I then walked over to the clerk, who smiled at us as he handed over the food. Wade followed, without saying anything, but I could feel the shame and anger boiling inside him. He knew he’d messed up, his mouth talking without him, but he couldn’t concede in front of Garrett. He was probably saving the apology for later.
We left Garrett, who was staring at me with a mixture of shock and amusement, behind. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve said he was impressed, somehow. Maybe other girls just swooned over him and tolerated his snappy retorts, but I had no intention of giving him the satisfaction.
The main reason I’d accepted his invitation for drinks was to try and gather some intel from the investigative team. I had a personal interest in the gargoyles now. I also wanted to annoy Wade a little for referring to me as a “skirt.” And that had worked like a charm. At the same time, I requested that Wade debrief me because I wanted to hit Garrett where it hurt most—in the investigative team. If my assumptions about him were correct, he’d yet to realize that sure, he got to go out with me, but missed out on the opportunity to debrief me in an official capacity.
Hm, guess Mrs. Smith was right. Men can only think with one brain at a time.
“You have the makings of a deviant,” Wade said in a low tone as we stepped outside, and I passed him the food bags in return for the jar.
He knew exactly what I’d done, and I didn’t know whether I should fear future retaliation or take it as a compliment. Wade could be very confusing.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, keeping my eyes on the road ahead.
The sound of cars driving by hurt my very soul, as I remembered the state of my Daisy, back at Park West. I’d worked hard to get her in driving shape. I’d bought her from a secondhand dealership, and she was barely running at the time, choking whenever I switched gears. All it took was one big-ass, vengeful gargoyle to render her useless.
Wade’s Jeep was parked just another block ahead, between two bland sedans. There was no sign of its scuffle with the gargoyle back at the casino. Good mechanic… It stood out like a black metal giant, which seemed emblematic of Wade’s personality somehow. I stole a glance at him, just as he turned his head to steal one at me, and our eyes met for an awkward second.
“Come on, get in,” Wade said, looking away, suddenly cold and distant. He clicked his key fob and the Jeep let out a double beep, its doors unlocking. “We still have a lot to do before tomorrow.”
“Can I eat in the car?” I asked, my stomach pulling my sleeve.
He scowled at me as we got in. “Would you let anyone eat in your car?”
I thought about it, and he was right. I would’ve blown a fuse if someone wanted to eat hot Chinese food in my Daisy. “Sorry, never mind,” I said, looking down. “But you’ll have to put up with my stomach growling louder than a gargoyle.”
“That’s cool,” Wade replied, then turned the radio on, and the volume up.
A heavy metal song blared through the speakers. Yeah, my stomach didn’t stand a chance with that noise. I gave Wade another sideways glance and noticed the muscle twitching in his jaw as he twisted his key in the ignition.
He was definitely annoyed, maybe even upset.
I understood then that the “deviant” part wasn’t meant as a compliment. I’d upset him by choosing to go out with Garrett, but he was conflicted because I’d also given him the task of my debriefing.
And he really didn’t like being conflicted.
“Can you try and turn the Empathy off when I’m around?”
From the sound of his voice, he was also still irritated by my ability. He couldn’t hide from me. I almost felt sorry for him, while stifling a grin as I pressed my lips tight.
“I usually do, but I can’t shut it off entirely. I still get whiffs of emotions here and there. But my system’s all upside down after the assembly today. I need to sleep it off.”
“I kindly ask that you try, nonetheless. It’s extremely uncomfortable to be around you, otherwise.”
Oh, ouch.
Yeah, I’d pushed the wrong buttons on the guy. Did I feel sorry, though? Or did I find his anguish amusing?
Food for thought, right after the spring rolls and fried rice.
Chapter Seventeen
After I scarfed down my Chinese dinner while Wade debriefed me, Santana took me to my room. She’d kicked another magical out of there to get me in. The guy hadn’t even had a chance to take down all his movie posters, and he’d also left his toothbrush and shaving cream behind.
