“Acting as though I intend her harm?” His body relaxed, the red fading. “I do not. It is the last thing I want.”
Is he telling the truth? With so many scales and such distracting colors, it proved hard to read his face. He sounded honest, but lies could tumble off tongues without anyone being the wiser. The last hour had taught me that.
I skirted around my mom and approached the glass, ignoring her hiss of protest. “What do you want?”
“To know you.” His tail flicked faster. “For you to know me.”
“Bull!” My dad exploded, causing me to jump. He walked right up the glass and practically pressed his face against it. “What are you playing at, huh? What’s your game? Your mother wouldn’t have made that deal all those years ago just for you to get to know her.”
Leviathan rose higher on his tail, the muscled coils lifting him easily. “I gave her a gift. Nothing more.”
My mom slammed her hand against the box. “What gift did you give her that made her Purge like that? I’ve never seen anything like it in my life!”
“That is the gift.” Leviathan smiled at me and my insides shriveled up. He had major creep factor, especially when he spoke softly.
“Purging beasts?” I choked on the horror of it.
He tilted his head forward in a nod, his spines bristling. “I prefer ‘birthing monsters.’ But yes. That is the power.”
No. That terrible pain and suffering, again? Over and over again? I stumbled and thought I might pass out, but Tobe swooped in to keep me upright. His gentle paws held my shoulders as I leaned back against his solid chest. The only thing between me and the floor.
“You have been blessed,” Leviathan continued. “Echidna’s gift is now yours. My mother died at Katherine’s hands, but her Chaos remained on this plane of existence after Gaia gave back what had been taken. It had nowhere to go. It belonged to Echidna and could only be given to a vessel who had her blessing: you. You were always the one who would carry it. My Persephone.”
His Persephone? Over my dead body. How could he even call it anything close to a gift? No magic, no normal abilities, but the power to spew up rare, formidable beasts that tried to eat the people I cared about, and hurt so much I couldn’t even think about it without flinching. I didn’t want it. I’d have torn it out if I’d known how.
I sighed and sank against Tobe. “Happy freaking birthday to me.”
Eleven
Persie
“Do not be alarmed.” Leviathan swept closer to the glass. “There is nothing to fear.”
I held onto Tobe’s arm and tried to muster some fortitude. I’d asked for this. I’d wanted this. I had to face the truth, no matter how difficult it was to comprehend. And if I sank back and gave up, I’d be showing that I wasn’t capable of handling my own problems. My mom and dad shouldn’t have been the only ones standing up against the monster.
“It’s not ideal.” I steadied myself and approached the box from a different angle, a hint of sarcasm spiking my tone. “I’d be lying if I said I was thrilled about it. I mean, is it going to almost kill me every time? Does it get easier? Will I always recover so fast?” The recovery part still surprised me. I still ached a bit and had some lingering fuzziness in the brain, but I thought I would’ve been feeling a lot worse after what I’d been through.
Leviathan slithered along the ground to meet me at the far side of the vast container. “Fear not. You will answer your own questions in due course. It will take time to master, but it makes you magnificent. A wonder.”
“A monster factory?” I watched his flicking tail. Anything to avoid staring into his unsettling, human eyes. Looking into them made me feel less afraid, and I knew I couldn’t let them fool me.
“A Mother of Monsters,” he corrected. “A queen amongst peasants.”
I glanced at my mom and dad, who’d turned silent and sullen. “But Purging usually comes from magic.”
“Magicals Purge when their bodies cannot contain Chaos. You are more powerful than that. You will Purge because it is your gift to bring life.” Leviathan pressed his scaly hand to the pane and I resisted the urge to put my hand there, too.
“Can I give the gift back?” I had to ask.
He shook his head slowly. “No returns.”
“How many times am I going to Purge?” I tried to ignore the absolute panic that barreled through my veins, since I didn’t want this so-called gift one bit. The idea of Purging things left and right was far worse than having no magic at all.
Leviathan settled back onto his coiled tail and swayed rhythmically. “I cannot say for certain.”
