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

consequences may be. First, we must summon all the djinn in the world and discuss it further once everyone is gathered.”

If this all ends in a blaze of misery and viscera, you will be the one responsible. Kadar made his voice known. Fortunately, we may not live to be held accountable. If Erebus rejects this, I will be obliterated, and you will suffer the wrench of my departure.

Can you be positive, for once? I shot back silently.

I heard him chuckle coldly inside my skull. I just want to get in an “I told you so” while I have the chance.

“I entirely agree,” Safiya said. “Everyone must have the opportunity to choose. I will summon the djinn so we may hold a forum.”

She raised her arms. White light, tinged with a reddish hue, slithered from her eyes and down into her chest. Her heart ignited as the light burst from her, her every pulse visible. The sheer force of the explosion bent her backward at an impossible angle, and we beheld the spiraling vortex of raw energy as it tunneled through the night sky. It seemed to pierce the atmosphere, glowing ripples palpitating outward in a steady rhythm.

The desert responded. Black clouds rolled in, and thunder roared in the distance. Cold spits of rain splashed my upturned face. A wall of sand raced over the dunes, and forks of red lightning splintered through, briefly illuminating eerie flying shadows, all headed in our direction. The winds screamed a rallying cry as the gathered djinn lifted their hands, their own hearts igniting in kind, all linking together as one. Glancing down, I noticed my own heart glowing through my skin.

Have you literally had a change of heart? I asked Kadar.

What can I say? Where Santana’s life is concerned, I can be persuaded to put aside my moral compass, he replied. Let’s just hope it doesn’t get us all killed, shall we?

I glanced at Santana. Her eyes were fixed on the sky, her head tilted upward, highlighting the smooth curve of her neck and the serene beauty that gleamed from her when she was deep in thought. Not that she wasn’t always beautiful. I’d seen her first thing in the morning, her hair sticking up and her eyes puffy, and thought she was the most stunning woman to ever exist. I followed her gaze to the shadows falling from the storm clouds. My heart lurched in fear, but I reminded myself that this was a good thing. The djinn were heeding Safiya’s call. Maybe, just maybe, she’d convince them to agree to this insane idea.

Wispy tendrils of smoke twisted downward, landing in solid djinn form in the oasis of Salameh, wedging in wherever they found room. Flying figures hurtled in from the sandstorms, carried in on the winds, while other djinn appeared out of nowhere. Before our eyes, thousands of red-eyed djinn stood, stretching so far that they filled the city and beyond, some perched on the dunes out of necessity.

Looks like Daddy decided to join us. Kadar pulled a few strings, making me turn my head toward the latest arrivals. Sure enough, Zalaam stood there, his heart aglow, his eyes burning.

Fight Erebus, I silently urged, to no djinn in particular. It won’t be easy, but nothing worth doing has ever been easy. Fight your master and be free!

If they didn’t, then all our hope would disappear, and so would they. Along with my chance at a normal life with Santana, slipping away like the sand of this desert running through my fingers.

Twenty-Four

Finch

Ah, the Great White North. The Great White Nothing was more like it. One good thing came out of Canada: maple syrup. Maybe ice hockey too, and I didn’t mind staring at a moose or a beaver from time to time. But definitely not the weather, which was freezing off my extremities at this very moment. And definitely not Ryann’s favorite serial killer—the boyfriend, Adam. He might’ve come from the French part. I’d never bothered to ask.

Snow charmed a lot of people, people who hadn’t trudged through it across harsh terrain for the last two hours, trying to find a crashed airplane. Icy flakes wafted endlessly from a dark gray sky, making this entire trek ten times as grim.

The town of Churchill squatted in the distance, and puffs of black smoke rose from the trains that rattled in and out, bringing cargo to the banks of Hudson Bay. Calling it a town might’ve been too generous. The uniform gray-and-white buildings with hints of rusty red reminded me of some Scandinavian, middle-of-nowhere glimmer of civilization.

A couple larger buildings cropped up ahead—factories or depots of some kind. One stood right on the edge of the water. A monolith of industry. No idea what it was for, though I’d seen oil tankers on the horizon, so maybe it had something to do with them. I cast one eye over my shoulder, in case a polar bear crept up on me.

Polar Bear Capital of the World… A quick phone search earlier, before I’d left Gatsby’s Speakeasy, had revealed that sweet nickname. Of course this Nash fella would be hiding out here with some of earth’s most vicious predators.

I wasn’t having much luck getting cell signal out here, which meant no contact with Raffe. Freezing my plums off in the wilderness, freaking out about polar bears, and not being able to find this friggin’ plane carcass created the perfect melting pot for a foul mood. And my gremlins didn’t let me forget about Lux. Oh no, sir. That meeting had left me reeling, on top of Erebus’s quaint dinner. Weren’t there other poor suckers on this planet they could mess with instead? Six billion people, and they chose to toy with little old me.

What did Lux want from me? Did she expect to turn me into some kind of double agent? Clearly, she wanted me to tell her about Erebus’s movements and his progression toward Atlantis, which meant I hadn’t seen