Page 53 of Commanding Chaos

“It wouldn’t activate. Since it’s dormant, I’m stuck with it until I have time to remove it.”

Chaos nodded his approval from the kitchen where he shoveled Lucky Charms into his mouth. I guess I was getting better at lying. Fabulous.

Patrice sat back on the sofa next to me. “I can’t believe they attacked you on our home turf. Do they want a war?”

Yeah, that was another lie courtesy of yours truly. After the Boston witches had followed Chaos and me in the store, it only seemed natural to blame my latest injury on the bad guys hanging around Salem.

“Knock, knock,” Chrys called before she stepped through the door. Miles and Shade followed her in, and they took seats in the living room for yet another session of lies. Yay.

Ember cracked her neck and paced in front of the television. “Start from the beginning, Miles. You saw the Boston witches outside and confronted them. What did they say?”

His face was solemn, his mouth tight. “Someone broke into their library and tore it apart. They’re blaming me.”

“What? That’s ridiculous.” My voice raised an octave or two, and Ember shot another warning glare. I cleared my throat. “What would make them think it was you?”

“I didn’t…” He fisted his hands in his lap before splaying them on his knees. “I didn’t want to tell you this, but I’ve been there before.”

Ember stopped pacing, a look of alarm flashing on her face before she composed herself. “Why did you find yourself inside a dark witch coven’s headquarters?”

He drew his shoulders toward his ears. “When Ginger started doing dark spells she found online, I was worried. You never know what kind of crap people post. Maybe a spell she thought would bring her wealth was some teenage witch’s idea of a joke and it would blow up in her face.”

“I can see where this is going, and I do not approve.” Ember crossed her arms.

He lifted his hands and dropped them in his lap. “I knew you wouldn’t. That’s why I did it in secret, but I swear I did not destroy their library.”

Shade clapped him on the shoulder. “We believe you, man. He was with me when they claim it happened. The night of the Hunter’s Moon.”

“I thought if I could get her some legit spells, it might curb her appetite. Let her see the kind of toll dark magic takes on a witch.” He covered his face with his hands. “I’m sorry.”

Chaos straightened his spine. “And now they’re starting a war on this coven because of your insolence.”

“He didn’t do it.” Shade shot to his feet. “I told you he was with me that night. Where were you? The way I see it, all this shit started happening right before you showed up. How do we know you’re not to blame?”

“Sit down, Shade.” Ember was getting good at this commander-in-chief thing. “So Boston figured out you stole spells and gave them to Ginger. They killed her, and now they’re after you because they think you are responsible for the vandalism of their library.”

Miles swallowed hard. “In a nutshell, yeah.”

“How did you get into their library?” Patrice asked. “Did you break in? Because that would be grounds for them to declare war whether you trashed the place or not.”

I pressed my lips into a line. Thanks for the reminder, Patrice. Why did we recruit her again?

“I made friends with one of their low-level witches. I told her I’d take her out on a date if she let me in.” He lifted his hands in defense. “But that was weeks ago. I haven’t been back since. I… What can I do to make this right?”

“You tried talking to them.” Ember resumed her pacing.

“Yeah. They didn’t believe me.”

“So they showed up at your door.” I drummed my fingers on the arm of the couch. “They know where you live.”

“When I answered,” Shade said, “I attacked them before they set foot inside, and I scared them away. If I hadn’t been there, he’d be dead too.”

I rolled my eyes. “Right, because Miles is completely incapable of self-defense.”

“Apparently Ginger was.” Shade arched a brow.

“Too soon.” I stood and joined Ember in front of the television. I hated to admit it, but Miles’s transgressions did make him the perfect scapegoat for our situation. Of course, we knew he wasn’t to blame for the library mishap, and it sucked that he and Ginger were taking the fall, but they did kind of bring it on themselves by dabbling in the dark arts.

Good goddess, would you listen to me? I’d had a demon in my head for way too long.

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