Nevertheless, my head felt heavy, so I loaded up on coffee first, then went to our side of the table, giving both Wade and Garrett a questioning look. No one on the Rag Team seemed particularly happy that Garrett was there. He was sporting a smug grin, complete with his signature dimples.
“What’s up, fellas?” I asked, my voice stuck on a higher pitch than usual.
I glanced around the table. Astrid was confused. Santana was irritated. Raffe, as always, was an absolute mess for me to read, and Tatyana was on edge. There was something slightly different about her, but I couldn’t tell what, exactly, since Garrett was an obvious disruptor for everyone’s emotions. Wade was nearing the boiling point, while Garrett… well, was Garrett. Unreadable but clearly pleased.
“Is that mocha?” he asked, nodding at my mug.
I shook my head. “Nah, latte. I’m having plenty of these babies today, so I’m thinning them out with milk,” I replied. “So, what brings you to our end of the table, Garrett?”
Wade sighed, unable to look at me and, instead, resigned to staring at his coffee. “Garrett is joining our team,” he said. “Alton assigned him while Dylan is recovering.”
“Ah.” My reply was flat. I had mixed feelings about this. I’d seen Garrett in action during the gargoyle bonanza, but I hadn’t had the chance to work with him. I knew he was a highly skilled magical, so, to that credit, he seemed like a good addition to the Rag Team. At the same time, I was worried about friction. Garrett was the kind of guy who spoke his mind and loved it when that pissed people off. He was what I commonly referred to as a “social sadist.” Since the post-Finch shift in his behavior, he was actually nice to me, despite his occasionally abrasive comebacks, but I couldn’t say the same for his dynamic with the others. I took a sip from my coffee and gave Garrett a brief nod. “Well, that explains the sour faces on everyone this morning.”
“Hey, orders are orders,” Garrett said with a casual shrug.
“We’ve agreed to take Garrett with us,” Tatyana added, “to preserve yesterday’s split. You, Wade, Raffe, and Santana can do your thing in peace. I can handle Garrett.”
He chuckled. “Don’t worry, Tatyana. I’ll be on my best behavior.”
“It’s not your behavior I’m worried about. It’s that rotten mind of yours. It bypasses your mouth, and it gets on my nerves. Lucky for you, I’m well equipped to smack you around if needed,” Tatyana said. Her eyes glimmered with what felt like excitement. From what I could tell, she would’ve liked for Garrett to challenge her, as if she was itching for a fight. That wasn’t like her.
I figured she’d had a rough night, with Dylan still recovering. Maybe lashing out was her way of coping with what had happened, especially since I knew she’d blamed herself for the whole Kenneth Willow incident.
“I’m sure Garrett won’t do anything to get on your bad side,” Wade interjected before Garrett could open his mouth and object to her sharp warning. “He’s a good magical and a professional. He’s grown since the Finch incident.”
Both Garrett and I were surprised to hear Wade talk like that. Deep down, I sensed relief. Wade wasn’t happy with Garrett on our crew, but he certainly was fine with passing him over to Tatyana and Astrid. He was pleased to not have to spend the day in his presence.
Making the best of a bad situation, I guess.
“How did your Reading go?” Wade asked me.
All eyes were on me now. It was time for the not-so-grand reveal. I put on a confident smile. “My dad put a Dempsey Suppressor in me when I was a baby,” I said.
They were all stunned. They apparently knew what the device was and what it did. A few seconds passed before Wade put two and two together, his eyes wide with surprise and his heart filled with… joy. This is unexpected.
“It makes sense,” he replied. “You’re an Empath, a Telekinetic, and a full Elemental. Alton was right. There was definitely something off about you being a Mediocre.”
“Is that why you kept hammering the prospect of Mediocrity in my head?” I replied with a raised eyebrow, prompting Garrett to chuckle. I scowled at him, too. “You were no better, remember?”
As expected, my comeback was enough to wipe the grin from his face.
“I was trying to be realistic! I was working with what we were given from the first Reading. I just didn’t want you to get your hopes up and then be disappointed,” Wade muttered, though I sensed regret oozing out of him, thick and heavy.
