Genie would take him under her wing, that’s for sure. From the moment Persie came into the world, Genie had decided she’d be my daughter’s best friend. Sometimes I worried about Genie’s influence. But most of the time, I was glad Persie had someone she could rely on for anything and everything.
“I would be eternally grateful.” Kaya dipped her head slightly. “A young man of his age should be surrounded by more than flora and fauna.”
“My Persie likes her own company, too. Sometimes, it’s a trial to even get her out of her room to take some fresh air. But she’d love this place.” I waved a hand toward their beautiful house.
Kaya gave me a sympathetic smile. “We have one of her paintings in the villa.”
“You do?” That came as a surprise.
“Finch sent it, as a Christmas present.” She rubbed the back of her neck. After all the time that had passed, she still couldn’t look Finch in the eye. They’d been married once, after all. “I suspect he intended it in jest, considering the subject matter. However, it continues to take pride of place in our lounge, as it did in Capri.”
Finch feigned disbelief. “Me? Jest?”
“What was the subject matter?” She had me intrigued.
“A watery world,” she replied. “It is a masterpiece, in truth. The brushstrokes are so emotive, and the colors are mesmerizing. Even Jason is fond of it, and he does not care much for the abstract sphere of art.”
I couldn’t help smiling. “She’d be pleased to hear you say that, even if my brother should’ve paid her commission.”
“Is an uncle’s love not commission enough?” Finch grinned mischievously.
“Look at us now, Finch.” Erebus laid out his grilled assortment on a clean plate. “Would you ever have envisioned this scene? All of us content in our lives, with grown children and beautiful wives?” He crossed to Kaya and planted a lingering kiss on her lips. I glanced away, but it was sweet that they were still crazy about each other, all these years later.
Amusement flickered across Finch’s face. “Well, I wasn’t supposed to survive your servitude, I was briefly married to your wife, and we almost had a global takeover on our hands. So… no, I didn’t think we’d ever be here, having a friendly chat in the garden of your swanky villa.” He laughed to ease the tension he’d just built. “But we’ve already buried those hatchets.”
Kaya looked like she wanted to shrink into the shadows and disappear. “I will say it until my dying breath, Finch. I am sorry for all of the former… unpleasantness.”
“I know. I was just teasing.” He smiled and Erebus relaxed. “Bygones are bygones, water under the bridge, et cetera.”
“You’ll never change.” Erebus shook his head, but he hadn’t lost his smile. “I imagine you cracking a joke with your dying breath.”
Finch shrugged. “Isn’t that why it’s called gallows humor?”
Erebus closed the lid of the barbecue and picked up the plate. My mouth watered, but we weren’t going to stay for dinner. I couldn’t. “Now, are you going to tell us what’s behind this impromptu visit, or are you going to keep us guessing? Just to forewarn you, we’re good at guessing. Kaya and I love a gameshow, don’t we, my love?”
Kaya laughed, her eyes twinkling. “We do, darling.”
“It’s about Persie.” I took a deep breath. “She’s in trouble. End-of-the-world trouble. And we need to find a way to contact the Children to see if they can help us out. I get that you aren’t one anymore, but you must still know of a way to get in touch.”
Erebus’s expression hardened. “Why is it always the end of the world with you? Surely one day you could just come by for a casual visit?”
“That day isn’t today,” Finch replied. “That slimy blobfish of a monster, Leviathan, has gone and dumped a prophecy on us, and he’s got it imprinted in Chaos. We need to fight fire with fire. Chaos with Chaos. And that calls for some of those Chaos kiddies.”
Kaya put her arm around Erebus’s waist. “Of course, Harley. I remember Leviathan from some of Atlantis’s tomes, and they did not cast him in a particularly noble light. We will do what we can for you, and for your daughter.” She covered her mouth with her hand. “You must be so worried. How could you not be, under such circumstances?”
“I am, or I wouldn’t be here. No offense.” I tried to keep calm.
