Harley
After portaling back to the SDC, we’d all gathered in the dining hall, where dinner was being served. I needed to make a show of being around to appease “Lord Levi,” who sat at the top table with the rest of the preceptors. Wade and I had already brought everyone up to speed on what had happened in Purgatory, while Tatyana and Garrett had told them about New Orleans—everything they hadn’t heard over the earpieces, anyway. A tense atmosphere had settled around us; we were eager to move forward with the tasks at hand, but we had to make sure Levi saw us around in case he started to smell a rat.
Only Raffe was absent from the party. “He’s not good at being in a room with Levi, not even one this big,” Santana explained, packing up some food for him. “We don’t want a djinn loose at dinnertime. Blood and guts spilling everywhere is the quickest way to ruin everyone’s appetite.”
I noticed that Garrett was pretty quiet too. “What happened in San Francisco?” I asked. The dinner bell had rung before we could get to that part, and everyone was required to attend these “family” meals. Another stupid rule of Levi’s creation.
“Remington didn’t tell us where she was, if that’s what you’re getting at,” Garrett replied sullenly. “He’s mega paranoid about people finding out where she is and wouldn’t give the location to us straight. He mentioned something about bugs and microphones, but I think he’s being a bit melodramatic. Anyway, he said he’d text a message through but we’d have to decipher the location. We’re still waiting. I sent word to LA that I’d be here for a bit, for ‘research,’ so they won’t be on my case for a while.”
Tatyana nodded. “He was extremely on edge. I think he’s more terrified of Levi than we are.”
I glanced up at the top table, where the big kahuna himself was chatting with the rest of the preceptors. Nobody seemed comfortable around him, which was both sad and funny at the same time. The most uncomfortable one was Nomura, who sat as far from Levi as possible. Even so, the angst, grief, and fear oozed off him in a palpable wave, slamming into my Suppressor to the point where I was starting to feel queasy. Then again, with this thing inside me, queasiness had become my constant state.
What’s going on in that head of yours, huh, Nomura? What had Levi done to make him feel like this? Maybe they’d clashed over Alton, or these new rules—it was hard to tell from a bunch of random, intense emotions.
“Do you think there’s a chance he might not text?” I wondered aloud.
Garrett shrugged. “It’s up to him, but he seemed pretty worried we might spill the beans if he didn’t.”
“Maybe he’s trying to think of the right cryptic message,” Jacob, still wearing his Tarver mask, suggested.
Astrid nodded. “That makes sense. He’d need something vague enough to confuse any potential snoopers, but clear enough that we’ll understand what he’s trying to say.” I felt much closer to Astrid after my lost soul incident, now that I could understand the void inside her much better. She seemed to know that, too, from the way she kept glancing at me with curious eyes.
It worried me that Garrett and Tatyana had left San Francisco without an answer, but at least we were one step closer to breaking the Suppressor. After dinner, we were heading to the Bestiary to speak with Tobe, which would hopefully lead to the Dark blood from Echidna. Once we had that, I could get this thing out of me for good.
“How is Raffe?” I turned to Santana, who hadn’t eaten much of her own food. That wasn’t like her at all.
She tilted her head from side to side. “We’re working on some self-control techniques, but I’ve never seen him like this. He’s struggling, to be honest—really struggling. Levi is the only person I know who can boil his oysters like this. And if he can’t get his anger under control, he’ll have to stay put, which isn’t exactly an option. He can’t just hide until Levi leaves.”
“So how do we get rid of Leonidas Levi?” Louella whispered.
Santana grinned. “Box him up with a big red ribbon and send him as a peace offering to Katherine?”
“Or ‘accidentally’ shove him into the Ibong Adarna’s cage?” Dylan added.
“Slip something into his dinner?” Jacob replied with a smirk.
Tatyana chuckled. “Maybe let Harley’s Suppressor loose on him?”
“We need to focus on the task at hand,” Isadora cut in. “I’ll come up with something for Levi, even if it’s just to get him off our backs.”