“How often did your mother?” I’d heard about the fabled Echidna a lot today, but I’d heard of her before, too. When you’d been regaled by the Merlin Tales as many times as I had, all the secondary characters popped up from time to time. Echidna didn’t feature as often as, say, Davin, but I knew enough of the sacrifice she’d made at Katherine’s hands. Honestly, I didn’t like the Katherine stories as much as the other stories. It never felt good to know that a relative had been a power-hungry tyrant who’d almost destroyed the world.
Leviathan leaned back, a claw scratching at his chin. “My mother’s emotions influenced her birth rate.”
Cool, so don’t get angry, don’t get sad, don’t be happy, don’t feel anything. How hard could that be? I took another peek at my mom and dad, who’d stayed remarkably quiet, given how close I stood to Leviathan’s enclosure. My dad held a stoic expression, likely for both our sakes—my mom’s and mine. My mom, on the other hand, visibly struggled to control her emotions. A mixture of pain, helplessness, and hatred competed for prevalence on her face. Her eyes glinted with tears of anger and sadness. Anger at the monster in front of us, and sadness for what she hadn’t been able to prevent.
“It is a unique ability.” Leviathan brought my attention back, his glowing orb turning a darker shade of green. “Only Mother possessed it before you. It is hard to anticipate how it will manifest in a mortal.”
“But it can be controlled, right?” Oh Chaos, please tell me it can be controlled.
He scraped a barnacle off a shoulder plate. “I do not know. Take deep breaths, perhaps.”
“Riiiight. Deep breaths. That’ll fix it.” I clenched a handful of skirt in my fist.
He laughed, and the sound was frighteningly pleasant. “You never know.”
“I thought you wanted to help me.” My voice hardened. “No offense, but this isn’t useful.”
“I said I wanted to know you.”
“And that’s all?” I narrowed my eyes to slits. “Like my parents said—Echidna made that deal with my mom and passed it to you for a reason, and it wasn’t about getting to know me. What do you get out of this?” There was a reason you never looked a gift horse in the mouth: because you might not like what you find. But I had to crack this Trojan horse wide open or I’d go mad with all the unanswered questions.
Leviathan laughed, colder than before. “My mother was persecuted for eons because she could birth monsters. And her children, in turn, were persecuted. Then she was incarcerated, simply because she created life. She died for it.” He jabbed a scaly finger at my mom. “What will you do, Harley? The tables have turned. Will you lock your own daughter in a cage? Will you see her as a person… or a monster? You have been quick to make the judgment in the past.”
My mom paled. “She’s not a monster.”
“You are correct.” Leviathan smoothed his fingertips over the pane, like he was caressing my cheek. “She is special. I only hope your resolve remains in days to come.”
I shot a look at my mom, but she wouldn’t look at me. In the space of a minute, a different kind of ominous sensation had brimmed up through the marble floor and into my body, starting at the legs and working up. Every part of me now bubbled with this monster ability. The gift that couldn’t be returned. It was bound to me now, the way my name had been bound to Leviathan from birth. I had changed, without realizing and without per
mission. Finally, I started to understand my parents’ all-consuming fear. A great unknown stretched ahead of me. Anything could happen next.
All I know is, I’m no monster. But that wouldn’t convince others. If I had no control over the monsters I Purged, then why not paint me with the same brush? If anything, it made me more dangerous than whatever I spewed out. A lion tamer who wasn’t in control of their lions was nothing but a disaster waiting to happen. But imagine if you couldn’t stop them from collecting more and more lions.
“Can’t you tell me anything else about this curse?” I sucked annoyed air through my teeth.
Leviathan flashed that hideous grin again. “Gift. Not a curse. And you cannot expect immediate answers. That is Chaos’s beauty. The wonders of discovery!”
Anger flickered in my chest. “You can’t give someone a curse like this and then just push them out into the world.”
“Persie, perhaps we should talk about this outside?” My mom finally broke her silence, and that defensive arm moved to steer me away.
“Her name is Persephone.” An irked note slithered into Leviathan’s voice.