Erebus exchanged a glance with his wife. “I will do what I can. It has been a long while since I have spoken to my brethren, but I shall try.” He held her closer. “I owe you a debt of gratitude for saving Kaya from Davin. And, in truth, I’ve always been fond of you all. If someone is trying to hurt you or one of yours, it’s personal.”
“I’m flattered.” Finch looked genuinely relieved.
“However, I was wrong to offer you a place at our table. You should not stay.” Erebus’s mouth set in a grim line. “The Italian covens have eyes on us, at the request of the UCA. I don’t want them getting any ideas about us flirting with the magical world again. We’ve got Jason to think about. Anything that might affect his future is a risk we cannot afford to take. I’m sure you can understand our point of view.”
I nodded. “We’ve got to protect our kids, right?”
“We do.” Erebus glanced around as if he expected feds to descend at any minute. “That’s why I’ll still try to do this for you. I’ll get in touch with Finch if I hear from my former siblings.”
“Thank you.” I barely got the words out. I’d been so afraid that they wouldn’t be able to help. Even if it was only an attempt, it was something. And I needed that shred of hope right now.
He sighed. “But don’t hold your breath. You know what Children of Chaos can be like. We’re a fickle bunch.”
“Pfft. This Tuscan air is either doing wonders for you, or it’s messed with your noggin,” Finch teased, though it sounded empty. And Erebus didn’t look amused. In fact, he looked deadly serious, like he had a lot more to say on the subject.
No… don’t burst this bubble…
“Leviathan, as you said, is a slimy creature—as slick in scales as he is in his methods. Echidna might have been worse, but she at least had the decency to die.” He set down his plate. “I don’t want to trouble you further, but if the prophecy is indeed embedded in Chaos, it will find its way to the surface. It is merely a matter of how and when, and to what degree.”
“Are you saying this mission is failed from the start, then?” Finch asked.
Erebus surveyed his home with sad eyes. He took a deep breath. “I will find out more about such prophecies, to see if there is a loophole or means of prevention, but I would suggest…” he trailed off.
“What?” I hated the pregnant pause. Nothing good came after that kind of hesitation.
He looked me square in the eyes. “I suggest you prepare for the worst… I suggest we all prepare for the worst.”
Twenty-Six
Persie
“You are all here to see if you have what it takes to join our ranks,” Victoria Jules declared as she strode into the spotlight. An awed silence descended over the room. She waved her hand and the polished concrete floor began to move; two halves receding into hidden recesses. The crowd peered over the newly made precipice to find a sunken arena below the hall. A gigantic obstacle course covered the arena floor—miniature mountains, a cave with a glass roof, a huge field of seven-foot corn stalks, a circle of dense forest, a deep pool… and monsters that dotted the scenes—frozen, but looking worryingly real.
A ripple of nervous excitement made its way through the thirty fellow candidates, who’d collected in cliques around a sort of holding pen. A few gasped, but quickly tried to save face by turning to their massive binders of intel. Not one of them looked like they’d expected what now lay below us.
“Are those monsters real? Why aren’t they moving?” one of the cadets—a ponytailed young woman with a sharp-featured face—asked.
Victoria readjusted her authoritarian stance. “They are intricate simulations, but they will behave as
if they are real.” The faintest hint of a smile forced up one corner of her pale lips. “We were forced to stop using real monsters due to safety regulations. A shame, but understandable given the previous fatality rates for the exam. However, don’t underestimate the simulations. You may not be at risk of death, but loss of limb is still relatively common.” She smirked, but I couldn’t tell whether she was joking.
My heart hammered as I scanned the fake monsters again. I counted fifteen, but there’d be more in the pool—and the forest, and the long grass, and in every corner we couldn’t see from where we were. I squirmed at the edge of the arena, unable to stand still for very long. I had that pre-exam feeling of nausea, cold sweats, shaky hands, and the sense that I’d suddenly forgotten everything I’d ever learned.
“This is crazy,” I whispered to Genie, who looked weirdly entranced by the arena. “It’s way beyond my paygrade!”
