Harley Merlin 3: Harley Merlin and the Stolen Magicals Read online

  Without warning, the spark shot up and darted out of the door. I sprinted after it with Wade in hot pursuit, both of us hurtling down the labyrinth of hallways and out of the coven’s front entrance. Fortunately, with it being so late and so grim outside, most people had retreated to their bedrooms for the night, leaving the corridors empty and collision-free.

  Outside the Fleet Science Center doors, the reddish spark lingered in the air for a moment, as though sniffing out the location of the bracelet’s owner. It zipped this way and that, visibly figuring out its next move. I wondered if it had something to do with Jacob’s skillset, confusing the spark for a little while as it scented out the pathway that he and Isadora had taken between wormholes. It recovered quickly, zipping away with renewed certainty. However, the brief hesitation gave Wade and me the split second we needed to jump into Daisy, who was waiting on the curb, before we tore after the bright light with a skid of wheels on asphalt.

  There was no way of knowing how far away Jacob and Isadora were. All we could do was follow the spark as it guided us away from the coven and into the unknown.

  Ten

  Santana

  Hours had passed since Raffe first turned, and I still couldn’t wrap my head around the djinn’s full manifestation. I’d joked about it being like Jekyll and Hyde before, but I’d had no idea how close to the truth that was. The djinn shared the same body as Raffe, but I was surprised at how clear its personality was. It was like two distinct people for the price of one. Either that, or I’d been around the diablo for so long that I was finding nuances in its character. Whatever the case, keeping up was a chore.

  “Are you still here?” the djinn barked, his eyes glowing red. Black smoke puffed from his red-tinged shoulders, his face twisting up in a nasty grimace.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” I replied for the millionth time. “I’m staying here until Raffe comes back again.”

  “You’ll be in for a long wait, then. What if he never comes back?” The djinn laughed darkly. I didn’t like the warning in his voice.

  “Shut up,” I shot back. “If you even attempt to take over Raffe’s body, you’ll have me to deal with. You don’t scare me, with your smoky wisps and your glowy red eyes. El Diablo is part of my culture, you jumped-up gremlin, and I’ve seen worse than you rolling out of the bars on Día de los Muertos.”

  The djinn paused. “Where did mousy little Raffe find the balls to charm a girl like you, eh? How’d he snag such a divine specimen? It’s not every sexy vixen who’d sit at a man’s prison, staring right into the darkest parts of him without flinching.”

  I cast him a withering look. He stared right back, his red eyes flickering with a rush of blue light.

  An explosion of bat-like creatures erupted from the depths of the djinn’s body, each one slamming into the side of the box before bursting into violent blasts of black light. I staggered back, a scream slipping from my mouth. If even a single sliver of the djinn’s energy got through the glass box, there’d be trouble. Fortunately, it held the demon’s fierce power.

  My heart might never recover, though, you sly asshole—nobody scares me like that and gets away with it.

  “Hmm… maybe you do flinch,” the djinn mocked, cackling.

  “Yeah, if you hurl a thousand bats at a person, they’ll flinch, you arrogant asshat!”

  “Temper, temper.” His eyes stayed a glowing blue. If red means angry, does blue mean amused? I was still figuring him out when another ball of crackling energy hit the sides of the box. A shimmering pulse flared along the edges, pausing at the veiled gaps in the exterior in an attempt to push through. I let out a huge sigh of relief as the cage continued to hold. Nice try.

  “Can you stop now? Seems like a waste of energy to me.”

  “You worried about me burning out your main squeeze?” He walked up to the glass and leered through, his eyes shifting back to red. “He thinks he can push me down, squashing me into all the extra bits of himself. Do you know what happens when you have to sit in the dark for weeks on end, waiting for a moment to catch your true breath?”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “It makes you angry,” he hissed. “And not just angry… furious. Hatred builds up inside your veins like adrenaline, and when you get that sliver of freedom, out it pours! A molten stream of pure loathing.” He snapped elongated fangs at me and smashed his hands into the glass. Another silvery shimmer rippled over the edges, attempting to seep into the runes like an elaborate lock-pick. Once again, the cage held.

