“What—small, black, furry creatures who dig tunnels? Can’t say I’ve ever hired one. Besides, dear Niece, Familiars aren’t really my cup of tea.”
“Stop calling me that!”
Anger pulsed in my veins, fueling the raw energy within me. A blast of Telekinesis shot out of my hands, thudding into the far wall of the sinkhole with an unsettling spatter of rocks and soil.
“Very sad to see so much potential, so poorly trained,” she mused, her voice somehow all around me. “If you keep going like that, Harley, you’ll bury us both alive. Ooh, unless that’s what you’re going for? Heroic self-sacrifice? Give the Merlin surname a bit of oomph after the negative spin your father put on it? Interesting idea, though it’ll never work. I’ve clawed my way out of deeper holes.”
“Why’s that? Because you’re a life-sucking vampire?”
She laughed, the sound shuddering up my spine. “Oh, my sweet, sweet girl. I’m far worse than that.”
A Telekinetic lasso wrapped around my throat without warning, squeezing tight like a python. In the shadowed gloom of the pit, I hadn’t felt it approach. It wasn’t as though I could read her emotions to try and preempt what she was going to do, and I couldn’t see a freaking thing. A few shadows, maybe, but that was about it.
Feeling my eyes bulge out of my head and my cheeks turn hot as the blood strained to find somewhere to go, I sent out desperate tentacles of my own Telekinesis. They slithered across the rubble-strewn ground, before pausing at a decent-sized boulder. I could feel the weight and shape of it under the edges of my magic. My lungs were burning, my throat all but closed up. With one last-ditch surge of power, I picked up the huge boulder and smashed it down on the back of Katherine’s head. At least, where I hoped her head might be. A groan signaled that my blow had made impact, while the grip of Telekinesis loosened around my throat.
I dragged oxygen into my lungs, inhaling deep gulps of the stale pit air. “I thought you… wanted to leave me for last?”
A ripple of bright green light illuminated Katherine for a few seconds, before the pit faded to black again. I’d managed to hit her, but it didn’t matter. With her ability to self-heal, nothing I did would even make a dent. Still, there was a small satisfaction in knowing I’d whacked her with a hulking great boulder.
A story for the grandkids I’ll never have, once she’s watched the light go out of my eyes. Man, this is a perfect case of “be careful what you wish for.” I’d wanted a family, and boy did I get ‘em.
“That was the plan, but I’m open to improvisation, and you’re really starting to bug me,” she replied. “First you ruined my dress, then you conked me on the head with a rock—not very friendly of you, is it?”
She hurled a refreshed snap of Telekinesis at me, but my own rose to meet it, forcing it away with a bristle of energy that sounded like a thunderclap. White sparks showered off the tendrils, revealing the occasional glimpse of Katherine’s manic face in the near distance.
Lassos of Telekinesis whipped through the gap between us, a scuffle of feet kicking rocks and skittering stones as we both ducked and dove away from one another’s powers. I thought about giving Air a try, but after my pledge fumble and the break in my Esprit, I figured it was best not to risk it. That was a surefire way to get us both smothered in twenty feet of soil and concrete, if I didn’t end up bringing the entire weight of the factory down on us, too.
“You know this is futile, right?” Katherine announced, as she paused and put up a shield between us.
“What’s the matter? Getting tired?”
“No, I’m just way too busy for this kind of nonsense. Bonding with my niece is, naturally, very important to me, but I can’t be giving all of my time to these silly games. I’m an independent businesswoman with a very tight deadline to meet. You’ll have to take a raincheck.” I could hear the satisfied smirk on her face. You think you’re hilarious, don’t you?
“You mean completing those five rituals?”
A sharp intake of breath pierced the dull acoustics. “What did you say?”
“That tight deadline—it wouldn’t have anything to do with those five rituals you’re looking to complete, would it? Finch told me that’s what you need to do to become a Child of Chaos.” I waited for a moment, trying to listen for a change in her emotions. “Tell me, Katherine, when you write out that naughty-and-nice list of yours, like a messed-up magical Santa, which one will I go on? I’m dying to know—am I worthy, in your eyes? Do I automatically get a spot, since I’m family? Finch thinks he’ll get to keep his powers, so it only seems right that I do, too. I’m half Shipton, remember?”
The atmosphere felt very still, as though all of the air had been drawn out of the sinkhole. In the darkness, I could hear her pacing like a wild animal. My muscles braced for the strike that didn’t come, my eyes narrowed at the gloom to try and make out her figure. Too far?
