Harley
I’d expected to end up in the same waterfall realm that I’d gone to when Gaia had called me to her, but this was something else entirely. Sunlight shone down from a clear, azure sky, glowing from two small twin suns. A jeweled rainforest surrounded us on all sides, with multicolored birds and strange monkey-like beasts with blue-and- purple fur traveling from tree to tree. Vines, interwoven with huge scarlet flowers, hung down from the branches like Spanish moss.
To my right, a wide stream trickled through the verdant landscape, the babbling sound soothing to my ears. Koi fish darted beneath the surface. This place was beautiful, and green, and bursting with shimmering life—the kind of place that shouldn’t be touched by evil of any kind. But Katherine was here, somewhere. The exodus of flapping birds told me she’d already made her presence known.
“This way!” I shouted to the others as they tumbled through the portal after me. I followed the sound of frightened animals and charged through the dense undergrowth, careful to avoid the glittering snakes that slithered beneath.
I skidded to a halt as a clearing appeared in the rainforest. It looked like the ruins of an ancient civilization, though nature had long since reclaimed the towers and spires that had once been here. A few emboldened monkeys, with that same startling fur, lingered on the crumbling walls, their eyes turned to the sight below. An open altar stood in the wreckage of the ancient temple, or whatever it had once been, and Katherine stood in front of it.
The president lay on the moss-covered surface of the altar, strapped down with golden ropes.
Déjà vu much? This time, I wasn’t afraid of what might happen. This time, I was confident I had the power to help. Thanks to the Suppressor break, I was on more equal footing with Katherine here. The only trouble was, she wasn’t alone. Naima and her band of cloaked cultists stood on the perimeter, ready to fight anyone who might try and stop the ritual. Well, it’s your lucky day.
With the others at my back, I sprinted forward with a gigantic ball of fire between my palms. Only, it didn’t quite feel like the usual fire. There was something almost alive about it as it struggled to break free of my grip. The first wave of cultists headed toward me, and I let loose. My fireball bounded between the cultists, slamming into them with a powerful force that sent them flying backward. And it didn’t stop there. I realized I was partially controlling where it went and whom it hurt.
Trying to wield it with my mind, I sent it careening toward the next wave of cultists, where it exploded with one enormous blast that disintegrated three of the cloaked figures. Their bodies drifted away on a breeze of bronzed particles, leaving nothing but three limp cloaks on the ground.
You need to be more careful. All of this is new. If that weird bomb somehow turned on one of my people, I didn’t know if I’d be able to stop it from doing something terrible. My friends were already staring at me as if I’d grown two heads, and even the cultists seemed scared. However, it had opened a path between us and the altar.
“Wade, I’ll cover you,” I shouted back to him. He was dealing with a cultist of his own, but he quickly dispatched her with his Fire and headed for the altar. Meanwhile, the rest of the Rag Team spread out in a circle, taking one cultist each. Elements roared and rumbled all around.
“Eat this!” Santana cried as she shoved an Orisha down the throat of a burly man.
“Oh, you have no idea how long I have waited for this.” Raffe’s eyes flashed red, his skin already crimson and smoking, as he lunged for a young man with bright green hair. The djinn was hungry and wasn’t about to stop now that he had carte blanche to do what he liked.
Dylan grinned as he tackled another guy to the ground, pounding on him with his Herculean fists. Meanwhile, Tatyana had just slammed a woman into a nearby tree with a lasso of powerful Telekinesis. Garrett had a different woman in a headlock, the two of them brawling on the ground.
“Did you just bite me?” Garrett snarled, driving his elbow down into the woman’s shoulder.
“You thought we were playing nice?” the woman shot back.
The only one who was standing back from the fight was Jacob, who’d ducked out of the way behind a berry bush. Astrid hadn’t come through the portal at all, which I figured was a good thing, after what had happened last time she came to an otherworld. I didn’t want that happening again.
Building another ball of temperamental energy in my hands, I lashed it toward Katherine, using a blend of Telekinesis and Fire. I sensed there was something else in the mix, too, something that made it crackle and spark in a worrying way, but I couldn’t think too much about that now. I was barely able to keep hold of it, let alone control all the elements inside it. I essentially had an atomic bomb in my grasp and no idea how to properly use it.
“Hey!” I yelled across the clearing. “I’m going to give you a choice, Katherine. Stop what you’re doing, or I unleash this on you!”
Katherine barely glanced up as the ball hurtled toward her. She stood inside a forcefield once again and was evidently too confident in the forcefield’s ability to protect her. But I had a feeling it wouldn’t matter this time.
The moment my energy ball connected with the forcefield, the whole thing blew to smithereens. Bits of stone and moss flew everywhere. Golden smoke billowed away from the center of the blast, shrouding everything in a thick cloud. I tried to peer through, to see if I’d managed to maim Katherine, but the smoke obscured my view.
As the dust settled, I noticed Katherine slumped against the back wall of the ruins, a trickle of blood sliding down the side of her face. So you do bleed?
