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

“Nice one!” I whooped. “Now, get these things off me.”

Wade grinned. “I’ve been dying to do that ever since I met the punk.” He stood up and unlocked my Cuffs, then ducked back down to clap them on Kenneth’s wrists.

“Is it wrong that I’m a bit jealous?” I asked, rubbing my wrists.

“Of what?”

“Of you knocking Kenneth clean out.”

He chuckled. “No, I bet you’re at the back of a pretty long line.”

“Yeah, I bet even Katherine’s standing in that line.” I looked toward the door. “Right, we need to get out of here ASAP. I know a way.”

Wade nodded. “I just need to make a call first.”

“Now?”

“It’s related,” he shot back. Ah, so there was some real bitterness back there? He took out his phone and punched in a number before lifting it to his ear. “Isadora? Is Harley with you? Thank God! Should we come to you or do you want to come to us? Yeah, we got stuck in Katherine’s office… no, she’s not here. She’s gone to find Harley.”

I rolled my eyes. “Speed it up, this isn’t a social call!”

“Okay, we’ll stay here. But hurry, I don’t know how long it’ll be until she’s back.” He hung up and cast me a withering look. “That was important.”

I grinned. “Oh yeah? You buckling up, Crowley, now that your girl is coming to pick us up? I want her back by eleven. And no funny business. If I see a hickey, I’ll come ‘round your house with a shotgun.”

Wade spat out a laugh. “They’re on their way, yeah.”

“And Isadora said Harley is okay?”

“Seems like it.”

I ran a hand through my hair. “That’s good. That’s really freaking good. I gave her some vague clue about getting into the library, and I had no idea if she’d figure it out. Then again, she’s a Shipton. We always figure stuff out.”

He smiled. “Sounds like you were worried about her.”

“No, I was worried for myself—that we’d never get the hell out of here. I didn’t want to count on her. I was worried about getting this nightmare of a mission finished. Never again, by the way. You people are all liabilities.”

He smirked. “Correction: you were very worried about her.”

“I’ll die before agreeing with you, Crowley.” A small smile crept onto my lips.

“Close enough.”

Weirdly, the tension between us seemed to be dissipating. Ooh, could this be the start of an oh so awkward friendship? I had no idea. It didn’t seem likely, but it had felt really friggin’ good to stick it to Katherine in front of her precious cult members. And Wade had been my enabler. Maybe that’s what he’d be—my enabler. Plus, it looked like we were both going to spend a decent chunk of our lives worrying about Harley. I guessed that gave us something in common. Although, I’d meant it about the shotgun. Now that I had a sister I gave half a damn about, I wasn’t going to make it easy for Crowley. Mostly for my own amusement.

A few minutes later, a portal tore open a hole in Katherine’s office. Papers and books went skittering everywhere. The aquariums cracked, fissures forming in the glass, but not breaking it enough for the water to gush out. Oh, she’s going to love that. Isadora and Harley stumbled out. I was about to run forward to hug Harley, but Wade brushed past me and wrapped his arms around her. That was probably a stupid idea anyway. I had a reputation to uphold. And that didn’t include hugging my sister. Even if I was glad to see her in one piece.

“What happened?” Wade asked as he held Harley close. He caught her lips in his and kissed her hard.

“We don’t have time,” I snapped, tapping my wrist. “We’re still in Katherine’s office, in case you forgot. And, seeing that you’re back to your usual scruffy self, Harley, I’m guessing your Shapeshifter energy ran out of gas? Let’s scoot!”

I guessed it was sort of sweet, but there was a time and a place for emotional PDAs. Plus, it served as an unwelcome reminder that I didn’t have anyone waiting for me. Not anymore. She was dead. And I couldn’t get her back… not after I’d shoved Katherine’s offer right back in her face. It still stung a little, to know that I’d had one shot to have my own reunion, slurpy or otherwise, and I’d given it up through some new sense of morality. It didn’t stop me wanting her, even though I knew I’d done the right thing. I couldn’t even put her in a jar and keep her on my shelf.

Harley started speaking rapidly as we gathered around Isadora, bringing us up to speed in the span of a few sentences. She was obviously excluding a ton of details, but it was enough to give us the gist of what happened in the tunnels, with the ghosts, and her mom, and the eventual release. I felt sorry for her, after hearing that last bit. It couldn’t have been easy to do that.

Wade mentioned what had happened in here and why Kenneth was blacked out on the floor, while Isadora lifted her hands to form another portal.

“We can celebrate once we’re back at the SDC,” Isadora said, sending bronzed tendrils swirling into the atmosphere.

Then the door burst open.

For the love of Grayskull, what now?!

Shinsuke stepped into the room with another magical at his side. My heart sank. I knew him well. Bakir Khan. Not the swiftest or strongest of magicals, but he had a sharp head on his shoulders, which might present a problem. Clearly, they’d been sent to bring Wade and me to Katherine’s private quarters for another round of threats that’d cost me thousands in therapy.

“What the—” Shinsuke glanced at us, confused.

Bakir, however, was gearing up for a fight. And I was in the mood for a little exercise.





Forty





Harley





The magical who had come along with Shinsuke lunged forward to strike. Wade ran at him, full pelt, knocking him flat. The poor guy had barely managed to get his Chaos together. It fizzled out in his palm as he lay still, unconscious.

“Wow… That was surprisingly short-lived,” Finch said, lowering his hands.

Judging by the state of Kenneth, too, Wade had some frustrations he was working out. But I was so glad to see him again. I couldn’t even put into words how happy I was to be able to hold him and kiss him.

Shinsuke looked like he had no idea what to do. He could fight and stay on Katherine’s good side, or he could let us go. The only trouble was, his face was totally unreadable. His emotions were in turmoil, too, giving me little clue which way he was going to swing. But I couldn’t risk letting him make the wrong choice.

“Shinsuke, don’t fight us,” I said, putting up my hands like I was a negotiator trying not to get shot. “Come back to the SDC with us. This might be your only chance to get out of here, and it’ll definitely be your last chance to see your father before he gets taken to Purgatory. If you stay here, you’ll wind up dead.”

“Who are you?” He narrowed his eyes at us. Ah, yeah, I’d forgotten about that. I wasn’t Volla anymore, and Finch wasn’t Pieter. I mean, he definitely recognized Finch, but he had no idea who I was. Our paths had never crossed.

“I’m Harley Merlin. I’m from the San Diego Coven. Finch and I were disguised as the Mazinovs so we could try and stop Katherine from becoming a Child of Chaos,” I explained at a rapid pace. “Finch, you want to give me a hand here?”

Finch stepped forward and morphed into Pieter for a moment, just to prove the point. “Not too shabby, right?”

“I was using some Shifter energy through an Ephemera, but it’s stopped working. But I promise you I was Volla this whole time,” I said urgently. “We’ve been fighting to bring Katherine down, and you can help us. But you have to come with us now. This is your only shot. If you won’t do it for anyone else, just think about what she did to your dad. He’s going to Purgatory because of her. Now, what do you say?” The clock was ticking, and we were leaving either way—with him or without him.

Shinsuke paused. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Katherine is very strong, and she doesn’t take kindly to deserters. I would be putting myself in the line of fire if I went with you.”