Harley Merlin 12 by Bella Forrest (story books to read TXT) 📗

“I wouldn’t call it an exchange.” I sighed.

She chuckled. “This burden upon you, then?”

“Does this mean you spy on everyone?” I squinted at her. “Way to make a guy feel special.”

“Oh my, I did not mean to offend you! You are very special, Mr. Merlin. But you are not so interesting when you are away in that other place, with your eyes glowing. I must entertain myself, so I drift from room to room until I feel compelled to return to you.”

I laughed. “You know, getting bored and flitting off doesn’t make you a particularly good guard.”

“I was always rather scatterbrained. My beloved mama always scolded me for having the concentration of a magpie—the moment I saw something bright and shiny, I would be off.”

“Was the future husband the bright and shiny thing?”

She nodded slowly. “The brightest and shiniest.”

“I’m sorry, Mary.” It became clearer every hour that I had no idea how to behave around dead people. I’d even tested Melody’s patience with an ill-timed joke about the difference between The Sixth Sense and Titanic—one is “I see dead people,” the other is “icy dead people.” She’d tutted and told me to have a little more respect. And she was probably right. But, in my defense, I always made jokes when nervous, and there was nothing more nerve-wracking than spirits coming out of nowhere and making me wish I’d worn my brown pants.

“Call me Miss Foster, if you please,” Mary replied sternly.

“Of course. Miss Foster. Sorry, I keep forgetting.”

She mustered a smile. “You have a face that one cannot help but forgive.”

“And only a mother could love.” I smirked, but she didn’t get that one, either. My comedy prowess was wasted on these folks.

“I thought your mother did not love you? That is what the other spirits whispered when they discovered that Finch Merlin had arrived in this house. I suppose it is better for you, not to have been loved by such a woman, considering the monster she revealed herself to be.”

Wow… let’s just air out all my dirty laundry, shall we?

“You make a great point. Forget I said anything.” I hurried to change the subject.

“Not that it is your fault, of course,” she continued, not getting the hint. “I imagine you are very easy to love.”

“Try telling Ryann that,” I mumbled.

“Pardon?”

I smiled up at her. “Nothing.” I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Ryann since Melody spilled the beans regarding her emotions right in front of me. There’d been love in there, among other things. Or something like love. But I was determined to consider it the real deal, even with Ted Bundy in the picture. Unfortunately, she hadn’t come with us to the Winchester House, choosing to stay behind and help Kenzie out with her mom and sister instead. So, I hadn’t had the chance to delve deeper into the revelation.

“You really are strange.” Mary tilted her head at me. “So, will you stay a while longer and continue drawing? You seem to have made progress. I do not know what any of it means, but it is rather pretty to behold.”

I glanced down at the map. The city of Atlantis, from my memory of the old one, was right in the middle of that ocean—between the big landmass of Antarctica and the smaller island of South Georgia. But I hadn’t gotten to that part yet, to iron out the specifics.

“I suppose I should put in another shift.” I sagged back against the chair, looking for any excuse not to dive back into it. Procrastination at its finest.

“Is Atlantis really there?” Mary drifted closer. “I heard about it in stories, as a child. I never once believed it could be a real place.”

“Yep, the old girl is hiding somewhere on this page. Though you have to go through a gateway to reach it.” Yet another obstacle in our search for the lost city of Atlantis. Erebus had told us about it, and I vaguely remembered writing something about a gateway in the last iteration of this map. But the details were hazy and probably wouldn’t return until I redrew the entire thing.

“When I heard of Atlantis, the legend said it was underwater. Surely, no one could survive such an environment. Are we to believe there are mermaid inhabitants?”

I chuckled. “You know what, I’ve never seen a mermaid. Selkies and sea serpents, sure, but never a mermaid. No seashell bras or singing crabs, either.” She stared at me blankly, so I continued before the ground swallowed me up. “We don’t know what’s actually down there… wherever ‘there’ is. We don’t have much to go on, aside from stories. It’s likely ruins by now.”

“Why would this Erebus fellow want you to search ruins?”

“Another question I don’t have the answer to.” I put my elbows on the desk and held my head in my hands. “My guess is, it’s filled with treasures and ancient, powerful artifacts. Erebus loves his rare toys.”

Mary frowned. “Is Miss Winchester unable to answer these questions, despite her knowledge repository?”

“I wish she could.” Melody was still a fledgling Librarian, and since any scrap of intel on Atlantis was as scarce as a hippo in the Mojave Desert, she had no idea what Erebus might be after. Whatever it was, it had to be pretty important if he’d gone to the trouble of getting himself a human body. He wouldn’t have gotten all dressed up if he had no place to go.

“Is that an artifact?” Mary came so close, a chill shivered up my spine as her spiritual form brushed my arm.

“What?”

“That.” She caressed the pendant resting against my chest. Getting a little too handsy there, Miss Foster.

I tugged it away from her translucent fingers. “This? Yeah, but it doesn’t do anything. Not at the moment, anyway.” Erebus had let me keep the Eye I’d stolen from the monastery, but he yakked on about needing rare ingredients to resurrect the dead eye inside. I got the feeling he wanted me to track down said rare ingredients,