“How very mysterious of you.” I smiled at her, knowing the problem would be in good hands. She was still seething at him after being told she couldn’t leave, and that anger was a great motivator. Plus, she had experience with this kind of thing that we didn’t. After what she’d told me in her letter, about being held captive by other covens, I figured she’d know a thing or two about getting people to do what she wanted to get them off her case.
“Everyone done?” Wade asked impatiently. A rumble of assent murmured around the group. “Right, then we should get going.” He’d been jittery ever since we’d come back from Purgatory, though I couldn’t blame him. He’d witnessed my Suppressor cracking even more, and now that Kenneth was on the loose, we were facing a lot of potential trouble.
We waited until a few more people got up to leave before heading out of the dining hall and toward the Bestiary. Levi watched us go with suspicious eyes. I was starting to wonder whether that was just what his eyes looked like— he’d stared suspiciously for so long that they’d stuck that way. Mrs. Smith had always warned me it could happen. Still, it was creepy and annoying to be constantly under observation. George Orwell, eat your heart out.
Just before he exited, I noticed Wade throw a subtle nod in Levi’s direction, with the boss man giving a small nod back. An instant expression of smug satisfaction spread across Levi’s face.
“What was that about?” I whispered to Wade.
“Just letting him know I’m still ‘spying’ on his behalf.” An amused smile twitched at his lips.
“What have you been telling him about me? All the gory details?”
Wade chuckled. “I told him you’ve been holing yourself up in the Forbidden Zone’s library and spending a lot of time going through all the medicines in Dr. Krieger’s pharmacy. I also told him you’d taken a new interest in observing the creatures in the Bestiary. I figured Tobe and Krieger would cover for us if Levi decided to follow up.”
“Is he buying it?”
Wade nodded. “You should have seen how smug he was when I fed him all that info. He thinks he’s got us on the end of a tight leash, and he’s got no idea that the collar is actually around his neck.”
I chuckled. “Man, that feels good.”
“Doesn’t it?” Wade flashed me a pleased grin as we continued on through the corridors.
Garrett’s phone was glued to his hand as we walked to the Bestiary and pushed through the huge double doors, citing a meeting with Tobe to get past the hordes of security personnel that crowded the place. A few scorch marks and cracked cages were all that remained of Quetzi’s escape, aside from a new steel tube that had been fitted around the Bestiary’s central conductor to protect it from any external blasts. Charms thrummed all the way along it, the engraved symbols glowing in the dim light.
“Looks like you haven’t escaped Levi’s new rules,” I said as we approached Tobe. He was wiping a cloth across the glass of a small red imp’s cage, a look of irritation fixed on his feline features. Annoyance swelled from him, directed at the security personnel who stood at intervals all the way down the main hall.
“I have no privacy anymore. It is quite ridiculous,” he muttered, stowing his cloth away beneath his wing. “They don’t seem to realize that it is making the Purge beasts anxious, and it is hardly doing wonders for my own nerves. At any moment, I fear they may clap me in irons and carry me away, for no reason other than breathing too hard. Bull-headed imbeciles, the lot of them, smearing their greasy fingertips on every surface they can find.”
I’d never really seen Tobe annoyed. He was normally the one person I could count on to be level-headed, but normalcy seemed to have gone right out the window.
“If it makes you feel any better, he’s pissing all of us off,” Santana chimed in.
Tobe smiled. “It doesn’t, but I thank you for your humor. Now, what brings you to my proverbial door on this irksome evening?”
“We’ve got a favor to ask,” I replied. This was going to be a tough one to explain without Tobe immediately kicking us out for being reckless. “We need to visit Echidna, and it’s literally a matter of life and death. My Suppressor is slowly killing me, and I need some blood from her in order to break it. You know us, Tobe—we wouldn’t be here asking you this if it wasn’t serious.”
