belly of the beast, with no assurances that I’d make it out alive.
“Perfect,” I said, though I could feel how tenuous it all was. It relied on everything going right, and experience had taught me that not everything worked out quite as well as we planned.
“We should make sure your duplicate has everything she needs, Harley, when I conjure her again.” Santana came over to where I was standing and offered me an encouraging smile. Just the kind I needed.
I picked up my duffel bag and handed it to her. It was stuffed full of my clothes, my ID, and everything else the duplicate might need to be a convincing version of me.
“It’s all here, except my phone. That’s in my room, but the keys are in here to get in there. You’ll have to take it just before my duplicate is set to leave for Anchorage. I didn’t want to bring it in here in case Levi came looking, using the GPS.”
“No problem, mi hermosa. I’ll make sure I have everything before the duplicate takes the mirrors to Anchorage. The usual idiot check.” Santana grinned, then closed her eyes and drew out the chosen Orisha. It flitted in the air before me, giving off a faint bluish hue and a vibrant energy of excitement. Santana mumbled something in a rich and ancient language, and the ball of light sprouted limbs, lengthening out to resemble me. A minute later, I was staring right into my own eyes, face-to-face with my duplicate.
“What are you all staring at?” she said. “Anyone would think you’d never seen me before. Not very convincing, is it, if you go around gawking at me.”
I laughed. “She’s good, Santana. She’s very good.”
“Hey, this is mostly me here,” my duplicate replied. “Isn’t that right, Santana?”
“It sure is, mi hermosa.”
“Hey!” I protested.
Santana chuckled. “I’ve got to keep it believable.”
“Shame I won’t be spending more time here, huh, Wade?” My duplicate flashed him a mischievous grin that made his cheeks turn a deep shade of beet red. “You’ll be begging Santana to keep me on once Harley gets back. A little treat to yourself.”
Finch was howling with laughter, and the rest of the Rag Team members were stifling giggles. My duplicate certainly knew how to hold the attention of a room, even if it was at Wade’s expense.
“Hands off, okay,” I warned, half teasing. Poor Wade looked like he wanted the earth to open up and swallow him whole. Still, it was pretty funny. This version of me was going to give a lot of people a run for their money—the perfect duplicate to go on a retreat for troubled magicals.
“I’m just getting it all out before I end up in the monastery.” My duplicate flashed me a grin.
“So, does this mean we’re ready to go?” I glanced around the room, feeling the collective apprehension.
“Looks like it,” Wade replied, his expression sad. It wasn’t going to be easy for him to watch me leave, not knowing what might happen to me. It wasn’t going to be easy for me, either. In that moment, I wished everyone else could disappear, just for a short time, so we could properly say goodbye to each other. This was all happening too fast, and I felt a desperate need to pump the brakes, if only to kiss him and hold him for what might be the last time. But I couldn’t let myself think like that. If I got all doom and gloom, I’d have a harder time keeping up the confidence act when we met Naima.
“How about you try that Shifter goodness on for size?” Finch broke the tension, his eyebrow arched.
I shook my head. “Not yet. Not until we’re in Salem. There’s something I might need to do first, and I don’t want to waste my one shot at shifting, if I only get the one shot.” I held Wade’s gaze to try and let him know what I meant. A small, sad smile crept onto his lips. He understood why I couldn’t just yet. I wasn’t going to say my goodbyes while in the body of Volla Mazinov, no matter how funny it would be to see him try and kiss me.
“Makes sense,” Santana said, before anyone else could protest.
Tatyana nodded. “You probably should wait until the last moment.”
“Agreed,” Astrid said. “From a purely logical standpoint, of course.”
I love you girls. They all got it, even if the boys were stumped.
“Well then, I guess we should get going.” I let out a shaky breath. “Santana, you take duplicate-Harley up to my room and then on to the mirrors to Alaska. Isadora, Finch, and I will head to Salem, while Alton covers for her for the time we’ll be gone.”
Wade raised his hand. “I’ll be coming too, but just to Salem. There’s a, uh… last-minute briefing we need to have before you go.” I waited for Finch to chime in with some crude remark, but he didn’t. Instead, he wore a sad smile and kept his mouth shut. Though I tried to push away any affectionate thoughts toward Finch, I couldn’t help but feel the tug of the sorrow written on his face. He knew all about the gift of being able to say goodbye. He and Adley hadn’t been given that chance.
“Okay, so while we portal to Salem, the rest of you will be coordinating from the SDC. Everyone know what they’re doing?” I pressed on, feeling a confused flurry of emotions.
Astrid nodded. “The emergency protocol device should be in place within the next few hours. Until we come for you, it’ll be radio silence. You’ll be on your own.”
