“No need to thank me, sir. I was just doing what’s right,” I replied, giving him a polite nod.
“Well, not everybody jumps in the line of fire like you did. You’ve got grit. I appreciate that,” he insisted. He looked back at the guards. “What the hell are you two still doing here? Do your rounds!”
They nodded and rushed out into the main hallway.
“Remember, four hours!” O’Halloran shouted after them.
They vanished behind the corner. I kind of felt sorry for them, having O’Halloran as their superior, but at the same time, I knew the SDC needed a firm hand to help it run seamlessly, especially with all the eyes that were on us—mainly because of the Bestiary, but also due to the return of Katherine Shipton.
“So, what are you doing here, Merlin?” O’Halloran asked, his voice low and calm, a complete 180-degree switch from two seconds ago. There was genuine concern in his eyes. “You shouldn’t be down here.”
“Sir, I have full clearance now,” I replied.
“I know that! But still. You know who’s down here. The toll it took on you must’ve been terrible,” he muttered.
He was referring to Adley de la Barthe. I was touched by his somewhat fatherly concern. It was a funny thing, really. I’d spent my whole life as a foster kid, stuck in the homes of some terrible people prior to the Smiths, and dreaming about finding my own family. Now, the coven was trying to fill that void. It had given me more than one “dad.” After Alton and Tobe, O’Halloran seemed to be just as worried about my wellbeing, and I had to admit it was sweet.
I smiled. “I know, sir. I’m here to talk to Adley.”
“Why in the blazes would you want to do that?”
“She might have answers to some of my questions,” I replied with a shrug.
Just then, Krieger joined us, and I felt a pinch of relief. With the good doctor by my side, O’Halloran had no chance of trying to sway me from my mission.
“O’Halloran!” Krieger exclaimed, slightly amused. “I thought my nurses were sturdy enough to keep you down if you tried to escape!”
“Eh, I’m fine, Krieger,” O’Halloran retorted, rolling his eyes. “Just a little sore, but I’m fine. I couldn’t take another minute in that damn bed,” he added, and scowled at him. “You’re not here to take me back, are ya? Because I’m not going down without a fight.”
Krieger laughed. “No, no, relax. I’m here to see Adley with Miss Merlin here,” he said, giving me a quick sideways glance.
O’Halloran sighed, his brows furrowed as he looked at us.
“I’ll take you to her cell,” he grumbled, sounding defeated.
I understood his concern, and it was much appreciated, but my feelings were meaningless if I couldn’t get some useful information out of Adley. With the possibility of the Ryder twins being connected to Katherine Shipton, Adley and Finch were my only viable leads.
We followed him down the corridor, until we stopped in front of door number thirteen. Not that I was superstitious, but I couldn’t help but smirk at the sight of that number and compare it to Adley’s predicament.
“Thank you, sir,” I said to O’Halloran.
He gave me a brief nod. “Just don’t let her fool you. Ever since I found out how she protected Finch, I’ve not been able to look at her the same way. And don’t even get me started on Finch himself. My favorite kid in the whole damn coven.” He sighed, shaking his head, clearly disappointed.
“Don’t let it get you down, O’Halloran,” Krieger said. “You survived, and you’ll make sure nothing like that happens again.”
“You’re damn right,” O’Halloran replied, and unlocked door number thirteen. “I’ll be outside if you need me.”
We went in to find Adley sitting in a chair, reading a book. Her cell was small and contained the basics: a bed, a table, a couple of chairs, a trash can, and a tiny adjoining bathroom. Because she was a nonviolent criminal, she had some amenities included, judging by the pitcher of iced tea and plate of cookies on the table.
Adley had lost weight, almost resembling a ghost in her black prison garb. She looked up and froze at the sight of me. Her hair had grown a bit, covering the upper arch of her ears. Dark rings had settled under her eyes, and her skin was pale.
“Harley,” she murmured, but didn’t move. “Doctor Krieger. What… What are you doing here?”
The door closed behind us with a clang. O’Halloran was just outside, quiet and patiently waiting. Krieger gave Adley a soft smile.
“Hi, Adley,” he said. “We’re here to talk to you about a few things, if you don’t mind.”
She blinked several times, shame and grief hitting me from all angles—all hers. She closed the book and turned in her chair to face us.
“Please, have a seat,” she replied, pointing at the bed and spare chair.
