Harley Merlin 6: Harley Merlin and the Cult of Eris

by Forrest, Bella

  “What kind of sacrifices?” he pressed.

  She shrugged. “All kinds. Sending teams into dangerous scenarios. Getting rid of people who’ve become weak. Severing ties to people who betray me. That sort of thing.”

  “Like putting your son on the front line? He’s in Purgatory now, right?”

  Oh, Finch…

  Katherine sighed, and I could have sworn she’d managed to muster a tear. “Yes, he is, and not a day goes by that I don’t worry about him. He did so much for me, and I can’t get him out. I might take risks, but trying to break into Purgatory is too dangerous, even for me.”

  Funny, since you sent Kenneth in there to kill Finch. I held the words in, even though I was dying to scream them in her face. I glanced at Finch, praying he wasn’t stupid enough to listen to her. He knew what she’d done. Surely, she didn’t still have any kind of hold on him?

  “Are you going to punish us for being in the library?” I cut in, eager to get this over with.

  She shook her head. “You did me a favor. I’ve got no reason to punish you. But, I should warn you, if I find you in there again, I won’t be so lenient. Two strikes are one more than I’m used to giving, though I can make an exception on this occasion.”

  “So we’re free to go?” I almost heaved out a sigh of relief.

  “You are.”

  “Thank you, Eris. We won’t let you down.” I scraped back my chair and made to leave, and Finch followed. He seemed quieter than normal, his expression confused. I needed to get him out of here, pronto, before Katherine could weave any of her motherly magic on him. With us being so close to the finish line, I wasn’t about to take two steps back.

  “Pieter?” Katherine’s voice sliced through the room. No… We were almost out of here.

  Finch turned. “Yes, Eris?”

  “Could you stay behind a moment? I’ve got some tasks for you. With Tess locked up, I need someone to take over her duties, and I can’t trust Kenneth to handle them. Would you mind? I’ll need to run through them with you.” She smiled sweetly, but I knew the devil lurked behind her innocent demeanor.

  “Uh… sure.”

  “Do you want me to stay and help?” I couldn’t leave here without Finch.

  She shook her head. “That won’t be necessary. It’s a one-man job, and two would be overkill. You can go.”

  “Relax,” Finch whispered. “Just do your thing and I’ll meet you later. Look for the light and you’ll work it out.”

  Look for the light? I remembered what he’d said about Lux and the secret entrance to the library, but he said he hadn’t figured it out himself, so how was I supposed to?

  I really didn’t want to leave him here, but it wasn’t like I could stomp my feet until she relented. Reluctantly, I stepped out of the room, hearing Katherine’s words as the door closed behind me.

  “You have a great future in this cult, for sure.”

  Thirty-Five

  Harley

  The answer to Finch’s riddle hit me as soon I stepped out of the Hexagon and into the bright daylight. A titan loomed over me, crafted in the image of Nyx, the goddess of Darkness. If I was thinking along the right lines, then I had to look for the stone giant that represented Lux.

  Keeping my wits about me, I wandered around the outer perimeter of the Hexagon, looking for Lux. I found her, ten minutes later, towering over the rainforest with a torch in one hand and a golden apple in the other. It couldn’t be a coincidence. The entrance to the library’s secret door had to be around here somewhere, if I’d gotten it right. I scoured the surrounding area, but everything was tangled in thick vines and mossy undergrowth. It didn’t look like anyone had come this way in a long time.

  Remembering how overgrown the secret doorway into the Hexagon had been, I ventured toward the high wall and yanked at the creepers and vines growing there. Something in the plants irritated my skin, making me itch like nobody’s business. Giving up on the normal way of doing things, I cast a look over my shoulder to make sure nobody was watching and launched a stream of Fire at the vines. They withered within seconds, revealing a hidden door in the wall, which lay in the shadow of Lux.

  The rusty lock crumbled away in my hands as I tugged the door half off its hinges and slipped inside. Realizing that someone might see what I’d done, I peered back out and sent up a couple of shrubs with my Earth ability, covering the crooked doorway from any prying eyes. I hurried through the dark tunnel beyond, using a ball of Fire to light my way.