“Remind me why we can’t have earpieces again?” I said, grazing my teeth across my lower lip.
“They’ll find any earpieces or bugs on us when they do the initial check at the cult,” Finch r
eplied. “These Ephemeras should fly under the radar, even without the cloaking device. Nobody is looking for them. But they do look for earpieces and bugs.”
“Right.” My heart sank. Being cut off from the Rag Team was going to be tough, and that was an understatement. I’d gone on dangerous missions before, but never without the help of my friends. Going forward, I’d have to rely entirely on Finch.
“Your speech devices are ready,” Astrid said, bringing me rapidly out of my funk. She took two minuscule items, which looked like grains of rice, out of her pocket and placed them on the table. “Krieger, could you prepare two syringes?”
“Certainly.” He turned around and plucked up two gigantic syringes, complete with needles that looked needlessly huge. “Ready when you are, Astrid.” My stomach churned as I remembered the huge needle they’d used on me for my Reading. Ugh.
As if I wasn’t already freaking out enough. Why did it have to be needles?
Fourteen
Harley
“I really do need to have a last-minute briefing with you, but I’m glad we’ve got a bit more time,” Wade whispered as we walked along, the two of us behind Finch and Isadora. We’d arrived in Salem a few minutes ago and were making our way down Bridge Street to reach Azarius. There was a coffee shop and a parking lot to our right, with a kiosk at the opposite side of the empty lot. That was our way into the interdimensional pocket, where we’d find Azarius. Not wanting to be caught out in the open without my new face, we ducked into a side street while we went over the final details of the mission.
“Me, too.” I’d managed to convince Astrid not to activate the speech devices until Wade gave the all-clear so we wouldn’t have to have an awkward, Russian-tinged goodbye. My farewells to the rest of the Rag Team had been hard enough, but this was going to be a killer. A week or so without hearing his voice… I didn’t want to imagine it, but it would soon be my reality.
“So, just a last check to make sure everyone knows what’s going on.” Wade addressed the other two, the four of us gathered together in a tight huddle. “As agreed, as soon as you have Hester’s spirit, you’ll get out of there and signal us with either the tech Krieger has put into your pendants, or the emergency device on the dock. Isadora will be able to trace your location through either and come to get you.”
Everyone had agreed that the job was too dangerous for Jacob, since he was both a Portal Opener and a Sensate. Katherine would’ve drooled at the prospect of such a tasty morsel for her collection. Even though he’d have portaled Astrid and Dylan to Key West by now, he was under strict instructions to portal back to the SDC until Astrid and Dylan called for him again. Dylan was staying on the mainland, while Astrid ventured with the tourists to Dry Tortugas to drop off the emergency device.
“Got it.” I squeezed his hand.
“As for getting around the island itself, I’ve got these memorized.” Finch whipped a scroll of blueprints out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Wade.
“How did you get these?” Wade sounded shocked.
“I had an old hiding spot in Krieger’s office, when it used to be Adley’s. I snatched them before we left.” It didn’t really surprise me that Finch had hidden stuff like this in the coven, though I wished we could’ve found them before breaking him out. There might have been a way to do this without him, if we had. Although, I supposed, in a strange way, I was starting to warm to him.
“Obviously, we can’t take them in with us, but they might be of some use to you,” Finch explained. “These black lines are the outlines of Fort Jefferson itself, and the white lines are the interdimensional pocket.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” Wade replied. “How did you get these?”
Finch smiled. “Dry Tortugas used to be a busy shipping lane. My great-grandfather, Drake Shipton, bought the island with Fort Jefferson on it after the military abandoned it. He left it to Katherine in his personal will, but it was never disclosed in any official documents. Nobody even knows it’s owned by him, as far as I know.” He paused. “Although, the bubble does change location sometimes, when there’s a threat. I’ve seen it move to the Indian Ocean after a suspected breach, to one of my great-grandfather’s other islands. He liked property on formerly busy shipping lanes, what can I say?”
“So our great-grandfather was Jack Sparrow? Is that what you’re saying?” I smiled nervously.
He smiled back. “Only much, much cleverer.”
“Well, I’ll take these and see what Astrid can make of them when she gets back,” Wade said. The clock was ticking toward our goodbye, and I wanted it to stop altogether. I knew I was stronger than ever, but I didn’t want to have to do this alone. The Cult of Eris hadn’t given me much choice.
“Be careful out there,” Isadora said, moving forward to hug me.
“I will.” I hugged her back tightly, not knowing how long it might be until I saw her again.
“We’ll be there as soon as you need us. I’ll be waiting for your signal,” she added, as she released me. She cast an uncertain look at Finch, as if she wasn’t sure if she should bid him farewell, too. He was her nephew, after all.
