“Neither of them seems to have any real personality. Honestly, it’s scary. It’s like they’ve sent us two super-advanced bots instead of actual people.”
He nodded slowly. “The LA Coven is different. They view their recruits as exactly that—new soldiers, destined for a role in a formidable army. They are less keen on a soft approach, though I much prefer pacifism to outright conflict.”
“Me, too.”
“On the subject of potential conflict, how are you feeling about the upcoming Family Gathering?” His feathers ruffled in amusement.
I groaned, startling the shrew-like creature below me. “I’m trying not to think about it.”
The Family Gathering was an annual event that took place at every coven—a traditional dinner party, complete with fancy clothes, fancy food, and fancy music, where magicals and their parents gathered over dinner and drinks. It was supposed to encourage socializing and a catch-up on what coven members had been accomplishing, but it inevitably ended up feeling like a chore. In some cases, it could also lead to unpleasant airings of dirty laundry, after one or ten too many drinks.
Then again, I’d managed to get out of it for the past four years. The Gathering happened on the same evening, in every coven across the world, with the expectation that siblings would all end up training at the same one. However, that hadn’t been the case for my four brothers and me. So, my parents had done what any good parents would do and visited one of us a year. This year, it was my turn. And, to be honest, I was crapping my pants about it.
“You don’t get along with your family?” Tobe asked.
“It’s not that,” I replied. “I love them, I really do, but whenever I speak to them… they’re disappointed in me. They want me to do more with my life. They think I’m wasting my potential here in San Diego. It’s not the Catemaco way.”
Tobe grumbled. “They want you to return home?”
“Yeah, pretty much. They expect me to go back to Mexico sometime this year so I can end up some stuck-up, elite magical’s wife and take over the Catemaco Coven with him at my side, as co-director. A tradition I’m not exactly thrilled by, as you can tell.” I exhaled wearily. Catemaco was a small but vastly important hub of the magical world. As it was the birthplace and center of the Santeria practice, my family had run a tight ship in the town for hundreds of years, but my rich lineage came with certain ridiculous expectations.
“Don’t you miss Mexico?”
I shrugged. “Sometimes, but I’m happy where I am. And I’d rather pluck out my own eyeballs than head back just to get married to some tipo I don’t know. They don’t understand that. They can’t grasp how I can love my culture and my heritage, without wanting to live in Mexico. The thing is, I feel like I can do more good here, in the States, instead of a tiny town with no opportunities whatsoever.”
“I can understand that,” Tobe assured me.
“I’m glad someone can.”
Across the room, Quetzi slithered into view, his gold-and-green scales shining in the low light. The feathered serpent coiled up in the right-hand corner, his white-and-fuchsia plumage shuddering like the tail of a rattlesnake, as his intense eyes watched me from afar. I’d always been in awe of him, given his link to my people. As a fixed feature of Aztec culture, he was part of my own Mexican history, once worshiped as a god for his extraordinary abilities. Once upon a time, at the height of his deification, he’d worn the ehecailacocozcatl around his thick neck—the breastplate of the wind—as a means to better harness the elemental forces under his control. Many of my people still wore versions of it, especially those gifted with Air abilities, though Quetzi no longer had one around his neck.
I guessed he and Tobe shared the most common ground of any creatures in this place. Neither of them was a mindless beast, banging against the glass to get out. Quetzi had been the result of an Aztec warlock’s mighty Purge, and he had emerged extremely powerful and intelligent. However, where Tobe was gentle and kind, Quetzi didn’t have the same inclinations. At least, that was the suspicion, based on the legend that preceded him.
“I wonder what’ll come out when I have my first Purge,” I mused aloud, watching Quetzi.
“You are a strong Santeria. I imagine it will be impressive.”
“You think?”
He nodded, his mane bristling. “I’ve done this long enough to have a sixth sense about these things.”
“I think my first one might be on its way,” I admitted.
