Harley Merlin 6: Harley Merlin and the Cult of Eris

by Forrest, Bella

  “This is going to tickle, right?” I tried to keep up the devil-may-care attitude of Volla, but it was proving difficult.

  Naima cast me a stern look. “The pain is part of your rite of passage.”

  Right, of course it is.

  She came to me first, with Tess following close behind. I thought about passing Naima off to Finch first, but watching the process was probably no better. I flinched as her strong paws shot out and gripped my wrist, her claws digging into my skin as she pulled my arm taut and flat. I guessed I didn’t have a say about where my brand was going.

  “For the pain,” Tess said, shoving a piece of wood into my mouth for me to bite down on.

  “Thanks,” I muttered, my voice muffled by the twig. I wasn’t really sure how they were going to get the gold inside the pot all molten, but Katherine answered my question a moment later.

  She stepped forward to the edge of her throne plinth, and a metal walkway slid out to join it to the main disc of the arena. Walking across it, she stopped right in front of where Finch and I were kneeling. With a half-smile on her face, she pushed down the neckline of her dress to reveal her own Apple of Discord, fixed in the exact spot where her heart should have been. Since we all know you don’t have one of those.

  The Apple on her heart lit up with intense golden light as she turned her gaze toward the pot of solid gold and raised her hands. Fire coursed out of her palms in a powerful torrent, melting the gold until it started to bubble and spit over the edges. For the first time since coming to this place, I wasn’t sure if I could actually go through with it. This brand was going to be with me forever, even after I escaped the cult.

  “It’ll be fine, don’t sweat it,” Finch breathed, giving me a reassuring look.

  Easy for you to say. I wondered if he knew this from personal experience, which meant he must already have one of these things on him, somewhere. But where? I’d never seen it.

  Before my resolve crumbled altogether, Naima extended a sharp, nasty-looking claw. I bit down hard on the wood as she dug her claw into my skin, dragging it around in the shape of the Apple of Discord, the blood pouring down my arm and dripping onto the glass below. The lines were deep, ready to take on a bunch of molten gold. So that’s how they do it? It was even more grim than I’d anticipated, and I’d seen the Apple before.

  I struggled to keep hold of Volla’s form as I closed my eyes. Naima’s claws would be child’s play compared to what was on its way. Her claws clinked against the outside of the pot as she snatched it up, and I grimaced in agony as I felt the first singeing touch of the liquid metal. I bit down so hard on the wooden stick that I thought I might break my teeth. The pain was unbearable, my entire arm on fire as the gold filled the channels that Naima had created with her claw. Sweat trickled down my face as I fought to keep hold of my disguise, while trying not to pass out from the pain.

  “It is done,” Naima said.

  I blinked open my tear-blurred eyes and stared at the golden mark just below the crook of my elbow. The metal cooled almost immediately, leaving the hard shell of the Apple of Discord, while faint veins of gold spider-webbed outward. My skin had curled and burned around the brand, purple and livid. I spat out the wooden stick and tried not to touch the new mark. It would only hurt more if I did. I already hated the sight of it, feeling sick to my stomach that I had to wear it for the rest of my life. This encompassed everything I despised, and it was lodged in my skin forever. I wanted to scream in anger. The pain, I could handle. The shame of having this thing on my arm? Not so much.

  “So, your Apple of Discord is your Esprit? How does that work?” I asked Katherine, fighting for breath, desperate to distract myself. I didn’t really know what to call the mark—it wasn’t a tattoo, per se, and it wasn’t a brand. It was something worse. A permanent melding of flesh and metal. Was there even a word for that? If there was, I didn’t know it.

  Katherine smiled. “Not all Esprits are found, Volla. Some, on rare occasions, are personally forged. Like mine.” It was yet another testament to her insane power, that she’d managed to forge her own Esprit from gold and embed it right into her skin. “Madness” didn’t even begin to cover it. I mean, who the heck did that to themselves? Although, it sort of made sense now, why she’d demanded everyone else get the same brand, to intrinsically link themselves to her. A sure sign of their loyalty.

