Wade, NO! I couldn’t speak. Instead, a gargling sound came out. My cheeks were hot and tight, my eyes bulging out of my head as he cut off my air supply. I thrashed and magicked harder, determined not to die like this, but I was running out of time. If my windpipe snapped, that would be it. Game over.
Shadows crept into my vision. This was it. I was about to die, feet away from the Grimoire—from finding something that could stop Katherine. She had somehow managed to get to Wade. She’d wanted me to suffer first, at the hands of the man I loved.
Mom died the same way. Katherine must’ve loved this particular form of cruel revenge.
I clung to consciousness long enough to hear a grunt and the sound of glass breaking. I could’ve sworn I’d heard Finch’s voice, too, but that wasn’t possible.
I guess this is goodnight, then.
That was my last thought.
Thirty-Five
Harley
I awoke to find myself standing in the corner of a nursery room with sunflower-yellow walls and hand-painted motifs. They were taken from book illustrations. Winnie the Pooh crouched opposite, his paw dipped in a pot of “Hunny.” The Little Prince swept his asteroid clean on the far wall, with his precious rose tucked under its glass case. The fox from the same story ran underneath, surrounded by stars and tiny, delicate flowers. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.
Those words came back to me, though I couldn’t remember reading the book. I just knew they were taken from its pages, somehow, like it was embedded in my brain. Like hymns and nursery rhymes popping right out of my mouth while I was shampooing my hair in the shower—songs I hadn’t sung in years, yet I knew all the words.
Everything felt weirdly familiar. The stuffed animals scattered everywhere, the cuddly blankets spread over a bright blue beanbag with cartoon elephants imprinted on the fluffy fabric. Even the lamps, which were shaped like toadstools, rang a bell. Have I been here before? I didn’t exactly hang around nurseries. And the only places I could remember from my childhood were the bare-walled, stark bedrooms of my foster homes and the orphanage, complete with the torn fragments of paint and adhesives, ripped away by the posters of previous kids.
But I couldn’t swallow the feeling that I knew this nursery. It was like a nagging sensation at the back of my head, trying to push the memory to the front of my brain, from way back in the dusty caverns of my mind. A tip-of-my-tongue kind of thing.
It’s my nursery. The realization exploded in my head. Or, rather, it would’ve been my nursery had my parents lived to raise me here. I could see the green landscape of Central Park outside the window, letting me know that I was in the same Park Avenue apartment where I’d seen my parents laughing and crying and squabbling over the right way to fill a dishwasher. The place where my mom had hoped for me and my dad had told her it would happen, when the time was right. Only, thanks to Katherine, the time had never been right. Man, I figured Wade must’ve done a number on me to send me flying back through time to a place that had never really existed.
It only got weirder as the door opened and a tiny person came strutting in, with the confidence only a kindergartener has. The red hair and sky-blue eyes were a dead giveaway. The kid was me. Well, not me, but a manifestation of me, the way I might’ve been.
This had to be the Grimoire messing with my head. It felt like a message sent from my parents. A lasting hope, maybe, left within the Grimoire for me to find, so I’d know what they’d wanted for me. It must’ve been activated the moment I touched the handprint, and all that info had been dumped into my brain. Whoever had made this—my mom or my dad—they’d gone to huge lengths to make it vivid. Frankly, it hurt. I hadn’t lived this life, and that stung.
I pressed back against the wall as my little self walked right toward me. She giggled, wrinkling up her button nose, and sat cross-legged on the floor in front of me, rocking back and forth like she didn’t have a care in the world.
“This is a message,” she said with a grin. “It’s a message to tell you that the Grimoire was made with Katherine in mind. Every spell your parents put in there was made to stop Katherine.” She didn’t speak like a kid, and she didn’t speak like me, either. Her voice was distant and echoey, like it was being channeled from somewhere else entirely.
I frowned at the kid. “They did?”