“Her name is Persie, and she’s coming with me.” My mom tried to grasp me, but I slipped out of her reach. I knew I should be honest and tell her I was five seconds from a mental break, but I couldn’t do it. My stubborn tongue twisted in my mouth and wouldn’t ask for help. Part of me still wanted to punish her for keeping this secret for so long. It’d caught me unawares, and now I had fears and worries about my future that I’d never anticipated hurtling from every direction. All because she hadn’t given me the chance to prepare myself.
Who’ll ever accept a girl who can birth monsters at the drop of an emotion? There it was. The worst part of all of this. Not the actual Purging, not the lies, not the shock of it, but what it meant for me going forward. I’d been on the outskirts my entire life, and this had just pushed me to the farthest boundary possible.
“No, Mom. I want you to go.” I clenched my fists. “I can’t talk to you right now. My head is already a mess without you adding to it. Please, just go.”
My mom’s face fell, and that wounded look broke off another fragment of our splintered relationship. I expected her to rant and rave and fight to stay—but she didn’t. Her hands flopped to her sides and she nodded, defeated. A feat that Katherine Shipton and Davin Doncaster had failed to accomplish, but I’d managed with just one utterance.
“Okay, Persie. I’ll go.” She lifted her head to shoot a last sniper glare at Leviathan. “This isn’t over yet.”
He smirked through his shark teeth. “Goodbye, Harley.”
I saw a muscle twitch in my mom’s jaw. She clearly wanted to punch the victory off Leviathan’s face, but she turned and left without another word, Dad following after her. Pieces would need picking up, I felt sure of it. But at least for now, I could be alone with my questions and Leviathan. And Tobe. He’d said he wouldn’t leave me alone, and he was a Beast Master of his word.
“This is better.” Leviathan caressed the pane again. “Forget Tobe is here, and it’s just the two of us. My Persephone.”
I jabbed a finger at him. “You cursed me, Leviathan! Cursed, not gifted. And just because I’m fighting with my mom doesn’t mean I’m going to go running into your arms, so you can stop with that.” I took a deep breath, just like he’d suggested before. “I’m not a damsel, and I’m not a fool. I’ve heard enough about you to know that you’ve got an angle in this. And I promise you, here and now, that I will figure it out. It is only a matter of time.”
“Isn’t everything?” He chuckled, unbothered.
Tobe peered down at me in amber-eyed confusion. “Do you wish to leave now?”
I hesitated. “Yes, but I wanted to give my mom a five-minute head start so we don’t bump into each other in the coven.”
“Ah.” Tobe’s feathers ruffled in amusement. “Then allow me to help. You must be thirsty after all you have endured today. Come with me.” He took my hand and led me away from the enclosure. But Leviathan wasn’t the sort of mythical beast to let anyone else have the last word.
“Farewell, Persephone.” He kept up his formidable grin, each serrated tooth glinting out the Morse code of a secret I couldn’t decipher.
But I will find out what it is.
Twelve
Persie
The whirlwind of emotions that Leviathan had set swirling inside my head suddenly took a detour, pushed away by the overwhelming awe that took my breath away. We’d somehow stepped into the silent greenery of a forest, though I didn’t remember coming through a wardrobe. Just an average door had led to this world of wonders.
“How have I not seen this before?” I tried to absorb everything at once, giving myself a sensory overload.
“It is my serenity.” Tobe purred contentedly.
“I can see why.” I could no longer hear the thrum of the atrium. In fact, I couldn’t hear any sounds from the coven at all. A comforting quiet enveloped us as we walked a leaf-strewn path between enormous redwoods that seemed to lean in, their branches shaking against the breeze. Autumnal colors tinged the leafy carpet, hues of bronze and scarlet and rich brown. People didn’t give brown enough credit as a color, I thought.
The forest went on as far as the eye could see, giving way to the darkness of shadows. I guessed they came to a stop somewhere, but Tobe had clearly constructed an illusion of some kind to make the greenery look like it went on forever. A few birds fluttered between trees, startled by our presence. Well, my presence. They adored Tobe, swooping down to perch on his broad shoulders and peck at him playfully before flapping off again. A robin with a plump red breast hopped along a branch above us then dropped down onto Tobe’s head, staying there as we walked.