After a hot shower, I sank into the memory foam bed, expecting to quickly drift into deep sleep. I didn’t. Instead, I tossed and turned, my eyes popping open every five minutes. My brain was too busy processing everything that had happened, from the moment I’d first seen Wade, down to Garrett’s flirtatious wink as he asked me out earlier.
In between, snippets of preceptors, Readings, Finch’s “flight” across the cafeteria hall, and the gargoyles kept bothering me, each carrying question marks and warning signs. If the Bestiary was so secure, how come monsters kept slipping out? How did the same gargoyle manage to escape twice?
If the boxes were so amazing and super charmed, how did that creature outsmart them? Or did it? What if it was an inside job? Was someone from the San Diego Coven trying to stir it all up? What was their endgame?
Ugh. I am not prepared for any of this!
I sat up with a frustrated huff, disliking the darkness that had settled around me. The windows showed me the outside world, as they overlooked the park. The circular fountain was somewhere farther to the left, and there was no moon out tonight, just stars and strips of clouds.
Clearly, I wasn’t going to get any sleep, not after everything that had happened. My heart was still aching over Daisy, and over the fact that I couldn’t enjoy my own place anymore. If one gargoyle had made it out twice, and brought two more with him to hunt me down, chances were that there could be a third attack, if the Bestiary was still vulnerable.
Remembering the Mage Council’s warning, I couldn’t help but worry about Alton, Wade, and all the other magicals, especially my Rag Team. Not that I was emotionally attached or anything, but still, I felt bad for them. If they lost points on this, chances were that Adley’s research was going to suffer.
Like it or not, for the next month, the coven is your concern, too.
I slipped into my jeans and T-shirt, then went for a walk through the coven, looking for the Bestiary. It was a little after midnight, and barely a handful of witches and warlocks were still out at this time. I couldn’t remember the exact route that Alton had taken to get to the Bestiary—not that there would be signs pointing to the most dangerous place on Earth, anyway.
So, I wandered through the hallways for a while, gawking at bronze dragons along the way. I caught a glimpse of a familiar corridor to my left, so I went through, remembering how the walls closed in on me as we got closer to the Bestiary.
Fifteen minutes later, I was standing at the end of the distorted hallway, fitted around the tall, oval door. I didn’t see any of the extra security yet and figured they’d yet to start their shift. I turned the knob, but the door was locked. It made sense, though. I wouldn’t keep a terrarium full of poisonous spiders and deadly snakes without a lid.
“I wonder… Aperi Portam,” I whispered. It was a shot in the dark, but a shot nonetheless. And a good one, it seemed, as I heard the locking mechanism click.
I turned the knob again, and the door opened with a subtle creak.
The lights were mostly off, except for the wall sconces that still flickered quietly, casting a warm glow over the crystal boxes filled with formless, smoky monsters. I wasn’t sure what I was doing here, but I figured I could at least take a better look at those rune locks and glass casings. Maybe I’d see something the others had missed.
Thinking a little too highly of yourself there.
I walked through the narrow corridors with walls made of monster boxes in di
fferent sizes. My skin crawled as I felt countless pairs of eyes watching me. I heard voices somewhere to my right, so I slowly and quietly made my way to the source.
Two figures stood beyond a massive glass box with tropical greenery and a plethora of dark limestone rocks. It looked familiar, but I didn’t give it a second thought, crouching by its side so I could get a better look at the two figures—one particularly massive, which I identified as Tobe, and one whose soft, honey-like voice instantly reminded me of Alton.
I leaned forward, my face against the glass, until I could see both clearly.
“I don’t think we should keep the Mage Council out of this, Alton. It’s too risky.”
As suspected, Tobe and Alton were engaged in what sounded like a heavy conversation. I listened quietly, ignoring the goosebumps I was getting from the monsters’ attention. They couldn’t do anything while stuck in those glass boxes, anyway.
“Right now, only you, me, and Garrett’s and Wade’s teams know about this,” Alton replied. “You heard Leonidas today. One more slip-up and they’ll start handing out the penalties.”
