Page 48 of Commanding Chaos

“I would love to be able to do that,” Ash said.

“I can teach you.” Because I was certain she could if she only had the confidence to learn.

Ash walked beside me as we made our way to the surface, and she rested her hand on my arm. “They beat us here, so I’ll bet they’ve already made it to the last point.”

I placed my hand over hers. “I must see for myself.”

We reached the door, and bright sunlight slashed across my eyes as Ember pushed it open. Ash moved ahead of me, but both sisters froze in the exit.

“Hey!” a man shouted. “You’re not supposed to be in there.”

I peered over Ash’s shoulder, where a security guard paced toward us, his hand on his holstered weapon.

“Hey, John,” he called to another man in the same uniform.

“Crap.” Ash reached into her bag and uncorked a shadow spell. “Hide from sight our magical plight. With the power of Shade, my intent is conveyed.”

I rolled my eyes at the ego he put into the incantation. He wrote it that way to vex Ash, of that I was certain. Despite his arrogance, the spell worked perfectly, making us invisible to the human eye.

“What the hell?” The guard stopped short, and the one called John joined him. “I swear two women were coming out of that door.”

“I told you this place was haunted.” He shook his head and returned to his post.

We made our way to the van and climbed inside, undetected, leaving the security guard scratching his head. I couldn’t help but smile. Ash had thought quickly, using passive magic to allow our escape, where her sister would have used force. They were so different, yet they worked so well together. And Ash…

I would be more careful. I couldn’t stand it if I lost her. My brothers would not be pleased with this emotional development, but they would have to tolerate it if they wanted out of prison and home in the Underworld where we belonged.

My chest ached at the thought of never seeing my blue-haired witch again, but there was no other way to restore balance to our realms. My brothers and I had to return home.

“Shit.” Ember typed on her phone before placing it in a holder and displaying a map. “Boston witches showed up at Miles’s place. Shade was there, and they fought them off.”

A look of alarm widened Ash’s eyes. “Were they planning to kill him too?”

“I don’t know. We need to check out the last point on Isabel’s map and get back.” She shifted into gear and pulled out of the parking lot. “It sounds like they’re declaring war.”

17

ASH

“They must know we’ve got Chaos.” I pulled the cards from the Boston coven’s library from my bag and fanned them out. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“Maybe. Maybe not,” Ember said. “We can’t rule anything out yet.”

I scoffed. “The magic in that hidey-hole was recent. Someone was in there, and they set a trap. Chaos was the only one who sensed Mayhem. If they thought it was only you and me following the map, they would’ve cast a different spell. Or none at all. They don’t know I’m developing this sensing power.”

Ember’s jaw ticked. “I see your point.”

“Or…” Chaos shifted in his seat, missing a few beats before he continued. “Perhaps Mayhem’s skull was there, and that is what I sensed. You said the magic and mortar were no more than two days old, correct?”

I twisted around to face him. “So someone found the skull, battled the beastie, and set the trap. And they grabbed a troll to plant inside so we wouldn’t question it being unguarded.”

“That has to be it.” Ember ended the directions on her phone. “The troll looked healthy. Well-fed. It would have been starving if it had been down there since the sixteen hundreds.” She did a U-turn. “We don’t need to go to the last point.”

“Yes, we do.” Chaos leaned forward.

“They’ve already got his skull.” She continued driving toward Salem.

“We aren’t certain of that,” he said.

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