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

“Sure… thanks,” he muttered, as he made for the door. He might have been acting blasé, but his body language told a different story. His shoulders were slumped, his chin to his chest, his eyes glinting with sadness.

Even though I didn’t like the idea of Finch wandering around in a state of depression, I was sort of glad to have a moment alone to think about Wade and the rest of the Rag Team. I was desperate to hear his voice again, to give me a bit of strength going forward. Being in this place, it was easy to forget why we were doing this, and I needed that bridge to the real world to remind me. Since I wasn’t going to get that, the thought of him would have to do. However, as I lay down on my stomach, it was Finch’s sad face that popped into my head. I couldn’t help it. Glancing out of the window, I watched him walking away toward the distant beach. That meeting with Katherine had really struck a nerve with him, and being reminded of Adley had only added fuel to that fire. He looked so defeated that I felt sorry for him. I mean, at least my mom had never tried to have me killed, and she’d never had my partner murdered out of spite and cruelty.

As soon as Finch had disappeared from view, I replayed the day’s challenges in my head. The Rag Team would be worried sick by now, all of them desperate for some sign that we were okay and that we were getting the job done. It had been a long day. A really long day. Between the three trials, my run-in with Kenneth, my encounter with Katherine, and the knowledge of all the terrible things that were going on at Eris Island, combined with the understanding that I would always have this stupid, awful thing on my arm, for the rest of my life, I was starting to wonder if we were in over our heads.

I tried to picture Wade telling me that I was doing a good job, but his face was hard to hold on to. The edges were fuzzy, and his voice wasn’t right—it was just my voice, saying the words I wanted to hear from him. When the truth was, I wanted him to be here, with me, where I could see his face and put my arms around him and get that comfort that I needed. Still, it brought me some relief to know that, as soon as we had Hester’s spirit and I pressed the pendant three times, he would come and get me. Isadora would be waiting to extract us, the moment the message came through. I was already looking forward to that day, not only because of the reunion, but because it would mean we’d succeeded in stopping Katherine from fulfilling the third ritual.

We were fully initiated now, with the brands to prove it. Now, we could move about more freely, and Finch would finally lead me to my mom’s spirit. That moment was getting closer, and the anticipation was overwhelming.

“I love you, Wade.” The words poured out of me, even though he wasn’t here to hear them. “I’ll come back to you, safe and sound. I swear it.”

If only that was a promise I could definitely keep.





Twenty-Seven





Finch





I wasn’t hungry, but rules were rules.

Two hours after our interview with Katherine, Harley and I were sitting in the beehive canteen. We were tucked at the end of a long table in the center of the room, the newbies stuck where everyone could see. And everyone did seem to be here. The noise was deafening, with people chattering on about the third trial. We’re right here, kiddos. They seemed eager enough to talk about us, but not so keen to actually talk to us.

“Eris should’ve decapitated them on the spot,” hissed a girl with long blue hair.

“Where’d she get off, talking to Eris like that?” added a beanpole of a guy. “I bet Eris is just planning something better. There’s no way they’ll fit in around here.”

Katherine sat at the high table, surveying her insipid subjects. It still amused me that she was a vegetarian, given her penchant for killing things. All the good psychos are, though, right? Naima stood guard behind her. She didn’t eat with the rest of the sheep. As a Purge beast, that’d put everyone off their food. Tess sat to Katherine’s right, while Kenneth sat on her left. It pleased me. Nobody wanted to be someone’s left-hand guy. The right hand was where it was at.

At our table, Shinsuke sat to Harley’s left, with a bunch of other cultists filling the proverbial pews. I didn’t know the guy sitting beside me, and I didn’t want to. What was the point? As soon as we had Hester’s spirit, we were out of here. No use making pals.

“People don’t seem too chatty around here, huh?” I said, making a sly dig at my neighbor. He was a shy-looking kid with a wispy mop of mousy hair. About as ordinary looking as it was possible to be. He shrank further into himself at the sound of my voice.

Still, it was awkward as ass for me. I knew a lot of these faces, but they didn’t know me. Some of them had even been in my main unit on missions: Ifrit Laghari, a towering, six-foot-five Indian guy with biceps the size of my torso and a penchant for watching things burn. He was an Inferno, which meant he was a rare variation of a Fire Elemental. He could literally turn his body into flames and lose his physical form for a while.

Coral Falkland, who was barbed wire in human form—all spiky and no-nonsense, with a slight frame and striking face, complete with silver hair in a braid down her back. She was what was known as a Blade, though I’d always called her “Porcupine,” which she’d hated. A Blade had the ability to forge knives through any part of their skin, manipulating the heavy metals in their body, which turned them into a ball of slashing, menacing fury that nobody could get close to.

Then, there was Bakir Khan, the son of a Russian bureaucrat and a former Miss Pakistan, who was always the brains of the outfit. He always looked impeccable, as if he was about to speak at some important meeting, his brown hair slicked back, his almond-shaped eyes taking in his surroundings at all times. He didn’t have any especially impressive powers, unless money and IQ could be classed as rare abilities.

And, last but not least, we had Delphine Basquiat—the scariest woman I’d ever met, barring Katherine. Despite her name, she had close-cropped green hair right now, though it changed from week to week, and eyes that were blacker than onyx. She was almost as tall as Ifrit, with bulging muscles and a punch that could kill a man in one swipe. She reveled in killing more than anyone I’d ever seen. No hesitation. Blood, guts, gore—the messier, the better. And the fact that she was a Cellular made her all the more terrifying. She had the ability to manipulate people on a cellular level, making them bend to her will. It was a temperamental ability, and it didn’t always work, but when it did… man, she went to town. I’d seen her explode people in a fountain of blood and viscera, only for her to lick the splashes from her face and move on without a word.

The nihilistic part of me wanted to shed my Pieter skin and show them who I really was. In my head, I hoped my last act would make Katherine choke on her food and die. But what was the likelihood of that? Anyway, I was learning to suppress the impulsive side of my personality. All I had to do was get through breakfast. Simple, right? Then, I could get away from Katherine, and all these idiots, in one piece.

It’d taken that last interview to make me realize how much I hated her. I could barely stand to be in the same room as my mother. I could never forgive what she’d done to Adley, and to me, no matter how hard I’d tried to give her a good excuse for both. I was done making excuses for her. She’d done it because she wanted to, because it served her interests. And that was all there was to it. That was the way the evil cookie crumbled. So why wasn’t the ache in my heart healing?

I noticed Shinsuke staring at me, as if he wanted to say something. Instead, he looked back down into his breakfast.

“Sorry about that fight, Shinsuke. No hard feelings? A guy’s got to do what a guy’s got to do to survive, right?” I broke the silence between us, drawing his gaze back up from his plate.

Shinsuke nodded slowly. “It was a good fight. You’re very skilled.”

“How’s your head today?”