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

We followed him all the way to one of the distant clusters of the beehive structures. I hadn’t been this far into the rainforest, but Tess had informed us that the training halls were around here. I guessed Shinsuke needed to blow off some steam.

Together, Finch and I entered the nearest beehive and found that it was separated into two floors, with two training pods on either side. They reminded me of squash courts, with glass panels offering some seclusion to solo trainers, while others could watch from the sidelines. However, right now, nobody was in here except Shinsuke. He’d taken the farthest pod on the bottom floor and was in the middle of a warm-up with his impressive swords.

Finch rapped on the glass. “Hey, you want some company?”

Shinsuke tilted his head. “If you need someone to spar with.”

“Sure. I want to see those swords in action again.” Finch grinned, but Shinsuke could barely muster a smile. Now that I was closer to him, I sensed the perpetual undercurrent of fear and concern within him, and it had nothing to do with Finch. He hated this place, I could tell.

“Do you mind if I join in?” I asked. “I didn’t get the chance to fight you last time, and I’d be interested to see you work.”

Shinsuke nodded. “The more the merrier, I suppose.”

We gathered in a triangle and started small. I let Finch go first. He began by using small bursts of Fire, in an attempt to preserve whatever he had left in his Ephemera. Mine was going strong, but I’d noticed Finch’s gem fading slightly. Shinsuke didn’t seem to notice that the world-renowned Firestarter was being overly cautious, as he started to twirl his swords through the air, swiping in a blur of steel. I pushed my reverse Empathy toward him. I wanted him to feel remorse and nostalgia, and I sent through my own sad feelings about Hiro Nomura, to get the right emotions flowing.

A moment later, a tear trickled down Shinsuke’s cheek. He brushed it away as quickly as he could, but not before I’d spotted it. My reverse Empathy was working great. All those sessions with Wade were paying off, even though I’d hated making my boyfriend cry. It wasn’t any easier with Shinsuke. He was tough and stoic by nature, and seeing him tear up was difficult to stomach, even if it opened him up to giving us the answers we wanted.

“Your dad doesn’t have that cool Magneton-Earth ability, does he?” I started off the questions, knowing how to get right to Shinsuke’s core. His father was a sore spot, but also one that was easy to manipulate.

Shinsuke shook his head. “No, it was a surprise to both of us when it became apparent that I possessed it. Even in the early days, when it wasn’t very powerful, we were both shocked.”

“What about your mom? She a Mediocre too?” It was an act, considering that I already knew about Shinsuke’s mom, but I had a feeling this would open him up even more.

“No, she was a powerful magical. And she was a strong person,” he replied sadly, his voice thick with emotion.

“Was?” I prompted.

“She died a long time ago. She was an explorer and a collector of rare artifacts. She died of exposure on a mission to find an ancient cache of magical objects in Antarctica.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Sounds like you were close.”

Shinsuke nodded. “Very.”

“I take it she belonged in the cult, too, at one point. Seems to be a family type of place,” I continued. Finch watched me closely. He seemed impressed.

“No, she didn’t care much for Katherine—for Eris—although she didn’t know her very well. They’d encountered each other a few times, trying to get their hands on the same artifacts, which annoyed her.” Bitterness enveloped Shinsuke’s words.

“How come you ended up here, then?”

He shrugged. “For me, Mediocrity wasn’t an option, and I knew my father would be disappointed if I gave up my studies. But I was struggling—until Eris appeared and offered to train me. I went behind my father’s back to come here, even though he disapproved…” He unleashed a ragged sigh, then frowned, seeming to realize he was saying too much, despite my reverse Empathy at work.

I nodded sympathetically. “It must sting even more, now that your dad is in prison.”

Shinsuke whirled around and stared at me. “What did you say?”

“Your dad’s in prison. Didn’t Eris tell you?”

“No… no, she didn’t.”

“Yeah, he got locked up after trying to help her. We heard it through one of our sources before we came here. They brokered some sort of deal where, if he managed to catch and send Harley Merlin to her, she’d release you in exchange. He got caught and ended up in prison. He’s awaiting trial, last I heard, but it doesn’t look good. He’ll probably be in Purgatory for the rest of his life.”

Shinsuke let out a choked sound. “No… no, that can’t be right. My father would never make such a sacrifice.”

“Well, he did. I guess Eris is even more persuasive than you thought.”

Finch snorted. “Foolish, really. Eris would never have held up her end of the bargain. Once you’re in the cult, you’re in the cult, right? Nobody gets to leave, not unless they get carried out of here in a coffin.”

His words served as a stark, unwelcome reminder to me. Finch had been a massive part of this organization. If he wasn’t dead, then it stood to reason that he’d always be a member of this thing. I just had to keep hoping that he was an exception, that he wouldn’t suddenly turn on me and change his mind. There was still a huge risk that all of this was an elaborate ploy. But he’d had plenty of opportunity to reveal me to Katherine since we’d arrived, and I was still standing.

Shinsuke hung his head. “So my father was going to make an exchange?”

I nodded. “That’s what I heard down the grapevine.”

“I see.” Frustration and pain were etched on his face. He knew Katherine had played him, in the worst way possible. And now, his father was in prison, his reputation in tatters. I could feel the shock and misery bristling off him in spiky jolts, though he was struggling to stop it from showing in his body language.

Don’t worry, this isn’t over for you. I didn’t say it out loud, but I felt it. With a little bit of luck, I’d get him out of here, too… eventually. Once we had Hester’s spirit, and had stopped Katherine from completing the next ritual, we’d stand a chance of getting anyone out who didn’t want to be here anymore. And, judging from the vibe around the island, there’d be plenty of takers.

“Do you know much about these rituals that everyone keeps talking about?” I prompted. “Pieter and I don’t know too much about them, but they seem pretty important to this whole Child of Chaos thing she’s trying to do.”

Shinsuke grimaced. “Eris is eager to complete the next one, though she has already fulfilled two of the necessary rituals. It has made her far more powerful than anyone anticipated. In a few more days, she will have achieved the third, and her power will grow again.” He sounded nervous, and he had every right to be.

“Something about a ghost, right?” Finch said, keeping it vague.

“A spirit, not a ghost,” Shinsuke replied.

Finch shrugged. “What’s the difference?”

“A ghost is the echo of a tragedy—a hologram, almost, left over from a traumatic death. A spirit is the very essence of who we are, without our earthly bodies. It is the part that crosses over when we die. It is not supposed to linger on earth, though there are ways of ensuring it does. Eris seems to have bound the spirit of her worst enemy to earth, and she plans to destroy it, in order to complete the third ritual.”

Nice one, Finch. He was asking the right questions in the right way, making it seem as if we were more or less clueless. Thanks to my reverse Empathy, Shinsuke was getting trusting vibes from us. Plus, we were official members of the cult now, and it seemed like this was common knowledge around here.

“I imagine she’s got a bunch of worst enemies,” Finch said. “Do you know whose spirit she’s bound?”