“Oh. Thanks,” I murmured, and quickly proceeded to type a message for her. A second after I hit send, I looked at Wade. “Wouldn’t Alton know it if I told him about it?”
Wade shrugged. “I’m not sure. He’s not a walking encyclopedia. You could try, but it’s a little late to knock on his door now. You should get some sleep, too,” he said.
The clarity I’d lacked earlier about what I’d gone through this evening had finally come back to me. I had Astrid on the spell, so I could focus on the Ryder twins.
“I have to knock on his door anyway. I need to talk to you and Alton,” I said. “Now.”
“Did something happen?” he asked, cocking his head to one side.
I breathed a sigh of relief, finally accepting that Wade hadn’t been angry at me, specifically. He’d been furious with all of us, including himself, regarding the Cranstons—and, as he’d just revealed, the Devereauxes. We hadn’t been on the ball with the young magicals, and the Ryders had practically stolen the game from under our noses.
“I met the Ryder twins,” I said.
Dread hit him like a cold wave.
He nodded once, then gripped my wrist and escorted me to Alton’s office. It was close to nine p.m., and it wasn’t a surprise that Alton was still there, skimming through a pile of old books.
“Wade, Harley, what are you two doing here?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.
We reached his desk and sat in the two guest armchairs in front of it.
“Tell him,” Wade said to me.
I took a deep breath, carefully going through the string of weird events in my head, to make sure I didn’t bring up Jacob. If Isadora was right and there was a spy in our ranks, I had to be careful. At this point, I wasn’t worried about Alton or Wade being the moles—I trusted them with my life. But for all I knew, someone else could be eavesdropping. The coven wasn’t safe. For the time being, I decided to keep Jacob to myself, just until I could find out more about what was going on.
“After I separated from Wade, I took some time out to get my crap together.” I sighed. “I suppose you’ve been told about everything that happened today with the Cranstons and the others?”
Alton leaned back into his chair, curiosity blooming in his eyes. “I’ve made sure we have eyes on each of the families on that list,” he replied. “What’s wrong, Harley? You seem—” He paused and narrowed his eyes at me. “Are those scratches?”
I touched my face and cringed as soon as I found the small cuts on my temple, previously concealed by my hair. Wade’s hand shot out and caught my chin, forcing me to look at him. He frowned as he brushed the hair aside and discovered the scratches.
“You got hurt,” Wade murmured. His touch made my skin tingle.
Focus, Harley.
“It’s nothing serious. A couple of painkillers will take care of most of it. I’ll sleep the rest off.” I pulled myself back and shifted my focus to Alton. “So, as I was saying, after I was left on my own, I took some time to just mull things over. I was about five or six blocks away from St. Clair’s Café, at the bus stop, ready to come back here. The Ryder twins either found me or followed me there. We… We had words.”
Alton’s forehead smoothed. I shook the shivers away and relaxed in the armchair. My ribs were still sore, the pain pulsating through my chest.
“They attacked you,” Alton whispered.
“And then some!” I chuckled nervously. “They’re vicious, Alton. Literal killing machines. Emily’s a Herculean with Telekinesis, and Emmett has Fire. That’s on top of their Shapeshifting. Oh, and they’re pretty good with what I assume were deadly curses. I dodged a few bullets back there.”
“But you escaped,” Wade replied. “How?”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence and for assuming they kicked my ass,” I shot back, slightly irritated. “Granted, that assumption would be correct. They beat me six ways from Sunday and were seconds away from killing me, when I had some… unexpected help.”
I took another breath, waiting for the pain in my ribs to subside. My hunched position wasn’t helping, so I slowly shifted my weight, leaning to my right. I closed my eyes for a moment, thankful to breathe properly again.
“Well? What happened?” Alton blurted, clearly on the edge of his seat.
“Isadora Merlin happened,” I replied. “She showed up out of nowhere, opened up a wormhole, and transported me to Waterfront Park.”
Both Alton and Wade were stunned.
Alton was the first to speak, his eyes wide with shock. “Isadora’s alive.”
“Oh, yeah,” I said.
“And she’s a Portal Opener?” Wade added, staring at me in sheer disbelief.
“Ahem,” I said, nodding. “One of two in existence, according to her.”
“Two?! They were supposed to be extinct. We thought the ability died with her,” Alton replied.
