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

Still, that didn’t make it any less impressive. So she can summon Children of Chaos, too? I’d had no idea. And I honestly had no clue how she was even doing this right now. Spells of this magnitude required a Grimoire at least. But she was flying solo, the words running out of her mouth as if they were an ingrained part of her. You’re starting to get annoying, Sis. There was so much more to this girl than met the eye, even after spending a whole damned week with her. I knew when to give up, but defeat didn’t seem to be in her vocabulary.

I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into. It wasn’t like she could read my mind, but I tried to will my thoughts into her head. This was pure insanity. There was no other way to describe it. Even Katherine had paused in shock. It should’ve been satisfying to see horror on her face, but her expression was mirrored on all our faces. And if Katherine thought it was mad, then it had to be beyond the realms of Whackville.

Wade looked just as horrified. “This isn’t like the last time.”

Santana shook her head. “She never got this far before.”

“And you didn’t think to stop her?” I stared at them in disbelief.

“How? Can you move?” Santana shot back.

“No, but that’s not the point. Did you stop her before?”

“Well… yeah.” Santana frowned.

“So why didn’t you just do what you did last time?” I could hear the fear in my voice.

“I couldn’t,” Santana whispered. It looked like her Orishas were a no-go here. Even they had the sense to keep away from Erebus’s freaking otherworld.

Come on, you clever girl. I turned back to Harley, equal parts terrified and curious.

I tried to push my foot forward, but it wouldn’t budge. The swirling vortex of black fog had begun to grow limbs. Harley had already gone too far with the summoning spell. It was too late to stop her.

Erebus manifested from the depths of the stormy tornado, seeming to come from inside Harley herself. As he floated in midair, he sucked all the dark mist into himself, puffing himself up like one of those waggly men outside trashy car dealerships. He got bigger and bigger, until he was towering over us all in one massive, rippling shadow. Red eyes glowered out of a shapeless face like seething embers. Ah, so that’s why the djinn is freaking out. These dudes were tied together in some way. Erebus, the fearless wrangler of the world’s djinns. Spreading his disharmony across the globe, one demon at a time.

“Erebus, I have summoned you to your realm.” Harley bowed her head, her body shining with sweat. I guessed summoning really took it out of a person, even a supercharged hero of a person. Her whole body was shaking, but her voice was strong, and it still carried that weird echo.

“I noticed.” Erebus’s sarcastic voice boomed from all around him. How else was he going to talk when he didn’t have any visible lips? Still, the volume of it swept toward us in a wave of cold, powerful air.

“I know there’s a price for performing this spell,” Harley went on, struggling against the might of his voice. “I’d like to offer Katherine Shipton’s life in exchange for summoning you.”

Oh, you beauty! Now it made sense. She wasn’t risking one of our lives, she was offering Katherine up to him on a silver platter. And, being a Child of Chaos, he’d be all too eager to gobble up the opportunity. This was a win-win. If he had a legitimate excuse to end Katherine, that took them all off the hook. No contest. No challenge. None of them having to give up their spot to a jumped-up mortal.

“Katherine Shipton?” Erebus’s voice bellowed.

“Yes. Her life for summoning you,” Harley replied.

It was so beautiful, I could’ve cried. And the look on Katherine’s face was priceless. I wished I had a camera so I could have captured it. It’d definitely have helped me through a lot of sleepless nights. Katherine looked like she was trying to get away from the altar, but the same thing freezing us was freezing her, too. Oh, this is just too freaking good!

“You devious little—” Katherine started to speak, the sound silenced as a shiver of fiery light shot through Erebus’s shadowy center. A boom like a thundercrack ricocheted through the otherworld. From his misty form, a black tendril shot out like an octopus arm. And it was heading straight for Katherine.

The shadowy end curved into a blade, the sharp, mystical point slashing right across Katherine’s chest.

“A delicious specimen.” A chuckle echoed from Erebus’s throat. “I’ll savor this one.”

Blood sprayed out like a crimson fountain. It doused Naima, who was still curled on the ground, and spurted out so far and so fast that it splattered across Harley’s startled face. The entire Rag Team flinched, myself included. In that moment, I felt some movement in my legs as Erebus’s focus turned solely on his prize. However, the freezing thing seemed to have stopped working on Katherine and Naima, too. Naima leapt upward to try and stop Erebus from boring down on Katherine again.

Harley wiped the blood from her eyes and sprinted forward. She had her palms raised. I realized why, a second after she started running. Katherine had her palms raised, too. A surge of Telekinesis shot out of Katherine’s hands, gripping the last of Tess’s spirit and drawing it toward her like a chameleon snatching its prey. There was no way Harley could get there before Katherine swallowed her last bite. She was too late. We all were.

“You’ll pay for that.” Katherine smirked. The last of Tess’s misted spirit entered her mouth. With her arms raised in triumph, she lit up like a lightbulb, from the inside out. The ragged gash across her chest disappeared, leaving smooth skin behind. Tess’s spirit had boosted her already-powerful healing abilities to superhuman levels.

She’d done it. The bitch had done it. Even with Erebus slashing her chest, she’d done it.

“Oh, that feels good,” she purred.

Naima let out a howling roar as Erebus’s bladed tendril slashed across her back. She went sprawling to the ground, her claws gripping the shattered tiles around the altar.

“Naima!” Katherine gasped. Her arms were still raised in victory.

“I will not have my gift stolen!” Erebus, clearly annoyed now, sent out an infantry of tendrils. The misty fronds wrapped around Naima’s body, pulling tight. They were crushing her. Her eyes were already bulging out of her sockets, and her claws dug deeper in an attempt to hold on.

Katherine immediately stopped her proverbial victory lap. As heartless as Katherine was, there was an unbreakable bond between Purge beasts and their creators. And it worked both ways. Right now, I could tell that Katherine was terrified for her lieutenant.

“Naima? Naima, fight him!” she urged.

But Erebus wasn’t letting up. He squeezed his tendrils tighter. I grimaced as I heard bones crack. Blood sputtered out of Naima’s mouth. He squeezed again, Naima’s chest collapsing in on itself. More blood splashed out onto the tiles, and Naima’s eyes stared vacantly forward. Katherine might have been glow central, but the light had gone out in Naima.

“NO!” Katherine screamed. With her palms up, she sent out a lasso of Telekinesis, combined with a flurry of Fire, to chase away the shadowed tendrils that held her mangled lieutenant. Erebus’s fronds retreated for a second. It was long enough for Katherine to grip Naima and pull her to safety. Not that it mattered now. It didn’t seem likely that Naima would pull through. Purge beast or not.

As Erebus rippled in the air, no doubt judging his next move, Katherine turned to look at me and Harley. Her eyes narrowed in brimming rage.