Page 46 of Claiming Chaos
“So Chrys is gone, and Mayhem is back in Hell.” Crappity crap. There’d be no love lost over Chrys getting tortured for all eternity, but we needed Mayhem. We needed them all.
“Great.” Shade clapped his hands together. “Problem solved. Send Chaos home, he can send Cinder back, and we’re done with the demon infestation.”
Ember clenched her jaw. “It’s not that simple.”
“Why not?” he asked.
“Uh, hello.” I raised my hand. “I’ll still be cursed to murder the entire coven, and killing me is not an option.”
He held up his hands in a show of innocence. “I wasn’t going to suggest that.”
“There’s one more possibility.” Chaos scooted to the edge of the cushion and rested his elbows on his knees. “Perhaps Chrys simply hasn’t summoned him yet. My sensing him before could have been nothing more than a dream.”
“But all five of us joined to scry for her,” Patrice said. “We would have sensed something with that many witches working together.”
“Maybe not.” Ember dropped into a chair. “Chrys is powerful beyond belief. She knows light and dark magic, and she could be in cahoots with Boston. Maybe five of us couldn’t find her because she had help with her shroud.”
“It makes sense.” Pain etched lines on Miles’s forehead. “It’s too much of a coincidence for their people to show up here right when Ginger…” He sucked in a shaky breath. “They must be involved.”
“She was able to control our guys.” Ember shrugged. “Why not Boston witches too?”
I rubbed my forehead and squeezed my eyes shut, willing my brain not to explode. “We need to scry again.” I looked at my sister. “We need to look for the skull this time. All six of us.”
Shade snapped his head toward me, his lips scrunching like he was about to send me a giant eff you. Instead, he nodded once. “I agree. We can’t sit here speculating all day. Let’s search for the skull.” He lowered to the floor and sat cross-legged in front of the bowl.
“No.” Patrice shook her head. “I want to end this as much as you all do, but light witches shouldn’t channel demon magic. There has to be another way.”
“She’s got a point,” Miles said. “He’s scrambled our brains before. If we invite him in, he might do permanent damage.”
“That aspect of my power won’t be utilized.” Chaos squeezed my hand before sitting across from Shade. “I’ll simply heighten the magic you’re already using.”
I moved to sit next to Chaos. “And I’ll take most of it. My magic counters his chaos power. I’m sure I can neutralize it if anything leaks through.” I hoped I could at least, because we were out of options. Chrys was hell-bent on destroying our town, and we had to stop her…no bones about it.
Ember sat on the other side of Chaos. “I’ve channeled him before. It’s not that bad.” She rubbed her hands on her pants, no doubt remembering the electricity running through her when we set up the ward on the building.
Shade scooted around to my other side. “I’ve survived his brain scrambling multiple times. I’ll chance it.”
I gave him the side eye. Where was this sudden sense of comradery coming from? I didn’t have a clue, but I wasn’t about to question it. We needed to work like a team now more than ever.
Miles plopped down next to Ember and patted the space between him and Shade. “They’re right. We’re doing it for the greater good. Who’s going to defeat the darkness if not us?”
Patrice swallowed hard, her gaze flicking to Ember. She opened her mouth on a big inhale, pausing and holding her breath. I pleaded with my eyes, begging her not to give us all the bird and walk out the door.
She looked at me. “You trust him?”
“With every fiber of my being.” I slipped my hand into his.
She glanced at the others, who nodded their encouragement, and she let out a sigh before dropping to the floor. “I trust you, Ash. If you say this is okay, I believe it.”
My shoulders slumped with my relief, and I took Ember’s hand. “Remember, we’re looking for Mayhem’s skull. Don’t focus on Chrys at all. She won’t be far from the skull.”
I said another prayer to the goddess, and we all fell into the scrying trance. My senses of sound, smell, and sight slipped into the abyss, taking touch with them, save for Chaos’s hand in mine. His skin heated, a slight prickling sensation making my fingers tingle before a surge of energy washed through me.
“Whoa,” Ember said in my mind.
I held onto the magic, letting it fill the core of my being as I focused on finding Mayhem’s skull. Chrys’s stellar shrouding skills kept it hidden, so I slowly let the magic go, sharing Chaos’s power with Shade.
“Holy crap,” he said as I let it trickle into him.