She nodded, twisting a strand of hair around her stubby finger. “Your parents knew about Katherine’s underhanded dealings, even before she used Sal Vínna on your father. They began working together on magic spells to make sure that, whatever happened, there’d be something in place to stop her or destroy her. Whichever comes first.” She chuckled creepily, like an old doll in a vintage shop. “Of course, Mom and Dad never thought she’d get this far. Thanks to her, the Grimoire is being forced to react. Its Merlin blood is throbbing and reaching out to you. It’s up to you, now, to do something about Katherine. Mom and Dad have given you the tools, but you need to use them.”
Oh, the irony. I’d done nothing but try and do something to end Katherine since I came into the SDC, and it was sort of annoying to hear my shortcomings from the mouth of a mini-me. As if I didn’t know what needed to be done.
Little Harley picked up a stuffed bunny and flapped its arms. “Everything has stepped up a notch now that Echidna is dead and Katherine has completed the fourth ritual. The whole realm of Chaos is contracting to prepare for the final showdown. Nobody, not even Chaos itself, expected Katherine to come so far. It is quaking in its particles.” She giggled, flopping the bunny’s ears. It was pretty disturbing to watch, considering the things coming out of her mouth. “Because of that, some rules no longer apply. Some charms that would previously have stopped you are no longer standing in the way of you getting what you need.”
“What kind of charms?”
She shrugged. “Many of them. Most of the ones that would have created obstacles.” She grinned up at me. “Did you really think that Chaos wouldn’t at least try to do something to stop Katherine, without breaking the universal rules? Did you really think that Chaos was perfectly okay with Katherine becoming its Child?”
I frowned, thoroughly weirded out. “I guess not… but then, why isn’t Chaos doing more? Why’s it leaving it all up to me, if it’s so freaking worried about Katherine joining its ranks? Wouldn’t it be easier for Chaos to just swoop in and explode her, or something?”
“You’ve got a twisted mind, Harley. What have we become?” The kid pointed the bunny’s paw right at me. “But at least you’re asking the right questions. Some rules can’t be broken. Others… well, there’s some flexibility. Which is why you’re here, in the New York Coven, and not in Purgatory. Chaos has put the right people in your path so that you could evade a lifetime prison sentence and find the Grimoire instead. It wanted you to find it. After all, if anyone can read and decipher those spells, it’s you. Or, rather, us. Nobody else.”
I didn’t know whether to be flattered or appalled. It didn’t seem fair that everything should be put on my shoulders like this—me, a nineteen-year-old girl who didn’t even know she was a magical until a few months ago. Man, has it only been a few months? It felt way longer.
“But why me?” I was genuinely curious.
“It is your birthright. A final gift from the Primus Anglicus, in the world’s time of need. You’ve heard the legends of Arthur, no doubt?”
“What, like Excalibur and stuff?”
The kid laughed. “As the myth goes, King Arthur always said he’d return when a great threat arose. Only, it wasn’t King Arthur who said that when it really happened. It was Merlin. Your ancestor. The man you’re named after.”
I snorted. “That stuff didn’t really happen, though.”
“Didn’t it?” The kid grinned, like she knew something I didn’t. “Katherine makes mistakes because of you. She can’t help it. She’s drawn to you in a way she can’t explain, which is why she’s let you slip through her fingers so many times, when she’s had the chance t
o kill you. You are a Merlin. You are here, in the world’s time of need. You were sent, through the ages to this moment, because of your mom and dad. Chaos created you, through them, as a protector of worlds. Just as the Primus Anglicus were created to protect the world and implement the rules of secrecy that we abide by, even now. Forget all of the mythical business if it’s too much, but the truth remains: it all boils down to the fact that you may very well be the only one who can stop Katherine.”
Is that true? I didn’t have time to find out.
“So get off your ass and wake the hell up!” the kid snapped, startling me. It wasn’t the kind of language I’d expected from her, despite everything she’d just said. “And get that Grimoire before your boyfriend ruins everything!”
Just like that, I snapped right back into reality, to find Finch and Garrett a little way down the corridor, wrestling Wade to the ground. Finch? How did he get in here? I didn’t know how much time had passed in my little trip down fake memory lane, or how much I’d missed, but I could see they were struggling to hold Wade down. He was writhing like a man possessed.
