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

You mean, the security teams who failed to protect President Price? I held my tongue, but I thought it with every fiber of my being. “I’m aware of that, Director, which is why I’m spending so much time studying and training—so that I can master these abilities.” I was surprised by the calm, even tone in my voice, and it seemed to shock Levi and Alton, too.

“Technically speaking, you’re also a victim of Katherine’s,” Levi droned on. Behind him, Alton rolled his eyes, and I fought to push down a snort of laughter. It was good to see that Alton was still on our side, even though he’d buddied up with Levi.

“I remind myself of that every day, Director,” I replied.

He scowled, clearly annoyed by my serene behavior. He wanted me to scream and howl at the injustice as much as I wanted to give that to him, but he wasn’t getting any kind of rise out of me. No way, José. He’d have to deal with this new, obedient, pleasant me, whether he liked it or not.

“Well then, I’ll let you continue on with your day.” He turned to look at Wade, who’d been silent the whole time. “Keep a tight leash on Miss Merlin, if you would. We can’t have her running off as she pleases.”

What, am I not standing here anymore? I kept my face calm, but inside, I was seething. What was I, some kind of dog to be kept at heel? If he thought that way, I wondered why he didn’t just throw me in one of the Bestiary boxes and get it over with. Then he could come and sneer at me from a safe distance, without fear of me biting back.

“Yes, Director Levi.” Wade nodded, but I could sense he was seething too.

“Do not disappoint me again, Crowley,” Levi hissed. He hadn’t forgotten Wade’s failed spying attempt and the betrayal of discovering that he had used that trust against him.

Levi walked away, joined by Alton, who cast an apologetic look back over his shoulder before the two of them disappeared around the corner. I wondered where they’d been headed, and why he’d doubled back on himself, but Levi was a mystery. He’d no doubt just wanted to save face by not having to walk past us.

“Speaking of wringing necks,” Wade said through gritted teeth. “Who does he think he is, speaking to you like that? I swear to any god listening, if he speaks to my girlfriend like she’s some kind of animal again, I’ll put him on his ass.”

My cheeks flushed with heat. Although we’d decided we were going to be official, we’d never actually used the words “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” in front of each other before. And I just couldn’t resist the temptation to tease him a little bit. After all, what were girlfriends for?

“You just wanted to say ‘girlfriend,’ didn’t you?” I flashed him a mischievous grin.

“Maybe, but that’s beside the point. I mean it, if he speaks to you like that again, I don’t care what it does to my reputation, I’ll send him packing with his tail between his legs.” He cast me a shy smile that turned my insides to jelly.

“He’s just marking his territory. We should be grateful he isn’t peeing in corners or squatting in the hallways.”

Wade chuckled. “He’s done one good thing by talking to you like that, though.”

“Oh?”

“I wasn’t sure about this whole Finch thing at first, but we’re doing it. The only thing is, we’ll need some serious help to pull it off.”





Three





Harley





“What did Tobe say?” I asked. We’d come to a halt in the hallway while Wade gave Tobe a call. We needed to get the gang together, fast, and hatch a plan. Tobe had asked that we keep him involved so he could cover for us if he needed to.

“He can’t leave the Bestiary. If we want him to be part of this, we need to go to him.”

I nodded. “I’ll send out a text, get everyone to meet us there.”

“Good idea. Do you want Krieger to be there?”

“We can’t do this without him.” I took out my phone and sent out a group text, to get everyone to join us in the Bestiary, with a note to Jacob to pick Krieger up on the way. I got the feeling he’d already be in the infirmary with the good doctor, trying to break ground on the magical detector.

Fifteen minutes later, we were all gathered together inside one of the emptier halls in the Bestiary, away from the prying eyes and ears of the security personnel. Tobe was his usual stoic self, finishing off the last of his rounds before he joined us. He was giving nothing away, though I sensed his anxiety. He didn’t like being on the shadier side of the law. Isadora and Louella had joined us, too, though Garrett was away on LA business. Meanwhile, Krieger seemed clueless as to why he’d been brought along, but it would all become clear to him soon enough.

“So, what trouble are we getting ourselves into this time? We blowing the doors off Purgatory or what?” Santana asked, with a mischievous smile. We all understood the gravity of the situation we were in, but I could always rely on Santana to lighten our spirits. Right now, we needed a little morale boost.

“Easy there, Ocean’s Eleven,” I replied.

She tutted at me. “Wrong movie, but I’ll let it slide.”

“Well, we’re not quite blowing the doors off, but we do need to get Finch out of there.” I looked around the group and noted the dubious expressions. “I know you all think he’s a psycho, and I mostly agree, but he’s the best tool we’ve got against Katherine and the Cult of Eris.”

“‘Tool’ is the right word,” Santana muttered.

Wade stepped up beside me. “If we don’t use Finch, then we have nothing else to go on. He knows all about the third ritual and what it requires, and he’s the only one with insider knowledge of the Cult of Eris and how Katherine runs the place. If we try to infiltrate without him, we’ll probably end up dead.”

“Bright and breezy way to start the day. Is it doom and gloom o’clock already?” Raffe chimed in, checking an imaginary watch on his wrist. Clearly, spending so much time with Santana had rubbed off on him. A nervous chuckle rippled around the group, but I could see they understood: it was Finch or bust.

Tatyana folded her arms across her chest. “The third ritual—consume the spirit of thine greatest enemy, in the Land of Erebus, on All Hallows’ Eve. That spirit is Hester, and Katherine has her spirit trapped somewhere, ready to use.” She paused. “Are you absolutely sure Finch knows where Hester’s spirit is, and he’s not just feeding you this to buy his way out of Purgatory?”

I’d told them all about my last conversation with Finch, and they’d been just as unimpressed as they were right now. Finch was a total risk, and I wasn’t pretending otherwise, but without him we were at a complete loss. Katherine’s strength was already way beyond anything we’d encountered, and we couldn’t risk her getting even more powerful. Otherwise, we might as well start practicing our groveling now.

Krieger raised his hand. “I apologize, but I have absolutely no idea what’s going on here.”

“Katherine is moving toward completing the third ritual—the one Tatyana just mentioned, with all the ‘thines’ and stuff,” Jacob replied. “We need to stop her before she can complete it, for obvious reasons. But the only way we can do that, apparently, is to break Finch Shipton out of prison. He knows where Hester’s spirit is—or, he says he does—and he wants to help us infiltrate the Cult of Eris to track the spirit down and stop Katherine. That’s pretty much it, in a nutshell.”

I nodded. “Only, she’s much stronger now. I can’t face her alone, not if I have to go in completely blind, with no idea what I’m looking for.”

“And Finch can’t just tell you where the spirit is?” Krieger replied.

“That isn’t part of his deal, unfortunately. He told me he’d have to show me where the spirit was—it isn’t something he can just tell me.” I realized how it sounded, but we didn’t have any other options. The National Council had the same information about Hester’s spirit as we did, and they’d had zero luck finding a way into the Cult of Eris. Last I’d heard, a few of their agents were already dead, after risking several attempts to go undercover. With their numbers and skills, that said something for our current scenario. We needed an edge, and that edge was Finch.