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

her knees at my side. “Find the monastery. Find it and stay there until I can get you out again.”

“I can’t… I can’t do it… I can’t control anything…” I wheezed, struggling for air.

Melody grabbed my face. “You have to!”

Black eyes stared back at me. I saw sharp fangs slide from under Melody’s lips. I watched, horrified, as her skin turned ashen.

“You’re one of them! Your face—you’re one of them! You want to kill me!” This time, I did squeeze my eyes shut, to block out her evil face.

“What’s the matter with him?” Nash came over, Huntress padding close to him. I heard her paws click against the hardwood floor.

“He has a delusional disorder, and it’s getting worse. He has pills, but they don’t work anymore. I gave him a safety bubble in his mind, to take him out of the delusions, but I… I think he’s too far gone to reach it.” Melody’s words tumbled out.

I peeked through my lids to see Nash glare at the door behind me. “I take it you’ve seen this before?” he asked.

Melody nodded. “I don’t know why they come on, but they seem to be intense panic attacks. He hallucinates, too, which is why he’s saying we’re out to kill him. These attacks hit him hard. I’ve seen it once, and that was bad enough.”

“What if he’s not entirely paranoid?” Nash hurried to the door and flung it open. “You all heard that noise.”

“NO! Don’t let them in!” I howled, feeling an icy blast on the back of my neck. I didn’t have time to deal with it, as the nightmares swamped my vision. The cabin disappeared, leaving me on the mountain, watching my friends hang from their wooden stakes, broken by torture.

“I warned you, Finch.” Erebus appeared in front of me. “Now you will watch as they die, all because you did not obey. You had the power to save each and every one, and you failed them, as you failed me. Their deaths are on your shoulders. Not that you will have to live with it for long, but guilt of this magnitude will follow you into the hereafter. If it does not make you into a poltergeist.”

“No…” I sobbed, hot tears streaming down my cheeks. “I didn’t fail… I didn’t.”

“Too late, Finch.” Erebus clicked his fingers and the Purge beasts leapt forward, fangs and claws bared to murder my friends and sister in cold blood. And I couldn’t do a single thing about it. I sat there, shaking and sobbing, frozen to the spot. Just the way Erebus wanted. A hellhound’s jaws opened to sink into Harley’s throat, her head limp, too weak to fight back…

“Crowley, swallow this!” Nash’s voice wrenched me out of the nightmare before the hellhound finished the job. Cold glass clinked against my teeth. Luke had his thumb and forefinger pressed against my cheeks, forcing my mouth open. Both men looked like demons, their eyes black, their skin gray. I writhed to escape them, but Melody sat behind me with her arms around my chest, pinning my arms. Tepid, thick liquid spilled down my tongue and into my throat, as Nash clamped his hand over my mouth and nose.

Suffocate or swallow, my gremlins chorused. We suggest suffocate. They’re trying to poison you.

Next thing I knew, Huntress leapt up. She barked so loud, right in my face, that fear of her overtook everything else. Instinctively, my throat swallowed, swiftly carrying the liquid down into my stomach. I waited for the pain and dissolving of tissue to start. Instead, a cold sensation unfurled in the pit of my belly and climbed into my chest, working into my limbs and up to my brain. Not an unpleasant cold—more like sinking into a chilly pool on the hottest day of the year.

As the cold reached my brain, the gremlins halted in their tracks. I literally felt them stop. The vision of Tartarus evaporated, taking the terror and grief with it. Then, the gremlins themselves dissolved, disappearing into the recesses of my mind. It was almost the same sensation I’d experienced when I first took my pills, so many years ago.

“What… did you do to me?” My gaze shot to Nash, my body still trembling from the aftershock. Hesitantly, Melody let go of me.

Nash sank back on his haunches. “I’ve got a pantry of magical potions I collected on my global travels. What I gave you was a special blend, learned from a page torn from an ancient book when my ancestors fled their homeland.” He gestured to a cupboard door, which had been flung open while I was in Tartarus. “They called it Medela; it helps with mental difficulties. It’ll keep the nightmares away, and your mind clear, as long as you take it. It’s not a cure, but it’s better than what you’ve had.”

“What?” My mouth dropped. He didn’t know that I knew he had Primus Anglicus blood. Which meant this was an Atlantean recipe, torn from an Atlantean book. A medicine that had been out of my reach, unknown by magical physicians. And I’d seen my fair share.

“It means you won’t need those pills ever again, once you learn to brew your own. I’ll teach you,” he replied kindly. “You took a heck of a turn there, pal. Nobody should have to go through that.”

“Medela? That sounds so whimsical.” Melody looked awestruck.

Nash nodded. “It’s got benefits, but I’m not sure about it being whimsical. Like I said, it only seems to work on mental afflictions. There might’ve been a companion recipe to help with physical illness, on a different page, but my ancestors only stole the one, so we’ll never know.”

“And you’ll teach me to make it?” I rubbed my arms to usher away the chill.

“I said so, didn’t I?” Nash replied.

“And the ingredients are here? Easy to find?” I didn’t want to give away what I knew of Nash’s heritage.

Nash frowned. “They can be, yes. The issues that cause your attacks won’t ever truly go away, because