Page 10 of Claiming Chaos
She set her empty plate next to her cup. “I will. It’s all about me, anyway.”
“You—” Shade began to quip, but he closed his mouth again.
Ash took a deep breath and straightened her spine. “I didn’t break the curse on our coven. I am the curse.”
She told them about Isabel’s wrath, about how every High Priestess in the coven had lied about the curse and claimed a third-born daughter would die in infancy. Patrice watched her tell the story, sympathy creasing her forehead as she listened. Miles sat stoic, undoubtedly trying to hold back tears for his deceased girlfriend, and Shade’s face pinched in his signature sour expression.
Ash shrugged, the sharp movement making her bounce on the cushion. “So our parents tried to find these guys and failed.” She pointed her thumb at me. “Cinder figured out how to summon them and convinced Discord to take her across the veil to rescue Mom and Dad. I found the sigils and accidentally summoned Chaos into my mind. We retrieved his skull and got him out of my head, and now we need to get Mayhem’s skull, which Chrys has.”
Ember set her empty plate on the table. “Once we summon Mayhem, we can bring everyone back to this side of the veil, end the curse, and put everything right again. That’s all we know. Who’s next?”
“Hold on.” Shade pinched the bridge of his nose. “If Cinder summoning Discord started the weakening of the veil, and Ash summoning Chaos made it worse, won’t Mayhem tear it to shreds?”
“Your situation will get worse before it improves.” I glanced at Ash’s hands folded on her lap and fought the urge to hold them in mine. “However, once my brothers and I return to our realm permanently, the Holland sisters have the power to mend the veil. Everything will be as it was before.”
“Except it won’t.” Miles stared at the half-eaten pizza on his plate. “Ginger will still be dead.”
And I would live the rest of my existence knowing my perfect match could never be mine. The ache in my chest reached up to my throat.
“Miles.” Ash shifted forward, leaning toward him. “I know it’s hard to talk about, but do you think Ginger was working with Chrys?”
“I don’t.” He shook his head. “I mean, Chrys could have been the one who got her into dark magic, but Ginger would never hurt anyone.”
“Why is Chrys even doing this?” Shade asked. “What does she want with Mayhem’s skull?”
“My guess,” Ember said, “is that she’s working with Boston. She’s either a member of their coven, or she’s using their knowledge to try and take control of Salem.”
Once again, Ember and I agreed. “That’s a plausible explanation. It is rare for an elemental witch to be content without ruling.”
Patrice nodded. “When she got to me, she said she wanted me alive because she’d need a good healer when she took over the coven.”
“There you go,” Ash said. “She knows about the curse. Hell, she and Cinder were close friends so it wouldn’t surprise me if Chrys knew about her plans to free the demons and save me.”
“And she’s using it to her advantage,” I said. “Without Mayhem and Discord, I can’t lift the curse on Ash.”
“She’s hoping Ash will do the dirty work and take out all the light witches for her.” Ember stood and began pacing. “But you two.” She pointed to Miles and Shade. “How did she get to you?”
Shade’s brow slammed down over his eyes. “She manipulated us, convinced us to be suspicious. She’s the reason I came here last night. I thought I was saving you, that you didn’t know what he is, but when I saw Ash in bed with him, I lost it.”
He flicked his gaze to Ash. “I’m sorry.”
She flinched. “Umm. Thanks?”
“I don’t know how she got the sigils onto us,” Miles said. “I don’t even remember her coming inside. I guess she used a binding spell?”
“A doozy of one,” Ash said. “I could never have guessed how powerful she is. She fooled us all.”
“What are our next steps?” Patrice rose and gathered the empty plates before taking them to the trash can.
Ember looked at me. “Do we let her summon Mayhem herself?”
“I don’t think she can,” Ash answered. “From what she said, it sounded like Isabel kept the sigils separate from the map. The book in our vault must’ve had the only copy.”
“Can she summon him without the sigil?” Shade asked.
“Our marks are required for us to pass across the veil. She will either continue searching for the one you had, or she will look elsewhere. Isabel didn’t create our marks. They’ve existed as long as we have.”
Shade lifted his hands and dropped them in his lap. “She wants to take over Salem, and she’s working with Boston. That much I follow, but why does she want to summon another demon? She knows it’ll only make the veil weaker.”