Harley Merlin 7: Harley Merlin and the Detector Fix

by Forrest, Bella

  “But Levi said he’d told the National Council and the president about it.” Garrett spoke for the first time, seemingly finding his voice.

  Finch snorted. “And if you believe that, I’m Bruce Wayne.”

  “I’m inclined to agree with the fugitive,” Remington replied. “If he’s told the National Council and the president, then why the heck hasn’t he told the California Mage Council? We should be working this out together, not being kept in the dark. No, this stinks of something rotten. There’s got to be more to it—something we’re not seeing. Levi is proud to a fault; if he’s gone to these lengths to keep the covens, and us, from knowing, then maybe he’s not quite being honest about who he’s actually told. He’d almost certainly have been shoved out if the president knew about this. She wouldn’t have some useless, lying, pathetic weasel in charge of the SDC if she knew this had happened. I can’t believe it.”

  “Glad someone said it,” Finch said. “If he has told the president and the National Council, then things are way worse than we think.”

  “What do you mean?” I eyed him curiously.

  “Well, it means that they’re not only keeping secrets, but they’re playing favorites. And covering their asses without thinking about everyone else. It’s been bugging me since we found out that Levi was keeping it quiet.” He paused. “They should at least be letting the coven directors and the other Mage Councils around the world know what’s happened. But they haven’t. That’s weird. Really weird.”

  “Do you think Katherine might have something to do with keeping it quiet?” Wade asked.

  “I was just about to say the same thing.” Remington huffed out an exasperated sigh.

  “How, though? Her influence is pretty far-reaching, but how would she be able to manipulate that many people?” I couldn’t fathom it. And I didn’t really want to, because the idea that she might somehow have a stranglehold on the biggest powerhouses across the globe was terrifying. We already knew she was sending her cult members out to countries in Europe, and that they were pretty much everywhere in the US, but surely she hadn’t managed to gain a foothold that strong.

  Remington shook his head. “I don’t know, exactly, but I’d stake a lot on assuming her influence has already spread farther and faster than we’re aware of. Maybe her cultists have gone deeper into the upper echelons of the magical world. Maybe they’re doing something to the president, or to the National Council, or maybe even to Levi. This is Katherine we’re talking about. Nothing and nobody are out of bounds, and if they’re all willing to keep this kind of intel away from the Mage Councils and the coven directors, then there’s something wrong. Very wrong.”

  “That’s the beauty of what she does.” Finch’s expression had darkened into a bitter scowl. “She does the crazy stuff because nobody would believe it.”

  “Lex Luthor?” I cast him a reassuring look.

  “She makes him look like a kitten.”

  Remington sat back down, rubbing the tattoos above his collar. “Finch is right. He’s probably learned a thing or two from his mother. And, since he’s with you two, I’m guessing he hasn’t broken ranks yet?”

  Finch smiled. “Don’t plan to.”

  “I should definitely be reporting you to Purgatory right now, but since we’ve got bigger fish to fry, I’ll let it slide for the moment. You seem to be useful here, and we need all the insider help we can get.” He seemed torn about the idea of letting Finch go, but he wasn’t alone in that. “I’ll have to be smart about gaining information, until I have concrete evidence of what’s going on. I do agree it’s best to keep this from the public, though, for fear of mass hysteria. Like I said, if people found out the Mother of Monsters had been broken out of the Bestiary, there’d be an exodus from the US and a bunch of people trying to gain citizenship in freaking Greenland. It’s bad enough that people are already abandoning their covens because they’re running scared of what Katherine might do.”

  “Or worse, they’re going to join her out of desperation,” I said. “But we can’t have the entire magical population freaking out over Echidna.”

  Remington glanced at me. “Which brings me back to the question of what you want. Why did you come here, to me? You said it was to find out what I knew about Echidna and what the National Council members were doing, but I know you better than that. That can’t be the only reason. So, spit it out, while I’m still feeling generous in the helping department. I’m already putting my career on the line, just by listening to you and not getting security in here, so take that as a sign of my willingness to assist. We’re not exactly drowning in options, are we?”

  I shook my head. “No, we’re not, but I have one option. One that might be the best shot we have at getting rid of Katherine for good and fixing all of this in one fell swoop.”

  “Sounds like wishful thinking, but go on.”

  “I need to get to my parents’ Grimoire in the New York Coven without getting caught.” I doubted Finch’s secret network knowledge would be enough to get us past heightened magical security.

  “What good will that do you?” Remington replied.

  I took a deep breath. “Well, the thing is, I have the ability to read from unfinished Grimoires. Last time I visited the book, I lost control while I was reading from it, and the spell just sort of came to life. It poured out of me, as if I was on autopilot or something. I tested the theory with another unfinished Grimoire, and I could read from that, too. The only difference with my parents’ book is that I can still read it, even without the book being in front of me. The spells have this way of… I don’t know, transferring or something. It’s how I summoned Erebus when we were in Tartarus, trying to stop Katherine.” And it’s how Shinsuke Nomura got killed.

