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

Isadora frowned. “So, Katherine wants to be a new sort of Child, one of her own creation, designed after the goddess she feels the most kinship with—Eris, the goddess of discord?”

“And if the Apple of Discord came from Gaia’s world, does that mean she’s gearing up to face Gaia?” Wade chimed in.

I shrugged. “Who knows? But the book seems to suggest that the neutral ground is Elysium. Which means one thing: that’s where Katherine will make her final challenge, if we can’t stop her first.”

“So, we call that the backup to our backup,” Harley said. “Right now, we need to get everyone together, get as many weapons as we can find, and get to Tartarus. We have six hours until midnight. Katherine is going to be there, with Tess’s spirit.”

The backup to our backup? Sounds familiar. Harley and Katherine really were starting to look like two sides of the same coin. Trouble was, only heads or tails could win. And I didn’t know which way the coin would land.





Forty-Two





Harley





The hours were ticking by until midnight, and my heart was in my mouth.

The whole Rag Team, minus the ever-absent Garrett, had gathered in the infirmary, preparing for what was to come. Alton was here, too, in order to keep Finch and Shinsuke’s presence in the coven a secret. We were armed to the teeth, thanks to Astrid, to make sure we had a way to fight if our energy floundered or Katherine had another one of her special forcefields up. We had one thing still working in our favor—the element of surprise. Katherine thought we’d come back here, thinking we’d won. She wouldn’t be anticipating us coming after her in Tartarus itself.

Still, it was a terrifying prospect, especially after Finch’s warning.

I thought about what the page I’d torn from the Drake Shipton Library had said. In mythology, Tartarus was the place where tortured souls spent their eternity, paying penance for terrible things they’d done in their mortal life. Even Louella had supported that belief by explaining that it was mostly described as a literal hell. So comforting. Then again, I’d faced the devil enough times to not balk at the idea of facing her in a place more suited to her character.

“Does everyone know what they have to do?” I asked, checking the bandolier of knives across my chest. I also checked the clasp on my Esprit to make sure it was securely back where it was supposed to be. It felt so freaking good to have it back after so long without it. It’d almost been like missing a limb.

“We’re taking this bitch down,” Santana replied with a grin.

Raffe chuckled nervously. “What she said.”

“Time for the touchdown!” Dylan whooped.

“We’ll stop her,” Tatyana added solemnly. “We have to.”

“I’ve missed you guys,” I said with a nervous smile. The Rag Team was back together, and that felt better than anything in the world, despite what we were about to face.

“I’m going to stay behind and help Alton keep Levi busy with an urgent coven matter.” Astrid smiled secretly, as if she was already plotting the perfect emergency.

Louella nodded. “I’ll stay with Krieger and prepare for when you get back.”

“I’ll also be waiting for your return,” Isadora said, her tone anxious. She was letting me go into the unknown once again and couldn’t risk coming with us. She’d tried to convince us that her skills were better served with us, but we’d voted in a majority for her to stay. It didn’t rest any easier with me that Jacob was going to be heading into danger, but Isadora was still having some portal trouble after the island. And, frankly, we were going to need a Portal Opener who wasn’t glitching, regardless of the risks.

“And I’ll be your portal guy.” Jacob smiled happily. After his recent otherworld screw-ups, he was clearly delighted to be allowed back into the action.

“Like everyone said, we’re taking her down… tonight,” Wade said, his arm around my waist.

“Yeah, yeah. We all know what’s at stake here.” Finch was trying his best to be blasé, but I could tell he was nervous about this.

“And you have my swords in your fight against Katherine. I must do this for my honor, and for that of my father.” Shinsuke crossed his swords. We’d made the last-minute decision to let him come with us, even though it would be putting him in the direct line of Katherine’s anger. She hated deserters more than anything, but we figured it might serve as a good example to her followers, to see someone like Shinsuke switching sides at the eleventh hour. Maybe, just maybe, it’d persuade a few more of them to jump ship.

Jacob raised his hand. “There’s just one problem. I didn’t want to mention it before, because everyone was getting pumped up and stuff.”

“What’s up?” I eyed him curiously.

“How are we actually getting to Tartarus? I know we got to the Asphodel Meadows and Gaia’s place okay, but that was only because I had a scent to follow. I don’t have one for Tartarus.”

Finch smirked. “Ah, so the kid doesn’t know everything.”

“You want to share, Finch? We’re kind of running out of time here.” I gave him a warning look.

“Well, we need to find Katherine’s exact location in Tartarus, right?”

“Stating the obvious there, Finch.”

“I’ve got just the thing we need to find her,” he replied, a mischievous glint in his eyes. He pulled a simple-looking fountain pen out of his pocket and handed it to Jacob with a smug flourish.

Jacob frowned. “What’s this?”

“Call it our compass.”

“I don’t follow,” Jacob replied. Even Isadora looked dubious.

Finch rolled his eyes. “Don’t they teach you anything at portal school? If you have a personal item belonging to someone, you can use it to track their location anywhere. You can only use it once, though. It’ll disintegrate as soon as the portal opens, but it’ll lead us right to Katherine. I swiped this off her desk before we escaped from her office.”

Isadora shook her head. “I’ve never heard of that before.”

“Believe me, it’ll work,” Finch insisted. “With the right focus, the Portal Opener can open a portal close to the person an item belongs to in order to find them. I’m surprised nobody’s ever told you about it. Then again, who were you going to ask? It’s not like your kind are swarming about the place. Luckily, I had a whole library of rare books at my disposal, and I spent my time very wisely. You wouldn’t believe what I’ve got up here.” He tapped his temple pointedly, grinning.

“Yeah, we could do with a bit more of whatever you’ve learned. You know, just whenever you feel like sharing,” I said. “All these last-minute admissions of yours are starting to give me gray hairs.”

He chuckled. “What can I say? I like to keep folks on their toes. Always act a little bit stupider than you are. Then, nobody asks you for anything. It’s foolproof.” He glanced at Wade and Krieger. “You know, like, actually foolproof. Unlike that emergency button thingie you made.”

Dr. Krieger paled. “There was very little time to test them, in my defense.”

“Don’t listen to him, Dr. Krieger. He’s just trying to rile you up.” I offered the good doctor a reassuring smile. He’d done so much for us already, at great risk to his career. Yeah, those buttons hadn’t worked perfectly, but the island had messed up a lot of stuff, including Isadora’s portal. That reminds me, I need to get my St. Christopher back at some point. I noticed it still hanging around Finch’s neck and decided not to mention it. Weirdly, it felt comforting to see it on him.

“Can you make it work, Jacob?” Wade asked, his arm still firmly around my waist.