“And you’ll lose what, money bonuses? Is that worth putting this coven’s magicals at risk?” Tobe said, crossing his feathered arms.
“We can handle this on our own, Tobe. All the Council can do is look down at us and deprive us of future funding. And Adley’s getting so close to a fully functional detector. We can’t risk it. No one got hurt, and we can clean this up before any rumor makes it back to the Council. You know they’ll put some blame on you, too. Leonidas will stop at nothing to make us look like idiots.”
My Daisy got hurt.
“Leonidas will one day die of old age, and I will still be here. I have seen plenty of his kind, and I am not intimidated,” Tobe declared, and pride flowed through me like liquid fire.
“Nor do I expect you to be intimidated, Tobe, but you must understand that the times are changing. They all expected us to turn down the nomination, and the covens have been laughing at us for too long,” Alton insisted. “One more push with Adley, and we’ll prove our worth. Whatever problems we’re having with the Bestiary, we can handle them on our own. We don’t need the Council holding our hands and humiliating us further.”
“What do you suggest we do, then?”
“Let’s start by doing another sweep of the Bestiary tomorrow. I’ll have Garrett and his magicals do a thorough search of every box, every lock, and every mechanism,” Alton proposed. “Wade and the Rag Team will handle the cleanup, and I’ll send out more magicals to search for rogues. Those two wild gargoyles came from the San Diego area, for sure.”
“What if others escape from the Bestiary? What then? What if someone gets killed?” Tobe frowned. “I’ve been around for over a thousand years, Alton, and this has never happened before. It’s completely unprecedented, and I am worried for the safety of this coven.”
“So, what? Do we tremble in our boots and expect the Mage Council to solve something we can handle ourselves?” Alton replied. “Listen, if it gets worse, I will notify the Council. In the meantime, let’s reinforce security and investigate this properly. I’ll give you some of Nomura’s instructors to help around the Bestiary, particularly when you’re resting. I’d advise you not to leave here for a while. O’Halloran can do live monster training with the new recruits. He’s fought most of the creatures in here, already.”
Tobe shook his head slowly, his thick mane rippling in soft, golden waves. “The monsters only listen to me, and me alone. The only thing that added security can do is alert me and try to catch them in Mason jars.”
“The more, the better, I say. At least we’ll know we’ve tried everything. And I’ll ask Sloane to devise more charms for the boxes, too, just to be on the safe side. I’ll restrict access to the Bestiary, as well. Whatever I can do to ease your mind that doesn’t involve calling the Council, I’ll do it, Tobe. Just bear with me, and I know we’ll get to the bottom of it.”
“I’ve locked Murray in a separate box,” Tobe said, scratching the back of his head.
“You named that gargoyle Murray?” Alton chuckled.
“Letters and numbers don’t do these creatures justice. Besides, getting out of the Bestiary twice and going after Harley just for revenge has made him stand out.” Tobe shrugged. “So, I called him Murray. He sounds like a Murray.”
That ugly, winged bastard responsible for the destruction of my Daisy did sound like a Murray, indeed. I knew a bully in kindergarten named Murray. He used to eat glue, blame me for it, then put chewing gum in my hair. My first foster mom had to cut my hair short because of bird-brained Murray. Yeah, Murray sounds about right.
“I’d advise you to keep an eye on the ‘kids’ tonight,” Alton concluded. “I’ll come by in the morning, and we can discuss this further then. Trust me, Tobe, once we figure out what the problem is, we’ll be able to resolve it without any Council involvement. I simply can’t flush two years’ worth of Adley’s research down the drain because of this. You know full well that if we nail one of the bonuses, I’ll be sure to upgrade central parts of the Bestiary, too.”
“Agreed,” Tobe replied. “We do need special replacement parts for the stem, to amplify the energy output to African and South-East Asian covens.”
“All the more reason for you to stick with me on this one, Tobe.” Alton smiled, then gently patted his shoulder. “I’ll see you in the morning, friend.”