  I sank back onto my haunches as Naima turned her attention on Finch. She grasped for his left arm, the same one she’d placed my brand on, and clawed the Apple of Discord into his skin. I watched in horror as she lifted the pot and poured the molten gold into the channels she’d created, the skin blistering and burning as it sank into the lines. The fur of her paws seemed to protect her from the pot’s intense heat, her features showing no pain whatsoever. As Finch bit down on his own wooden stick, I realized I’d been right—watching was no better than experiencing it first-hand.

  “Now that you’re members of this organization, you will adhere to my rules,” Katherine said, as the two of us were left reeling. “The work will be hard, and there’s a great deal to do, but if you are loyal and fierce, then you will find yourselves lifted beyond your current states. You will tower above your former Mediocrity and find yourselves charged with glory. When I have ascended to my immortal body, becoming a Child of Chaos in my own right, you will be the soldiers of my divine army. You will be rewarded for your loyalty, not only in this life, but in the next.”

  I tried to keep my expression neutral, even as my anger flared. You think you have a say in our afterlives, too?

  “The world is long overdue a change. We’ve been in the shadows too long, and I’m tired of seeing the weak prosper and the mighty fall,” she went on, in full cult leader mode. “Once I have achieved true greatness, we’ll never bow and scrape to human fragility again. We’ll show them what true power looks like and give them reason to fear us. They will be the ones bowing and scraping, and I am so looking forward to that. We will finally have a say in whom we deem worthy of this gift called Chaos. Magicals have forgotten how to treasure what they’ve been given, and my new world order will give them cause to remember. And if they defy me, they’ll see the true might of a Child of Chaos.”

  Any more from you, Shipton, and your head won’t fit inside this bubble. And yet, the crowd around us was hanging on every word. They were drinking it in, like the sheep they were. I almost felt sorry for them. They didn’t seem to realize that they were following a wolf in sheep’s clothing who’d just as easily have them murdered as anyone else. Katherine cared only for herself and her own mission. All this talk about everyone who followed her receiving due glory was a load of fluff, spoken to keep their spirits up and their hearts loyal to her cause.

  However, there were a couple of strange emotions leaking into me. I spied Shinsuke in the stands and felt a subtle wave of terror coming off him, spiraling toward me in shivering tendrils. There was an unexpected flurry of concern coming off Thessaly Crux, too, as she tossed aside the wooden stick that had fallen out of Finch’s limp mouth.

  Raw, unfiltered energy buzzed from Naima while she finished off Finch’s tattoo and removed the pot of molten gold. This kind of thing seemed to excite her a lot. She really was a creature of Katherine’s making, getting a high from all the twisted acts that pleased her mistress.

  Meanwhile, from off in the stands, I sensed jealousy pouring out of Kenneth Willow. He was staring right at me, hating my guts. He could probably tell how much I’d impressed Katherine and loathed the idea of being shoved out in favor of a newbie. Especially as Katherine had directly said how much she hated ass-kissers—a label he’d previously worn with pride. What a douchebag. The more I encountered Kenneth, the more I detested the very sight of him.

  As the last droplets of gold cooled, permanently ingrained in our skin, Finch and I exchanged a look. We were both full members of the cult now. There was no going back after these brands. Now, we could get on with finding Hester’s spirit before All Hal
lows’ Eve came hurtling toward us and get off this freaking island. That was all that mattered.

  “You will be taken to the compound in two hours to eat breakfast with the rest of the cult,” Katherine said, smiling down at me. I guessed she really liked to see her new members down on their knees before her. “Until then, Naima and Tess will return you to your hut, so you can sleep off the pain of these brands. I apologize if it’s in a bit of a state when you get there. My people won’t have been too neat in searching for those surveillance hexes.” She chuckled to herself as she turned and walked away, dropping gracefully down the gap between the disc and the stands and disappearing from sight.

  We’d taken a terrifying step into the underworld of Katherine’s cult. And our new lives here were only just beginning.