“Let go of me! I have to end her!” Wade roared, throwing punches wherever he could. Wow… comforting.
Energy sparked through my veins, my strength reignited by that weird-ass dream. Plus, I had a bevy of mental spells floating around in my head now, amongst all the memories and the sensation of being pulled in by the Grimoire. By putting my hand into that imprint, I’d received more than a nudge in the right direction—I’d received a whole freaking directory of magic, things I’d never even seen or heard of before, and all of it was right inside my pulsating brain.
I staggered to my feet. Wade’s head whipped around, his eyes wide and wild. He was frothing at the mouth. The moment he set eyes on me, he was up on his feet, practically throwing Finch and Garrett off him. But I was quicker. Sprinting forward, I pressed my tingling palm to his forehead.
“In somno pacis invenire. Et usque nunc. Transire sinebat,” I whispered, the words coming to me automatically. It meant something along the lines of, “In sleep, find peace. Be still now. Let the demons pass.” It was a Latin spell I didn’t even know I knew, but my overcharged mind had picked well. Every gemstone of my Esprit lit up as I spoke, pulsing with the same white glow as the whorl of energy seeped into Wade’s skull. He keeled over backward, stiff as a post, with Garrett catching him before he hit the deck.
Finch gave a low whistle. “Where’d you learn that one, Sis?”
“Let’s just say a little birdie came to me in a dream,” I replied. “Now, we need to hurry the heck up. There’s no way someone didn’t hear that racket, and we need to get the book and get out of here before the New York cavalry arrives.”
“Did you have to knock him out?” Garrett complained. “He weighs a ton.”
“Then stay here with him. We’ll grab you both on our way back out,” I replied.
Garrett shrugged. “Works for me.”
He set Wade on the cold floor and sat beside him. Wade’s eyes were closed and peaceful. It’d take me a while to erase the image of him looming over me with his hands pushing down hard on my windpipe. But I still loved him. This wasn’t him—this was Katherine in action. The devil worked hard, but Katherine? She worked harder.
I leaned down and kissed him on the forehead, sweeping his sweat-soaked hair out of his face. It was a promise of forgiveness, if we could get him out of this mess. And if we couldn’t… I wasn’t going to think about that. I would get my Wade back, one way or another, even if I had to hold him in my reverse Empathy for the rest of my life.
Finch and I stepped through the doorway and into another corridor steeped in gloom. My heart began to race again, leading me toward the Grimoire. Not that there was anywhere else to go—this was a one-track road.
“What’s the deal with Wonderboy?” Finch glanced at me as we walked together. “Why’s he gone all Jack Nicholson in The Shining?”
I shrugged in frustration. “We don’t know. I’m guessing he’s been hexed or something. He’s definitely not my Wade.”
“People aren’t possessions, Sis.” He smiled at me. “But I’d say you’re right. He wanted to rip your throat out. And, as much as I hate to be on loverboy’s side, that’s not him. He’d be more likely to tear my throat out than yours. But who’d have done that to him?”
I cast him a wry look. “Who do you think?”
“Ah, Mother dearest.”
“Bingo. Anyway, we won’t be able to fix him until we get out of here, so if it’s okay with you, can we not talk about him?” I wasn’t being unkind; I just needed to focus. “I’m compartmentalizing, like you taught me.”
He nodded. “Bottle it up. Do what you’ve got to do.”
“I will.” I glanced at him curiously. “How come you’re here, anyway? Not that I’m not glad to see you, since you stopped the whole throat-tearing thing.”
He dropped his gaze. “A weird thing happened. I was sitting on the front steps, waiting for you all to come back, when I got this odd feeling—I could almost sense that you were in some kind of danger. I can’t really explain it properly, but it was like the coven was somehow talking to me, like a sentient being. Creepy, I know. But it did. I knew I had to get to you before something bad happened. Spidey sense sort of vibes, and man, were they tingling.” He looked back up. “Does that make sense?”