“It’s cool. Krieger said the regular Reading wouldn’t have spotted the Suppressor anyway,” I replied.
Astrid jumped up and hugged me. “I knew it!” She giggled. “I called it!”
“That she did, that she totally did,” Santana chimed in, smiling.
They were all happy for me. It filled me with light and hope, thankful to have people like them around. I would’ve gone to the end of the world for them, simply because of how supportive they’d been.
“So, Krieger found the Suppressor, huh?” Raffe asked.
“Nope. He knows it’s present, but he needs to do a full body scan, X-rays and stuff. Plus, there are risks in removing it because of how it was designed,” I explained. “He’s looking into it, though. I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. The interesting part is that it was supposed to fully suppress my abilities.”
“Obviously, it didn’t,” Santana murmured.
“Which Krieger says is amazing,” I added. “He thinks it’s because—”
“There’s so much power in you that it couldn’t be held back properly with a Dempsey Suppressor,” Wade replied, in genuine awe of me.
I smirked, relishing the ripples of pride swelling my chest. “Yup,” I said, then let out a heavy sigh. “But it’s kind of useless if it’s not set free. So, technically speaking, I’m not a Mediocre, but, in practicality, I kind of am. For now.”
“Hey. At least you know the truth!” Santana said encouragingly.
A phone beeped. Tatyana checked hers. “Okay, we’ll need to get ready soon. My first alarm just went off.”
I still had something to do before delving into day two of our magical operations.
“You guys go ahead and get ready. I need to talk to Krieger about something else,” I said. “I’ll meet you by the dragon fountain in an hour?”
They all nodded, and I left them behind as I made my way out of the banquet hall. I could feel Wade’s eyes on me. One quick glance over my shoulder confirmed it: he was watching me. The emotions coming off him were different. Warm and curious…
I texted Krieger. It was time to talk to Adley.
Eighteen
Harley
As soon as I set foot in the basement, O’Halloran’s voice boomed through the main underground hallway. I was surprised to hear him, given that he was supposed to still be in recovery. I advanced through the wide corridor, chills running down my spine.
This wasn’t a dungeon, but it didn’t exactly inspire fuzzy feelings, either. The walls, the ceiling, and the floor were made of cool, gray concrete, with sharp white overhead lights. Several corridors connected to this main one. As I passed by some of them, I noticed the metal doors, all kept under lock and key and covered in charmed etchings. The magic used to keep criminals in was similar to that in the Bestiary. Those who broke the coven laws were treated like monsters.
Down here, the coven kept the witches and warlocks whose crimes demanded sentences of up to five years. Everyone else was shipped off to Purgatory. Judging by how this place looked, I didn’t even dare imagine what Purgatory would be like.
The deeper I ventured, the louder O’Halloran’s voice got, until I found him in a corridor to my right, yelling at two security magicals. He’d returned to his black uniform and was leaning onto a cane for support. There were some bruises still healing on his face, as well.
“Every four hours!” he barked. “You’re supposed to tour every damn hallway, every four hours! Not five hours! Not six! Not four hours and four minutes because you needed to
finish your baloney sandwich! Four hours!”
The security magicals were quaking in their boots. They both stilled when they saw me.
“What’s the matter, you ninnies? You look like you’ve seen a ghost, and, last time I checked, we only have one Kolduny on the premises!” O’Halloran growled. He was in a bad mood, but then again, it was in his nature to be perpetually grumpy—that much I’d learned from Wade’s descriptions of his numerous training sessions and security seminars. When O’Halloran yelled at you, he was just slightly irritated. Most of us had gotten used to the half-Irish powder keg, but the newer security magicals had yet to wrap their heads around his moods.
O’Halloran turned around to follow their gazes and found me standing at the end of the corridor. He lit up like a Christmas tree.
“Merlin! You little bundle of raw Chaos!” he exclaimed, clearly happy to see me. O’Halloran was one of the magicals I couldn’t read, but his face usually did the work for me. “Where have you been hiding?”