  I glowered at him. “Seriously, you need to stop banging on the glass. What, do you want me to feel sympathy for you? Give me a break. You share his body, not the other way around.”

  The djinn grinned. “I really hope you’re still around when I break out of this cage. You’ve got this strange way of making me feel calm—all I have to do is picture my hands around your throat, squeezing so tight your skin bulges and your eyes pop out, and I instantly relax. So very soothing.”

  I refused to give this demon the satisfaction of seeing me frightened. Although, to be honest, he was starting to get to me a little bit. I’d never seen any creature, of the human or spirit world, that held as much malice and violence in its heart. Hatred poured out of this demon in waves. I didn’t need to be an Empath to feel it. He wanted to do everyone and everything harm—I saw it in the shadows of his shifting eyes.

  “My Orishas would kick your ass if you even tried it, pal.”

  He turned his back and leaned up against the glass. I preferred being able to see his face.

  “Have you ever felt the sweet sadness of an Orisha’s energy being devoured?” he asked casually, weaving an orb of raw, golden energy between his palms. The smoke billowing off him plumed thicker.

  I cleared my throat. “No.”

  “There is no sensation like it. It’s like electricity in your veins, awakening each cell, bringing everything to life in the most astounding way,” he said. “And you are brimming with them. I can almost taste them on my tongue.” He licked his lips, laughing softly.

  He walked into the middle of the cage and gathered the smoke around himself, filling the interior with it. No matter how hard I squinted into the damn thing, I could no longer see him padding around. Better the devil you can see… Checking the gaps in the cage wall, I breathed a nervous sigh of relief that not a single wisp of smoke managed to get through. This was all just a game, for the djinn to amuse himself.

  He thundered toward the glass and crashed into the wall with all his might. An enormous explosion went off around him. Flames erupted from the sparks, licking toward the ceiling of the box, growing taller and more volatile by the second. I could feel the heat through the barrier.

  “Help me…” the djinn begged, pressing its palms to the wall. “Don’t let me burn alive.”

  I stared at the demon, aghast. “This is just some stupid trick. Stop it, now!”

  “If I burn, Raffe burns.”

  Can Raffe survive this? With the fierce heat radiating out, nipping at my skin, I wasn’t so sure. Then again, I had major doubts that the djinn would burn its host alive. After all, for the time being, the djinn needed Raffe more than Raffe needed the djinn.

  “You’re bluffing,” I said, folding my arms across my chest.

  “Are you willing to take that risk?”

  “Stop it, okay? You’ve had your fun. I’m very impressed. Yadda yadda yadda.”

  Through the thick smoke, the djinn’s face started to melt. Raffe’s face started to melt. It trickled down from his skull like red wax against a candle, dripping from his jawline onto the floor. Everything started to slide across bone. I jumped away from the cage, screaming at the top of my lungs. The only problem was, nobody would come to my aid—this room was soundproofed. I howled like a banshee as I lunged forward again, beating at the glass until my hands stung from the blistering heat.

  “LEAVE HIM ALONE!”

  Like time moving backward, the smoke drew itself into the djinn’s
body, the flames receding, the melted contours of Raffe’s face sliding back into place, until all that remained was the demon. He stood there smugly, in one piece.

  “No need to get your panties in a twist, my exotic beauty. Haven’t you ever heard of an illusion before?” He cackled, clearly enjoying my panicked screams. “You should have seen your face. I shall dine on that for weeks to come, when Raffe shoves me back into the darkness. Soothing and amusing—you’re quite the package.”

  “Piss off!” I snapped, struggling to recover a normal heartbeat. I’m going to need a whole lot of therapy after seeing that. Getting the image of a sliding face and melting skin out of my head was going to be impossible. I guessed that was the point.