Tobe seemed surprised. “That is somewhat early for you, I should think. You are powerful, but you don’t use your abilities as often as others might,” he said. “The average is once every five years, after reaching adulthood. You’ve only undergone three years, if I am not mistaken?”
“Nearly four.”
“At least you’re not one of the poor souls who Purges every year. Still, that may be why you’re having trouble sleeping. All of that toxic energy building up inside you—some internal discontentment, of mind and body, is to be expected.”
I nodded. “Yep, I can pretty much feel four-ish years of toxic waste gathering inside me like a nasty ball of grime. It’s like someone came in and replaced my blood with syrup.”
Tobe chuckled. “I will be here to help you through it, when the time comes.”
“You better.” I flashed him a smile.
“I wonder how the Dempsey Suppressor will affect Harley’s ability to Purge,” he said a moment later. “She’s rather powerful, even with that device fitted. We saw a glimpse of it today, during the pledge. There were several moments when I feared for my life, and I know I wasn’t the only one.”
“A big, burly bestia like you? Get out of here. You weren’t scared.”
His whiskers twitched. “Very well, I feared for your lives.”
“Much appreciated.” I laughed. “From what I’ve seen, Harley is determined to learn the ropes as quickly as she can, to harness her powers at their full capacity. Mind you, I know from experience that that’s one hell of a way to end up with rope burn. Not that I can blame her. I’d do the same in her place. It’s got to be frustrating, to have all this mojo and not be able to do anything about it, through no fault of your own.”
“I imagine so.”
“She’s eager to have the surgery to get the Suppressor out, ASAP. It’s just a matter of Krieger giving her a time and a place.”
Tobe sighed. “I thought as much.”
“You don’t think she should?”
His amber eyes stared into the distance. “I can understand the desire, but I worry that it will make her as vulnerable as it will make her powerful. It will intensify the target already painted upon her back.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
Truth be told, I saw a lot of myself in Harley. We both spoke our minds and weren’t afraid to stand our ground. I admired her determination to get the Suppressor out, but I worried about her too. Harley was smart as a whip yet driven by a stubborn streak that could get her into trouble. I knew it, because I shared the same streak.
Based on what Finch had said, Katherine Shipton was coming for Harley. If Harley didn’t know how to properly defend herself, Katherine would finish the job she’d started nineteen years ago. An end to the Merlin clan, once and for all.
Six
Santana
With my head still all over the place, and more on edge than I’d been before my chat with Tobe, I left the Bestiary and wandered down the hallways toward the living quarters. I had a few hours to kill and figured a nap would be as good a way as any to make the time go quicker. Besides, if I wanted to make it through the evening patrol without keeling over, I needed some shuteye. The Orishas were particularly loud today. Now that I’d spoken to Tobe, I got the feeling their increased chatter had something to do with my one-way ticket to Purgetown. They repelled the gathering darkness.
I staggered to a halt as a door swung open on the left, narrowly missing my face. Raffe, hunched and visibly raging, stormed out. He didn’t
see me as he strode up the hallway, his hands balled into fists. Leonidas followed a moment later.
“Get back here now!” Leonidas roared.
I ducked behind the door.
“Why?” Raffe whirled around. “You’ve said everything you have to say. I don’t want to hear anymore.”
“You will listen to me!”
“No, Father, I won’t. I’m not your punching bag to lay into whenever you feel like it. You’ve made it very clear how worthless you think I am—I’m not going to hear any more of it. Go home!”
Leonidas squared up to his son. “Get back in this room this instant. I’m not done.”
“Well, I am.” Raffe shoved his father hard in the chest, sending him stumbling backward with inhuman force. Leonidas dusted himself off, but I could tell he was scared. Raffe’s “condition” terrified his father—that much was obvious. As much as I hated to see Raffe warring with the djinn, it seemed like the only protection he had, the only weapon powerful enough to use against his father.
“Calm down, Raffe,” Leonidas urged, his voice tight with anxiety. I had no sympathy for the arrogant asshole. It took something intensely personal to rile Raffe up to the point where his eyes glowed red. Whatever Leonidas had said or done, he’d evidently earned Raffe’s fury. Apparently, it wasn’t just Raffe who had serious issues with Leonidas—the djinn seemed to equally dislike him, feeding off the dysfunction.