I nodded. “Total sense.” If I hadn’t dreamt of the mini-me, I might’ve thought he’d lost his mind. But now, I could make sense of what he was saying, however odd. The New York Coven was somehow embedded with Merlin blood. It reacted and connected to it on a molecular level. And Finch was Hiram’s kid, too, after all…
“Good, because I thought I was going mad. Snaky chains are one thing. A whispering coven is another.”
“Does that mean you—” Finch cut me off before I could finish.
“Yeah, it does.” He fidgeted awkwardly. “I did the spooky polygraph again. If I hadn’t, you’d be dead.”
I frowned. “So that means you passed?”
He rolled his eyes. “All hail the genius. Yeah, I passed. Of course I did. I had to, if I wanted to save your ass from getting your windpipe snapped like a runway model’s leg.”
“Finch!”
He grinned. “What?”
“You can’t say things like that.”
“Looks like I just did.” His eyes glinted with mischief and something else. A sadness that he was trying to hide. “Anyway, I found my answer, so you can get off my case about it. If I have to, I’ll sacrifice myself for you. All the stops, remember?” His voice caught in his throat, unable to conceal his emotions any longer. His hands were shaking, too, though he quickly put them behind his back.
I didn’t know what to say. What could I say to that? I didn’t want anyone sacrificing themselves for me, but this was Katherine we were talking about—we had no idea what we might face in the days and weeks to come. I just hoped mini-me had been right and I could find the antidote for her evil inside the pages of my parents’ Grimoire so I could stop her before a single one of my friends suffered at her hands.
“I know we got off to a nasty start, but… well, I’ve always wanted a brother or a sister. A family, really. Not the crazy, psycho kind.” His voice was shaking, and even though I knew we should be running right now, I couldn’t bring myself to interrupt him. Finch never got emotional, and I didn’t know if I’d ever see this again. “Anyway, I’m just hoping that, if we get through all this, we can try to be real siblings. To sort of fill in the gaps that our parents left behind. That bathroom in Eris Island has a lot to answer for. Therapy central.”
Before he could ruin it, I stepped forward and put my arms around him. He stiffened, as though he didn’t know what to do. And then, with his shoulders relaxing, he embraced me and hugged me tight.
“Just don’t let it go to your head,” he mumbled into my shoulder. “If you weren’t my sister, I wouldn’t bother. We’re stuck with each other, and that�
��s that.” Jerky Finch had come back in full swing, but at least I’d gotten a hug out of it.
Releasing him, I smiled and said nothing. Instead, I held his gaze, a silent agreement passing between us that we’d probably never talk about this again. Finch’s ego wouldn’t have been able to handle the teasing. He’d have crumbled like a stale cookie.
I skidded to a halt as we passed through a shimmering barrier masquerading as a wall and entered a large, empty hall. The transition between the corridor and the room beyond was so sudden it took my breath away. The vaulted ceilings and wooden paneling reminded me of being in a church. In the very center of the room stood a plinth. On top of that plinth, a glass case with a single book inside.
The Grimoire.
Finch slipped on Wade’s sunglasses. “Yep, that thing’s riddled, all right.”
“Did you steal those from him?” I gaped at my brother.
“What? He wasn’t using them.”
I rolled my eyes. “What can you see?”
“Protection charms. Most of them deadly. The kind of stuff you’d expect from these uptight magicals.”
They’d put extra spells on the book since the last time I’d visited it. Great, that’s just peachy. However, there was something about this entire room that felt off.
“Feels weird in here, right?” Finch said.
“But is it good weird or bad weird?” I glanced around, the emptiness making me nervous. There should’ve been other things in here, other artifacts, but there weren’t. Just the Grimoire, standing out like a sore thumb.
Finch shrugged. “Good, probably. This place was made by Daddio. It’s filled with his magic.”
My head whipped around at a scuffling outside the main door of the vaulted room. Crap. We needed to move fast. Someone had definitely heard the ruckus with Wade and had come to check on their most valuable artifact. Which meant we now had a matter of minutes to snatch the Grimoire and dart back out the way we’d come. I hoped Wade and Garrett were okay.
Harley Merlin 7: Harley Merlin and the Detector Fix Page 29