  * * *

  Back at the stone hut, after doing another search for any new surveillance hexes, Finch and I sat on our beds in total silence. We should’ve been celebrating how far we’d come, but I didn’t have an ounce of happiness left in me. Even pretending to be a member of this crapstorm made me feel dirty and wrong, like I was somehow betraying everything I’d worked so hard to become. Like I’d become a traitor to the SDC, the Rag Team, and everyone I’d left behind, outside the walls of this interdimensional pocket.

  “Did you have to do that the last time, or did you get some special treatment because of who you are?” I asked, finding my voice.

  Finch frowned. “The tattoo?”

  “Yeah.”

  He put out his forearm and let a ripple of Shapeshifter energy pulsate over his skin, Pieter’s arm fading to reveal the original brand on Finch’s real skin, right by the new one. The skin around his new brand was still raw, with blood coagulating into black clumps from the burnt flesh.

  “I always kept it hidden, but I had to do it, same as everyone else. No special treatment, not even for me. I should’ve realized back then that Katherine didn’t see me as her son. I was just a tool, like the rest of them. And now I’ve got two of the bastards.” His voice was tight with pain and bitterness, and I knew it wasn’t coming from the residual agony of the brand. He was genuinely hurt by Katherine’s actions toward him, and I had a feeling the scars ran deeper than even he knew.

  “Will I be stuck with this, then?” I muttered, touching the golden brand tentatively. Pain shot up my arm, making me wince.

  He nodded sadly. “The Shifting can’t protect you from it. You’ll just have to remember to keep it hidden when we get back to the SDC. I can cover mine up by Shifting parts of my arm into someone else, but once your Ephemera is out of gas, that brand will stay. Maybe Wade can get you a bracelet or something.”

  “Great.” I stared at the hideous mark, feeling sick to my stomach that I was going to have to bear this Apple for the rest of my life. A cuff or a bandage or a sleeve might cover it, but it would never go away. It would always be there, lurking beneath—a perpetual reminder of being here, and of the woman I hated more than anyone in this world. But, right now, there was no use crying over spilt gold. “You know, I wasn’t sure if Katherine would actually show up to any of these trials.” I needed to take my mind off this freaking gold disfiguration, channeling my anger into the person who’d caused it.

  “She’s never done that before. I guess, with this mole on the loose, she feels like she has to vet everyone who comes in.”

  I nodded. “You’re probably right.”

  “You nearly gave me a heart attack, doing what you did. I know Volla Mazinov was supposed to be ballsy, but that was… well, panic-inducing.”

  “I took a risk and it paid off.”

  He smiled. “You were born under a lucky star, Sis.”

  “Hardly.” I toyed with the pendant from Imogene around my neck. Finch was still wearing my St. Christopher, but I didn’t mind too much. I figured he could use the spiritual guidance more than me, for now. “So, who do you think the mole might be? Any clues?”

  “Not sure. I’ve got some thoughts. You?”

  “I was trying to put out some Empath feelers while you were getting that brand. Shinsuke’s running scared—like, all I ever feel from him is terror and uncertainty. He might be the weak link, and that could very well indicate he’s the mole we’re looking for.”

  Finch nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.”

  “I wish I could talk to the others, get their perspective on things.”

  Finch smirked. “You missing Golden Boy?”

  “I miss them all.” My cheeks reddened. Was I that obvious?

  “He’d probably be like, ‘It’s getting too risky in there, I want you out.’ He’d ruin the whole thing. See, that’s the trouble with personal relationships—they make everything messy. What should be simple and clear gets clouded, when emotions are involved. It’s better that you can’t speak to him. Trust me. You’d get a bunch of doubts and stop focusing on the task at hand.”

  I chuckled. “You really don’t think much of him, huh?”

  “I never do when it comes to coven drones.”

  “He’s not a coven drone!”

  Finch grinned. “Whatever you say, Sis.”

  “Are you saying you don’t have an emotional investment in this? I’d say having a bit of a heart has done you some good, even though it took you a while to get to this point. You wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Adley.”

