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

blast added to my overwhelming terror. My breath came in short, sharp gasps.

Everything went into overdrive, and my mind filled with dark and grisly images of what Erebus had planned for me. Fountains of blood, my head rolling like a ball, black veins eating me alive from the inside out. Perhaps this was a premonition—a warning of what would come after the Atlantis mission. My whole body shuddered in response, no longer under my control.

I understood the position Kadar had been in, standing on that rooftop. All this pain, confusion, fear… I couldn’t take it anymore. And I couldn’t suppress it anymore, either. The pills had stopped working. They’d been my lifeboat, and someone had taken a massive pin to that boat, sinking it so I had no choice but to let the current take me.

“Finch?” I heard the crunch of footsteps and Melody’s soft tone.

“Stay back!” I yelled. “You’re not real!”

“It’s me, Finch.” The footsteps got closer, and the pine trunk at my back prevented me from fleeing. I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes. I didn’t want to see Melody’s face all twisted up again.

A second set of footsteps echoed the first. “Finch, it’s us. What’s going on? Are you hexed?” Luke spoke, calm as ever.

“I wish.” I grasped my skull with both hands, pushing inward. Throbbing agony jabbed red-hot pokers behind my eyes, as if trying to push my eyeballs out of their sockets. The gremlins were in attack mode, pounding my cranium as if they could escape if they could just make a crack wide enough. For the first time ever, I feared they might actually succeed.

“Finch, I’m going to put my hand on your arm, okay?” Melody said.

I shook my head, tears squeezing from my clamped-shut eyes. “No! Don’t touch me!”

“I need to, Finch. Listen to my voice and focus on it. Hold on to it and stay with us, please.”

A hand clasped my wrist. I flinched, trying to yank it back, but Melody held tight. Warmth spread up my arm, like something between syrup and hot massage oil. I fought it every step of the way. This was a demon come to punish me, not the real Melody.

The warmth slithered up my neck and entered my mind, pooling in my brain. Instead of darkness and gremlin delusions, an image of sunset at the monastery burst to the forefront of my thoughts. The scent of lemon trees found its way into my nostrils, and the balmy heat of the Grecian evening wafted over me.

Figures sat at the long, wooden dinner table where we’d gathered that first night on the island. Melody, Luke, and Mr. Abara, but that was where real memory ended. Harley sat to my right, and Tobe on my left.

You shouldn’t be here… Why were they here? The confusion gave my brain a fleeting respite from the panic.

“I missed you, Finch,” Harley said, reaching for my hand. “I’m so glad you came back.”

Tobe smiled, flashing his fangs. “You are safe here with us, Finch.”

“You are strong, boy.” Mr. Abara lifted his glass to me. “More than you think. You’ve endured Etienne’s tasks, and succeeded. Don’t be defeated by this.”

“What’s happening?” I rasped.

“I calmed your mind with a transformation spell,” Melody replied. “A variant of Euphoria, which helped me put you in a safe place in your mind. Whatever is happening to you can’t reach you here.”

I raked my fingernails across the wooden table. It felt real. Eerily real. “Are you really with me, outside… this place? Did you follow me to Canada?”

“I’m with you. I think you’re seeing things that aren’t there, but it’s really us.” Melody’s eyes glinted with tears. “You need to tell me how to help you—the real you. Was Luke right? Did someone put a hex on you?”

I sagged into my chair. “It’s not a hex. That would be simpler. Katherine even tried to convince me it was, a long time ago, but it isn’t. This is me. This is what I’ve been dealing with my whole life, though recently it’s… gotten out of control.”

“What is it?” Melody pressed.

“I suffer from… a delusional disorder.” My voice faltered.

She nodded in understanding. “And it’s getting worse?”

“A lot worse.” I nodded. “I don’t know why, but my ‘gremlins,’ as I call them, won’t quiet down. I have pills that are meant to help, but I keep taking more and more and it doesn’t make a difference. It shuts them up for an hour or two, most of a day if I’m super lucky, but then they come back with a vengeance. Like they’re pissed at being forced to shut up.”

“These pills. Do you have them?” Melody asked.

“They’re in my jacket pocket.”

“Okay, I’m going to give you two, and then I’ll draw you out of here. Keep listening to my voice, and use it as an anchor to center yourself.” She held my gaze. I wanted to stop her and tell her I’d already taken two and ended up like this anyway. But I figured I was already in for a dime; I may as well make it a dollar.

A minute or so later, the monastery terrace melted away. Freaky, in and of itself, to watch everything disappear. It gave me major flashbacks to my first taste of the orange poison in the tower. As it faded to nothing, I braced for the gremlin onslaught… which didn’t come. With my eyes still closed, I heard the wind whistle through the pines and Melody’s strained breath, but no jumped-up Puffballs trying to tip me over the edge.

“Finch? Can you hear me?” Melody spoke.

I nodded slowly. “Yes.”

“Open your eyes.”

Hesitantly, I urged my lids up and peeked out. Melody crouched beside me. No twisted demon face, just cheerful Melody with her adorable hamster cheeks and earnest expression. Luke stood behind her, looking more worried than she did. He probably thought I might leap forward to strangle her or something.

“Anything weird?” she asked.

“Nope… just Canada.” I managed a ghost of a smile.

Luke folded his arms. “Does