Well, wasn’t that freaking fantabulous? I tried to take a step back, but the command from my brain didn’t reach my legs. In fact, the idea didn’t even seem to register in my brain or anywhere else in my body.
“What the hell, Chaos? You said we had more time than this.”
“Obviously, I was wrong.” He made my voice say the words, and it was the freakiest thing I’d ever heard. Kinda like when you hear yourself on a recording, only way worse.
“Wrong about what?” Ember asked, but she didn’t wait for an answer. She stepped into the room and headed straight for the niche in the far right corner where sparkles clung to a shape like glitter on a drag queen.
“Tell her.” I tried again to control something on my body, but it was pointless. I couldn’t even make my pinkie finger twitch.
“There’s no skull here.” We walked into the room and stood behind her while she stooped to examine a wooden box hidden by shadows.
“How do you know?” She waved her hand over the top of the box, thankfully not touching it. “It’s sealed with magic. Maybe there’s a cloaking spell on it too. Do your thing, and let’s see.”
Chaos inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly like he was fighting to hold in a growl. “We’re wasting time here. We should move on to the next point of the star.”
Ember looked over her shoulder at us. “What’s gotten into you? Just do the spell so we can see. Skull or not, I want to know what’s inside.”
I started to recite the spell in my head, but Chaos cut me off and said it aloud himself. Nothing happened.
Ember narrowed her eyes. “Cast it for real.”
“I can’t use my magic unless I have control of my body. Give it back.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?” Ember asked.
“Why not?” I echoed her question. “I was able to give you control for short times.”
“And that is what sped up the possession process. If I release control, we will bond even faster.”
Ember blinked and tilted her head. “Is that what Chaos is saying?”
“Tell her.”
He didn’t.
Now it was my turn to growl. “She needs to know.”
She stood, a look of worry creasing her brow. “Ash?”
Chaos tightened our right hand into a fist. “This body doesn’t belong to Ash anymore.”
“The hell it doesn’t.” She drew her sword, and flames erupted on the blade. “Bring her back now, or I’ll…”
He crossed his…my…our arms. “Or you’ll what? Stab your sister? Behead her?” He stepped toward her, and her hands trembled, the fire on the blade rolling back into her.
“Tell her I’m still here. You’re scaring the bejeezus out of her.”
He gripped the hilt of her sword and drew it from her grasp. She let him have it. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she backed into the wall. “Ash,” she whispered.
“Dammit, Chaos, if you don’t tell her now, I’ll…”
He chuckled. “You’ll what?”
Friktity frak, he had a point. The demon was in complete control. Ember couldn’t vanquish him without killing me. I couldn’t control my body, so I was about as useful as mammaries on a man. Things just went from bad to the absolute worst they could be.
“Please tell her. I can’t stand to see her cry.”
He huffed, and the feeling in his bo…in my body—it was still mine, dammit, and I would regain control—went from bwahahaha I’m finally free to wait, what am I doing? “Ash is still alive for now.”
Ember snapped her head toward him. “What do you mean, for now?”
“I have control of her body, but her consciousness is fully functional. Soon, though, my power will build, and her human form won’t be able to hold me. She will die if we don’t find my skull soon.” He offered her the sword.
She yanked it from his grasp and held it at her side. “How soon?”
“A few hours. Maybe less, which is why we need to move on. My skull isn’t here. I would sense it.”
“It could be concealed.” She gestured to the box. “Isabel was a strong witch. You said so yourself.”
“You’ll have to convince her if you’re sure it’s not here. She’ll want to hack it open and release whatever’s inside.”
“Ash says you want to force it open.” He kneeled by the box.
“She knows me well.”
“Do you see this mark?” He pointed to a design carved into the wood. A series of crisscrossing lines and circles formed an intricate pattern about two inches wide.
“What about it?” She set her jaw, stubbornness obvious in her features.
“That is an adaptation of ancient Sanskrit combined with demonic sigils. It’s a warning to her descendants that this one is a trap meant to kill any who attempt to free us.”
Ember’s eyes narrowed. “What would happen if I opened it?”
“Tell her that her face would melt off like the Nazis in Indiana Jones.”
“Ash says your face would melt like something called a Jones Nazi.” He rose and faced her.