“You assumed she was dead.” I sighed. “She’s not. And she saved my life back there.”
“Did she tell you anything? Where has she been this whole time?” Wade asked.
I raised a hand to stop them both from asking the same questions I’d already tried to ask Isadora. My head was about to explode.
“She didn’t say much. But she did emphasize how dangerous it was for her to be around me. She’s wanted by some pretty dark magicals, apparently. Including Katherine Shipton, who, by the way, is definitely working with the Ryder twins. She’s orchestrating this whole thing with the magical kids, and she’s toying with us,” I said. “She’s doing it on purpose. Having the Cranstons and the Devereauxes killed, stealing some of the kids and recruiting the others. She’s planning something big and bad, Child of Chaos stuff, but Isadora doesn’t know what, exactly. She’s looking into it.”
“You let her go?!” Wade said, mildly annoyed.
I rolled my eyes at him. “Seriously, Crowley? I just got my ass handed to me by the Ryders. Do you really think I had any strength or skill to take on a seasoned witch who can open friggin’ portals in the fabric of space?” I snapped, raising my voice.
Wade went silent but didn’t take his eyes off me.
“Fair enough,” Alton cut in. “What else did she say?”
“She said I shouldn’t believe everything I’ve read in the newspaper archives about my father, then gave me a spell to research. Sál Vinna,” I replied.
Hope sprouted somewhere in the depths of my soul, and, for a split second, I could’ve sworn it wasn’t just my feeling. Something told me that both Wade and Alton were hoping that there would be more to Hiram and Hester Merlin’s story than what they already knew.
“I asked Astrid to find me some information about it,” I added.
“Good. Let me know what you uncover,” Alton replied. “It sounds Icelandic in origin. And the Northerners are not known for their light and positive spell-work. In the meantime, I’ll double security on the families on our list. If Katherine is behind all this, we must expect the worst.”
“Okay… Listen, there’s one thing that’s been bugging me,” I said, worried about the magical kids we could still bring back here for protection. “Don’t you think we should bring the families and the kids in and keep them safe here? I mean, haven’t we learned anything from the Cranstons?”
Alton pinched the bridge of his nose. “I want to, believe me. But like I said to Wade earlier, I have direct orders from the Mage Council now to keep them where they are and look out for the Ryders,” he said. “I had to confer with them on the matter after we learned about what happened with Kenneth. Humans nearly died because of magic. Special protocols require that I inform the Mage Council about it. They were adamant that we leave the families where they are and do our best to secure them remotely. They want the Ryder twins caught at all costs.”
“And they want you to keep the kids and their parents in the crossfire, even after all that’s happened? Seriously?” I asked, still alarmed by their reasoning.
“It’s the best way to catch the Ryders, especially since they’re clearly circling in. They won’t dare come after the coven again. We’ve strengthened security here,” Alton said. “Listen, I don’t like it either. But this wasn’t my call, and we can’t disobey them. If anyone else gets hurt, that blood is on their hands.”
“Ugh! The Mage Council sucks!” I groaned with frustration, but then tried to blow out a calming breath. There was clearly no point ramming my head against this issue any longer. “Okay. So, we can’t do anything about the families. What next, then?”
“We have APBs out on the missing kids,” Wade said. “We’ll monitor the police comms and scan the city’s CCTV resources as well. We keep an eye on the families and the remaining magicals. And we dig deeper into the Ryders and Katherine Shipton. That’s all we can do at this point.”
“Well, that and look into Isadora Merlin. A Portal Opener is an absolute gamechanger for us!” Alton replied. “She could be of incredible help. Can you reach out to her, Harley?”
I shook my head. “No. She’ll find me when she deems it safe enough. She’s very cautious, Alton.”
“When she does get in touch, let me know, okay?” Alton said.
The request made me nervous. “I will, but… what are you thinking?”
“I need to talk to her myself, Harley. No matter what,” he replied bluntly.
Whether it had anything to do with my parents or not, I couldn’t tell for sure. But doubt was definitely creeping up on Alton. He was worried about something. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a Telepath. To my surprise, I didn’t even know such an ability existed until this mission.
I found it irritating how I wasn’t told a lot of pretty important things, despite the training and magical courses. I was picking things up as I went, and I didn’t like that. It felt as though I was being kept in the dark on purpose.