Unfortunately, the blast had also knocked Wade down, but the president seemed unharmed. A second later, Wade jumped up and sprinted for the altar, his fingers working away at the golden ropes around the president’s body.
“Mr. President, are you okay? Mr. President?” Wade shook him, but he was out cold. He worked faster at the ropes, until he’d managed to break the president free. He’d just looped the man’s arm around his neck when Naima suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
“This time, I will finish the job and snap your neck like a twig,” she growled at Wade.
I surged toward them, but Katherine drew my eye again. This might be the only chance we had to capture her while she was out cold. I couldn’t risk missing an opportunity like this, even though Wade was in danger. Naima was already advancing on him, and he tried to stagger back with the president’s weight leaning against him. Wade was tough—he had the strength to overcome someone like Naima. Fight with everything you have, Wade.
I darted around the side of the altar and reached out for the unconscious Katherine. As soon as my hand touched her arm, her eyes snapped open, a cruel smirk on her face. She grasped my wrist and yanked me against the wall, driving me headfirst into the hard stone. I shot out a cushion of air to lessen the impact, but it was too wild and too strong, sending me bouncing backward with a nasty case of whiplash. Still, at least I hadn’t been brained against the ruins.
“It looks like someone’s not quite out of their training pants,” Katherine jeered. “A little too much for you, is it?
Come here and let me relieve you of some of that power. I’d be more than happy to.”
I stepped back. “I’m sure you would.”
Before I could even move, she sent a twist of Telekinesis toward me. It snaked around my throat and pulled tight. I scrambled to get a defense up in time, but I didn’t have the dexterity to handle someone like Katherine. It didn’t take a genius to realize that she’d become far more powerful than I’d anticipated. She’d barely flicked a finger, and the Telekinesis had done her bidding. Feeling the pulse of my energy deep beneath my skin, I forced it upward to try and break apart the grip of the Telekinesis around my throat. She was strong… incredibly strong.
Powering my Chaos harder and harder into the stream of Telekinesis, I already knew I was using too much energy on breaking this. I didn’t have the time or knowledge to carefully pick it apart—I had to use brute force instead. The Telekinesis solidified around my neck into a glass-like collar and shattered into a million pieces. A rush of lightheadedness overwhelmed me as I fought to stay on my feet. I wasn’t going to crumble in front of her, no matter how much that had taken out of me.
“Oh dear, have things not worked out the way you expected them to?” She smiled at me. “Disappointing when that happens, isn’t it? It’s all about preparation, Harley. You’ve got to make sure your ass is covered from every angle; otherwise, you’ll end up mooning someone. A sticky metaphor, maybe, but I like the visual.” She hammered a barrage of fireballs at me without moving a muscle. The sparking orbs just appeared in the air in front of her before hurtling toward me. I managed to dodge most of them, but one seared past my shoulder with a hiss of smoking flesh and fabric.
“How can you be here?” I gasped, catching my breath. Maybe I was the one who’d been too confident. I knew the first ritual must have given Katherine power, but this was freaking excessive—she was more like a god than a woman right now.
“Always underestimating me, huh? Honestly, Harley, what lengths must I go to, to get you to see that I’m more powerful than you think? Shall I… kill the president? Would that do it? I mean, I’m already going to do that, but two birds, one stone. It’s kind of insulting, really, that you keep doubting me.” She chuckled as she shot another barrage of fire my way. This time, I was ready, building a rapid blockade of water from the nearby stream.
“Nice try!” I panted.
“Hey, I always said I could be a good teacher to you, but you kept saying, ‘No, I don’t want to join sides with you. I’m going to stay at the SDC where it’s all safe and proper.’ How’s that been working out for you? Nomura and Alton giving you some good lessons?” She sighed. “Men are so easy to manipulate. Honestly, they’re like origami.”
I scowled at her. “What?”
“They fold under pressure.”
“You didn’t answer my question!” I shot back. “How can you be here? You went through a portal, but you don’t have anyone to open them for you anymore. Did you steal from Isadora? I bet you’ve got a bunch of Ephemera lined up, right?”
She sighed. “Contrary to popular belief, I’m not much of a thief. Hah, that rhymed. In this case, there was no theft necessary. I earned the right to interdimensional travel when I performed the first ritual. Not for the faint- hearted. I suppose it’s lucky I’ve got the heart of a bull.”
With every sentence she spoke, another attack came. It was impossible to gauge her next move when she didn’t even have to move a muscle to get her Chaos to do what she wanted. I managed to hold off an attack of Earth, with vines slithering toward my legs and trying to trip me up, but her attacks were coming too quickly for me to think clearly.
“You can just travel however and wherever you want to now?” I flung a tornado of water away into the rainforest, the swirling pillar exploding as it hit the trees, soaking Tatyana and Dylan, who were fighting nearby. Fortunately, it soaked the two cultists they were battling, too, giving my people a moment’s distraction to take them down.
