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

With it being All Hallows’ Eve tomorrow, it seemed like the spirits that died on the island were beginning to manifest. And not just the cult members who’d died here, but the spirits of the soldiers and criminals who’d taken their last breaths inside the walls of Fort Jefferson, too.

“Be wary where you tread,” the ghost hissed. “A morsel like you. You might find yourself a corpse bride before the night is over.”

“Not in the market for any underworld vacations right now, thanks,” I whispered. All Hallows’ Eve was the one night of the year when the dead could wander the earth. It didn’t happen until midnight, but it looked like a few intrepid spirits had arrived early to the party.

“A morsel like you… a morsel like you… a morsel like you,” the spirit repeated, as a wave of desire and regret hit me in the gut. The emotions were flooding off the spirit, overwhelming my senses.

The spirit floated straight through me, and my body shuddered with the cold. As I shook it off, I noticed that my arms weren’t those of Volla Mazinov anymore. I grappled for my Ephemera and saw that the gem was fading fast. Crap! This wasn’t the time for this thing to glitch.

Trying to keep my panic from overwhelming me, I focused on the internal pulse of the Shapeshifter energy and pushed it back through my body. To my relief, Volla’s arms came back into view, covering mine. Praying it would last another couple of hours, I gritted my teeth and continued my trek through the bowels of the Hexagon. The island itself, I’d learned from Finch, was cursed, thanks to Drake Shipton’s dealings with the darker side of magic. On All Hallows’ Eve, the dead walked among the living, to the point where they could even take someone back with them if they were strong enough.

I jumped as another spirit drifted out of the walls, blocking my path, this one a young girl who stared at me with vacant eyes.

“Are you my mommy?” she murmured. The grief and loss coming off this girl was agonizing. It stung me right in the heart, my eyes filling with tears.

“I’m sorry, I’m not,” I replied.

“Would you like to be? I’m lonely.” She swept up in my face, making me squeeze my eyes closed. Fear replaced her sorrow inside me. Could these things really drag me off to the other side? I really hoped not. I really, really hoped not.

“I’m not ready to be a mom. Sorry.”

I opened my eyes a fraction, to find that she’d moved on, but it was enough to make me feel dizzy and breathless. These tunnels would have been scary enough without Casper and his pals slithering out at me. It was all I could do not to run back the way I came, leaving these spirits to it.

Pressing on, I focused on happier thoughts. Papa Legba might have tried to kill me, but he’d get to see Marie Laveau at midnight, too. All Hallows’ Eve was their one night to be together, and it warmed my heart to think that the lovers would be reunited after a long year apart. It made me think of Wade, and all the things I would rather have been doing. One thing was for sure—if I managed to get out of this mess alive, he was going to need a whole bunch of new shirts.

After what felt like a lifetime, I arrived outside a door. It was locked, naturally, but that didn’t bother me. The guards were standing outside the library; they wouldn’t hear me break the lock, as long as I was very careful. Drawing a wisp of enhanced Telekinesis through my palm, I fed it into the lock, feeling out the mechanisms. A loud click followed. I pulled the lock off the bolt and slid it to one side, peering into the room beyond.

To my relief, I’d found the library.

Creeping out into the silent space, I walked up to the box where Katherine had locked Hester’s spirit away. The power thrummed from whatever hex Katherine had put on it, but that wasn’t going to stop me. It’s like picking a lock, remember? I pushed my palms flat against the door of the box and felt for the hex. I almost flinched as it stung at my fingers, biting into my skin. Forcing my hands to stay where they were, I started to feed my Chaos into the hex, just the way Finch had taught me. The pressure points pulsated beneath my fingertips, but it was way stronger than whatever Katherine had put on the door to the library.

Undeterred, I focused my mind and started to unpick the hex. I’d managed to break three of the four counterpoints, when a sudden rush of hot air made me open my eyes. I was staring right into the eyes of a gigantic wyvern, its dragon-like wings stretched out, casting a shadow over me. Its lungs heaved in a breath, its mouth opening as it unleashed a violent torrent of Fire. I instantly staggered back, sending up a shield of my own Fire to defend myself against the onslaught. The Fire bounced back against the glass box, snapping the last corner of the hex Katherine had put on it, while my hands throbbed from the heat of the box’s hex.

Lifting my palms, I sent a huge spiral of Fire straight into the wyvern’s mouth. The creature choked on the unexpected stream of liquid heat. With it distracted, I lunged for the box and yanked open the door, snatching the jar right out of the case and tucking it under my arm. The wyvern was bent over, retching a dark, sickly liquid onto the floor. Sorry, pal.

I’d just turned to head back to the tunnel, when I heard the library door open and footsteps enter. Glancing down the nearby aisle, I caught my reflection in one of the glass cases that were set up to display Katherine’s treasures. I nearly screamed at the sight of my own face staring back. For the second time, my Shapeshifter ability had decided to glitch, and I didn’t have the time to fix it. My real arms had already filtered through, my jacket all patchworked again, like it had been when I got pulled through the Strainer.

Crap, crap, crap! Running back to the doorway as silently as I could, I tried to feel for the strange pulse of the Shifter energy inside me, but it was gone. The clock had run out on my Ephemera-gifted ability.

Making it to the door, I closed it as quietly as possible behind me and took off down the tunnel, sending a shiver of Earth energy back. Rocks rumbled as they shot up from the ground, creating a barricade between me and the door, that choking wyvern, and whoever was wandering about inside the library. There’d been no time to look, not now that I had the jar.

Juggling the spirit jar, I reached up to my Krieger-morphed pendant and pressed down three times, as hard as I could, to signal to Wade and Isadora that I needed extracting. As soon as they came for me, I swore we’d go and find Finch and get him out of here, too. It’d have to wait until he was done with Katherine, but that was better than being caught with Hester’s spirit in my hands.

I started to panic when nothing happened. I was pressing the pendant like a crazy person, but there were no portals, no Wade, no Isadora, no nothing. Maybe I need to be out in the open? It seemed like a valid reason, what with me being stuck in a tunnel, but the opposite end of this labyrinth was ages away. And the ghosts were getting louder, their voices rising to a howl as I ran for my life. They burst out of the walls, lunging at me, their phantom hands clawing at my skin and making my flesh turn to goosebumps. They blocked my view of the path ahead.

I stumbled as two ghostly palms shoved me in the chest, knocking me back.

“What the heck?” This shouldn’t have been happening. It wasn’t All Hallows’ Eve yet. Fear pounded through my veins, riding a wave of terrified adrenaline.

Finding my feet again, I tried to push through the hordes of spirits crowding the tunnels. Up ahead, I noticed one ghost standing apart from the others. He glowered at me, as if he knew who I was and hated my guts. I didn’t recognize him, but that didn’t matter right now. The ghost had opened his mouth wide, preparing to scream, no doubt to reveal that I was here, in the tunnels.

With no cards left to play, my fingers scrabbled at the lid of my mother’s jar and twisted it off, releasing her in a swirling mist. If these spooks had some extra energy, thanks to the island, then it stood to reason that my mother would, too.