Page 2 of Chaos Carnival

Addie backing away. Her hands raised in defense. Ivan's laughter echoing off our apartment walls.

“She's going into shock,” Stone's voice cut through the fog.

My legs gave out, but I caught myself on the counter. The cool surface anchored me back to reality for a split second, long enough to realize what was happening.

Addie. She was home alone.

My body moved before my brain could catch up. I shoved past Lux, knocking over a display of crystals. The bell above the shop door rang as I burst onto the street, the cold night air hitting my face like a slap. Neon signs from nearby businesses buzzed and flickered, each pulse of light syncopated with my racing heartbeat as I sprinted toward our apartment six blocks away.

Behind me, voices called my name through the gloom.

I didn't stop. Couldn't stop.

Every cell in my body shrieked to move faster.

My lungs burned as I charged past the few startled pedestrians still out at this hour. Streetlights blurred into streaks of gold as I ran.

The visions kept coming, each one worse than the last. Addie's face contorted in pain. Ivan's eyes glowing with malicious glee. The walls of our home crackling with brutal energy.

I pushed on, beyond my limits.

My muscles screamed in protest as my feet pounded against concrete, each stride sending shockwaves through my legs. But I couldn't slow down. The protection charm I'd crafted for Addie years ago wasn't enough anymore. Not against what Ivan had become.

The world blurred past in streaks of neon and streetlight. My chest burned. Sweat trickled down my spine despite the autumn night air. I'd kept her safe, hidden her from him for so long, but now—

A hand caught my arm, yanking me to a stop.

As I spun around, my vision spiraled and darkened. Ivan's cruel smile superimposed over everything else. Addie's terrified face flashed through my mind again, her scream echoing in my ears.

“Get away from her!” My fist connected with flesh and bone. A grunt of pain followed the satisfying crunch, but it wasn't Ivan's voice.

The present moment snapped back into focus for a split second, reality crashing back like a bucket of ice water. Maverick stood before me, blood trickling from his nose and staining his full lips crimson, gleaming black in the dim light. His eyes weren't filled with malice, but concern for me and what I was feeling. Those familiar dark depths watched me with the kind of warmth that Ivan had never shown in all the years I’d known him. Guilt carved through my gut as I realized what I'd done in my panicked haze. I’d hurt him.

But then another vision slammed into me. Addie backing away from Ivan, her protection charm flickering weakly against his power, casting dying amber light across her face.

“Addie!” I lunged forward, trying to reach her.

Maverick embraced me tightly, pinning my arms down. My muscles flared, ready to strike, but before I could unleash, we dissolved into darkness.

Wind howled in my ears and my stomach lurched as reality bent and contorted around us, the night itself seeming to swallow us whole.

But where was—

“Addie?” My voice cracked.

Maverick and I stood outside my apartment complex, my heart thundering against my ribs.

It was wrong. Everything was wrong.

The door was nothing but shards, splintered wood and twisted metal scattered across the hallway like confetti from hell. Obliterated. Darkness spilled out bleaker than ice, an unnatural void that seemed to swallow what little light remained in the corridor.

The cavity of the apartment was spookily quiet. Addie always had the television on. Always. But silence bore down on my eardrums, the scent of ozone and burnt coffee drifting through the doorway.

I stepped through the splinters, my heart hammering.

Magazines scorched and scattered across the floor and chunks of Addie's favorite mug crunched under my boots. The living room looked like a war zone. A table lay in pieces.

My hands shook as I picked up a purple throw pillow, now slashed open, stuffing spilling from its wound. The protection charm I'd sewn inside gone.

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