Page 47 of Claiming Chaos

“Is everyone okay?” I asked.

“It’s a rush,” Miles said.

“I don’t feel any different,” Patrice said.

“Shade, let some go.” Now was not the time for his ego to kick in.

“Oh,” Patrice said.

“Okay. Everyone is channeling, and we’re all connected. Let’s find the skull.” I sent out my feelers, picturing a skull in my mind and focusing on the vibrations in the abyss. Chaos sent another pulse of power into me, but I held onto this one, afraid to overwhelm the others.

“Chaos, do you sense him?” I asked, but he didn’t reply. I searched the nothingness for his essence, but he wasn’t in the trance with us. “Looks like we’re on our own.”

We sat silently, searching, feeling, sensing, until Ember drew us toward her. “There. That has to be it.”

I focused on the space she guided us to, and a low vibration hummed faintly in the darkness. As I drew my consciousness nearer, it intensified until it penetrated to my bones. “That’s him.”

Chaos’s hand tightened around mine, and I searched for him again. I felt Shade, Ember, Miles, and Patrice. Mayhem was unmistakable, but Chaos was nowhere to be found. He must’ve been reacting to my quickening pulse.

“Can anyone sense where he is?” Shade asked.

Another burst of magic surged through me, and this time, I shared it. An image of the skull came to my mind. Then the sensation of coarse fabric against my skin. “It’s in a bag. Do you feel it?”

“Is it burlap?” Miles asked. “It’s scratchy.”

“It’s softer than burlap.” I allowed the sensation to wash over my entire body. “I think it’s wool.”

“Pull back,” Ember said. “It doesn’t matter what kind of sack it’s in if we can’t see where it is.”

I let the coarseness of the fabric go and focused on the area around the bag. It sat on a slab of thick wood, worn smooth from decades…maybe centuries…of use. A wooden panel stood behind it, and another rose to its right. Was the skull in a bag, inside a box?

“It’s a shelving unit,” Ember said. “Where are we?”

I pulled back further in my mind to take in the scene. A massive antique wood table, a prayer bench, and a four-foot-tall crucifix made the location unmistakable.

“It’s the basement of the big church,” Miles said. “I’ve been there before.”

“Gotcha,” Ember said. “Let’s end the session.”

I focused on Chaos’s hand holding mind, allowing my physical senses to return. Patrice gasped, and I opened my eyes to find her panting, her hand pressed to her chest.

“Everyone okay?” Ember rubbed her palms together. “No one went crazy?”

“I’m good.” Shade released my hand and rubbed his thighs.

“Me too.” Miles shuddered and rolled his neck.

“That was…weird.” Patrice rose to her feet and paced to the kitchen. “I’m going to make a restorative tea to return our psyches to their normal, nondemonic, states. It should help recharge our vim as well.”

“Where is my brother?” Chaos stood, tugging me up with him.

“His skull is in a church basement.” I went to the kitchen to help Patrice with the tea. “I guess what you felt this morning was a dream because, unless she made a decoy, his skull is still just a skull.”

“It’s not a decoy,” he said. “I felt his vibration through our bond when you located him.”

“Yeah, but you’ve ‘felt’ him before.” Ember made air quotes. “She fooled you once.”

“It won’t happen again,” Chaos said.

I crushed the herbs Patrice gave to me, and she added them to the metal diffuser before dropping it into a pot of hot water. Holding her hands above the mixture, she recited an incantation, and pink steam rose from the surface. Once it dissipated, she poured the brew into five mugs, and I passed them out.

“Do you need some?” I asked my demon.

He chuckled. “My normal state is fully demonic. I doubt a tea would change that.”

I sipped Patrice’s potion, and the citrusy flavors of lemongrass and orange zest contrasted the nutty, winter spice blend perfectly. “Does it taste this good without the spell? I could drink this every day.”

She smiled. “It does. I’ll have to write down the recipe for you.”

“Drink up, folks.” Ember set her empty mug in the sink. “Then we’re heading downstairs for sigils and going after that skull.”