Page 62 of Mastering Mayhem

“Go home,” Chaos said to Gray. He held Ash’s hand, their intention apparently to make each witch leave, one by one, as long as we held them in peace.

“Leave this place,” he said to Wendy.

She held up her hands in surrender and backed away. “I just wanted to see Miles. Is he still alive? He hasn’t sounded like himself in his texts.”

“He’s fine,” Ash said.

“Please hand over the amulet.” Ignacus held a gangly hand toward Adrian. “I do not wish to fight.”

Sweat beaded on my forehead even though it was only fifty degrees out. I could admit the tattoo had made it a helluva lot easier to pull this off, but here we were, pulling it off anyway.

Adrian scoffed. Then he laughed. “Did you think your mind magic would work on me? I’m unstoppable now.” He created a wind funnel around a soldier, lifting the beastie from the ground and cracking the exoskeleton as he drew the air from the fae’s lungs.

I slipped a dagger from my thigh holster. As much as I would have loved to watch him implode every fae here, we needed that amulet. Now.

I lifted my arm, ready to throw the blade, when the griffin’s pained bellow registered in my psyche. “She’s about to lay her eggs. You have to open a rift and send her home.”

“I am a bit busy, as are you.”

I strained, goosebumps rising on my skin as I flushed first hot and then cold. “I can’t do this much longer anyway. Go help her.”

“If I release them, you will have to fight.”

“Fighting is what I do best.”

He looked at me, his eyes searching mine before he nodded once and tugged from my grasp. I sucked in a breath as he turned and strode into the mausoleum. I hurled my dagger at Adrian. The blade sank into his shoulder.

He yanked it out, losing his grip on the semi-crushed fae. The fly man thudded on the ground, and a witch in a ski mask jabbed a knife beneath an armored plate, piercing his heart. She shot to her feet, brushing her hands on her pants before scurrying behind the mausoleum. If she was smart, she’d keep going and not come back.

“It’s done.” Chaos dropped Ash’s hand and stepped away from her. “He has opened the rift.”

Good. At least the poor griffin, who’d wanted no part in any of this, could go home and raise her babies in peace.

“I feel another forming,” Chaos said. “We must end this before more creatures descend upon us. They’re attracted to our power.”

“Let them come.” Adrian draped the amulet around his neck. “No one can stop me.”

The four remaining soldiers encircled Adrian, but he created a wind tunnel around himself, blocking them. What was left of his witch posse charged us, but Ash and I created another fire circle, encompassing us and the fae.

The soldiers took to the air, divebombing Adrian, but he pushed them away with gusts of wind, his power growing stronger by the minute, his laugh more maniacal, his eyes more crazed. His funnel tightened, lifting him from the ground before spreading outward, the spiral creating a suction that pulled in leaves, dirt, and broken branches, creating a bramble around him.

We had to stop him before he sucked the entire cemetery—and everyone in it—into his storm.

“How is he so strong so fast?” I shielded my eyes and inched toward him while Chaos kept the fire circle blazing.

“It’s the biggest piece of the amulet.” Ash’s hair whipped back as she leaned into the wind, pushing toward Adrian. His funnel shifted, the wind changing direction in an instant. Ash’s hair flew into her face, her already forward momentum adding to the drag and making her stumble to her hands and knees.

“He’s also an elemental,” Chaos said. “The more powerful the being, the more efficiently the amulet amplifies their power.”

“And the crazier it makes them.” I leaned back, digging my boots into the dirt as Adrian’s funnel tried to pull me into it.

My chest squeezed, the griffin’s goodbye echoing in my soul. I tried to send her a peaceful sentiment in return, but my foot snagged on an exposed root. I careened forward, landing on my stomach a yard from the bottom of the tornado.

Chaos hauled Ash up by the arm. A fae soldier dive-bombed them. I army-crawled toward the wind funnel, scrambling to my feet beneath it and latching onto Adrian’s ankle.

Holy Hecate on a unicycle.

Even through his clothes, the power from the amulet surged through my body, setting my nerves ablaze. He kicked, smacking the side of my head before I grabbed his other leg and hauled myself up. I clutched one hip, then the other, and tried not to think about the fact that my face pressed into his crotch.

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