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

“Then I’ll do it. Two sentient duplicates, coming right up.”

Raffe nodded. “I’ll stay with Santana here, to make sure she’s got all the energy, peace, and coffee she needs to be parted from two Orishas at once.”

“It’ll take its toll on me, but if it’s not for too long then I should be okay. I’ve been getting better at it since Levi outed my last duplicates. Now I’ve got more accuracy, and I know how to build improved versions, mostly thanks to Louella. She really is a research demon.” Santana smiled at our youngest member, who blushed.

“It was just a couple of books I thought you’d find helpful,” she murmured, embarrassed.

“Wait… so is it just you going into the Cult of Eris with Finch?” Tatyana narrowed her eyes.

I grimaced. “Yep.”

Wade stiffened at my side. I knew he hated that I’d have to go in alone, more or less.

Tobe frowned. “You should consider using an alternative method of deceit for when you infiltrate the cult, Harley—a believable excuse for you to be away, without arousing Levi’s suspicions. I fear he is on to you, especially where duplicates are concerned, and I would hate for him to catch wind of this… although I am a neutral observer, as you know.”

Krieger nodded. “Levi might suspect something if you were to use the duplicates long-term, and Santana might be drained of energy while you’re away, or while Finch is supposed to be in his cell. It’s a very real possibility.”

“I agree. That’s the last thing we need,” Astrid added.

“I’d like to go with you and Finch while you’re undercover in the Cult of Eris,” Wade blurted out. “You shouldn’t undertake this on your own, and I’d feel better if you had a member of the Rag Team with you.”

As an impartial observer, naturally.

“As long as we can make enough Ephemeras, I’m happy to have you along for the ride.” I glanced up at him, feeling glad I wasn’t going to be so alone after all.

Krieger cleared his throat. “It might be best, then, if you come straight to the infirmary once your plans are set to free Finch. Jacob can assist you with portals on this mission, as you certainly won’t be able to utilize the mirror to Purgatory, since Levi will notice.”

I shook my head. “I’m not sure we can actually portal into the prison, Doctor. There are alarms rigged to go off at the slightest intrusion.”

“I have something that will help with that,” Astrid cut in. “I got Smartie to delve into some pretty top-secret stuff, with a little help from Alton, the moment this started to look like it might be a plan. He managed to pull up the blueprints of Purgatory in quite a lot of depth. With those blueprints, I’m sure I could find a place you could portal in, undetected. I can also make a gap in the security field around Finch’s cell, to stop any alarms from going off when you portal in. It’ll be tricky, but it should work, as long as Jacob hits the right mark.”

Jacob paled. “I’ll do my best.” We had to rely on Jacob instead of Isadora, as Levi insisted on daily meetings with her. If she went missing for a while, he’d know about it, and we didn’t know how long we’d need to break in and out of Purgatory. He knew about Jacob now, but Isadora had managed to persuade him that Jacob was a novice with extremely shaky skills, framing him as a risk we couldn’t readily use. It made him the perfect choice, even though I still hated putting him in the line of fire.

“You’ll have to focus precisely on the location I give you,” Astrid said.

“Yeah… Yeah, I can do that.”

Isadora shot me a worried look. “You will have to be quick about it, if this is what you’ve decided to do. And you must be careful. Any alert to what you’re doing, and your neck will be on the line. I don’t want to have to watch that happen. We’ll do everything we can to prevent it.”

Tatyana nodded. “Be careful. This is bigger than anything we’ve ever done. None of us want to see you in Purgatory for this.”

“Thank you,” was all I could say, though the words lodged behind a lump in my throat. There was so much at stake, and I didn’t know if being careful would be enough. The fact remained: if I wanted to keep Wade and myself out of Purgatory, I’d have to use every weapon in my arsenal to keep our entire mission from crumbling.

No pressure, Merlin. Nope, none at all.





Four





Finch





Another day in paradise.

I stood from my brick of a mattress and walked to the glass panel. Same view. Same guards on rotation. Same old Purgatory. I was sick of the sight of glass and chrome. If I never saw that architectural mix again, I’d die happy.

I banged on the glass until I got their attention. For folks who were supposed to be watching me, they had a nasty habit of ignoring me. Imbeciles.

“What is it, Shipton?” A gruff beast who’d downed too many steroids opened the grate.

“I’m starting to smell.” I smiled sweetly, though I wanted to punch him in the nose. Officer Grimshaw was my chosen nemesis in this place. Grim by name, grim by nature. He hated me, I hated him. It was a veritable love story.

“And?”

“Human rights mean anything to you?” I shot back.

“You don’t deserve ‘em.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I need a shower. Or I could just douse myself in the water from the toilet. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“As it happens, I would.”

“I’ll go quietly.” My face twisted up in a smirk.

Officer Grimshaw sighed and turned to his boyfriend. “We got showers free? This one wants to make himself all pretty.”

This one? I’d become a number in a cell. No name, just a box and a set of rules as long as my arm. But I was pretty sure I’d get the last laugh on this one.

Officer Chalmers, who was anything but charming, stepped up to the door and pulled back the hefty bolt. That’s it, boys. They knew I wouldn’t make a run for it. What would be the point? There was nowhere to run. Not that it stopped the thought from crossing my mind. Human instinct at its finest. Fight or flight.

“Wrists,” Grimshaw ordered.

“Yes, sir.” With a grin, I pushed my arms through the grate. A moment later, I was clapped in Atomic Cuffs. My favorite. I loved the way they just drained the life out of me and made me feel like a slug. The guards had allowed me to be in my cell without the Cuffs, after the whole you-almost-got-murdered-because-your-hands-were-tied thing, which was nice of them. Small mercies. Besides, no magic could breach the walls of this cell or bust open the door. I couldn’t exactly stage a breakout.

At least I’d get a walk out of this experience. Apparently, a person can go mad if they’re left locked up, pacing the floor. It was probably too late on that front. I had Shipton blood in me—madness was par for the course.

“Don’t try anything funny, Shipton.” Chalmers opened the door with a reluctant grimace. I wondered if it was a requirement to look like the back end of a garbage truck in order to work here. The guards all shared a grizzled, pumped-up quality that made me think they’d done time themselves or had been in a lumberyard for the past decade.

“What am I, a criminal?” The guards yanked me out of my cell and dragged me toward the showers.

“Shut your mouth, Shipton.” Grimshaw shoved me in the back. Real nice.