And everyone knows we’re the weak links. The burn of thirty pairs of eyes nearly gave me a rash, and the whispers were worse. Judgmental mutterings, all directed at Genie and me. Or maybe just me. With Genie’s silver hair and Atlantean tattoos, they knew what she was, and that tended to command respect. Sometimes a bit of snootiness, too, thanks to old grudges. The magical world hadn’t forgotten that Atlantis’s former queen tried to seize global control.
Genie took my hand. “You’re already here, Persie. That’s the hardest part.”
“Are you looking at the same thing as me?” I hissed. “I can’t get through that!”
“You can. You’re Persie freaking Merlin-Crowley.” She grinned and pulled me closer to her. “How many Purge beasts have you faced in those dreams of yours, huh?”
I shrugged sullenly. “I lost count.”
“Exactly! You’ve faced worse than this in your sleep. I doubt there’s anything here that you haven’t seen before.” She nudged me playfully. “You didn’t need Kes bombarding you with Monster Biology—you already know these creatures, all the way down to variations in scale color. You’ve got an advantage over these saps, believe me.”
I blinked at her. “I hadn’t thought of it like that.”
“You have a whole Bestiary in your sketchbooks. You might as well be Tobe at this point.” She smiled, and, weirdly, I felt better. “So you don’t have magic at your fingertips. Who cares? You’ve got knowledge, and knowledge trumps magic every day of the week.”
“I hope you’re right.” I tried to keep a positive outlook as Ms. Jules prepared to call the first candidate to the proverbial batting cage. Strangely, part of me wished the monsters were real. Then I’d have had a five-second break of them bowing or trying to figure out why I was important, five seconds I could use to come up with a master plan. Providing they behaved the same way as the beasts I Purged, that is. I hadn’t tested the theory.
Victoria took a binder from her assistant. “Any volunteers?”
A bulky cadet stepped forward, egged on by his two muscular friends. “I’ll go first.”
“Name?” Victoria’s expression didn’t change, and I saw the boy’s arrogance wilt into confusion. It’d take a lot to impress her, I guessed.
“Uh… Jeremiah Rollins,” he replied.
“And what would be the spelling of ‘Uhjeremiah’?” She offered him a cool look.
He shook his head. “It’s just Jeremiah. Jeremiah… uh… Rollins.”
“When you leave here, I suggest you learn how to get your name out in one go.” I didn’t know whether it was okay to laugh. Victoria had that air about her where she looked all business, but possibly with a funny streak buried deep down. She offered the binder to Jeremiah, who pressed his palm to the page, which was actually a thin sheet of magically charged metal. As for Jeremiah, part of me felt sorry for him. He was just nervous, like anyone would be. Perhaps this was where the actual test began, with staying cool and calm in the face of a woman like Victoria.
“Leave?” he asked, his arrogance shrinking further.
She pulled the binder back around to face her. “I have a sixth sense about these things, Mr. Rollins, but feel free to prove me wrong. I’d welcome it.”
“But I’m—”
She cut him off quickly. “A Herculean, with Water and Earth abilities. Yes, I can see that.” She looked over the information that had appeared in the binder. “A captain at the Vancouver Coven’s beast academy two years running. And you spent a summer working as a volunteer hunter in the Amazon. Very impressive on paper, Mr. Rollins, but paper doesn’t mean a whole lot in the field.”
A few snickers rumbled around the holding pen.
“I don’t see what’s funny about that,” she said dryly. “All of you may look promising on paper. But I have seen candidates with the most pristine resumes you could imagine walk into this room. And I can count on one hand how many of those made it through.”
The chuckles died, leaving stunned unease in their wake. But I didn’t have to worry about that. I was as disappointing on paper as I’d probably be in the field. Still, I wasn’t sure if Victoria actually meant what she said or if this was some sort of intimidation tactic. Surely this Rollins guy’s experience counted for something; he looked and sounded, on paper, like he’d pass with flying colors.
“My assistant, Taryn, will take you down to the arena. When the siren sounds, you may begin. You will only know if you have completed or failed the test when the siren sounds again.” Victoria instructed.