  “Don’t.”

  I frowned. “Don’t what?”

  “Don’t talk about her. If you think I’m going to whip out a guitar and get all my kumbayas out, you’ll be waiting forever. I’m not a sharer. You can talk about Wade all you like, but I’m not going to talk about… about her.” The pain in his voice as he said “her” threw me completely. It sounded like he had razorblades in his throat, his face twisting in physical agony at the mention of her. I supposed I didn’t really know the depth of his feelings for her, and I probably never would.

  “I didn’t mean to drag up any bad memories.”

  He sighed. “I know, but it’s not something I can talk about. With anyone. Not even myself, most of the time.”

  “Do you miss her?” I knew I was poking the bear, but I was genuinely curious.

  “What did I just say?”

  I lifted my hands in mock surrender. “Okay, no talking about Adley.” I glanced at him. “Well, maybe one last thing. I’m glad you loved her. I’m glad she reminded you that you have a heart, even though that came at a terrible price. She didn’t deserve that, and neither did you. That’s all I have to say on the matter. My two cents, done.”

  Finch slithered off the edge of the bed, still noticeably sad. “I need some fresh air.”

  “Finch, wait…”

  “I won’t be long. I’ll just go and do some recon on Hester’s spirit, clear my head while I’m at it. And don’t worry, I’ve still got this if I get into any trouble.” He took the medallion out of his shirt to show me, before stuffing it back beneath the fabric.

  “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  He snorted. “You couldn’t if you tried. I’m just sick of these four walls. I need to go for a walk before I lose my mind.”

  I eyed him curiously. “Okay. Whatever you need. I’ll be here when you get back.”

  “Sure… thanks,” he muttered, as he made for the door. He might have been acting blasé, but his body language told a different story. His shoulders were slumped, his chin to his chest, his eyes glinting with sadness.

  Even though I didn’t like the idea of Finch wandering around in a state of depression, I was sort of glad to have a moment alone to think about Wade and the rest of the Rag Team. I was desperate to hear his voice again, to give me a bit of strength going forward. Being in this place, it was easy to forget why we were doing this, and I needed that bridge to the real world to remind me. Since I wasn’t going to get that, the thought of him would have to do. However, as I lay down on my stomach, it was Finch’s sad face that popped into my head. I couldn’t help it. Glancing out of the window, I watched him walkin
g away toward the distant beach. That meeting with Katherine had really struck a nerve with him, and being reminded of Adley had only added fuel to that fire. He looked so defeated that I felt sorry for him. I mean, at least my mom had never tried to have me killed, and she’d never had my partner murdered out of spite and cruelty.

  As soon as Finch had disappeared from view, I replayed the day’s challenges in my head. The Rag Team would be worried sick by now, all of them desperate for some sign that we were okay and that we were getting the job done. It had been a long day. A really long day. Between the three trials, my run-in with Kenneth, my encounter with Katherine, and the knowledge of all the terrible things that were going on at Eris Island, combined with the understanding that I would always have this stupid, awful thing on my arm, for the rest of my life, I was starting to wonder if we were in over our heads.

  I tried to picture Wade telling me that I was doing a good job, but his face was hard to hold on to. The edges were fuzzy, and his voice wasn’t right—it was just my voice, saying the words I wanted to hear from him. When the truth was, I wanted him to be here, with me, where I could see his face and put my arms around him and get that comfort that I needed. Still, it brought me some relief to know that, as soon as we had Hester’s spirit and I pressed the pendant three times, he would come and get me. Isadora would be waiting to extract us, the moment the message came through. I was already looking forward to that day, not only because of the reunion, but because it would mean we’d succeeded in stopping Katherine from fulfilling the third ritual.

  We were fully initiated now, with the brands to prove it. Now, we could move about more freely, and Finch would finally lead me to my mom’s spirit. That moment was getting closer, and the anticipation was overwhelming.

  “I love you, Wade.” The words poured out of me, even though he wasn’t here to hear them. “I’ll come back to you, safe and sound. I swear it.”