“Uh, nowhere, sir,” I replied, giving him a weary smile. “Working and learning, sir. I thought you weren’t due to come out of the infirmary for at least another week—”
“Hah! Is my presence here inconvenient to ya, Merlin?” O’Halloran asked, pursing his lips. “Should I have stayed in bed long enough for you to sneak around the basement prison? Huh?”
It was always hard to tell whether he was joking or whether he was serious, because he always sounded like he was seconds away from beating somebody up. His tone was always clipped or harsh, even when he was jesting—his humor was too subtle, at best, making it hard for some of us to catch on. I chuckled nervously, putting my hands behind my back and adopting a pious posture.
“No, sir, not at all. I’m happy to see you’re out and about!” I replied. “I just didn’t expect to see you out so soon, that’s all.”
He scowled at me for a moment while the two security magicals held their breaths, probably also wondering whether he was serious or not. O’Halloran had a way of keeping people on edge. I thought he secretly liked it. Maybe a little too much.
He then burst into laughter and motioned for me to get closer. “I’m kidding, Merlin! Get over here! I haven’t seen you in a while.”
That was the security magicals’ cue to loosen up a little bit, since O’Halloran was laughing—a rare sight. I sheepishly walked over and found myself trapped in a bear hug as he put his arms around me and held me tight. The security magicals were stunned. There was some fear in them, and not all of it because of O’Halloran and his disciplinary fire. Some of it was because of me… because of my last name. They knew I’d had nothing to do with what my dad had done, but, still, there was a certain degree of reserve.
“I never got to thank you for saving my life,” O’Halloran said, gently pushing me away. The hug was over, and he switched back to his formal self.
“No need to thank me, sir. I was just doing what’s right,” I replied, giving him a polite nod.
“Well, not everybody jumps in the line of fire like you did. You’ve got grit. I appreciate that,” he insisted. He looked back at the guards. “What the hell are you two still doing here? Do your rounds!”
They nodded and rushed out into the main hallway.
“Remember, four hours!” O’Halloran shouted after them.
They vanished behind the corner. I kind of felt sorry for them, having O’Halloran as their superior, but at the same time, I knew the SDC needed a firm hand to help it run seamlessly, especially with all the eyes that were on us—mainly because of the Bestiary, but also due to the return of Katherine Shipton.
“So, what are you doing here, Merlin?” O’Halloran asked, his voice low and calm, a complete 180-degree switch from two seconds ago. There was genuine concern in his eyes. “You shouldn’t be down here.”
“Sir, I have full clearance now,” I replied.
“I know that! But still. You know who’s down here. The toll it took on you must’ve been terrible,” he muttered.
He was referring to Adley de la Barthe. I was touched by his somewhat fatherly concern. It was a funny thing, really. I’d spent my whole life as a foster kid, stuck in the homes of some terrible people prior to the Smiths, and dreaming about finding my own family. Now, the coven was trying to fill that void. It had given me more than one “dad.” After Alton and Tobe, O’Halloran seemed to be just as worried about my wellbeing, and I had to admit it was sweet.
I smiled. “I know, sir. I’m here to talk to Adley.”
“Why in the blazes would you want to do that?”
“She might have answers to some of my questions,” I replied with a shrug.
Just then, Krieger joined us, and I felt a pinch of relief. With the good doctor by my side, O’Halloran had no chance of trying to sway me from my mission.
“O’Halloran!” Krieger exclaimed, slightly amused. “I thought my nurses were sturdy enough to keep you down if you tried to escape!”
“Eh, I’m fine, Krieger,” O’Halloran retorted, rolling his eyes. “Just a little sore, but I’m fine. I couldn’t take another minute in that damn bed,” he added, and scowled at him. “You’re not here to take me back, are ya? Because I’m not going down without a fight.”
Krieger laughed. “No, no, relax. I’m here to see Adley with Miss Merlin here,” he said, giving me a quick sideways glance.
O’Halloran sighed, his brows furrowed as he looked at us.
“I’ll take you to her cell,” he grumbled, sounding defeated.
