Page 13 of Mastering Mayhem

She crossed her arms, shifting her weight to one leg and jutting out her right hip. “A: You didn’t allow anything. George…or Donal, or whatever the hell he called himself, was a tricky little wart of a man. And B: What does steak have to do with that?”

“We all need to replenish our strength if we’re to retrieve the amulet and save the realm…you and Shade especially.”

She opened her mouth to argue further but closed it instead, blowing a hard breath through her nose before her demeanor shifted. “I suppose I could use some protein. Miles, have you found anything about the auction house on the witchy web?”

I had been so engrossed in watching Ember’s fiery protest, I didn’t notice Miles setting up his computer at a table behind the sofa. Shade sat next to him, his gaze glued to the screen as Miles’s fingers flew across the keys. How he typed so quickly, I couldn’t fathom. I’d seen the keyboard on both the computer and a phone, and the letters were arranged in a nonsensical order.

Miles’s mouth tightened, his eyes darting back and forth as he read the screen. Shade swiped a hand down his face and leaned back in his chair while Chaos and Ash sank onto yet another sofa adjacent to the empty one.

Ember, my feisty little witch, could not sit still. She shifted her weight from side to side four times before assuming her normal pacing. “What is it? I don’t like the way your faces look.”

Miles inhaled deeply and raked a hand through his hair. “The auction tonight is for magical artifacts. It’ll be swarming with witches.”

“Wh…what?” Her expression was incredulous. “The site we looked at yesterday didn’t mention anything about magic.”

He hit a few more keys. “That was the public-facing website. Most of the time, their auctions are mundane. I had no idea…”

“How, then, did Boyd gain entry?” I leaned forward, my body feeling as antsy as Ember looked.

Miles rubbed his forehead. “When I created his fake online persona, I mentioned he had an interest in the occult. I guess that was enough. Unless…”

He slid his finger across the trackpad and typed something. “It’s possible whoever set this up used a spell to make today’s auction invisible to the mundane. Everyone there might be magical.”

“Why did the site appear to be mundane when you registered?” I asked.

Miles shrugged. “A failsafe? Maybe the person running it didn’t trust the spellcaster, so they made it look mundane just in case a human saw it. Who knows?”

“I better get started on the potions.” Ash rose and carried her bag to a countertop on the far wall. Above it, a glass-door cabinet held multiple bottles of liquor, and crystal chalices occupied a shelf to the right.

“It’s okay.” Ember paced faster. “This is okay. It could be a good thing. Witches, beasties, demons, I can handle. This is a good thing.”

“How so?” I tried to keep a neutral expression, but my brows crept upward and my lips pulled into a smile of their own volition. I adored watching the gears turn in her mind.

“It’s good because…” Before she could finish, a buzzer sounded from the hall and a man’s voice called through an intercom.

“Room service.”

5

EMBER

Ash pressed a button on the wall, unlocking the elevator door, and an attendant pushed in a linen-draped cart with six plates covered in silver domes.

“Can I get you anything else?” He clasped his gloved hands in front of his chest.

“Shit. A tip,” I said under my breath. “He wants a tip.” And I’d spent every dollar I hadandmaxed out my credit card. If we made it out of this alive, I had no idea how I’d recover. Maybe I could sell feet pictures on one of those fetish apps. I cringed at the thought.

“I’ve got it.” Shade rose and handed the man a folded bill. “Thanks.”

“Thank you, sir.” The man bowed and returned to the elevator.

Miles closed his laptop and set it on the counter before joining the rest of us at the table. Ash passed out the plates, and the moment I took the lid off mine, the savory scents of seared beef and black peppercorn wafted to my senses. My stomach growled on cue.

The steak was so tender, it practically melted on my tongue, and the buttery green beans with rosemary roasted potatoes tasted like heaven. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I finished my plate and gorged myself on three dinner rolls.

When we finished, Ash returned our plates to the cart and rolled it out of the room. “What’s the new plan?” she asked as she returned. “We can’t let another witch get their hands on the amulet. They might know how to use it.”

I leaned back in my chair and tapped a finger against my lips. “I’m not sure we need a new one.”

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