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

I nodded. “That’s good to hear. Dr. Krieger, can you help us out?”

“I most certainly can. So, if I have this correct, Finch’s Shapeshifter ability is going into one and your Fire ability is going into the other?”

“You got it,” I replied.

“Very well, then. If both of you could come over here, we’ll begin.” He gestured to the Ephemeras, and we walked over to the table. “If you give me a moment, I’ll program the first Ephemera to receive your Fire, Harley.” He tinkered with the first orb, pressing tiny buttons in a sequence I didn’t understand. A moment later, the whole thing lit up red. “Please place your hand here.” He pointed to a flat golden panel on the side of the orb, which seemed to form the shape of a hand. Tiny needles had risen from inside the metal, and I got the feeling I knew what they were for.

“It’s going to hurt, isn’t it?” I asked.

Krieger smiled. “No more than an injection.”

Great, I hate needles. With a grimace, I placed my hand against the designated area and felt the tiny needles sink into my skin with a sharp bite. A pulse of energy shot down my arm and entered the orb, filling the swirling mist with bright scarlet light that throbbed with power. The needles retracted, and I pulled my hand away.

“Did it do it?”

Krieger nodded. “I believe so.” He fiddled with a few more buttons, which reduced the baseball-sized orb down to the size of a marble. The glow inside slowly faded to a dull pulsation, which could easily be hidden beneath our clothes or worn as a piece of jewelry around our necks. “I’ve provided a small cloaking shield around the orb so that it won’t be detected by any magical machines. This will not affect its use.” He handed the small orb over to Finch, who slid it into his pocket.

“My turn, I guess?” Finch smiled sardonically.

“If you would,” Krieger replied as he prepared the orb. Meanwhile, I stared down at my hand and saw the tiny pinpricks—eleven in total. They’d heal up pretty quickly, by the looks of it. Already, they were starting to fade.

Finch followed the same procedure, placing his hand on the orb and letting the tiny needles do their work, his arm spasming as a bolt of his Shapeshifter ability poured into the orb. The glass ball inside lit up with a silvery light that looked like the beginning of a thunderstorm, then Finch took his hand away and let Krieger shrink the orb down. Once the cloaking shield had been implemented, Krieger handed the small golden orb to me. I took it gratefully and unhooked the chain of Imogene’s gift, slipping the orb onto it via a small hole in the top, then reattaching it around my neck. It fit neatly beside my pendant, which Krieger had altered with a complex morphing spell to look like a simple silver disc at the end of a silver chain, identical to one that Volla Mazinov had worn in many pictures. The two things brought me comfort for the trials to come. The St. Christopher medallion was helping, too, and it already matched a similar item Volla had worn.

“Now, while Ephemeras can normally only be used once, I have managed to tweak these to give longer endurance to the abilities inside,” Krieger said. “Keep an eye on the gems inside. Once they start to dim, it means the power is ebbing, and they will cease to work once the light goes out. So, we will just have to hope they work as they should.”

I’d almost forgotten that part. “How long will a Shift last, if I use it?”

“Given your heightened skill with all that Chaos energy, and my alterations, I would imagine it can continue for a week, if you remain in your Volla form for as long as possible and shift back and forth only once or twice. It may even last longer than that, but it isn’t an exact science.” Krieger’s tone was anxious, which only made me more nervous.

“I’ll wait a bit, then, until I shift. We don’t want to use up time we might need later. Plus, I could do with knowing who we’re impersonating a little better.” I glanced at Astrid. “What can you tell us about the Mazinovs?”

She took out Smartie and placed it on the table. Her hands moved quickly over the screen, drawing up files and photos that would help us blend in. From one of the images, a young man and a young woman stared back, both dressed in thick hunting gear with rifles slung over their shoulders. They were good looking, the woman with short white-blonde hair that had been styled up in textured spikes, while the young man had a mane of golden curls. Their eyes were the same shade of cobalt blue, and they both stood tall, with lean muscles and broad shoulders. A video clip played shortly afterward, showing them walking toward the camera with a definite swagger. Ah crap, this is going to be tough.

“They spoke with faint Russian accents, which Tatyana can help you with,” Astrid said. “They’d traveled a lot, so their accents weren’t thick. They were known to be very charming and flirtatious, and an instant hit with any men or women they encountered. There were a lot of broken hearts when it was declared that they were MIA.”

Finch grinned. “Not hard for me. I can do charm.”

“That won’t get you far if you don’t speak like them,” Tatyana interjected. “Russian accents aren’t as easy as you might think. This isn’t James Bond.”

Finch shrugged. “I’ve always been good with accents.”

“If you’re still struggling, I can come up with a voice bug to alter your speech,” Astrid said, noting my discomfort. This was all getting a bit too real. “I already had some prepared, just in case. Smartie will need a few minutes to collect data on the voices of these siblings, then I can download it to the bugs. They’ll have to be injected into your necks, and you won’t be able to turn them off unless I do so remotely.”

Finch and I exchanged a glance. “We’ll go with the bugs,” he said. I cast him a grateful look for taking one for the team. “I’ve got to say, I’m looking forward to using a bit of Fire.”

“You can only do so once or twice,” Krieger repeated, his brow furrowed.

“Yeah, yeah, I know the score. I’m just saying.”

I smiled at him. “You some kind of pyromaniac? Should I be worried?”

“I used to like to burn things when I was a kid. Does that make me a pyromaniac?”

“We’ll have to wait and see.” He was looking at me in a strange way, as if he was trying to figure me out. “Hopefully, we won’t need to use it.”

“Way to burst my bubble, Sis.” A chuckle bubbled out of his throat. A real, genuine laugh that took me by surprise. I knew we’d have to get to know each other better on this mission, but I’d been nervous about it up until now. For some reason, that laugh dispersed some of my fears. At the end of the day, we’d both always wanted the same thing—a family. Now, we had the mutual desire to take down Katherine Shipton to add to the mix.

Maybe we aren’t so different, after all…

“So, once you’ve met with Naima, what happens next?” Wade chimed in, his eyes fixed on me. He was worried, and rightly so. I was already going out of my mind, and we hadn’t even left the SDC yet.

“We go with her to the Cult of Eris and let Finch lead the way to Hester’s spirit.” The name stuck in my throat, lodged behind a big ball of sadness. I was both dreading and looking forward to seeing my mom’s spirit. Seeing her again, even in spirit form… I couldn’t even begin to imagine how it would feel. I just hoped my emotions didn’t get the better of me when it finally came down to it.