  “It would’ve worked, too, if Katherine hadn’t used some rare-ass spell to turn it around,” Finch added.

  “That’s impossible.” Remington was staring at me now, like he was scared of me. “There hasn’t been a magical who can do that in hundreds of years.”

  Garrett shook his head. “She’s telling the truth. I’ve seen her do it, too. She did it in the Luis Paoletti Room one time when I was with her. She almost read out the Dragon’s Kiss curse, even though the book wasn’t finished. She probably would’ve, if I hadn’t stopped her. Grimoires have a weird effect on her, weirder than with normal people.”

  Normal people? Thanks, Garrett.

  “I’m hoping there’s a spell in there that can help us with Katherine. At the very least, I’m pretty sure there’s one that can help us find her, whenever we need to. That’d be beyond useful, since the hardest part is tracking her down to stop her from doing all of this stuff.” I felt Wade’s eyes on me and turned to find him smiling. He put his hand on the small of my back, offering me reassurance.

  It was a risky move, getting my rarest ability out in the open with someone with such close links to Levi, but I knew we could trust Remington. He hated Levi more than we did, especially now.

  Remington nodded slowly. “Well then, if that’s the case—and I’m having trouble absorbing that, by the way—then you should know that the Grimoire is now protected. I’m guessing they’ve upped security of the book since the last time you were here, as they have on everything. The Grimoire isn’t exhibited in Special Collections anymore.”

  “Seriously?” I said, my face falling. As if we needed yet another obstacle in our path.

  “I don’t know if that has to do with you, or if it’s just coincidence, or if it’s tied to Katherine being back on the scene, but the coven decided that a glass casing wasn’t enough,” Remington continued. “The New York Mage Council had it moved to a secret room in their coven—where it used to be, actually, before they thought Katherine had dropped off the face of the earth and exhibited it in Special Collections. We get reports on these things, but obviously not ones on powerful Purge beasts going missing.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard that she wanted the book, but I didn’t know she’d tried to steal it.” That
perturbed me, to know she’d actually made moves to swipe it. Then again, if it was still in New York, that meant she hadn’t been able to, which was a small comfort. Plus, it was good to hear that it hadn’t been shipped off to some covert facility in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean or something. If it was still in the New York Coven, then it could be reached.

  Remington was still looking at me in that strange, alarmed way. “I should’ve realized you might be the kind of magical who could read unfinished Grimoires, given your bloodline. It’s not all that often that someone has two lines from the Primus Anglicus in them.”

  “I’m starting to think I should feel insulted that people keep forgetting me.” Finch folded his arms across his chest.

  “Can you do what Harley can?” Remington shot back.

  “No, but—”

  “Then stop with the sulking. So what if the spotlight isn’t on you? Suck it up. You’ve got no idea what your half-sister is, do you?” Remington’s angry tone took us all by surprise, especially Finch. “She’s more or less a direct imitation of the Primus Anglicus themselves, who were all born with the four elemental powers at their disposal and tended to have two or more other abilities in their arsenal. They walked the line between Light and Dark, having both inside them, like Harley does. Her like hasn’t been seen in the magical world for, as I said, hundreds of years. There’s some ancient stuff at play here, and it’d do you some good to show the appropriate respect.”

  Finch gaped at him. For once, he was speechless.

  “Most magicals have forgotten that there were even people who could read unfinished Grimoires, the way the Primus could. They forget that there was a time when everything was new and you couldn’t just go to a spell book and find what you wanted.” Remington’s tone softened. “And to see someone like you appear in our time, is… well, it’s remarkable. By all rights, you shouldn’t exist.”

  Comforting. “Now that my Suppressor has broken, I’m hoping I’ll be able to read the spells a little easier, without losing control.”

  He nodded. “I have to say, I’m fascinated to know what you found. Odette told me there were only a few full pages, before she took on the role of Librarian. She’d obsessed over powerful Grimoires, and your parents’ book had been one of her favorite topics.”

  His voice sounded choked as he spoke of her. He quickly turned his face away, a muscle twitching in his jaw. In that moment, I felt awful. I’d completely forgotten about the relationship between the two of them and the pain he must still be feeling after Odette was brutally murdered.

  “I promised her I’d stop Katherine.” The words came out before I could stop them. I’d also promised her I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her, but I’d failed on that one. I wasn’t going to let her down again, even though she wasn’t here anymore. I owed her that much.

  “That’s why I’m helping you,” he replied quietly. “If you think you have a way to stop Katherine, then I want you to do it… for her. For Odette. I couldn’t keep her safe, and that will haunt me for the rest of my life, but I can try and stop the same thing from happening to magicals and humans across the world. It’s the only reason I’m still breathing, to be honest. If it wasn’t for the fact that Katherine was still alive, posing a threat to everyone, I’m not sure I’d even be here.”

  I hadn’t expected that much honesty from Remington. The agony in his voice stung deep, my Empathy bearing the brunt of his overwhelming grief as it flooded away from him. I felt it as if it were my own. It was mixed with anger and hatred, and the bright spark of a love that still burned inside him that hadn’t been extinguished, even though Odette had been.

