Page 3 of Claiming Chaos

“I think she’s breathing. You check.” I moved so Ember could look.

“Yeah. It’s shallow, but she’s alive.” She stood and dusted off her knees. “Anybody know another earth witch we could call for help unraveling this spell?”

“True elemental witches are rare,” Chaos said. “Even more rare are those who don’t run their own covens.”

“Like Chrys.” I walked around Patrice, following the patterns of the roots. There were too many of them for my uprooting spell to work, even with chaos magic giving me a boost. “She wants control of Salem.”

“Elementals aren’t the be-all, end-all.” Shade squatted by Patrice and examined her condition. “This web isn’t drawing nutrients from her. It’s putting magic into her.”

“How can you tell?” Ember bent down beside him.

He pointed. “Look at the direction of the pulses.”

“They’re moving toward her.” She straightened and turned to me. “Chrys is using them to sedate her.”

“She wants her alive,” I said.

“And if the roots aren’t drawing from her, ripping them apart won’t kill her.” She reached behind her back and unsheathed her sword.

I took a step backward. “Hack away.”

With both hands, Ember raised the sword above her head and swung it down onto the biggest root, just above where it met the ground. The blade sliced halfway through, so she tried again, severing it with the second blow.

Miles grabbed the loose root and pulled, the webs dissolving as he yanked it away from Patrice’s body. The ground shuddered, and the root Ember had cut shimmered, sprouting three tendrils where there used to be one. They snaked their way toward Patrice, and Miles sliced one with his dagger. Three more shoots grew from the cut.

“These roots behave like a hydra,” Chaos said. “Cutting them will only make your healer’s situation worse.”

“Burn them,” Shade said before cutting his gaze to me. “Ember, not you.”

“Oh, that’s right.” I crossed my arms. “You slept through the whole ordeal. She makes them fireproof.”

“We can try.” Ember lit her sword ablaze and swung again. “Cauterize, bitch.” The root sizzled, and three more grew in its place.

“Perhaps hellfire.” Chaos gathered a flame in his hand and shot it at the base of the offending root. Heat blasted against my face, and if I wasn’t fireproof, it would’ve singed my eyebrows. Lucky for Miles and Shade, they stood far enough away to avoid the brunt of it, but they both backpedaled into the wall behind them.

“What the hell?” Shade wiped the sweat from his brow and sneered at the undamaged root. “Are you trying to kill us all?”

“Just you,” Chaos said so low only I could hear. “Your adversary is well-prepared against our power. Fire will not work.”

“She couldn’t have thought of everything.” I rummaged through my spell kit, though I couldn’t tell you what I was looking for. An idea. An inkling. Anything to get Patrice out of this mess. “My molasses spell got through her defenses. What else might she not expect?”

“Weed killer.” Miles paced toward the exit. “The roots are charged with magic, but they’re still roots.”

“That’s genius.” Ember followed him out the door. A minute later, they returned with a gallon-sized jug of plant poison.

Miles poured it in a circle around Patrice, focusing on the biggest roots. With the jug empty, we gathered around, willing it to work its mundane magic. The smallest root by her left foot began to shrivel, the webs spinning out from it dissolving, and we held a collective breath. A few more webs retreated, but we’d need twenty gallons of the stuff to pry her loose.

“They’re sucking the poison up into the plants above ground.” Shade kicked the single shriveled one aside, freeing Patrice’s foot. “Even if we had enough poison to kill whatever is making this trap, it would take days.”

“Who’s got another idea?” Miles asked.

Chaos huffed, and his mouth pinched. “It pains me to say this, but one of you can speed the killing along.” He looked at Shade. “Plants require sunlight. Shadow extinguishes light.”

“I don’t think making it dark is going to kill this thing,” Ember said. “Otherwise plants would die every time the sun sets.”

Shade arched a brow at Chaos, his expression conspiratorial and not the least bit sour. “Shadow magic can do more than block light and conceal things.”

My demon nodded. “It can draw light out, destroying the life it helped sustain.”

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