“We should be going, then.” Finch covered the awkward pause, as he shifted into the guise of Pieter Mazinov, complete with his mane of curly golden hair and his cobalt-blue eyes. He already had the necessary swagger, and the speech device would soon kick in. I just hoped I could pull it off the same way. Being a different person was totally new territory, and I’d have to call on every ounce of tomboy in me to make it work as Volla.
“Can we have a minute?” I kept my gaze on Wade, ignoring the eyeroll from Finch.
“Sure, it’s not like we’ve got a schedule to keep to,” Finch replied.
I turned to Wade and looped my arms around his neck, feeling his hands smooth around my waist as he pulled me flush to his body. I really hoped this wasn’t going to be the last time I got to hold him like this. Otherwise, I’d have made the most of last night, instead of falling asleep watching a dumb movie. Now that the moment had come, I didn’t want to leave him.
What if I don’t see you again? The prospect was too terrible to even contemplate, yet here it was, weighing on my mind. I had to fight to shove it down, knowing it would only make things harder. I had a mission to complete. I clung to him even tighter, never wanting to let go. Tears were already brimming in my eyes, my eyelids fluttering wildly to try and keep them at bay.
“It’s going to be okay, Harley,” he murmured.
“I know,” I lied. “It’s just going to be weird without you.”
“If you need me, use your pendant to call for backup. We’ll be there before you know it.” He brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. “And just know that, whatever happens, I… I love you, Harley.”
My heart stopped, my mouth struggling to form the words. I wanted to say them, I really did, but they didn’t come easily to me. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d told anyone I loved them. Wade was waiting, looking flustered, but I was having a hard time finding the words, even though I felt it. I really, really felt it.
“I shouldn’t have—” Wade started to speak, but I cut him off.
“No, no, I… I feel the same way,” I blurted out. “I love you, Wade.”
His face broke out into a giddy grin, and I knew my expression mirrored his. “Come back to me, okay?” he murmured.
“I will. I promise.”
Slowly, he leaned in toward me, his lips grazing mine in a soft, tender kiss that made my knees tremble. I pulled him closer, pressing my lips harder against his, my mouth moving with passionate intensity. It was desperate and sad and remarkable, and I didn’t want it to end. Once it did, I’d have to step into the unknown.
“Geez, anyone would think you were going off to war,” Finch muttered, breaking our moment. “The plan is to get in and get out… alive. I’ve got no intention of dying at the hands of those cult fanatics. Harley isn’t going to, either.”
“Hey, weren’t you o
ne of those fanatics until they tried to have you killed?” Wade shot back.
Finch shot him a deadly look. “Touché, pal. Touché.”
* * *
With Wade and Isadora gone, I clasped my hands around the Ephemera. Energy radiated from inside the ball, which would soon explode inside me. What could possibly go wrong?
I winced as the entire ball shot out the tiny spikes, each one burrowing into my flesh as I gripped it tighter. The Shapeshifter energy pulsed through me in a sudden jolt, my body going into an automatic response. Looking down, I watched as my hands and arms and clothes shifted into those of Volla Mazinov, my mind holding onto the picture of her so I got it right.
Finch whistled. “Nice job, Merlin.” His voice had already been altered to sound like Pieter, after Wade had radioed in to Astrid to get the devices going.
“Do I look like her?” My own voice sounded weird and echoey, and definitely not my own. I ran a hand through my hair and felt how short and strange it was.
He nodded. “Spitting image. That Chaos inside you must be incredible if you can do such a good shift the first time. Usually, they’re a complete disaster. Limbs in all the wrong places. That kind of stuff.”
I gaped at him. “You didn’t think about telling me that before we came here?”
“What would be the point? You’d freak out and lose your nerve. You did good, Sis. Adrenaline works for you.”
“We got lucky,” I muttered.
“Hey, luck is nothing to sniff at. If it works.”
I looked toward the street. “Should we get on with this?”
“Thought you’d never ask.” He grinned as he led the rest of the way to Azarius. He was enjoying this. Either that, or he was teasing me to cover his own fear. I didn’t know which I preferred.
We stepped through the kiosk and headed down a set of dingy steps, emerging into another world entirely. Cobblestone streets stretched out before us. It was medieval, almost, with Tudor-style façades to the buildings that made me feel like I’d entered a time warp. Overhead, an endless night swirled through the bubble’s roof, lighting everything up with a silvery glow from the constant moon. Hooded figures wandered the streets, some already drunk, others brawling on the cobbles. There were shops of all kinds and a bevy of bars and pubs along the main route.
Harley Merlin 6: Harley Merlin and the Cult of Eris Page 11
