Page 34 of Mayhem and Ember

I grabbed a beer and paced the length of the kitchen. “And the whole Boston ordeal was her trying to claim what was hers by birthright. Isabel was the High Priestess of Boston in her time.”

“Wait.” Miles picked at the label on his bottle. “If Isabel was High Priestess, isn’t their current leader a descendant?”

“No,” Ash said around a mouthful of crackers before she swallowed. “Their leadership changed families around three hundred years ago. I couldn’t find the reason in my research, but her descendants haven’t been in charge for centuries.”

Mayhem dropped the empty chocolate chip bag on the counter and wiped the corners of his mouth with his fingers.

“The trash can is over there.” Ash pointed, giving him the look, as if she could command him the way she did Chaos.

He ignored her. “Chrys is not Isabel’s descendant.”

Ash’s eye twitched, so I grabbed the bag and threw it away. “How do you know that? Chaos said it would take all three of you together to identify her bloodline.”

He took a beer from the fridge and drank a long, slow pull. “You forget I spent time inside her, melding with her power. I am certain she is not a descendant.”

“She could be.” I took a swig, the icy bubbles cooling me on their way down. “She’s so many generations removed, her blood was diluted with other families’ magic. Maybe you missed it.”

“I missed nothing but the chance to burn through her vessel and take her power as my own.” He arched a brow accusingly, as if I would ever allow that to happen on my watch.

“I believe him,” Chaos said. “When I was inside Ash, I recognized her bloodline as soon as she told me who she was.”

“Did Chrys tell you who she was?” I sat on a stool by Ash.

“She told me nothing.” He set his empty bottle on the counter.

“Recycle bin is blue.” Ash cleared her throat, but he ignored her again. “Most likely, she’s not a descendant, but we won’t rule it out entirely. How she found the amulet…how she knew it existed…doesn’t matter at this point. Something helped her gain all that power, and we need to find it.”

“Guys!” I slapped my hand on the counter, making Ash jump. “You both said Chrys helped you grow your power. Did she use an artifact of any kind? Did you notice a different necklace or anything?”

Miles and Shade looked at each other, both scrunching their faces in concentration before Shade shook his head. “She didn’t give me anything while we practiced except the knowledge of how to tap into power I already had. She was always wearing different jewelry. I don’t pay attention to stuff like that.”

He lifted his hands in an I don’t know gesture. “I wasn’t even aware she was training Miles or Ginger. She kept us separated and swore each of us to secrecy.”

My shoulders slumped. “Miles?”

He shook his head. “If she had the amulet, she kept it hidden.”

“Well, frack.” My elbows thudded on the counter. “It wasn’t on her when she died. I checked her pockets too.”

“It could have fallen off in all the commotion,” Ash said.

“If it’s in the church basement, we’ll never find it.” I rested my chin on my fists. “That place looks like a tornado blew through it.”

“I didn’t sense its power while I resided inside her,” Mayhem said. “If it were on her person, I would have felt it, and if she knew where the amulet came from…that it belonged to my brother…she would have hidden it before she summoned me if she were wise.”

“So you don’t have to be wearing it for it to increase your magic.” Miles peeled off the label, closing his fist around it when Ash gave him the side eye.

“Perhaps not,” Chaos said. “Discord, Lucifer, and Hecate know its full power. We know only what he told us.”

“Hecate?” I straightened.

Mayhem nodded. “She and Lucifer forged it together, sharing their magic to create it.”

“Well, then. Let’s ask her where it is.” I rose and went to the herb cabinet to gather supplies for our ritual. If they had led with that bit of information, we wouldn’t have wasted the last half hour discussing theories. “Ash, get the candles and sage ready.”

“On it.” She opened the smudge drawer and gathered the dried herb, laying it on the counter before unrolling a length of twine.

Shade joined us in the kitchen. “Don’t tell me you throw away your smudge sticks every time you use them.”

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