  “Raffe can’t keep me down for much longer,” the djinn went on. “I’m stronger than I used to be, and he’s getting weaker by the year. Not that he could get rid of me, even if he wanted to. We’ve been together since birth, fused at the core. He and I have grown up together. Sweet, really, if you think about it. Aside from all the unfortunate little flare-ups.” He flashed me a grin. “That little girl never stole our toy trucks again, though. Hard to pick something up when you don’t have hands.”

  I gaped at him. “You’re lying.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.”

  “Why do you want to get out, anyway? I know you say you hate Raffe, but the two of you must have shared a lot. You both probably have some kind of mutual respect for one another, after a lifetime together,” I said, in a vain attempt to soften him up. Demons liked to talk about themselves; they were selfish to a fault. I once let an El Cuco talk about himself for so long that the sun came up and chased him away.

  He shrugged. “We’re so used to each other now that we despise one another. He liked me when we were kids. I let him get away with naughty things. He doesn’t like that so much these days. Although, if he let me out for just an hour or two every day, I could get away with some other naughty things… if you catch my drift?” He winked, his red eyes turning blue.

  “I don’t think so,” I replied. “How did you two end up together in the first place? You don’t see djinns too often anymore.”

  “The boy wonder hasn’t told you?”

  I shook my head. Keep him talking. Keep him talking until Raffe comes back.

  “Raffe’s birth happened on a very special day,” the djinn began sarcastically. “His… or, rather, our mother was a tremendously powerful woman. A little too powerful for her own good. On the day she gave birth to Raffe, the pain of labor happened to bring on a Purge. I was expelled as a monster, but I lingered in the womb—staying small and secret—until my energy fused with that of the baby. Raffe came out all pink and bawling, with me attached to him on the deepest cellular level.” He grinned, evidently proud. “Our mother died, but what else can you expect? It’s not easy pushing out a djinn.”

  I quickly covered my horror at his casual words about Raffe’s mom. “You can’t leave him, then?”

  “A small price to pay for being able to wander around, instead of being shoved in a glass box.” He gazed up at the enclosure. “I realize the irony, but at least I get to see some of the world. There are others of my kind who aren’t so lucky. They’re chased and destroyed, or put in charmed boxes. Raffe and I can’t be separated. We’re bros.” He chuckled to himself.

  “What would happen if someone tried to separate you?”

  He arched an eyebrow. “You getting some ideas in that pretty little head of yours?”

  “No, I’m just interested.”

  “A separation would kill him. I might survive, but Raffe would die.” He seemed to delight over every word, his glowing eyes darkening to jet-black shadows, before flickering blue again. Anything remotely evil thrilled him. I bet you squat in Raffe all day, every day, thinking up ways of harming people. I’d already heard a few colorful examples.

  “Would you want to hurt him?”

  The djinn paused, his eyes glowing a brighter blue as he looked at me. I figured he was getting used to me or something, because I hadn’t seen the red in a while. The scarlet of his skin faded, and the smoke dispersed. Raffe was coming back to me.

  “Raffe?” I murmured. He nodded slowly, as though it hurt to move. Eager to help him back into the real world, I approached the box and put my hand through the hole by the door. The forcefield surrounding the box allowed people to reach through, but didn’t allow anything—spells or smoke or otherwise—to leave. Before I could react, his hand shot out and grasped my wrist, yanking my arm farther through the hole. His skin turned scarlet again in the blink of an eye. My body thudded into the solid glass pane, a shiver of pain snaking up my arm as he twisted my wrist in a way bones weren’t meant to go. He cackled maniacally, pulling harder. Raffe was still buried deep—the djinn had tricked me. I knew how strong djinns were. He was going easy on me, taking his time, savoring my fear as we stared at one another through the glass.

  He froze, his expression changing at a rapid pace. The red color faded from his skin, the smoke dissipating, the light going out in his eyes. He staggered back, releasing my wrist and gripping his stomach. A moment later, Raffe came back to me. He looked up at me with his midnight eyes while his chest heaved with the exertion of pushing the djinn back.