Her eyes turned from narrowed in mild skepticism to slits of suspicion. “Is that what she says?” She crossed her arms. “Or are you just saying that? How do I know your skull isn’t in there and you’re saying it isn’t, so you’ll get to take over Ash completely?”
“I want your sister to survive as much as you do.” He raised a hand. “You have my word.”
She blew out a hard breath. “The word of a demon doesn’t mean much.”
A spark of anger burned in our belly, the feeling both his and my own. “She doesn’t know you like I do.”
“You don’t know me like you think you do.”
Ember scoffed. “Then enlighten me, Mr. Prince of Hell. What’s stopping you from trying to kill us both?”
He made my nostrils flare. “I was talking to Ash, but I will answer you. She and I share a bond. As long as it is intact, I will do whatever it takes to keep her safe…including taking out anyone who stands in my way.”
“Jeez Louise. Don’t threaten her, man. Ember loves to fight.”
She tightened her grip on her sword, and flames licked down the blade. “And I suppose I’m in your way.”
He closed our eyes, frustration, irritation, annoyance, and every other similar emotion flooding our system. “We are on the same side.”
“No, we’re not.” She extinguished her sword and swung it at the box. Chaos caught her arm, keeping her from smashing it open, but the edge of the blade nicked the wood.
The magic surrounding the box pulsed orange before releasing a blast that knocked us on our butts. Chaos’s demonic energy must’ve shielded us because he jumped to our feet and shook off the electrifying sensation crawling across our skin like it was nothing.
Ember didn’t fare so well. She lay on her side, her eyes closed, her sword sticking into the dirt wall like a toothpick in a meatball.
Chaos grunted, the sound extremely strange coming from my body. “My skull isn’t here. We need to get to the next point.” He pulled the sword from the wall and scooped up my sister, carrying her as if she weighed no more than a ragdoll.
“Whoa. I’m not this strong.”
“I am.” He marched back through the corridor, following our path out of the mall and to the van. He put her in the back seat, and she groaned.
“What happened?” She rubbed her temples.
“You foolishly disobeyed me and tried to open the box. It fought back.” He climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“Whoa. You’ve been locked up since before electric lights. You can’t drive a car.”
“Your sister in is no condition to be behind the wheel. Your body has muscle memory. We’ll be fine.” He slammed on the gas pedal and peeled out of the parking lot. “Enter the coordinates for the next location.”
Ember sat up and handed him her phone. “My head feels like it’s going to split in two.”
“If I had allowed you to hit it with your full strength, it probably would have.”
Everyone was quiet on the half-hour drive to the next location, which gave me time to ponder why we even went to that mall in the first place. The reason was obvious. I didn’t inherit the power from my dad like we hoped.
“Tell her I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry for?”
“Nothing.” Ember scoffed. “I don’t trust you.”
Chaos flicked his gaze to the rearview mirror. “My question wasn’t directed at you.”
She leaned forward, resting her hands on the console. “Is Ash talking? What’s she saying?”
“It didn’t work. I took us to the wrong location. I don’t have Dad’s power.”
He relayed the message and added, “But you did know exactly where to look once we got there.”
Ember’s head bobbed in the mirror. “He’s right, Ash. Dad couldn’t locate things miles away, either. If it was in the vicinity, he could find anything, and that’s exactly what happened with you. Twice. I shouldn’t have pushed you to do something he couldn’t do.”
“Listen to your sister,” Chaos said. “She is correct.”
“And anyway…” Ember leaned back in the seat. “These locations are protected with wards. We tried scrying for them and came up with nothing. Even if the power did work at a distance, you probably wouldn’t have picked up on it.”
“I suppose.”
“She’s reluctant to accept the reasoning.” He made a sharp right, and the tires squealed.
“Careful.”
Ember buckled her seatbelt. “She’s always had self-esteem issues.”
“They’re unwarranted. Your sister is more powerful than she thinks.”
“Everyone knows that but her.” Ember’s face pinched. “We have to save her.”
“That’s the plan.” He hung a left, taking the corner more slowly this time.
“Fair warning,” my sister said. “If we don’t save her, and you take over, I’ll vanquish your ass right back to that dark prison. Then I’ll find your skull and pulverize it.”
Chaos chuckled. “I would expect nothing less.”