Page 15 of Commanding Chaos

“See you in a bit.” Chrys turned down an aisle, and I stepped away from my demon.

“What’s with the possessive back grab? You’re supposed to belong to me, not the other way around.”

His eyes narrowed, and he stilled. “Protective, not possessive.”

“Chrys is one of us, and she’s super nice. I don’t need—”

He held up his hand to silence me, and I laughed incredulously. I was about to tell him never to do that again, but he gestured to my right and said, “There. The dark magic I sensed.”

I followed his gaze to find two women at the end of the deli case, staring. As soon as I looked at them, they jerked their heads down to examine a block of cheese. One wore a cross-body satchel nearly identical to my spell kit, and the other had a fanny pack slung over her shoulder.

I would never understand that trend. If you weren’t planning to wear it around your waist, where it was made to be worn, why carry one? Bags and purses were much more fashionable, but what did I know? I was the blue-haired goth girl who got stared at everywhere I went, even in Salem.

Fanny Pack whispered something to Spell Satchel, who glanced quickly at me and dropped the cheese into the case before they both disappeared down the closest aisle.

“Hopefully they’re just passing through. We don’t have time to deal with dark witch shenanigans today. C’mon. Let’s go pay.” I led the way to the front of the store, and Chaos helped me put our groceries onto the belt.

“Do dark witches reside in Salem?” he whispered as we waited for the cashier to scan our items.

Beep…beep…beep. I swore the guy was moving like a sloth on purpose. That, or he was incredibly high. Ever since they legalized marijuana in Massachusetts, you never knew.

“Sometimes they try, but as soon as they perform unsavory magic, we give them a choice. Leave or be imprisoned and reported to the Higher Power. You can guess which option they choose.”

“Indeed.” He scanned the room, on high alert.

I fought a grin. Having Chaos around was a bit like having a guard dog. One that still needed a lot of training. If the dark duo tried anything here, I could imagine his way of handling it. “Best to let me deal with the confrontation if there is one.”

“Hmm,” was his only reply.

I paid for the groceries, and we grabbed the bags and headed for the exit. The glass doors slid open, the crisp fall air greeting us as we stepped outside, and Chaos returned his hand to my back. I looked to my right to find the witches standing on the sidewalk, talking.

Spell Satchel glanced at me and adjusted the strap on her shoulder, turning the bag and revealing a familiar emblem embroidered on the flap. I grabbed Chaos’s arm and dragged him toward the van.

“Those are Boston Magic Society witches.” I opened the door and threw the groceries into the back. “What on earth are they doing here?” I climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

Chaos sat next to me and buckled his seatbelt. “You did raid their library, tearing it apart in the process.”

I pulled onto the street and headed home. “Yeah, but we didn’t leave any evidence behind. Unless their golem can talk, they have no way of knowing it was us.”

“Hmm,” he said again.

“What?” I glanced at him before focusing on the road.

He pressed his lips into a thin line. “You tore a page out of a book relating directly to your coven.”

“So?” I waved off his concern, hoping to send mine packing as well. “They had thousands of books. The chance of them opening that particular one is slim at best. They’re probably just drawn to the thinning veil. It’ll be fine.”

“Ignoring a problem doesn’t make it cease to exist.” He watched the mirrors, making sure they didn’t follow.

“One thing at a time.” Because right now, we had too much on our plates to worry ourselves over a couple of witches visiting Witch City. “Maybe they just wanted to see where it all started.” I parked in the back of the building, and Chaos helped me carry the groceries upstairs.

Ember sat at the counter, drumming her fingers on the surface as we entered the kitchen. “We can’t lie, but we can imply, right? The kids in the woods summoned a demon. If the coven believes that was the start of it…”

I unpacked the bags and arranged everything on the counter before setting a pot of water to boil. “It started before that, but it has definitely picked up since then.”

“It’ll be fine.” Chaos echoed my words from earlier. Always the helpful little demon.

Ember eyed the spread I’d set up. “Tea? Alcohol would have been a better choice for this. Everyone would chill the eff out.”

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