  The labyrinth of secret tunnels seemed to go on forever, the walls slick with moisture and changing from claustrophobically narrow to wide and echoey. My footsteps ricocheted all around me, giving the impression that I was being followed. My heart hammered in my chest, getting worse each time I turned around to check, convinced that someone was going to jump out at me. Now and again, I caught the shimmering wisp of some moving creature sliding through the solid walls and drifting across the damp ground behind me.

  I whirled around as I felt cold breath on my neck, but nobody was there. In the distance, faint whispers echoed, muffled and unclear. The voices were all around me, and yet nowhere near, all at once.

  Okay, this is creepy. I’d like to get off this ghost train now.

  I damn near crapped my pants when a face suddenly swept up in front of me, illuminated for a split second by the glow of the fireball. It sputtered out in my terror. That moment in the pitch darkness was the longest moment of my life, my hands shaking violently as I fought to make another fireball. The voices got louder as I struggled, the feeling of cold breath snaking across every part of my skin, setting the fine hairs on end.

  Come on, come on, come on. With a burst of light, a new fireball rested in my palms. I’d expected to see a horde of ghoulish faces. Instead, there was nothing but empty tunnel, stretching away into the distance. Steeling myself, I hurried along.

  As I rounded a corner, a glowing figure appeared in front of me. I staggered back from the phantom, clutching at my chest, my breath ragged. The spirit paused for a moment, staring at me with hollow eyes. It was hard to make the man out clearly, but he seemed to be wearing an old uniform, his hair swept back in an old fashion, his entire demeanor giving off some serious 1800s vibes.

  With it being All Hallows’ Eve tomorrow, it seemed like the spirits that died on the island were beginning to manifest. And not just the cult members who’d died here, but the spirits of the soldiers and criminals who’d taken their last breaths inside the walls of Fort Jefferson, too.

  “Be wary where you tread,” the ghost hissed. “A morsel like you. You might find yourself a corpse bride before the night is over.”

  “Not in the market for any underworld vacations right now, thanks,” I whispered. All Hallows’ Eve was the one night of the year when the dead could wander the earth. It didn’t happen until midnight, but it looked like a few intrepid spirits had arrived early to the party.

  “A morsel like you… a morsel like you… a morsel like you,” the spirit repeated, as a wave of desire and regret hit me in the gut. The emotions were flooding off the spirit, overwhelming my senses.

  The spirit floated straight through me, and my body shuddered with the cold. As I shook it off, I noticed that my arms weren’t those of Volla Mazinov anymore. I grappled for my Ephemera and saw that the gem was fading fast. Crap! This wasn’t the time for this thing to glitch.

  Trying to keep my panic from overwhelming me, I focused on the internal pulse of the Shapeshifter energy and pushed it back through my body. To my relief, Volla’s arms came back into view, covering mine. Praying it would last another couple of hours, I gritted my teeth and continued my trek through the bowels of the Hexagon. The island itself, I’d learned from Finch, was cursed, thanks to Drake Shipton’s dealings with the darker side of magic. On All Hallows’ Eve, the dead walked among the living, to the point where they could even take someone back with them if they were strong enough.

  I jumped as another spirit drifted out of the walls
, blocking my path, this one a young girl who stared at me with vacant eyes.

  “Are you my mommy?” she murmured. The grief and loss coming off this girl was agonizing. It stung me right in the heart, my eyes filling with tears.

  “I’m sorry, I’m not,” I replied.

  “Would you like to be? I’m lonely.” She swept up in my face, making me squeeze my eyes closed. Fear replaced her sorrow inside me. Could these things really drag me off to the other side? I really hoped not. I really, really hoped not.

  “I’m not ready to be a mom. Sorry.”

  I opened my eyes a fraction, to find that she’d moved on, but it was enough to make me feel dizzy and breathless. These tunnels would have been scary enough without Casper and his pals slithering out at me. It was all I could do not to run back the way I came, leaving these spirits to it.

