Page 41 of Mayhem and Ember

I returned to the bathroom and clicked a set of tongs triumphantly. Because everyone knew before you used tongs, you had to click them. I didn’t make the rules.

“Ready?” I clicked them again.

Ash held up the container. “Do it fast before the magic travels up the tongs.”

I grabbed the offending artifact and dropped it into the box. Ash set it on the counter, resting the lid on top before taking out her mixing bowl and three jars of herbs.

“Crappity crap. I’m out of garlic.” She held up an empty jar.

“I’m sure there’s some in the kitchen. Do you have enough marjoram and patchouli?”

“Plenty.” She dumped them into the bowl and crushed them with the back of a spoon.

I paced to the kitchen yet again and located a bottle of garlic powder. When I returned, I found the guys in Chrys’s bedroom, going through her drawers. “What are you doing?”

Chaos opened a jewelry box. “Looking for clues.”

Mayhem scoffed. “My brother’s little witch ordered us out of the room, and he obeys her like a hellhound on a leash.”

He slammed the box shut. “She asked us to look for clues.”

“Why do I have to keep reminding people we’re on the same team?” I strode past them and joined Ash in the bathroom.

She mixed the spell and used a makeup brush to apply the powder to the box before holding her hand toward me. “Cast it together?”

“Of course.” I took her hand and focused on the container. “Vessel tight, vim bright, hold the magic until the end of our plight,” we said in unison. “As we will it, so mote it be.” We sent our energy into the spell, and the powder glowed dark green before flashing once and dissipating.

Ash tapped the plastic, yanking her finger away the moment it made contact. “I think it’s good.” She tentatively tapped it three more times before picking it up. “It’s contained.”

Chaos appeared in the doorway with the dark grimoire tucked under his arm. “Would you like me to carry that too?”

Mayhem stood behind him, that same calculating look in his eyes, so I took the container from her. “I’ll hold on to this one.” No way was he getting his hands on it.

“Will it be enough to convince Discord to cross over?” Ash asked.

“Absolutely not,” Mayhem said. “It was his most cherished possession.”

I eyed the stone shard. “Fabulous. How do we find the rest of it?”

15

MAYHEM

Our initial search for the remaining piece of the amulet proved fruitless. After Ember and Ash had neutralized the dark magic coating the stolen grimoire, they had scoured the pages in search of a clue as to where it might be. They’d found nothing, and though they possessed the ability to scry for it, Ember had insisted they slumber before trying. It seemed witches became less powerful the more magic they used, and the sisters, no matter their lineage, were no exception.

My body, in this mortal realm, also required rest, so I had lain in their sister’s room. When I awoke three hours later, I went to the living room to watch the television.

Now, I stood outside Ember’s doorway, watching her sleep. Silver light from the moon swept across her face like silk, her expression one of serenity. It was an expression I doubted her features could hold if she were awake.

She carried the weight of an entire coven on her shoulders. The tension in her jaw and the tightness of her eyes were the result of being thrust into a position of authority she did not want. And she had assumed the role of High Priestess because of a series of events that began to unfold when the vile Isabel summoned us…used us…with no intention of ever upholding her side of the bargain.

My lip curled at the thought. Isabel had used her wiles to trick us, offering her body to us whenever and wherever we chose. The strength of her magic when I’d lain with her had been intoxicating, but I knew now that it was a ruse. She’d sworn I felt it because we were meant to be. That fate had brought us together, and that she belonged to the three of us. That she would happily sacrifice her soul and that of her firstborn if it meant spending eternity with my brothers and me.

How could we have been so stupid?

Looking back now, I could see the warning signs. The lack of good signs. Though my anger with these witches for not allowing me to burn through their adversary and claim her magic still simmered in my soul, I had noticed the way Ash looked at my brother. The admiration in her eyes and the trust in him she exuded were unlike any I had ever witnessed. Not from anyone…especially Isabel.

The same was true about the way Chaos looked at Ash, how he interacted with her. His enamor with her ran deeper than the physical, but to say fate brought us here to be with these witches, that all of this had been set up four hundred years ago…

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