Harley Merlin and the Cult of Eris (Harley Merlin, #6)

Harley stepped between us and put her palms to Tobe’s chest. “Tobe, you need to calm down. He’s not supposed to be walking around like this. I’m sorry he came here, I really am. The security personnel can’t know we’re here, or I’ll get thrown in Purgatory! We got lucky, since they didn’t see me come in. We don’t want to do anything that might make them suspicious.”

He looked at her and instantly calmed. His body relaxed, and his wings folded in. “I apologize for my outburst, Harley. There are certain troubling memories that appear to have gotten the better of me. I didn’t know you had gone through with the act of freeing him; otherwise, I would have been more alert to strange happenings.”

“I know, Tobe. I’m sorry for not telling you. There hasn’t been much time, but please be assured that we were going to,” Harley replied. His paw covered her hand and held it gently.

“I believe you.”

“We portaled into Purgatory and managed to get him out, and we’ve been extra careful to cover our tracks. He’s not supposed to be out, but I guess he doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation.” Harley shot me a cold look. “It’s the only way we can get Katherine before she completes the third ritual. I know it looks reckless, but it’s our only choice.”

Tobe sighed. “I understand, Harley. I just wish such a grave task did not have to fall upon such young shoulders, and I wish you did not have to put yourself in such danger to achieve it.”

“Me, too.” She smiled up at him. Did she take conflict de-escalation classes or something?

“I’ll call Astrid, get her to fix the cameras,” Santana said. She plucked out her phone and dialed a number, wandering off behind one of the glass boxes. I hadn’t realized my little outing would cause this much hassle. Believe it or not, I hadn’t intended it to.

Harley turned to me. “You need to shift into someone else, pronto.”

I shrugged. “Fine by me.” I gathered my Chaos energy into my center and shifted into the only person I could think of. He wasn’t here, so I doubted he’d mind. Plus, being surrounded by the Muppet Babies had made me nostalgic for my younger days. A more teenage body would do just nicely.

“Seriously?” Harley arched a disapproving eyebrow at me.

“No good?” I’d picked Jacob, just for kicks.

She sighed. “It’ll have to do.”

“For what it’s worth, Tobe, I’m sorry for getting you arrested. It sounds mega cliché, but I’m not that guy anymore. I don’t expect you to believe me, but… let’s let bygones be bygones, eh?” I flashed a grin. I was aiming for charming.

“I do not know that I can forgive what you did, but—” Before he could finish his sentence, the lights went out in the Bestiary. Emergency bulbs glowed dimly in the blackness, and I heard creatures throwing themselves against their glass enclosures. The thuds were ominous, like approaching footsteps in a dark alley.

“What the hell?” Harley muttered, her figure a silhouette.

“Something weird is going on for sure.” I scanned our surroundings. Overhead, electricity crackled, and temporary flashes lit up the Bestiary for a second before plunging it back into darkness. It was as if someone were lighting matches and blowing them out again.

Every crackle was followed by the snap of charmed locks. The glass boxes were being opened. One by one. I realized I was holding my breath. I’d seen this happen before. This was the work of a very powerful Electro. And she was trying to take down the Bestiary.

I only knew of one such Electro: Thessaly Crux.





Twelve





Harley





“What’s going on?” I yelled, grabbing Finch’s arm in the darkness. It seemed too coincidental that this had happened while Finch was out exploring. Panic bristled through my chest. This couldn’t be happening.

“An Electro. It’s got to be Tess,” he replied.

“Did you say an Electro?” Tobe’s voice echoed softly.

“Nothing else could cause this.” Finch sounded certain, but I couldn’t see enough of his face to be sure.

“If it’s that one from Marie Laveau’s garden, I’m going to wring her neck!” I snapped. This was happening too quickly. If the Bestiary fell… The Bestiary can’t fall. I won’t let it.

“Krieger and I installed a backup security panel after the unfortunate incident with Quetzi. Come with me.” Tobe’s paw grasped at my wrist and dragged me after him, with Finch following close behind, his hand around my other arm. Together, we sprinted through the gloom and headed toward one of the far walls. As he’d promised, a metal panel had been fixed into the fa?ade. Tobe wrenched it open with his beast strength and pulled down hard on a big red lever.

“Guys, keep the beasts in their boxes!” I yelled to the others. Security personnel should have been fumbling around in the darkness, but I couldn’t see them, and I definitely couldn’t hear them. The Bestiary had fallen into an eerie silence. Something bad had already happened to them, I just knew it. All I could hear were the terrifying clinks of the charmed locks as they dropped off, failing thanks to the glitching atrium, and the creak of the glass doors as they swung open.

A second later, I saw a ball of fire light up as Wade went running to slam any of the opening boxes shut. The others were doing the same, with Santana’s Orishas flying around her, casting a glow on what was going on. We couldn’t have these beasts on the loose, not again. There was a horrible irony in the fact that this was happening while Finch was in the Bestiary.

“What can we do?” I asked as we reached a panel. I was breathless with fear. I’d seen enough when Jacob almost cracked the interdimensional bubble to know that this would be a freaking catastrophe if the Bestiary failed.

“Flip those switches as quickly as you can,” Tobe replied.

Creating a tiny ball of fire in my palms, I lifted the light so Finch could maneuver the switches. Everything in this panel was magically connected to the central stem, the very core and battery of the Bestiary. If that stayed cut off, then we were all doomed.

“Finch, flip the switches!” My heart clenched with anxiety. If Thessaly Crux was in here, then she would likely be on the prowl for anyone who might stop her or try to arrest her.

“Yes, ma’am.” Finch stepped up and pressed all the power switches, using the light from my fireball to see by. Meanwhile, Tobe was yanking down all ten levers on the massive panel as if there was no tomorrow, which there might not be if we didn’t get everything up and running ASAP.

Nothing seemed to be working. The switches had been flipped, the levers had been yanked, and still the Bestiary was steeped in darkness.

“Is she in here with us?” I whispered, my hands shaking.

Finch shook his head. “I doubt it. She’s a smart one. She won’t get any closer than she needs to. She’s nearby, maybe just outside the coven. My guess is, she’s touching the central stem with a Gemini device.”

“A who-said-what-now?”

He sighed. “They really don’t teach you anything here, do they? Magical contraption. Two devices, actually. They’re rare and illegal, naturally. One must be connected to the central stem; the other will be in her hands. I’ve seen them used before.”

“How did someone find their way into the Bestiary to fit the counterpart device?” Tobe asked, yanking down his last lever.

Finch shrugged. “She must’ve found a way to sneak it into the coven to attach it. Robotics, maybe? I know she has a tech guy. Trouble is, there are no cameras directly pointing at the stem, right?”

Tobe shook his head. “The radiation is much too powerful. It distorts and corrupts any image that anyone attempts to capture. Although, I did not see anything out of the ordinary via the mirrors angled toward it.”

I looked toward the beautiful central stem of the Bestiary that ran from the ceiling to the floor in the dead center of the room. It contained batteries forged from crystal cylinders and held thousands of wires in neatly wound patterns, running through the entire stem like veins and capillaries, each one sending power across the globe. On that stem, somewhere, was one half of the Gemini device.

“There’s one way we can stop the device,” Finch said.