  Pressing on, I focused on happier thoughts. Papa Legba might have tried to kill me, but he’d get to see Marie Laveau at midnight, too. All Hallows’ Eve was their one night to be together, and it warmed my heart to think that the lovers would be reunited after a long year apart. It made me think of Wade, and all the things I would rather have been doing. One thing was for sure—if I managed to get out of this mess alive, he was going to need a whole bunch of new shirts.

  After what felt like a lifetime, I arrived outside a door. It was locked, naturally, but that didn’t bother me. The guards were standing outside the library; they wouldn’t hear me break the lock, as long as I was very careful. Drawing a wisp of enhanced Telekinesis through my palm, I fed it into the lock, feeling out the mechanisms. A loud click followed. I pulled the lock off the bolt and slid it to one side, peering into the room beyond.

  To my relief, I’d found the library.

  Creeping out into the silent space, I walked up to the box where Katherine had locked Hester’s spirit away. The power thrummed from whatever hex Katherine had put on it, but that wasn’t going to stop me. It’s like picking a lock, remember? I pushed my palms flat against the door of the box and felt for the hex. I almost flinched as it stung at my fingers, biting into my skin. Forcing my hands to stay where they were, I started to feed my Chaos into the hex, just the way Finch had taught me. The pressure points pulsated beneath my fingertips, but it was way stronger than whatever Katherine had put on the door to the library.

  Undeterred, I focused my mind and started to unpick the hex. I’d managed to break three of the four counterpoints, when a sudden rush of hot air made me open my eyes. I was staring right into the eyes of a gigantic wyvern, its dragon-like wings stretched out, casting a shadow over me. Its lungs heaved in a breath, its mouth opening as it unleashed a violent torrent of Fire. I instantly staggered back, sending up a shield of my own Fire to defend myself against the onslaught. The Fire bounced back against the glass box, snapping the last corner of the hex Katherine had put on it, while my hands throbbed from the heat of the box’s hex.

  Lifting my palms, I sent a huge spiral of Fire straight into the wyvern’s mouth. The creature choked on the unexpected stream of liquid heat. With it distracted, I lunged for the box and yanked open the door, snatching the jar right out of the case and tucking it under my arm. The wyvern was bent over, retching a dark, sickly liquid onto the floor. Sorry, pal.

  I’d just turned to head back to the tunnel, when I heard the library door open and footsteps enter. Glancing down the nearby aisle, I caught my reflection in one of the glass cases that were set up to display Katherine’s treasures. I nearly screamed at the sight of my own face staring back. For the second time, my Shapeshifter ability had decided to glitch, and I didn’t have the time to fix it. My real arms had already filtered through, my jacket all patchworked again, like it had been when I got pulled through the Strainer.

  Crap, crap, crap! Running back to the doorway as silently as I could, I tried to feel for the strange pulse of the Shifter energy inside me, but it was gone. The clock had run out on my Ephemera-gifted ability.

  Making it to the door, I closed it as quietly as possible behind me and took off down the tunnel, sending a shiver of Earth energy back. Rocks rumbled as they shot up from the ground, creating a barricade between me and the door, that choking wyvern, and whoever was wandering about inside the library. There’d been no time to look, not now that I had the jar.

  Juggling the spirit jar, I reached up to my Krieger-morphed pendant and pressed down three times, as hard as I could, to signal to Wade and Isadora that I needed extracting. As soon as they came for me, I swore we’d go and find Finch and get him out of here, too. It’d have to wait until he was done with Katherine, but that was better than being caught with Hester’s spirit in my hands.

  I started to panic when nothing happened. I was pressing the pendant like a crazy person, but there were no portals, no Wade, no Isadora, no nothing. Maybe I need to be out in the open? It seemed like a valid reason, what with me being stuck in a tunnel, but the opposite end of this labyrinth was ages away. And the ghosts were getting louder, their voices rising to a howl as I ran for my life. They burst out of the walls, lunging at me, their phantom hands clawing at my skin and making my flesh turn to goosebumps. They blocked my view of the path ahead.

  I stumbled as two ghostly palms shoved me in the chest, knocking me back.

