Page 30 of Claiming Chaos
He pressed his lips together, nodding as he considered my plan. “And you believe they’ll simply let us go?”
“If we’re convincing enough, why wouldn’t they?”
He clasped his hands behind his back. “You are forgetting that New Orleans contains both light and dark covens, and we don’t know which one has imprisoned us.”
“Then I guess we’ll have to play it by ear.”
“If they’re dark witches, my plan will—”
“We’ll play it by ear.”
We would have to because the door at the end of the hall swung open and sunlight flooded the corridor. I cocked my head, giving Chaos a look that I hoped to Hecate said let me handle this. He opened his hands, palms toward me, conceding control…at least for the moment.
“Here they are,” a woman’s voice drifted down the hall, and three or four sets of footsteps followed. It was hard to make out just how people planned to interrogate us until they came into view.
The brunette water witch we saw yesterday evening, two of the men who’d accompanied her, a big beefy guy I’d never seen, and a tall, lanky blonde, who had to be their High Priestess, made five. Damn. This was serious, and I couldn’t tell if they were dark, light, or something in-between, thanks to the hex they’d placed on these cells.
And how the hell did they remember who we were? Chaos must’ve been holding back when he fried their brains.
“They claimed they were from Maine,” our elemental friend said. “But their IDs show Salem addresses.” She handed the little plastic cards to the High Priestess.
“Thank you, Sandra.” She looked at our IDs, her brows lifting as she read mine. “And this one is a Holland witch.” She strolled toward me. “A member of Salem’s founding family, causing trouble and telling lies in our city. Explain yourself.”
“We didn’t come here to cause trouble.” I started to reach for the bars, but I remembered what had happened when I touched the wall and thought better of it.
The Priestess handed our IDs to Sandra and crossed her arms. “Then tell me, Ash, why are you and Shade here?”
I flicked my gaze to Chaos. I’d forgotten about the glamour on Shade’s license. Thank the goddess it hadn’t worn off. “Just a little vaycay.”
She tilted her head like a disapproving mother. “That’s not what your earth witch told us when we caught her in our library.”
I crossed my arms to mimic her posture. “Whatever she told you was a lie.”
“Says the witch who’s been lying since she got here.” A man with curly black hair stepped forward. “How can you see through my magic? I’m a master shadow caster. No one can penetrate my spells.”
The High Priestess put her hand against his chest, pushing him back. “Calm down, Umbra. They’re elementals. They have power you can’t imagine.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Elementals aren’t all that.”
Oh, for Hecate’s sake. Was it a requirement that all shadow witches had egos for days? “I can’t see through your magic. Shade can because it’s one of his inborn powers. I don’t know how he does it.”
Chaos shrugged, acting cool as an icicle. “I have always been able to see through shadow.”
“Nobody has that much power,” Umbra said.
“He obviously does.” The Priestess gave him a pointed look, and he backpedaled to join the other four.
“Look.” I raised my hands in surrender. “It’s true we aren’t here on vacation. We lied because we didn’t want to stir up any trouble, but we obviously made it worse by not being upfront. We aren’t the enemy.”
“The earth witch you found in your library is the true adversary,” Chaos said. “She is the reason the veil is weakening, and she plans to destroy it when she returns to Salem.”
“Funny.” She rested a hand on her hip, shifting her weight to her right leg. “That’s the same story she told us about you.”
My hands instinctively curled into fists. “She has an encyclopedia of demons. She’s planning to summon a Prince of Hell, and if we don’t get back to Salem soon, she’ll do it. You think the rifts are bad now? Wait and see what happens if you don’t let us go.”
She looked me up and down. “Your friend told me about your curse.” She held a hand toward my chest and inhaled deeply, calling on an inborn power, I assumed. “It’s as I suspected. Someone…your mother, maybe…blocked your fire magic. She did everything she could to stop you from fulfilling your destiny, but destiny…fate…can’t be avoided. You will be responsible for your coven’s demise one way or another.”
I tried to keep a neutral expression, but damn. My mom blocked my magic? All these years, I’d thought I was defective, when my power had been bound all along. What the actual eff, Mom?