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

He narrowed his eyes, breathing hard. “We need to fix this before this whole place collapses. You’re the only one who can stop the Purge beasts from getting out.”

I looked toward the towering atrium that shot up the center of the Bestiary. Tobe was curled up on the ground beside it, a trickle of blood meandering from his mouth. It looked like he’d tried to stop it with his bare hands and gotten a nasty shock. I could see his chest still rising and falling, which gave me hope. If Tobe had died trying to save this place, it would’ve broken me, there and then.

A mass of energy twisted up the wire veins of the atrium. It was going to blow, any minute. And when it did… it was game over, not just for us, but for the rest of the magical world. Covens would collapse all over the world, if they weren’t already crumbling.

“Incoming!” Jacob yelled, knocking me to the ground as a gargoyle swooped low over my head.

As I looked up, my hands covering my head, I noticed that the gargoyle wasn’t the only monster on the loose. They were all out, running wild in the Bestiary, snarling and snapping at each other in an attempt to gain supremacy.

I got to my feet and pulled off the useless Cuffs. Closing my eyes, I drew in a deep breath. This was going to hurt my ribs, but that was better than the alternative. But first, I had to find the right emotions. I had to get them to feel what I wanted them to feel. With all the terror pulsing through my veins, that wasn’t going to be hard. Digging deep, I gathered up a ball of fear and the desire for them to stop and summoned my inner Chaos to boost it. I balled my hands into fists and opened my mouth.

“STOP! Stop, right now, and return to your boxes! Stay there until I say otherwise!” The words boomed out of my chest, my lungs burning as the strange voice erupted from my throat. It wasn’t mine, and yet it was a part of me.

Cautiously, I opened my eyes, just in time to see most of the monsters cowering back into their boxes. They looked almost as confused by the surreal scene as I felt. They didn’t know why they were doing it; they just knew they had to obey. With their heads bowed, they shuffled into their enclosures, many of them closing the door behind them. It had worked, right when I had needed it to.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Finch whooped.

“Wow…” Jacob stared at me in shock, his face a reflection of the security magicals’, the ones who were still standing.

Cheers for that, Katherine. If I’d never gone to the cult, I’d never have learned this skill. Although, it wasn’t a complete success. There were still countless boxes left empty, the monsters already gone from the Bestiary. My voice could only reach so far, and I doubted the missing monsters had been able to hear me.

“We need to get to Echidna,” I said, already running for the back hall where her box was kept. Jacob and Finch hurried after me. Please let her be there, please let her be there, please let her be there… This was the sole reason Katherine was destroying the Bestiary. As I sprinted, I paused for a moment to shake Tobe by the shoulders. He jolted awake, startled.

“What happened?” he asked, rubbing his head.

“The Bestiary was attacked. I got most of the monsters back in their boxes, but you need to flip the switch to lock them.”

He frowned. “How?”

“There’s no time to explain.”

He nodded and jumped to his feet. “I will ensure they remain confined.”

Satisfied that those monsters wouldn’t get out again, I charged on toward Echidna’s private hall, with Jacob and Finch beside me. Behind me, I heard the echo of boots on the Bestiary floor, thudding through the air like the drums of war. Glancing back, I saw black figures running in. It would only be a matter of time before Levi, O’Halloran, and the security magicals got to Echidna’s box, too. Everyone knew what was happening here, and everyone knew why. I took one scrap of solace from their militant arrival—if they were here, then that meant the members of the Rag Team were safe.

We powered through the doors to Echidna’s hall and sprinted toward the box on the plinth. I got there first, leaping up the steps to the side of her box. I froze as my hand rested on the open door.

Echidna’s box was empty.

“She’s gone!” Finch barked, smashing his fist into the glass.

“Katherine did it,” I whispered, overwhelmed with a million emotions. None of them good. “She got Echidna and let the Bestiary fall. And yet people think she has the magicals’ best interests at heart. If they could see this…” I didn’t have the energy to finish the sentence. It spoke for itself. Even here, jagged cracks webbed out, showing glimpses of the outside world, the edges fraying as the Bestiary’s power ebbed.

I turned as the hall doors opened, and Levi and his men thundered in.

“Stop!” he yelled.

I glanced at Jacob. “He’s not capturing us. Not at a time like this.”

“Bigger fish, Sis. Am I right?” Finch flashed a worried smile at me.

“Exactly. Much bigger fish.” I stared at Levi as he approached. He raised his palms to strike at me, sending a flurry of powerful Telekinesis at me. With anger burning up inside me, giving my Chaos an even sharper edge, I simply swiped it away with my own Telekinesis, which was far stronger than his. Meanwhile, Jacob worked on a portal.

“Don’t you dare!” Levi roared, but he was too late.

With a grimace of contempt in Levi’s direction, I stepped back into the portal and watched it snap shut on Levi’s furious, ridiculous face. He’d forced me to do this. He was forcing me to abandon my team, and Wade. He was the one refusing to look at the bigger picture. The coven and the Bestiary were falling, and all he cared about was capturing me. He’d led me to desperation. Rage twisted like barbed wire in my stomach. If he’d just listened…





Forty-Seven





Harley





I doubled over as I caught my breath, focusing on the wavering head of a daisy in the grass beneath my feet. My heart was still racing after what had just happened, and hatred burned in my chest. Katherine had managed to get her paws on Echidna, and she’d almost destroyed everything in the process. I had no words for just how much I wanted to end her.

For as long as I lived, I never wanted to see the Bestiary like that again. All those people running for their lives, trying to avoid getting crushed to death… I could still hear their shouts for help, could still see the terrified expressions on their faces. And then there was Wade and the rest of the Rag Team. They were still there, at the SDC, dealing with the fallout. While we were… I didn’t know where, right now. I was still trying to get my breath back.

Finch and Jacob were beside me, also looking a little unsteady. As I dragged fresh air into my lungs, tinged with the unexpected, mouth-watering scent of barbeque, I took in our surroundings at last. My stomach sank at the sight before me. Why did you bring us here, Jacob?

Mr. Smith was manning the grill, while Mrs. Smith had been in the middle of carrying drinks out of the house. She looked as if she might drop them as she stared at us, blank-faced and stunned by our sudden arrival. Ryann was there too, a skull candy cookie halfway to her mouth, frozen in surprise. Plates of cookies covered a patio table, along with a huge cake decorated in bright colors, and flowers and skeleton masks were just about everywhere.

We’d ended up, quite literally, in the Smiths’ backyard, slap bang in the middle of a Día de los Muertos celebration. The Smiths had no Mexican in them whatsoever, but they’d take any excuse for a good, old fashioned shindig.

I didn’t know whether to sink to my knees in happiness or run for the hills. They’d clearly seen the portal we’d just tumbled out of, and they were going to have questions. Either that, or Mrs. Smith would think she’d put one too many shots of tequila into the punch. I doubted we’d get so lucky.

I had no words. I shot Jacob a hard glare.

He shrugged. “This was the only safe place I could think of!”