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

“So it could be any of us?” Tatyana asked.

“Yep, that’s about the crux of it.” I shuddered at the word “Crux.” It was too soon to even think about that. Tess had been gobbled up like misty soup. That memory wasn’t going to go away anytime soon. “I think she might have sacrificed Shinsuke to Erebus.” Shinsuke falling to the beasts would have been enough to satisfy the Child of Chaos. My throat constricted at the memory of Shinsuke getting dragged down by those creatures. It wouldn’t leave me for a long time, even though I hadn’t known him very well. Nobody deserved to go like that, unless it was Katherine.

“Shinsuke?” Harley looked around frantically. Yeah, as if he’s just going to pop up. Humor was the only way I knew how to deal with something like this. It was horrible and awful, but I didn’t know how to do anything other than joke.

“He didn’t make it. He got pulled under by the monsters,” I said, shooting Jacob a cold look. There might not have been time, but I knew we could have tried harder. Yeah, I hadn’t known him too well, but that didn’t mean I’d wanted to see him die. He’d have been a useful addition to the Rag Team. He was a Nomura, after all.

Harley’s face crumpled. “What do you mean?”

“I mean exactly what I’m saying. He didn’t make it back. He was fighting those creatures, and… well, he didn’t make it to the portal in time.” She didn’t need the gory details from me. “Those beasts would’ve come pouring in after us if we hadn’t left when we did. And, as far as I could tell, Shinsuke wasn’t ever going to make it. They got him.” I didn’t want her blaming me, either.

Harley sank to her knees and held her head in her hands. “He’s dead?”

“I think it’s pretty likely, yeah.” I wanted to say something to make her feel better, but what could make this better? Nothing. She’d wanted him to join the Rag Team for a reason, and now she was on the edge of tears because he was gone. I didn’t like seeing her brought low, for any reason. Especially since I was the one who’d broken the news.

Her shoulders shook as the tears came. I wanted to comfort her, but I held back. Instead, Wade sank down beside her and put his arm around her. She leaned into his chest, bitter sobs racking her chest. She clung to him like he was the last life raft on a sinking ship. Everyone stared. It was impossible not to. But nobody could’ve understood what she was feeling. I did, to some extent. She felt responsible for this. She’d listened to Katherine’s diatribe, and, despite herself, she’d bought into it. One ally buried. How many more would she have to see die? I wanted to tell her not to listen. I wanted to tell her that this wasn’t on her. But the words stuck in my throat. Years of learning how to bottle up my feelings kept them there.

“We failed,” she whispered. “We failed, and Katherine won. This was all for nothing. My mom, Shinsuke, Tess… they all died for nothing.”

Come on, Finch. Grow some freaking balls! Don’t just watch her heart break. I dug my nails into my palms. This wasn’t going to be easy. Outpourings weren’t exactly my strong suit.

“Pack it in, Harley.” Okay, not the best start. “Pity isn’t going to get us anywhere. This isn’t a failed mission. It’s a failed battle in a war that hasn’t been won yet. And let me tell you something, we’ve got Katherine on the ropes. We made her crap her pants today. Do you know how often that happens? Never.” I took a breath, realizing everyone was gaping at me. “I know you feel like hell, but this isn’t over. And, if you want to make sure that Tess, Shinsuke, and your mother haven’t died in vain, as well as every single person Katherine has killed, then you need to dust yourself off. Now. We can mourn when all of this is done. And if you dare listen to a word Katherine said back there, then you aren’t the girl I thought you were. This is all her doing. Not yours. Not any of ours.”

Harley looked up with red-rimmed eyes. “What if she was right? What if she is going to win this? What if we can’t fight her, no matter what we throw at her?”

“She’s all talk, Harley,” I replied. “So what if she’s even more powerful? You’ve got more Chaos in your pinky finger than the rest of us combined. You broke through her Telekinesis and her forcefields. Do you know how many people I’ve seen do that? Zero. Well, one now. She’s going to get cocky from all this energy she’s sucked up. And that means she’ll start making mistakes.” I paused, steeling myself for the next truth bomb I was about to drop. A tough one for me. “Plus, this wasn’t a completely failed mission.”

“What do you mean? Of course it was.”

I shook my head. “Not to me. I got you back. That matters to me… I guess.”

Harley gave me a watery smile.

Wade smiled, too. “He’s right, Harley. We’ve still got each other. We’re still fighting. We’re not going to give up, not when there are two rituals still to go. Why would we give that evil witch the satisfaction?”

Man, that’s what I should’ve said.

“But where do we even go from here?” Harley murmured. I could see her rallying. That fighting spirit wasn’t dead yet. She was a Merlin, after all, same as me. Finch Merlin sounded a hell of a lot cooler than Finch Shipton. Plus, it didn’t come with all the added subtext of murderers and psychopaths.

“She’ll be coming for Echidna next,” Isadora said.

I shook my head. “Not if we can find Katherine first. Take the fight to her, so to speak.”

“How?” Harley replied. Her voice was already getting stronger.

Picking up a cloth from one of the nearby tables, I walked over to Harley and sank down in front of her. With a gentle hand, I wiped the blood from her face. “Don’t want you looking like an extra in a slasher movie,” I said. “Wait… we can use this blood to trace Katherine. Right, Krieger?” I glanced at the anxious doctor, who’d been quiet this whole time.

He nodded and took a jar down from one of the shelves. “Yes, we can likely pick up Katherine’s Chaos signature based on that sample and utilize the magical detector to find her, if the device becomes operational.” He held the jar out, and I dropped the bloody piece of cloth inside.

“See, Harley, this isn’t over. Not by a long shot.”

She smiled. “You’re right. It isn’t. This won’t be over until the psycho lady sings.”

“My thoughts exactly.” I held her gaze, grateful to have my sister back.





Forty-Five





Harley





The following morning, after a restless night’s sleep, we gathered again in the Luis Paoletti Room, using Alton’s secret hallways to reach it undetected. Finch had spent the night in the storage cupboard of the infirmary, with Krieger keeping guard in case anyone came in unexpectedly. I remembered falling asleep in Wade’s arms after trying to watch a movie to take our minds off things, but he’d been gone by the time I woke up. I’d been a little disappointed, wondering if I’d done something wrong, but he’d come to get me at seven on the dot, a smile on his face. I sat beside him now as we grouped around the main table.

Although Shinsuke hadn’t been part of our group for very long, I still felt his absence. He’d died helping us, and the knowledge that he’d never get to see his father again stuck like a fishbone in my throat. We’d held a sort of vigil for him before heading to bed the previous night, lighting a candle in the infirmary chapel for him. It wouldn’t bring him back, but it served as an honorable reminder of what he might have been.

Alton had joined us, his face a picture of anxiety as I relayed everything that had gone on in Erebus’s otherworld, and in the last week during our time at the cult. I told him everything, even the stuff he’d already heard, just to make sure we were all on the same page. There was a whole lot of doom and gloom to get through, and none of us had even had breakfast yet.