Page 30 of Mastering Mayhem

I swallowed the dryness from my mouth. Two sentences. That’s all it was. Two simple sentences that we had to infuse with so much power, our vim would dwindle to nothing when we were through.

And even then, the spell might not work.

No, I couldn’t think that way. I refused to manifest our demise with negativity. Ash needed me. Cinder needed me. Salem…hell, the world…needed me—us—to break the curse, mend the veil, and set things right again.

“Let’s do it.” I tightened my grip on Mayhem and rested my free hand against the circular door. Setting my intention, I said a silent prayer to the goddess and gathered my vim into the core of my being.Hecate, please don’t forsake us.

My power built, growing hotter, stronger inside me, and the energy in the room shifted with my magic. Pressure formed around us, squeezing and filling the room with buzzing electricity. Shade rested his hand against the door, and Mayhem opened to us.

Demonic energy surged through my veins, my entire body electrifying with pinpricks and dark magic. I reveled in it, rolling the sensation over and over in my mind, my soul. It no longer felt foreign inside me. Mayhem’s power felt as much a part of me as my own.

“Ready?” I asked.

Shade gasped before clearing his throat. “Yeah.”

“Lock engaged, hear my page. Open now; my passing you’ll allow,” we said in unison., and I swear I heard electricity crackling around us.

We repeated the spell a second time. Then a third. The buzzing increased, Mayhem’s low vibration mixing and melding with Shade’s and my high. I willed the magic outward through my palm, but the lock didn’t budge. I focused, listening for the gears turning in the door. Not even an infinitesimal sound indicated the spell was working.

Because it wasn’t working.

Not yet.

“Give us more,” I said, and Mayhem released another surge of magic. It crashed into my psyche, making me sway on my feet.

“Too much,” Shade ground out, but I couldn’t get enough.

“Come over here. I’ll filter it.” I reached for Shade, and he dropped my demon’s hand.

His breath came out in a rush, and he stumbled, catching himself on the door. “I can’t.”

“You can. Don’t give up.” I took his hand and tugged him to my side. “Touch the door.”

He did as I asked, and I sent a tiny amount of Mayhem into Shade. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” He raked in a breath. “I’m ready.”

Mayhem gave me more, no longer having to divide it between us, and I let the power trickle into Shade’s palm. We recited the incantation again, and the door groaned.

Adrenaline surged through me, spiraling around Mayhem’s magic, merging and intensifying the sensations as we spoke the words a second time.

Shade panted before heaving in a breath, his body trembling with the magical exertion. We recited the spell again, and my head spun. Darkness closed in, my vision tunneling, stars swimming in front of me.

I pushed out as much magic as I could, focusing my intent on the massive lock inside the door. Sharp pain sliced from my jaw to my temple. I strained. Shade wheezed. The door groaned.

“One more push,” I said as if we were giving birth to a ten-pound magical baby.

The lock clunked once. Twice. Six times.

Shade tugged from my grasp and slumped against the door. Mayhem pulled his magic back, leaving me empty, my vim depleted to nothingness. My tunneling vision went black.

11

EMBER

Sunlight streaming in through the window turned the backs of my eyelids red. I kept them closed, willing myself to slip back under, into the deep sleep the morning had dragged me out of. The pillow, so indulgent it had to be made of down, cradled my head as I snuggled into the softest sheets I’d ever felt.

Mayhem lay beside me, his arm draped across my stomach, the heat of his body adding to my blissful comfort. I opened my eyes, turning my head toward him and smiling at the sight of him sleeping peacefully.

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