  “You have to be more careful, Santana,” he gasped. “We’re fused together, but he keeps some of his thoughts hidden from me. There’s a dark room in the back of our mind that I can’t reach. I’m not allowed in… He’s dangerous. Really dangerous. As in, potentially deadly.”

  He gripped his stomach harder as the red tone reappeared, spreading out over his skin with a flurry of black smoke. When Raffe lifted his head again, I knew the djinn had returned. He hadn’t had enough of me yet. I rolled my eyes at him, annoyed by his persistence. Clearly, when Raffe relinquished control, the djinn became even more temperamental, battling for superiority.

  “Well, that was unfortunate,” the djinn rasped. “I was just starting to have fun. That’s the thing about Raffe—he’s a perpetual killjoy. He could rule the world if he would just let me have my way for a while. The boy has so much potential because of me. Instead, he keeps me locked up, or turns me loose every couple of months when he needs some added pizazz.”

  I almost burst out laughing. “Pizazz?”

  “Yeah, like rounding up gargoyles. I can’t say that wasn’t a hoot, but it’s frankly offensive that he only lets me out when he needs something.” He pouted dramatically. “All he does is use me. But do I ever get a whisper of thanks? No.”

  I stared at him in disbelief. I hadn’t known Raffe could change so quickly, and it terrified me. He hadn’t been able to control the djinn, to stop it from taking over his body again. Did that mean he really was getting weaker? I hoped not. After all, there was no easy way to separate the two of them, if things started getting out of hand. But, if Raffe didn’t manage to find a way to permanently subdue the djinn, I had a feeling he’d end up in a glass box in the Bestiary. It would be the only way to keep him, and others, safe. Right now, this semi-peaceful coexistence was just about the only thing keeping the djinn under control—as long as it remained mutually beneficial in some small way.

  Still, I sensed that the djinn was scheming a way out. Given all that time he had to think about things, stuck inside Raffe’s head, it was inevitable that he would eventually come up with something. Oh, Raffe…

  “I’m sure he’s grateful for your strength,” I said, keeping him sweet. “I know it’s gotten us out of a scrape or two.”

  “You’d think so, but he’s never breathed a word of gratitude,” the djinn retorted. “He’s never even given me a name. Can you believe that? Would you be happy, walking around this earth with no name? It’s rude. It makes me feel like an object. A thing.” A note of genuine annoyance rose in his strange voice. “A nameless djinn! Whoever heard of such a thing? Even our worst enemies wouldn’t leave us nameless, but Raffe refuses to give me one. What does that make him, huh?”

  “Is that why
you’ve been acting up lately?” I asked. Raffe had been struggling more than usual, and it felt like I was getting to the root cause. Demons were notoriously proud creatures. The fact that he had no name probably burned him up inside… more than usual.

  He scowled at his reflection. “I’ve asked Raffe for a name. I told him I’d behave more if he’d just give me a name, but he keeps saying that he won’t.”

  “You don’t deserve a name,” Raffe’s voice suddenly cut in.

  The djinn growled in the back of his throat. “I do. Everyone deserves a name. You said you’d give me a name when we were kids, but you never did. Old Daddio stopped you every time.”

  “You can’t just torment me because I won’t give you what you want,” Raffe’s voice chimed through.

  “Of course I can. In fact, that’s my plan—to annoy you until you give in. I’m tired of not having a name. It’s embarrassing.”

  Raffe appeared. “Well, what name do you want?” His tone was reluctant.

  “That’s not how it works, and you know it,” the djinn spat back. “You need to name me, you lazy idiot. You can’t leave all the heavy-lifting to me.”

  “Then what else are you good for?”

  I stepped up to the glass. “Hey, calm down, both of you. Why don’t you make a couple of suggestions, Raffe, and see if he likes them?”

  “Yeah, do as the nice lady says,” the djinn mocked.

  “How about… Cyrus?”

  “No way.”

  “Paolo?”

  “Really?”

  “Harold?”

  “Oh, come on, now you’re just messing with me.” The djinn folded his arms across his chest.

  I smiled. “How about Kadar?”

  The djinn turned to me. “Kadar?”