“Handy, isn’t it?” she replied. “It’s a load off my mind, not having to worry about where my next Portal Opener is going to come from. You’d think Chaos would have made more, but I guess it’s like small-batch gin—you only make a few of the best. Actually, you’ve got me thinking. If I don’t need a Portal Opener anymore, why don’t I just kill Isadora and Jacob now? Your aunt won’t be too hard to find, and it’s nice of you to have brought Jacob with you. Saves me the trouble of sniffing him out.”
“You won’t touch either of them!” I squared up to her, using my newfound power to build a wall of shimmering air between us.
She nodded slowly. “No, I really think I will kill them, right after I kill you.” For the first time, Katherine actually raised her hand to send out her abilities. A steady stream of molten fire poured out of her palms and struck the barrier of air, making it disintegrate in a puff of smoke. I hurried to get my defenses up, but a vine tugged at my leg without warning and yanked me to the ground in one jarring movement. Katherine appeared above me, her palms raised.
“I thought you had plans for me, alive.” I strained to speak as the vines crisscrossed over me, squeezing like pythons.
“Oh, Harley, I wanted it to be you. I really did. All the family, back together again.” Bronzed tendrils wrapped around her fingertips, and I could see the power building in the center of her palms. “But you keep causing too much trouble, so I’ll have to find someone else to fill your shoes. A shame, yes, but that’s on you. And with all that power unleashed in you—what a pity.”
I let fire stream out of my hands and singe the vines, prompting them to let me go. “It’s not ending like this,” I spat as I struggled free. “You don’t get to win this time.”
“Why won’t you just STAY DOWN!” she snapped suddenly, pressing her foot down hard on my chest. Her grin turned cold on her lips. “Why do you refuse to learn? You’ve got so much of your mother in you. Too much, if you ask me.” Her voice echoed across the clearing, drawing the surprised glances of her followers. Watching her, I could see it was taking every ounce of strength she had to calm down again.
“I’d rather be like her than like you. Heck, I’d rather be like freaking Echidna than like you!” I grabbed at her ankle, but my hands jolted away. Chaos drifted across her skin in a thin layer, giving me an electric shock if I tried to touch her. Sneaky.
An amused smile turned up her lips. “That could be arranged. I’ve been trying out this new splicing spell, and I’d love to see the outcome on a human test subject. I was going to say ‘human guinea pig,’ but then you might’ve been confused. What do you say—you and a lizard, or you and a scorpion, or you and a hobgoblin? I’d like to see that. I could do with a laugh.”
A movement beside the ruins distracted my attention away from Katherine’s ramblings. Naima had Wade pinned up against the wall, her fangs headed straight for his jugular. This time, there was no Marie Laveau to save him. One slice, and he’d be done for. I opened my mouth to beg for his life, but no sound came out. Instead, a rush of white light exploded out of me, knocking Katherine back and freeing my chest from her foot. I scrabbled against the ground to get to my feet, but the blast had only done so much to keep Katherine away. She regained her footing and pounced on me, slamming my back into the dirt.
“I said STAY DOWN!” she roared. “I guess I need to put you down, huh?” She squeezed my throat, her hands pulsating with bronze light. Her tendrils of Chaos poured through my skin and into my throat, filling it up like water, until I couldn’t drag in a single breath. I panicked and thrashed against her, but she just knelt harder on my chest and stared down at me with calm, dead eyes.
This is it… I was going to die here in Gaia’s otherworld. Katherine was going to kill me.
“Take me, Katherine. Spare her. Take me and be done with it.” The president’s voice boomed across the clearing as he rose from the ground where he’d fallen. He’d somehow broken free of the last few ropes and stood proud, facing her.
Naima had Wade pinned, but his hand was reaching for something in his pocket. A second later, he threw a bright red dust into her face before whispering something I couldn’t quite hear. It sounded Latin, and I knew what that meant. She fell backward, crashing into the ground with an almighty crack that split the earth. Whatever curse he’d used, it sounded like it had broken or dislocated some joints, too.
Wade smiled. “I’ve upped my game since last time.”
Naima snarled at him. “I will see you strangled with your own entrails, Crowley!”
The president stepped toward Katherine. “I know about the ritual. I know what you need.” He held out his hand. “Please, Katherine—take my life in exchange for Harley’s.”
“How about I kill you both? Buy one get one free?” she shot back. “Then nobody needs to feel left out.”
“You have to hurry, Katherine. If you waste time on killing Harley, you may not have the chance to kill me.
These Children of Chaos don’t like people lingering in their otherworlds.”
She snorted. “What would you know about it?”
“I know you’ll find yourself kicked out if you wait too long.”
“How do you know that?”
He smiled at her. “You always did underestimate me, Katherine.”
“If I let Harley live, she’ll just keep on meddling. She can’t help it. It’s in her blood.” An amused glint flashed across her eyes.
The president took a swift step back and snatched something from his waistband—a sharp, golden knife that he must have taken from the altar when Wade freed him. “Then I’ll kill myself. You won’t have the satisfaction of killing me, and you’ll have to find another Father of Magicals. But, more than that, your failure to kill me will reverberate across the magical world, and you won’t be able to outrun the ripples.”