  “Did Odette tell you anything else about the Grimoire?” I asked.

  “There were rumors about hidden pages, but I don’t know how true they are. Nobody was able to verify it, not even her.” I could see how much of a struggle it was for him to actually say or hear her name out loud. He’d likely said it the first time without thinking.

  “Hidden pages?” My heart lurched excitedly. I’d have been happy enough with the spell to find hidden things, but if there were secret pages, then maybe there was even more to my parents’ Grimoire than met the eye. I glanced back at Wade, whose eyes were wide. Even Finch looked eager, an expression of dawning realization drifting across his face. Is this why Katherine wanted that book so badly? Is there something in there that can stop her?

  Remington nodded. “It’s a bit of a conspiracy theory, and the covens have never verified it. I think they’re worried about people finding out that the Merlins got the better of them. It doesn’t look too good for them, to have two insanely powerful people make a book that nobody can perform the spells from, which also has secret spells in it that even those who can read from it might have trouble finding. It’s embarrassing, frankly.”

  I smiled at the thought of the covens stressing out about this book, desperate to know what was in it without giving away the fact that they had no idea. My mom and dad were feared and respected, and clearly admired… until Katherine got involved and destroyed them. Well, she wasn’t going to do the same with their legacy. All I could think about was how deliciously ironic it would be if I found a way to end her with the very book that she couldn’t get her grubby mitts on. It would be my mom and dad’s last brave act, implemented by the person with their blood still running in her veins.

  “One of their spells definitely came out the last time, when I read it,” I said, thinking back.

  Remington smiled. “Then you’re more precious than you know, as that means you are the only person on this planet who can perform the spells from an impossible book. One that has outfoxed magicals across this globe for years, since your parents died. That’s why it has to be you… you have to be the one to get it. I can see that now. There isn’t another like you anywhere. You’re an ancient anomaly.”

  “Hey, I’m not that ancient.”

  He chuckled. “I mean that your bond with Chaos is ancient. Take Finch and the giant chip on his shoulder. He has the same blood in his veins, but he didn’t turn out the way you did. You are, to put it politely, a total fluke. Only you can do this.”

  “Lucky you,” Finch muttered. “I wouldn’t want the responsibility anyway.”

  He was trying to be funny, but I could see the concern in his eyes. He was worried about me and the path we were headed down. So was I. I hadn’t quite realized just how much rested on my shoulders, if I was the only one who could make any sense of the Grimoire. Even Wade seemed on edge about it, his former smile disappearing, replaced with what almost looked like a scowl. He probably hated the idea of me being put in more danger, especially if Katherine found out that I was on my way to get the Grimoire.

  “So, how do you suggest we do this?” I focused back on Remington.

  “You should sit down, all of you. We’ve got a lot to talk about.” Remington gestured to the random array of chairs in his office.

  I walked over to the armchair beside Garrett, while Finch grabbed a stool and perched on it, thug-style, his hands between his thighs. Wade was the only one who didn’t sit down. Instead, he stood to one side, his arms folded across his chest. A pulse of anger ebbed away from him, and I really wanted to ask him what was up. Before I could, Remington started talking again, bringing my attention back to him.

  “You’ll need to put some measures in place before you can get into the New York Coven.” He paused, a note of reluctance in his voice. “As you’ve probably guessed, I can’t be directly involved in any of this, given the massive illegality of you even being here. But that doesn’t mean I won’t help you do this. I have to, for Odette’s sake.”

  So do I… and for everyone else Katherine might butcher if I don’t.

  Seventeen

  Harley

  “You say you’ve heard something about Katherine’s desire for the Grimoire, yes?” Remington held Finch’s gaze. My half-brother’s words of wisdom from Eris Island came rushing back—I had to break things down into bitesize pieces an
d not get distracted.

  “Katherine always talked about how she wanted it. It made her crazy—well, crazier than she already is.” Finch smirked, but he was putting on a front. I could nearly always tell when he was pretending.

  Remington nodded. “Did you know she’d tried to steal it?”

  “No. I didn’t know it’d gotten that far.”

  “Well then, I should probably start by going over her past attempts,” Remington replied. “New York covered it up as best they could, but Odette told me a lot of things she wasn’t supposed to. And then there are the Mage Council archives, which detail some of the attempted thefts.”

  “I’m guessing that got covered up?” I said.

  He nodded. “It’s not very well known amongst the general public, for obvious reasons, but it might make you understand why they’ve increased the magical security surrounding the Grimoire now that Katherine is back in action. To be honest, I’m amazed you were even able to get close to it, Harley. I know it was being exhibited in Special Collections, but even then, it was supposed to have this dulling shield around it to prevent people from getting too near.”

  “It did? I didn’t feel that.” All I remembered was being drawn to that glass case like my life depended on it, as if I had metal in my veins and that book was the magnet, pulling me in.

  “It should’ve. That was why it was placed where it was, so it was out of the way of potential treasure hunters and what we term ‘dark tourists.’”

  “Dark what?” Garrett arched an eyebrow.