I didn’t feel like sitting down, but Krieger didn’t refuse the offer and plopped himself in the chair. I stood, arms crossed, frowning, trying to get a full read on her emotions.
“Do you get any sunlight at all?” I asked.
She nodded, wearing a resigned smile. “Once a day. Security rounds up the prisoners every morning for an hour. There’s an open space specially designed for us. It’s still part of the interdimensional pocket, but the walls are transparent, enough for us to get our fix of vitamin D.”
I’d already had enough of the small talk. “Adley, we haven’t spoken since they took you away, the day I woke up,” I said. “I need to ask you something.”
Adley looked at me, then at Krieger, and exhaled deeply. “Sure, Harley. I’ll tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
“Why did you do it?” I asked. “What happened, exactly? I only got the summary from Wade and Alton, but I need to hear it from you.”
“I was stupid, Harley, that’s what happened. I met Finch back in Los Angeles. I fell in love. I thought he loved me, too. I didn’t care about the age difference or the fact that there were so many things about him that I didn’t know. I went in blind, and now there’s blood on my hands.”
“So, you knew Finch before you came to SDC,” I said. She nodded again. “And you did his Reading shortly after he transferred here.”
“Yes. It was standard procedure. I didn’t even know he was a Shapeshifter until I did his Reading,” she explained. “I knew the stigma surrounding that ability, and I understood why he didn’t want people to know. I found it odd that he didn’t want Alton to know, either, but I was stupidly blind and head over heels in love with him. Whatever he wanted, I did it. For that, I will always be sorry.”
“You lied for him, basically. You never registered his Shapeshifter ability,” I said. “Didn’t he do a Reading in the LA Coven, too?”
Adley shook her head. “No. I discovered him as a magical in Los Angeles, living with Agnes Anker, whom he said was his grandmother. I had no idea about his connection to Katherine Shipton. I swear.”
“Okay, so let me get this straight. You met in LA, when he was discovered as a magical, and hooked up, right?”
Krieger chuckled in the background. The man was proper in the way he talked to people. My loose tongue cracked him up, it seemed.
Adley sighed once more. “We met in LA, before he was discovered as a magical. He didn’t want to go in and get registered at the time.”
“You kept him hidden.”
“Yes. But we both knew we couldn’t keep that up for much longer, so I begged him to come in on his own. He didn’t want to. He said he hated the LA Coven, that he didn’t trust the magicals there. Some stories were coming out in the magical community back then about corruption in the coven. Finch knew some people there, though he never revealed himself as a magical to them either. He pretended to be human.”
I stared at her. “This is incredible. You knew what a deceiver he was, and that didn’t raise any red flags? Seriously?”
“As I said, I was stupid!” she replied. “I didn’t want him to stay rogue, though. So, I suggested we move to San Diego. He agreed, and we left LA. I came to the coven first, as the physician. Finch followed shortly afterward.”
“And you failed to disclose crucial information about him to a coven that had just taken you in,” I pressed.
“That is correct. And there isn’t a day I don’t hate myself for it. I withheld his Shapeshifter ability. His Telekinesis was known, as was his Earth ability,” Adley explained. “We kept our relationship a secret because, well, we were both new here. I didn’t want people to talk about us. Finch didn’t want us to go public, either. Actually, he was quite adamant about it,” she added, frowning slightly. “That should’ve been a warning sign.”
“Hey, you were blindly in love, remember?” I sighed, my stomach churning from her mixed bag of guilt and regret. “Were there any signs that Finch wasn’t exactly forthcoming about who he was?”
“Yeah, there were tiny alarm signals here and there,” Adley said. “I didn’t always know where he went or what he did. He didn’t like it when I asked questions. He’d flip out if I so much as looked at his phone screen. But he was sweet and kind in private, so I let most of that slide.”
I remembered the medication I’d seen Finch take during our only training session, and I wondered if that played any part in the image he’d built for the coven.
“He took pills. Do you know what they were or what they did?” I asked.
“Oh, they definitely had a role in all this,” Adley replied with an energetic nod. “He didn’t tell me what they were, but he took three every day. I stole one when he wasn’t looking and had it tested. A very potent antipsychotic.”
I went back to the last image I had of Finch, in charmed cuffs, shortly before he was taken away. “I think it makes sense to assume that the Finch we saw in chains was the real version of him, not the pill-popped one,” I said.