  “What the heck?” This shouldn’t have been happening. It wasn’t All Hallows’ Eve yet. Fear pounded through my veins, riding a wave of terrified adrenaline.

  Finding my feet again, I tried to push through the hordes of spirits crowding the tunnels. Up ahead, I noticed one ghost standing apart from the others. He glowered at me, as if he knew who I was and hated my guts. I didn’t recognize him, but that didn’t matter right now. The ghost had opened his mouth wide, preparing to scream, no doubt to reveal that I was here, in the tunnels.

  With no cards left to play, my fingers scrabbled at the lid of my mother’s jar and twisted it off, releasing her in a swirling mist. If these spooks had some extra energy, thanks to the island, then it stood to reason that my mother would, too.

  “Help me, Mom! Help me!” I begged.

  From the vapor, limbs formed, and then a head, so familiar and yet so totally new and strange to me. I’d only seen her in photographs, but those pictures hadn’t done any justice to her beauty. However, I didn’t have much chance to admire her, as she raised her hands and whispered something into the ether.

  “Et abiit, ex inferis spirituum. Quam tibi debitum reditus tempus enim. Sit legibus alligatus huius regni. Ne molestum nobis iterum!”

  In the space of a second, the ghosts withdrew, dissipating into the darkness like fog rolling away from a morning field. I almost collapsed with gratitude.

  “Thank you,” I whispered.

  Slowly, my mother turned to face me, her eyes sad. “Oh, honey… I know this sounds awful, but I was hoping I wouldn’t see you here.”

  Thirty-Six

  Harley

  “What do you mean?” Her words hit me like a freight train. Wasn’t she happy to see me? I blinked hard, still shocked that I was actually seeing her and talking to her—the mom I’d never known.

  She smiled. “You’ve put yourself in a world of danger to be here. I had a horrible feeling that you’d come, and I was helpless to stop it. I would rather have gone on for a thousand years, trapped in this existence, than have you risk your life to come to this place.”

  “I had to.”

  “I know you did, honey. It’s in your nature. I’ve heard Katherine talking about you, and I knew you would have to follow your heart and do something like this, to stop her from achieving her goal. I just wish there might’ve been another way. One that didn’t put my daughter’s life on the line.”

  “Is it bad to say that it was worth it, just to see you?” Tears choked my throat as I looked up at my mom for the very first time since she gave birth to me. This moment had been nineteen years in the making, and I still wasn’t ready. Love and grief radiated out of her like a furnace, overwhelming my own emotions.

&
nbsp; “I’d say the same, if I knew that you’d be safe,” she replied, with a sad chuckle. “I never envied Katherine for anything when I was alive, but I envy her for having the chance to see you all grown up. She stole my life, and she stole every second I might’ve had to watch you grow. I’ve been trapped here, neither living nor dead, unable to cross over. And every day, every minute, every second, I’ve thought of you. I’ve thought of the young woman you’ve become, and I’ve hoped, with all my heart, for you to be happy.” She reached out a ghostly hand. I reached back, my fingertips drifting through hers.

  Just let me touch her. Just let me hold her hand. Just let me hug her. Tears fell from my eyes as I tried again and again, unable to make contact of any kind. I’d never hold her; I’d never feel her arms around me, hugging me tight; I’d never get to do all those things that had been stolen from me, too.

  “This isn’t fair,” I murmured, trying to brush my tears away. It was useless—more came, trickling down my cheeks in an endless stream. A painful sob racked my chest as I struggled to come to terms with this harsh reality. I wanted my mom. I wanted her to be alive and breathing, with solid arms and solid skin. I wanted everything I’d never had. If I could have found a spell to turn back this whole world nineteen years, I’d have done it in a heartbeat, just to be able to look into my mom’s eyes and have her pull me close.

  “I know, sweetheart.”

  “Why didn’t he save you?” I was weeping properly now, unable to stop the tears and the sobs from rising up my throat.

  “Who?”

  “Dad. Why didn’t he save you?” Bitterness lingered in my voice. “Why did he kill you instead of saving you? He fought the curse off when it came to me, so why not you? I don’t understand how he could do that—how he could see you and not know that he had to stop.”