I understood his concern, and it was much appreciated, but my feelings were meaningless if I couldn’t get some useful information out of Adley. With the possibility of the Ryder twins being connected to Katherine Shipton, Adley and Finch were my only viable leads.
We followed him down the corridor, until we stopped in front of door number thirteen. Not that I was superstitious, but I couldn’t help but smirk at the sight of that number and compare it to Adley’s predicament.
“Thank you, sir,” I said to O’Halloran.
He gave me a brief nod. “Just don’t let her fool you. Ever since I found out how she protected Finch, I’ve not been able to look at her the same way. And don’t even get me started on Finch himself. My favorite kid in the whole damn coven.” He sighed, shaking his head, clearly disappointed.
“Don’t let it get you down, O’Halloran,” Krieger said. “You survived, and you’ll make sure nothing like that happens again.”
“You’re damn right,” O’Halloran replied, and unlocked door number thirteen. “I’ll be outside if you need me.”
We went in to find Adley sitting in a chair, reading a book. Her cell was small and contained the basics: a bed, a table, a couple of chairs, a trash can, and a tiny adjoining bathroom. Because she was a nonviolent criminal, she had some amenities included, judging by the pitcher of iced tea and plate of cookies on the table.
Adley had lost weight, almost resembling a ghost in her black prison garb. She looked up and froze at the sight of me. Her hair had grown a bit, covering the upper arch of her ears. Dark rings had settled under her eyes, and her skin was pale.
“Harley,” she murmured, but didn’t move. “Doctor Krieger. What… What are you doing here?”
The door closed behind us with a clang. O’Halloran was just outside, quiet and patiently waiting. Krieger gave Adley a soft smile.
“Hi, Adley,” he said. “We’re here to talk to you about a few things, if you don’t mind.”
She blinked several times, shame and grief hitting me from all angles—all hers. She closed the book and turned in her chair to face us.
“Please, have a seat,” she replied, pointing at the bed and spare chair.
I didn’t feel like sitting down, but Krieger didn’t refuse the offer and plopped himself in the chair. I stood, arms crossed, frowning, trying to get a full read on her emotions.
“Do you get any sunlight at all?” I asked.
She nodded, wearing a resigned smile. “Once a
day. Security rounds up the prisoners every morning for an hour. There’s an open space specially designed for us. It’s still part of the interdimensional pocket, but the walls are transparent, enough for us to get our fix of vitamin D.”
I’d already had enough of the small talk. “Adley, we haven’t spoken since they took you away, the day I woke up,” I said. “I need to ask you something.”
Adley looked at me, then at Krieger, and exhaled deeply. “Sure, Harley. I’ll tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
“Why did you do it?” I asked. “What happened, exactly? I only got the summary from Wade and Alton, but I need to hear it from you.”
“I was stupid, Harley, that’s what happened. I met Finch back in Los Angeles. I fell in love. I thought he loved me, too. I didn’t care about the age difference or the fact that there were so many things about him that I didn’t know. I went in blind, and now there’s blood on my hands.”
“So, you knew Finch before you came to SDC,” I said. She nodded again. “And you did his Reading shortly after he transferred here.”
“Yes. It was standard procedure. I didn’t even know he was a Shapeshifter until I did his Reading,” she explained. “I knew the stigma surrounding that ability, and I understood why he didn’t want people to know. I found it odd that he didn’t want Alton to know, either, but I was stupidly blind and head over heels in love with him. Whatever he wanted, I did it. For that, I will always be sorry.”
“You lied for him, basically. You never registered his Shapeshifter ability,” I said. “Didn’t he do a Reading in the LA Coven, too?”
Adley shook her head. “No. I discovered him as a magical in Los Angeles, living with Agnes Anker, whom he said was his grandmother. I had no idea about his connection to Katherine Shipton. I swear.”
“Okay, so let me get this straight. You met in LA, when he was discovered as a magical, and hooked up, right?”
Krieger chuckled in the background. The man was proper in the way he talked to people. My loose tongue cracked him up, it seemed.
Harley Merlin 2: Harley Merlin and the Mystery Twins Page 16