He furrowed his furry brow. “You know who you’re dealing with, yes? Echidna is not called the Mother of Monsters for no reason. She is extraordinarily dangerous, Harley. It really wouldn’t be safe for you to visit her in any capacity.”
“Even if it means me dying?”
A sad glint flickered in his amber eyes. “It has really become so dire?”
I nodded. “Afraid so. I’ve cracked it, and it’s leaking like crazy. That much pent-up Chaos is apparently poisonous to a magical. Who knew, right? The very thing that makes us magicals strong is also the thing that’s going to end me.”
“And there is no other way you can break this Suppressor?” He tapped his claws together nervously.
“This is the only way to get the right spell to work.”
After a moment’s pause, he nodded. “Then there is no other choice but to allow you this, for I will not be held responsible for your death. I will do what I can for you, Harley. I will bring Echidna out of the freezing curse that binds her to her box, but it will take some time to thaw her out in the proper manner.”
“How long?”
“That, I cannot say. I will have to contact you when the process is complete. Are your time constraints really so pressing?” He sounded like a concerned mother worried about her brood.
I smiled wryly. “Kind of, yeah.”
“I will make it as swift as I’m able,” he promised. He was about to open his mouth and say something else when Garrett’s and Astrid’s phones pinged loudly. Astrid didn’t bother to check hers, but we all turned toward Garrett, no doubt thinking the same thing: had Remington finally gotten in touch with the message that would lead us to the Librarian?
Garrett frowned. “‘Where the Elysian Fields meet great Triumph, that is where you will find the Sacred Heart. It is in the hands of Our Lady.’ What the heck does that mean?”
Astrid grinned. “Paris. She’s in Paris.”
“Eh?” Garrett looked up, bemused.
“Elysian Fields equals Champs-Elysées. At the top of the Champs-Elysées is the Arc de Triomphe, which means Arch of Triumph. Sacré-Cœur is another Parisian landmark, which means Sacred Heart. And the last one translates to Notre Dame in French. That must be where she is.” We all stared at her in awe and admiration. I definitely wouldn’t have figured it out so quickly, if at all.
Garrett smiled. “See, this is why you’re the best. I have a hard enough time with English.”
“What on earth are you up to?” Tobe interjected, looking surprised and confused by the random outburst of French. I realized we probably shouldn’t have said so much in front of him. He wasn’t exactly on Levi’s side, but he had to toe the line. That was part of his job description. Still, with so much at stake, I hoped we could persuade him not to say anything.
“You can’t tell a soul what you’ve heard,” I whispered. “This has to do with stopping Katherine.”
“Harley, I really don’t think you should be—”
I cut him off. “If Levi gets his hands on the woman we’re looking for, he’ll just lock her in a box somewhere and throw away the key for ‘safety reasons’ or some other bullcrap. He doesn’t care about any of us.” I took a deep breath. “I know this sounds crazy, but I feel powerful enough to take on Katherine. I just need this woman’s help to do that. I can’t do anything if Levi finds out what we’re up to. He’ll probably lock me up, too, and let the Suppressor kill me.”
Tobe was silent for a full minute after I’d finished, which kept us all on edge. Everyone’s anxiety hit me at once, again and again, like I was on the ropes getting pummeled by a heavyweight. This Suppressor was already taking way too much out of me; I didn’t know how much longer I could deal with it without crumbling under the weight of the stress. That would probably get me long before the poison could.
“I’m sorry for these trials that you are facing,” he said at last. “I sympathize with your plight, I truly do. And it is no secret that I am not particularly fond of our new director, even though I have little choice but to cooperate with him. Nevertheless, the Bestiary will always be my domain, quite apart from the everyday running of the coven. What goes on within these walls stays within these walls. To the best of my ability, anyway.” His eyes turned sad, the subtext clear—he missed Quetzi. We all did.
“Does that mean you’ll help us?” Wade pressed.
