Page 59 of Claiming Chaos
Her eyes blinking rapidly, she let out a garbled groan. “This body…no longer belongs to the witch.”
The ground trembled. The walls shook. The earth opened beneath my sister’s feet. She clung to the vines that trapped Shade with one hand, swinging as the bottom dropped out from under her.
My head spun and my insides quivered as my heart took off in a sprint. “Come on, Chrys. You can do it. Take control.”
“Give it to her, Mayhem,” Chaos ordered, though I doubted his brother enjoyed being told what to do any more than he did.
“I won’t.” She clutched her head, her face scrunching in agony. Dragging her fingers down her cheeks, she thrashed from side to side. “This body is… This body is…”
I glanced at my sister. Her grip on the vine slipped, and she nearly let go.
“Drop your sword, Em,” I shouted.
She held on by three fingers. Shade and Miles hung limp, their skin turning blue. Ember looked at her sword, her baby, and I swore to Hecate if she fell into oblivion because she refused to let it go, I would never forgive her.
“Aaahhh! This body is mine!” Chrys gasped, her eyes flying wide as she panted. “Shut up!” She spun and flailed, colliding with a shelf and sending a mess of two-by-fours clattering to the ground.
Ember huffed and released her sword, letting it fall into the abyss as she used both hands to drag herself up and get a foothold in the vines.
Chrys clutched the shelf, heaving breaths, fighting to maintain control. I searched in the core of my being for any vim I might have left and cast one last spell. “Standing tall or on your knees…” Ember joined me for the rest. “In the name of the goddess, we force you to freeze.”
Our magic shot out, and, with Chrys finally in control, she wasn’t fast enough to block it. She stilled, the look of panic in her eyes palpable. I remembered that feeling too well.
“How long will she remain bound?” Chaos placed his hand on my lower back, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. “Not long enough. Can you free them?” I shouted at my sister.
The roots and vines Chrys had summoned continued to squeeze the life out of the guys, as she had said would happen to me in New Orleans. Ember hauled a leg up to remove a knife from her boot, and she sawed through the one closest to Shade’s throat. When it didn’t multiply, she cut the one around his chest.
“One problem.” She freed his arm. “There’s no ground beneath us.”
The crevice stretched seven feet wide and who knew how deep. She might have been able to crawl across the vines to the edge and make her escape, but the unconscious Miles and Shade wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Can you reach Miles? Cut him some slack so he can breathe.”
“I think so.”
“What is your plan?” Chaos asked.
“First, we have to cast a containment ring around her in case Mayhem busts through the bind. Then, we’re going to build a bridge.”
My satchel lay abandoned a few yards away, so I grabbed it and pulled out my shaker of salt. Chrys’s demonic grimoire held the incantation needed to trap a demon, and I opened right to the page. I pulled her away from the wall and poured a ring around her before scanning the words.
“Do you have enough vim for this?” Chaos asked.
“Sure don’t. That’s why I said we have to cast the circle.” I slipped my hand into his.
“Demon magic can’t be used to create a demon trap. My very nature will fight against it.”
“And my very nature will counter yours. Have you forgotten we were meant to be together?”
“I could never forget. We are halves of the same whole.” He squeezed my hand, sending a pulse of power into me.
My body electrified, my nerves hummed back to life with a blast of adrenaline that would keep a normal witch awake for days. I scanned the book one more time to be sure I had the words right, and I recited the Latin. Chaos’s nature did try to fight back, but only for a moment. I channeled it into my being, turning it on its head and activating the circle like it was the easiest thing in the world. Honestly, it kind of was.
We broke contact, and I expected a wave of fatigue to crash into me like it had done in the past. But I felt fine when Chaos took back his magic. Even a bit energized. The bond I had with my demon kept growing and doing amazing things.
“Shade’s not breathing,” Ember shouted from across the room, spurring me into action.
“Grab those slats of wood.” I pointed, and Chaos, still in demon form, scooped up twenty of them like they were toothpicks and carried them to the offending fissure.