“Finch would never breathe a word to you, Harley. Nice try with the subterfuge, but I’m not buying it. He’s an obedient son, just like his father was an obedient—and very tender—lover. I’ve got fond memories of Hiram Merlin. We could’ve been something together. Still, he let me down. Easier to bend people to your will than expect true loyalty.”
“No, you don’t like a challenge, do you?” I shot back. “I bet you hate it even more when you come in second place. That must have stung, right? To know that he preferred your sister? It can’t be all that satisfying when you have to force somebody to love you by binding them with a crazy-ass spell. I mean, come on, you went to some extreme lengths, didn’t you?”
I knew it was a risky tactic to taunt her like that, but I needed to buy myself a sliver of time. Her angry silence gave me the breather I needed to scour my brain for memories of Nomura’s lessons on how to use my powers without my Esprit. I’d complained so much during those sessions, but now I was grateful I’d been forced into them. Nomura was right: we couldn’t rely on trinkets to channel our energy into something great. We had to do it regardless. We had to know our own strength and enhance it with the Esprits rather than use them as a crutch.
Funny what being face-to-face with a nutjob will make a girl understand.
Gathering a controlled ball of Fire between my palms, I shot it at Katherine. It hurtled through the air, though I didn’t bother to wait and see where it landed. Even if I missed Katherine herself, it would’ve hit the shelf of rock behind her. That was good enough for me. All I needed to do was distract her while I harnessed the most terrifying power in my arsenal.
With jagged bolts of white light emerging from beneath my hands, I turned them downward, mustering a whorl of ice-cold Air beneath me. It puffed up like a haphazard cushion, lifting me up a short way. Amassing more and more, using my rage to give it strength, I pushed down hard with my hands, feeling the give and resistance of the air pocket as it exploded with sudden violence. I shot upward like a bullet out of a gun, sailing way too high out of the gap above. I landed with a sickening crack on the concrete floor of the factory, knocking the wind clean out of myself as I faceplanted on the ground.
Got to work on that precision, Merlin. Not too shabby, though.
Wasting no time, I slammed my palms down against the hard concrete and sent a rumble of Earth energy through the stone, urging it all the way down into the walls of the sinkhole. I squeezed my eyes shut, my entire body drenched in sweat, my muscles shaking with the effort. I kept my hands pressed to the floor, even when my lungs began to scream, and my nerves began to sear with white-hot electricity beyond my control. A roar exited my throat, mixing with the tremor of the earthquake that would bury Katherine twenty feet under the soil. My howl didn’t stop until the sinkhole had crumpled in on itself completely.
As soon as it was done, I rolled over onto my back and panted so hard I thought my chest might burst. The others appeared in the doorway of the factory, gaping at me in shock. Wade sprinted toward me, but I waved him away, picking my broken body up off the floor with shaking legs.
“I came back for you, but you’d—”
“Pit of Hell… dragged me down… don’t worry about it,” I wheezed.
Isadora stood off to the side, curled up in a fetal position. Evidently, whatever spell Katherine had put on her was affected by whatever state Katherine herself was in. Right now, Isadora was in a lot of pain. Her face was scrunched up, her arms gripping her stomach against the agony.
I hurried toward her and ducked down at her side. “We need to get you out of here,” I said, trying to get her up. Wade helped, putting Isadora’s arm around his shoulders and hauling her to her feet. “Whatever spell she’s put on you, we can find a way to block it. We can get you out of this.”
Isadora winced. “No… you can’t. You have to… go. It’s too late… for me.”
“I’m not leaving you!”
“I know it is… hard, my sweet girl. Let me go. Save yourself. That is all your… father and I ever wanted. Your survival. We don’t… matter. Only you do.”
I shook my head, feeling furious tears gather. “That’s bull. You’re just as important as I am. Come on, we have to go now!”
A deep tremor thundered beneath my feet. A moment later, Katherine burst out of her stony grave on a powerful wave of Telekinetic power, sending debris flying everywhere as soil exploded upward.
Isadora shoved Wade away from her, her eyes widening in panic. “RUN!” she screamed. I could see her strength fading in front of my eyes. “Harley, RUN!”
Katherine unleashed a bombardment of incredible magic. I’d never seen anything like it before. Spiraling shards of black ice sprayed out like spears, while miniature thunderclouds gathered in the central atrium of the factory. Bolts of lightning shot downward and struck the ground in front of my feet as I tried to make a run for it.