Page 64 of Claiming Chaos

Three more cracks formed in the magic. The biggest fissure began to split, a tiny stream of Mayhem smoke seeping through.

We tried the incantation again, hoping to Hecate we pronounced everything right this time. Mayhem continued seeping through the circle. The second recitation didn’t help. Smoke spiraled upward, circling above Ember’s head. She had no clue what was happening. She and Patrice continued attempting to revive Chrys, oblivious to the danger of our battle.

“Oh, hell no. Not my sister.” I squeezed Chaos’s hand, and he sent another ginormous pulse of magic into me. I shared it with Miles, and we recited the words a third time, giving it everything we had.

The smoke froze. Then it crackled. The once-billowy essence of Mayhem turned to thin shards of glass. A visible rift tore open inside the circle, sucking his rigid form through, but the part of him outside the wall slammed against the magic, unable to pass.

“Watch out.” I raced to the containment ring and dropped to the ground, skidding across it like I was sliding into home base. My boot broke the circle, and the rest of Mayhem disappeared through the rift before it slammed shut, holding him on the other side.

“Holy Hecate.” I flopped onto my back and panted. “Is he gone?”

Chaos stood over me. “He is, and he won’t be happy when he returns. With any of us.”

I waved off his words and dropped my arm on the floor. “That’s a problem for tomorrow.”

“Wake up,” Ember said, and Chrys wheezed.

I rolled to my stomach to find everyone but Chaos kneeling around her. My demon offered his hand, and I let him tug me to my feet before I sagged in his arms. He helped me walk to the team and held me as I peered at our once-powerful adversary. Our once-friend.

Her lids fluttered, her head rolling from side to side. She opened her mouth, and a whisper crossed her lips.

“What did she say?” I wrapped my arms around Chaos, letting his warm, strong embrace envelope me.

“I can’t hear her.” Ember patted her cheek gently. “Chrys, what are you trying to say?”

“I…” Chrys squeezed her eyes shut as if speaking pained her. “I had…no choice.”

Ember sat back on her heels. “Oh you definitely did, and you made the wrong one.”

“No.” Her voice was breathy, barely audible. “I had to.” Her face relaxed, her body going limp.

Miles brought a hand to his lips. “Is she…?”

Patrice pressed two fingers to her neck and then her wrist. She held her hand beneath Chrys’s nose and shook her head. “She’s gone.”

A collective sigh rushed out of us all, and we stood there, saying nothing, doing nothing, for several minutes. We had neutralized the threat. We had the skull and the sigils, and we could finally move forward with our attempt to lift my curse. I had unlocked my magic and fallen in love. We had won.

So, why did it feel so much like we’d lost?

Chaos cleared his throat, breaking the silence. “We need to leave before the mundane come back. Shall I cremate her?”

“No.” I wiped the mist from my eyes. “She was our friend. We’ll give the body to her mom.”

Ember sniffled. “That’s the right thing to do. Gather your stuff, and let’s head to the van. Cloak us, Shade.”

Chaos cradled Chrys in his arms and carried her as we made our way through the labyrinth of tunnels to the ground floor. Mayhem’s skull rested inside my satchel, and no one spoke on the fifteen-minute ride home.

We left her body in the basement—Patrice casting a preservation spell on her remains until her mother could retrieve her—and made our way upstairs. It would take time to process everything we’d won and all we had lost, but the energy in the house already felt lighter.

Ember opened the fridge and handed a beer to each of us. “To bittersweet endings. May Chrys finally find peace.” We clinked our bottles in a toast, and I took a long pull from mine. The effervescent bubbles cooled me on their way down, reminding me that we were still very much alive, and our quest had barely begun.

“She said she had no choice.” I laced my fingers with Chaos’s. “What do you think she meant?”

“Rantings of a madwoman.” Shade took a drink. “Mayhem nearly had her; I’m sure he scrambled her brain.”

“Indeed,” Chaos said. “He was moments away from overcoming her. Even if she had survived, she would not have been herself. I’m surprised she spoke at all.”

“What do we do now?” Patrice asked.

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