Page 40 of Claiming Chaos
It felt rather anticlimactic for the thing that killed my self-esteem and made me feel like a failure my entire life to break that easily, but it was a simple spell. Simple, yet so effing powerful it had shaped the woman I had become.
And now…I was free.
I focused on my inborn power, feeling it churn in my chest before it surged down my arms. My fingers sparked, and I curled them inward, igniting a fireball in each palm. I held them up, even with my eyes, and watched the flames blaze.
“Call it inward,” Chaos said.
Normally, if I summoned fire into my hands, I had to send it somewhere—into a sigil to activate it, the sink to extinguish it, the dry leaves in the cemetery to burn the place to the ground. This time, I focused on the source of the flames in the center of my being and opened it, allowing the fire to return to the place from which it came.
I closed my fists, and the fire just…went away like it was supposed to.
Sending the sparks back to my fingertips, I created two new fireballs in my palms. I closed my fists again, and it returned inside me.
A laugh rolled up from my chest, and I did it again, and a fourth time. “Do you see this?”
Chaos smiled. “Indeed, I do. Can you send the flames up your arms?”
I opened my hands, creating the fire, and focused on sending it upward. My arms ignited like Ember’s sword, the flames licking up to my shoulders, my head spinning with giddy excitement. “Holy Hecate! Do you think I could do my whole body?”
“Are your clothes fireproof?”
My heart sank, and I extinguished the inferno. “No, dammit.” I’d changed into my comfies when we got back home from New Orleans.
“Oh, I know what I can try. Ember can send out fire, and if it hits the wrong thing, it’ll bounce back without charring anything.” I rubbed my hands together and locked my gaze on the backsplash above the sink. Gathering a fireball in my right hand, I thought about my intent and hurled it, calling it back the moment it hit its target.
Only, it didn’t come back.
The ball exploded, and flames licked up the backsplash, toward the window, setting the curtains ablaze.
“Crap!” I rushed to the sink, ready to douse it with water.
“Call it back,” Chaos said. “You don’t need water.”
I looked at the faucet in my hand and the flames turning the curtains to smoke. “Yeah, okay.” Focusing on the source, I opened up, allowing the flames to return inside me. The fire extinguished almost instantly, but not before it set off the smoke alarm.
A high-pitched squeal pierced the room, and I grabbed a dishtowel to wave in front of the offending device. Ember rushed into the kitchen, just as Patrice and the guys walked through the door.
“What the hell?” My sister raked a hand through her hair.
“Sorry. I uh…” I cut my gaze toward Miles and Shade. “It was an accident.”
Shade shook his head and walked by without a word, and Miles followed. Patrice flashed a sympathetic look toward me before asking Chaos, “Still no Mayhem?”
“She has not summoned him yet.”
“Good. I need some sleep.” She shuffled through the living room and disappeared down the hall.
When everyone was out of earshot, Ember asked, “It didn’t work?”
I flashed a ginormous smile and nodded.
“It did?”
“Yes!” I did a little excited jump and giggled. “No more blocks.”
She cut her gaze to the charred curtains before giving me a look.
“She will need practice.” Chaos wrapped an arm around my waist, tugging me to his side. “Her power is unique. It will take time for her to learn the nuances of what she can do.”
“That’s amazing.” She yawned. “But don’t practice out here. Those three don’t have the best poker faces, and I want Chrys to underestimate you as much as possible.”
I saluted her, my smile so big, my cheeks ached.
“Go to bed. We need to be operating at full capacity to take down Chrys.” She turned and walked away.
“I’m too excited to go to sleep.” I bounced on my toes.
Chaos laughed. “Come on, little witch. Let’s get you to bed.”