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

I was about to reply when I felt a warm, burning sensation at the top of my chest, right where the pendant lay. It was too bizarre not to be the warning trigger that Krieger had set up. Finch had pressed the medallion, and he was calling me back. He’s in trouble.

“I wouldn’t want to embarrass you for a second time today,” I retorted. “Anyway, I’m busy. I don’t have time for stupid games or you peacocking around the place. Go and do your rounds, or whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing.” I pushed my reverse Empathy onto him, just to make sure he did as I asked. I filled him with a sudden feeling of anxiety and a desperate need to go and check on his duties. His face changed immediately, his gaze veering over my shoulder toward those distant lights.

“Same goes for you, Crux.”

I let him have the final word as he shoved past me, heading into the gloom. As soon as he was gone, I took off down the walkways at breakneck speed, sprinting for the stone hut. I just hoped that, wherever the twerp was headed, he didn’t end up running into the real Tess. If he did, they’d have a very confused exchange. I mean, nobody could point a finger at me or Finch as the Mazinovs, but there’d definitely be word of a Shapeshifter messing around with Kenneth.

Then again, I wondered how many people here would love the chance to mess with Kenneth’s head. There’d probably be a line-up as long as my arm if anyone suspected any foul play.

Safe in that thought, I ran through the darkness, praying I wasn’t too late to help Finch.





Twenty-Three





Harley





I burst through the door of the stone hut to find Finch lounging on one of the beds. He was reading a book called The Art of the Demon Deal, his foot jiggling as his eyes moved from left to right. I didn’t know where he’d gotten the book, and I didn’t really care. I swept my eyes around the room to check there were no hidden assailants. The medallion lay on his chest, innocent enough. Nothing seemed to be wrong at all. In fact, he seemed to be having the time of his life.

“Why did you call me back?” I snapped.

He shrugged and set down the book. “I was getting bored. And this book was bumming me out.”

“Are you serious?” Just when I’d been starting to warm to him, he went and did something like this. Something so ridiculously Finch-like.

“What?”

“I was about to infiltrate the compound! I was following some guards who were talking about an ‘ingredient.’ I was right there, looking at these beehive thingies, and then you call me back because you’re freaking bored? Why didn’t you take a nap or something, like an ordinary person?”

He sat up, frowning. “Then you were looking in the wrong place, and you’d have ended up following those idiots to nowhere. That ‘ingredient’ could have been anything. We might as well finish these trials, get full-member status, and then go crazy on the snooping afterward. We can’t get into the place where Hester’s spirit is being kept until we’re full members.”

“Which means losing time we don’t have—we discussed this already!”

“I know, but I chickened out. There’s no use risking our necks now. I didn’t want you going there and getting us outed. It’ll just get us killed quicker. You should be thanking me, not sniping at me.”

I ran a hand through my hair, only to find I had little, and gave myself a mental kick. I’m still Tess, idiot. I’d been in such a panic over Finch that I’d forgotten to shift right before entering. That would have backfired if Tess had been in the room.

Then it hit me. Finch was worried about me. He’d called me back because he didn’t like me being out there on my own.

Saying nothing, I closed my eyes and shifted back into the form of Volla Mazinov. The new energy still thrummed inside me, powered up by my extra Chaos and clinging on for dear life… I knew I couldn’t risk doing this again, in spite of my urge to look around. Until all of this was over, I’d have to stick with Volla, now, for both of our sakes. If I failed, he failed.

In the tense silence that followed, I took a moment to think about my odd new relationship with my half-brother. Was Finch’s concern for me purely about not compromising the mission, or was it something more than that? Was it some fledgling brotherly streak in him, some urge to protect me? Is your heart growing a couple sizes, Grinch?

I wasn’t going to let him see me softening up toward him, even if I was. I still didn’t trust him completely. Not yet. And maybe not ever. He’d yet to fully prove himself, to the point where I could forget all the bad things he’d done, and I didn’t honestly know if he’d ever be able to.

“What’s the time?” I changed the subject. Delving too deep into emotions wasn’t the kind of thing I needed at the minute, with so much going on.

He rolled over to check the clock on the bedside table. “Two a.m.”

“So we’ve got a couple hours until morning.” I walked to the other bed and lay down on the covers. There was no use changing out of my clothes, since they were pretty much stuck to me. “We should get some sleep before dawn. I’ve got a nasty feeling this third trial is going to kick our asses.”

I turned over before he could answer and tried very hard not to think of what was to come.





Darkness surrounded me on all sides, with a thin sliver of anemic light casting a sickly pool down onto me. Around the edges of the faint light, creatures snapped and drooled, jaws and glittering eyes flashing in the shadows. Howls pierced the air, sending a shiver of dread up my spine. Claws raked at my legs and leathery wings flapped out of sight, all these beasts desperate for a taste of me. And I was struggling to hold them off.

A flicker of movement caught my eye. Someone was coming toward me in the dim light. Finch… The monsters didn’t touch him. Instead, they parted like water to let him through, bowing on their paws as he passed by to reach me. I opened my mouth to speak, but the words faded on my lips as another figure appeared behind Finch.

Katherine Shipton breezed through the monsters as if they weren’t even there. I didn’t know if it was the darkness or something else, but she looked different, like she was actually bringing light with her. As she got closer, I realized that was precisely what she was doing. The ethereal glow was coming from inside her, illuminating her skin with a pulsing, bronze light. The way she moved, she resembled some goddess, bright and beautiful and serene, unfazed by anything happening around her.

Finch smiled at me as he neared. “It’s going to be okay.”

I wanted to scream, to tell him to watch out for the figure behind him, but the words wouldn’t come. My mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. I was mute… and Katherine was getting nearer by the second. Finch seemed totally oblivious to her presence, and I didn’t know what to do to get him to see her. I tried to move forward, but a claw swiped at my ankle, and I stumbled. He was so close, but I couldn’t reach him.

Katherine entered the pool of light. If she got her hands on us, we’d never make it out of this monster pit alive. I wasn’t fooled for a second by her godlike appearance. Even Lucifer had been an angel once, and Katherine was far worse in my books.

She came up behind him and leaned toward his ear. Her mouth moved in a whisper, and I couldn’t hear what she was saying. A moment later, Finch smiled back at me and took a knife from his pocket. His eyes were fixed on mine, his smile turning sour and strange. The blade flashed in the glow of Katherine’s ethereal light, and realization dawned. He was going to kill me. She’d given the order, and he was going to execute me on the spot.

Finch stepped toward me, but I couldn’t move. My limbs were completely frozen. I couldn’t do anything to stop him or defend myself. This was it. After everything I’d been through, and everything I’d done to try and stop Katherine, I was about to die. Finch was under her spell again, and my death was the only thing in his mind.