The assistant set her binders down on a nearby table and gestured for the first victim to follow. An elevator rose from the ground and the two disappeared inside. Shortly after, they reappeared in the cavern below, where Taryn left Jeremiah on a rocky plinth and retreated hastily. A satchel sat on the ground in front of him, likely placed there before we’d arrived, bulging in a familiar way.
Mason Jars? Or puzzle boxes? I’d soon find out.
The siren sounded seconds later, and the games began. Jeremiah leapt off the plinth and charged into the square of corn stalks. From our vantage point, I saw tails whipping and shadows darting forward to close in on their would-be capturer. Only, he’d left the satchel behind.
Strike one, I’d say…
Genie and I watched together as he thrashed through the corn stalks, oblivious to what was coming his way. Within seconds, two wolves had cornered him. Pale blue and stark white in color, their tails were disjointed, resembling thunderbolts. Gnashing their jaws, they teamed up to take Rollins down. One ran in front to distract him, while the other threw back its head and howled. But instead of a howl, the wolf let out a roar that rumbled through the arena like thunder. A moment later, lightning appeared out of thin air and forked right down at the terrified guy. He twisted out of the way just in time and threw the wolf back with his Herculean strength.
“They’re raiju,” I whispered to Genie. I’d met a pack of them in the ruins of a Japanese temple during a dream, a year or so ago. They’d been friendlier than these—companions to the Shinto god of lightning, if memory served.
“See, you’re already a step ahead.” She nudged me excitedly. “He doesn’t have a clue.”
Rollins ducked down and sent out a wave of Earth Chaos. The corn stalks transformed into a sea of grasping plants, snatching at the legs of the raiju. One yelped as the stalks wrapped it up, trapping it. Rollins raced toward the other creature and grasped it around the neck, holding on until the poor thing passed out. I had to remind myself that these beasts weren’t real—they were only simulations. Still, it didn’t seem right to treat something so noble as if it were a rabid dog. I guessed all the studying in the world couldn’t give a person class. I cast a glance at Victoria. She pursed her lips, a sign of disapproval.
Leaving the raiju on the ground, Rollins cursed loudly and sprinted back to the plinth to snatch up the satchel. There must have been some sort of magical sound system rigged up to amplify everything inside the arena, because I heard those swear words loud and clear. And I’d heard the raiju yelping as if they were next to me, too.
He reared back as a squat creature lurched out of the trees. Covered head to toe in a tangled mass of black hair, it reminded me of a goblin or a gnome. It was small and squat with a humanoid face and body, but utterly stomach-churning to look at: gnarled, warty features, and a bulbous, purple-tinged nose. It crept to the water’s edge, swiped a smooth pebble from beneath the surface, and swallowed it whole. A moment later, it vanished in plain sight.
“Any ideas?” Genie frowned.
I nodded. “Tikoloshe. African gremlin-thing. Shamans tend to send them out when someone’s wronged them. They swallow one of those pebbles, turn invisible, and sneak up on whoever they’ve been asked to wreak vengeance on.” I remembered a fairly unpleasant encounter on an African savannah, where I’d woken up in a cold sweat after that thing had chased me for miles.
“This ought to be good.” Genie tipped her head for a better view.
Rollins whipped his head this way and that. I spied a few wet footprints on the muddy bank of the pond, creeping toward Rollins, and stole another look at Victoria. Her face gave nothing away. This test was famously difficult, but not impossible. And, looking more closely, I could recognize the assists that the Institute had put in place for candidates. Tall stalks for the lightning beasts, since they could be grounded by earth. Mud beside the pond to reveal the monster’s movements—if you looked carefully.
Rollins yelped and patted his hands frantically across his body, trying to feel for the creature. The tikoloshe had reached its victim, and blood was trickling down Rollins’s forearm. Another bite appeared on Rollins’s shoulder, prompting him to spin around in a terrified daze. His hands grasped for the beast, but the critter was too quick.
Harley Merlin 18: Persie Merlin and Leviathan’s Gift Page 23