It burned me up inside to see Raffe’s suffering. If my eyes could flash red, they’d be doing it right now. An empathetic fire of fury.
“I’m calm,” Raffe spat back. “Can you just leave me alone now? I don’t want to be around you.”
Leonidas sighed. “Very well, but this is not over, Raffe. You and I still have much to discuss. This coven is unsuitable for you, and I won’t have you drag the Levi name through the dirt. I realize you feel some juvenile urge to get back at me for all the harsh lessons I’ve been forced to teach you, but you will thank me one day.”
“I doubt that.”
“Why must you resist me?” Leonidas edged around his son. “I’m asking you for very little—a bit of surveillance, in order to keep your rogue friends in check. Why do we always have to be in conflict? Why can’t you just do as you are told?”
“Because I don’t agree with anything you say or do.”
Leonidas shook his head. “I have some business to attend to with Alton. I will leave afterward, but I will be back. This matter is not finished. There might be rules in place to forbid me from removing you from this coven, but I will figure something out in due course.”
With that, he walked back into the room he’d come from. His entire body was shaking with barely concealed fear, and he wore a sullen expression. Clearly, he didn’t like being sent away by his son, but he didn’t dare defy Raffe in case the djinn emerged. Up ahead, Raffe remained frozen to the spot. He hadn’t seen me behind the door. With rage in his eyes, he pivoted on his heel and headed up the hallway.
“Hey! Raffe!” I hissed, hurrying past the open door. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Leonidas pacing the floor of a dark, mahogany-walled office. I hadn’t seen the room before, but that wasn’t surprising—the coven was massive. It’d take me weeks to check what lay behind every single door, and I didn’t have the time or the desire. Still, Leonidas wasn’t supposed to be here anymore. Alton had led the Mage Council out of the Aquarium with the exact intention of making them leave. Clearly, something had happened on the way out.
Raffe turned around slowly, his midnight eyes flashing a deep crimson. “Santana… sorry, I didn’t see you there,” he muttered. “Do you mind if we keep walking? I don’t want to be anywhere near that office.”
“No problem.”
I followed Raffe up the hallway, turning right at an intersection. He seemed to know where he was going, but I had no idea. Right now, I just wanted to be there for him while he processed whatever had happened with his father.
“Everything okay?” I prompted.
He rubbed the back of his neck and tilted his head from side to side. “Not really.”
“Your dad?”
“You heard that, huh?” he said bitterly.
“I thought he left with the others from the Mage Council.”
“Nope, he decided to corner me outside the banquet hall and lead me to the Council Chamber,” he explained, his features twisting in fury. “Nobody’s used that stuffy office for years. He just wanted to drag me somewhere away from everyone else so he could let me know just how disappointed he is with everything I am, and everything I’m doing. Oh, and then to top it all off, he asked me to spy for him and told me he wanted me to leave San Diego. You know, the usual.”
“I’m sorry, Raffe.” I really was. My own family problems were rainbows and goddamn butterflies compared to his. “I hate seeing what he does to you.”
“Nobody riles me up the way he does. He knows just how to get under my skin. I guess years of practice have made him a pro.” His face contorted, revealing someone who looked exactly like Raffe but wasn’t quite him. The mirage disappeared a moment later, Raffe’s chest heaving with the exertion of shoving djinn-boy back down again.
He paused in front of a doorway and pulled a thin, silver chain out from under his t-shirt. A key dangled on the end. I’d never seen it before. His hands shaking, he slotted the key into the lock and turned it. A click sounded in the room beyond.
Glancing down the corridor, I realized we weren’t far from the training halls, and yet I’d never noticed this doorway before. It practically blended into the rest of the wall, melding in a seamless camouflage. Puzzled, I followed Raffe through a narrow hallway just after the door, which ended in a spacious, windowless chamber. Sitting in the center, glowing slightly beneath a single orb of light, was a big glass box, almost identical to the ones kept in the Bestiary. Charms and runes were etched along every edge, some shimmering in the faint light. The only difference I could see was that there were several holes in the outer shell, and a thin veil of energy danced across each one.