“I thought you’d have Purge beasts in here or something,” I remarked, smiling at the cheeky robin as it nestled between Tobe’s ears.
Tobe chuckled. “I prefer not to bring work into my private domain, as wonderful as every beast may be. Besides, these birds amuse me with their mischievous antics.” He gestured to a rainbow-feathered bird that trilled as it flew between trees. “That is a lorikeet. I have a collection from all over the world.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“I am pleased that you think so.” He took a right off the main path and my eyes almost burst out of my head. Ahead stood a whole freaking cottage, complete with white walls and a white picket fence that enclosed a garden of wildflowers. An oversized rocking chair sat out on the veranda, and shiny gray roof slats gave the house a chocolate box feel. In the center of the garden, a fountain babbled happily. He really had created his own little paradise in the Bestiary.
It took a moment to find my voice. “Does everyone know about this place?”
“Very few. To keep it peaceful.” He flashed his fangs in a smile. “I built it all myself. Every tree you see here was planted by my own hand.”
“No way,” I gasped. By the size of the trees, the project must’ve started decades ago, if not centuries.
“I have watched them grow, as I have watched so much grow in my lifetime.” His voice turned sad. “Only, these do not die. They will one day, but I may be gone before that happens.”
My heart suddenly ached. If I hadn’t been so worried about vomiting up another Purge beast, I might’ve teared up. I tended to forget how long Tobe had been alive. He’d watched the world change time and time again. He’d seen civilizations rise and fall. He’d watched people he cared for come and go, including the woman who’d created him. No matter how strong he might have been, that had to be hard. So he’d turned to the one thing that wouldn’t leave him—nature. A private den of redwoods as old as he was, that might even outlive him.
“Don’t say that,” I said softly.
“All things must die, Miss Persie. It is the one thing we may rely on in this world.” He walked up to the picket fence and opened the gate. “Now, would you care for some tea?”
I followed him through the gate, ma
rveling at the sweet scent of the wildflowers and their sprays of colors, which complemented the rich green of the grass. “I don’t drink much tea, but I’ll give it a go.”
“Sit here. I will prepare something palatable for you.” His claws scraped the back of a lawn chair, which he set up on the veranda. I obeyed and he went inside, leaving me to enjoy the scenery. The dome overhead tricked the eye into believing it was outside, with nothing to interrupt the glass, allowing the afternoon sunlight to pierce through the canopy in gauzy ribbons.
A few minutes later, Tobe reappeared with an entire tea tray that looked even daintier in his gigantic paws. He laid out a teapot, cups, saucers; the whole nine yards. He’d even rustled up a slice of cake for me, though I had no idea what Tobe himself ate.
He sat down opposite, and the lawn chair groaned. “You will forgive me if I do not eat with you. I fear this chair would give way if I did.”
I laughed. “Thank you, Tobe.”
“It is the least I can do, after what you have endured.” He positioned his chair so it faced his garden. “I imagine you did not expect your birthday to be so eventful.”
“That’s putting it mildly.” I let him pour me a cup of greenish liquid before raising it to my nose suspiciously. It smelled of fresh-cut grass and mint. “Can I ask you something?”
He poured a cup for himself. “Of course.”
“Did you know about Leviathan giving me a gift?”
Tobe took a sip. “I did, Miss Persie. However, before you ask, I was not at liberty to disclose the information. It was not my place to go against your parents’ wishes.”
“Then let me ask you another question—do you understand why they kept it from me?”
Tobe set down his cup. “They were certain of their ability to prevent this from occurring, and I had no reason to think it impossible. I know Leviathan’s nature, and though he can be wily and underhanded, I had more faith in your parents’ determination than I had in his. Perhaps that makes me foolishly optimistic. Regardless, I underestimated him, and I did not once think that he might pass his mother’s ability to you. So, to answer your question, I do understand… and at the same time, I do not.”
Harley Merlin 18: Persie Merlin and Leviathan’s Gift Page 10