He nodded. “I will work with all of you and ensure that Echidna is suitably defrosted upon your return from… wherever it is you’re going. I have no idea what it is you are up to, and I don’t wish to know.” He flashed a comical wink. “Isadora may assist me in the defrosting procedure, as I require a powerful magical to achieve it.”
“I would be happy to help,” Isadora replied. Being called on by Tobe was a noble thing; he didn’t do that for just anyone, and I knew Isadora had to feel proud of the fact that he’d asked her.
I looked at Santana. “You might have to do that thing again.” I arched a conspiratorial eyebrow.
“No problem. I’ll get on it right away.”
“And we’re going to need you.” I smiled at Jacob, who was already nodding.
To my surprise, Wade stepped in. “We can head off at first light. You’ve had the longest day in living history, and you’ll be no good to anyone if you haven’t slept, Harley. Tarver here has had a pretty exhausting day, too. This is non-negotiable. You at least need a few hours’ rest before we leave.”
I pulled a sour face, but I knew he was right. I was tired to the very center of my bones, my entire body aching from the lack of soul, the running, the fighting, and the fear that had taken hold of me over the last twelve or so hours. Paris wasn’t going to go anywhere—I just hoped Odette wouldn’t either.
Tatyana chuckled and slipped her arms around Dylan’s waist, hugging him from behind. “Isn’t it sweet when these boys look out for us?” Jacob turned beet red and stared into the nearest box, catching the eye of a Redcap goblin. It made me smile, even though I knew he was struggling with his teenage emotions. Poor kid. He’d have been better off staring at a Victoria’s Secret catalogue, for all the good his crush would do him.
“That goes for the rest of you, too, since you’ll be the ones running diversions again,” Wade said.
“I’m pretty beat,” Louella admitted. She’d spent the day listening out for every single noise in the coven to make sure the coast was constantly clear. She needed to be properly focused if she was going to do it again tomorrow.
Isadora smiled. “I think it’s a very sensible suggestion. We should reconvene in the usual place just before dawn.”
Déjà vu… Realizing this was an argument I probably wasn’t going to win, I made a grunt of agreement.
Leaving Isadora to discuss Echidna proceedings with Tobe, the rest of us headed out of the Bestiary and back to the living quarters. I found myself walking alongside Tatyana, Santana, and Astrid, while Louella and the boys went on ahead. Wade had lagged behind for a moment before Dylan had dragged him away to give us women the chance to talk.
“So that ping that went off at the same time as Garrett’s? I’m guessing that wasn’t a coincidence,” I said as we wandered along.
Astrid smiled shyly. “That was my insurance. I cloned his phone after he got back from San Francisco so that every message would be directed to me.” A sudden expression of alarm rippled across her face. “I’ve deleted the clone now, though. I just wanted to make sure he couldn’t hide anything that Remington might send through.”
She and I looked at one another, two matching grins spreading over our faces. “You did good, Hepler.”
“Not too stalkerish?”
“Not now that you’ve deleted it,” I replied with a wink.
Tatyana smiled at us. “Dylan was asking how we’d managed to get Remington on our side like that. He wouldn’t stop asking, the moment we got back. I figured it was just the threat of us exposing his lover, but Dylan seemed to think there was something more.”
Astrid and I exchanged another look.
“Maybe he felt like he owed us another favor,” I said cryptically. We’d promised to keep Remington’s relation to Dylan private, since it wasn’t really our business. But, deep down, I hoped that Remington would tell Dylan the truth soon. He deserved to know he still had family out there, even if what had happened to his parents was heartbreaking. I was just grateful that the secrecy, alongside the Odette thing, had worked to our advantage. And that Astrid had been bold enough to do what she’d done with Garrett’s phone. We cared about Garrett, as a group, but we knew he could be quite the sociopath when he wanted to get something done. We couldn’t have risked him keeping the text from us.
Anyway, at least now we knew where to find the Librarian. One thought remained as we headed for our rooms: with Marie Laveau, Giverny Le Fay, and now Odette, I was really going to have to start learning French.