Tobe gave him a brief nod, and we both watched him leave. As I turned my head to follow him from the other side of the glass box, I froze at the sight of two huge turquoise eyes with black slits in the middle that took center stage in front of me. I quickly recognized the white-and-fuchsia plumage of its collar. Quetzalcoatl, the massive snake, stared at me from inside its glass box—the same box I’d chosen to hide behind.
Its jaws snapped open, and it hissed violently, its feathers trembling aggressively.
Chills ran through me as I jumped back on pure instinct, catching Tobe’s attention. He didn’t seem mad, but rather amused. “I think Quetzi likes you,” he quipped, as I stood up straight, ignoring the waves of adrenaline surging through me. It was a natural response to having just two inches of glass stand between me and a giant, monstrous snake that could gobble me up in seconds.
I looked down at the creature, just as it lifted, then cocked its head to one side, its haws flicking black over its gem-like eyes. Again, I wasn’t sure whether that was cute or creepy.
“Sorry, Tobe,” I murmured, putting on my most innocent expression. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on you and Alton.”
“What are you doing here? You should be resting, after such an eventful day.”
“I couldn’t sleep.” I shrugged. “I just wanted to look around. Maybe see if I could find something to help with the investigation. As of tonight, this whole Bestiary issue got really personal, really fast.”
“Don’t worry about it, Harley,” he replied gently. “We’ll take care of it, but, as I assume you heard what Alton said, keep the incident to yourself and your team. No one else can know. At least for now.”
I nodded, putting my hands in my pockets. I was still very restless. “I won’t tell, of course. But how do you think the gargoyle escaped the second time around? I thought you guys checked and secured the boxes already.”
“We did, and that’s what bothers me the most. There are approximately two thousand gargoyles in the Bestiary. They’re the most frequent Purge manifestations, and they tend to team up in packs. Murray came out and rallied two wild ones to join him, for example. I fear that if another comes out, it will do the same, or worse.” Tobe sighed, then gazed across to his left, through several walls of glass boxes, where black smoke swirled around, as if responding to his attention. “I’m afraid we might be dealing with an inside job, and I don’t like how it’s making me look incompetent. I have never had such issues with my monsters before. They all fear and obey me, without exception. And yet, Murray keeps getting out, and I
fear others might follow his example.”
That confirmed one of my suspicions. At least I knew my reasoning wasn’t faulty on this one. But the follow-up question still bothered me. “Why would anyone try to sabotage the Bestiary? What would their purpose be?” I asked.
“I’m not sure, but I do know Alton drew the ire of many covens when he didn’t reject the nomination for the Bestiary. The Los Angeles and San Francisco Covens, in particular, are still fuming, as they consider San Diego to be woefully inferior and unprepared for such a task.”
“And what do you think, Tobe? You’ve been the Beast Master since its inception. Surely, you’ve seen worse covens than this?” I replied, the corner of my mouth twitching.
Tobe needed a couple of seconds to answer that. It didn’t work in San Diego’s favor…
“I don’t know, honestly,” he replied. “On one hand, there is so much potential in the magicals here, but, at the same time, due to poor funding and low morale prior to Alton’s arrival, they have so much to catch up on, compared with other covens.”
“Potential?” I asked. “You see potential here? I’m told a substantial amount of magicals in the San Diego Coven are Mediocre, like me.”
“But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.” Tobe smiled. “Personally, I find the label to be quite elitist, and I don’t think it cancels out the tremendous potential of every magical in this place. They simply need more confidence in their own abilities. They lack motivation. Alton is doing a fine job, and he’ll probably make more progress in the years to come, but even he is too deeply attached to the rules and regulations. This whole Mediocre concept is completely unnecessary, if you ask me. And yet, magicals in positions of power often use it to deny other magicals the possibility of advancement in the coven ranks.”
“That’s cruel. And foolish,” I said, my dislike for the magical society swelling in my throat, like a painful lump. Would I pledge my life and services to a coven that was so quick to slap me with the Mediocre label? Would I ever be given the chance to evolve beyond that?
Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven Page 19