“You should probably get out of here before things get ugly,” Raffe said, turning to me with a sad expression. Every few seconds, the muscles in his face twitched, revealing the changeling version of himself that lurked beneath. He was losing the fight. Pretty soon, he wouldn’t be able to hold back the swell of his foul mood, the snap of his patience giving the djinn the gateway it needed to jump through.
I’d been fascinated by Raffe’s Jekyll-and-Hyde disorder ever since I’d come to the coven, though I hadn’t fully understood it at first. I knew about djinns, but I’d never actually seen one attached to a person before. Not everyone knew about his condition—Harley was still in the dark, I suspected—and he didn’t like to let a lot of people know, but he’d confided in me. That trust meant a lot.
“Please, Santana, you should go.” He was fighting hard, sweat pouring down his face. Grasping for the key on the chain around his neck, he jammed it into the padlock on the glass box and opened the door. As soon as it was open, he hurried over to a small table at the far side of the room. He took off the key and chain and dropped them in a bowl, before pressing a button on the wall. It glowed red, piquing my curiosity.
“What does that do?” I wondered.
“It alerts Tobe to my state,” he replied rapidly. “He’ll come and let me out in a few hours.”
“Are you kidding? You do this on your own?” My stomach twisted in knots for him, having to deal with all of this by himself. A steely resolve settled in my mind.
“I have to. Besides, I prefer it this way.”
I shook my head. “Well, I’m not leaving you on your own. I’ll stay and keep you company.”
“Santana, you can’t,” he urged desperately. “I can’t keep the djinn under control for much longer. He’s about to manifest. You need to leave, now!”
“No, I’m staying. I’ll keep my distance, but I’m staying.”
“I don’t want you to see me like this.” He raced
toward the glass box, stepped inside, and slammed the door behind him, the padlock locking automatically in place as soon as he was within the perimeter of the box. A moment later, a forcefield of some sort shot across the box, making it glow dimly. There was a small hole by the door, protected by the forcefield. I figured Raffe was meant to use it if the lock ever failed to close automatically. Until Tobe came to release him, Raffe was going nowhere. I could always let him out, but I guessed Tobe had more idea of when it was safe than I did.
“Raffe, I’m not worried about seeing that side of you. I saw the djinn when the gargoyles took over Balboa Park; it’s not exactly new to me,” I replied, putting on a show of confidence. He needed it right now. “Honestly, I don’t care if you want me to go. I’m not leaving you. You’ll be better off with some neutral company while Hyde has his moment, instead of pacing about on your own like a depressed zoo animal, with only him for company.”
He looked at me with glittering eyes that were slowly turning redder. “Please go.”
“Not happening.”
“You’re so stubborn,” he muttered.
“That’s what you love about me.”
He smiled shyly. “Not in this particular situation, I don’t.”
“Tough. You’re going to have to get used to it.” I pressed my hand to the glass and smiled as he raised his palm to meet mine. I couldn’t feel him, but it was close enough. He knew he had me here for moral support.
“Fine… but don’t take anything the djinn says seriously,” he warned. “He tends to get a little vicious after my dad and I have a fight. Please, remember that it isn’t me. He might look like me, but he isn’t me.”
His words sent a chill of unease through me. Not that I was going to show it. Demons and spirits and djinns and ghouls didn’t scare me… I just had to keep reminding myself of that.
“Okay, okay, I won’t hold anything against you,” I relented.
“Oh, but I wish you would.” Raffe cackled as he slammed his hand against the glass, grimacing. I stepped away from the box, startled by the sudden change. “I’d like nothing more than to hold you against me, before stripping the flesh from your bones, piece by delicious piece.”
Harley Merlin 3: Harley Merlin and the Stolen Magicals Page 7
