“You could’ve grabbed it before we came up,” she grumbled as she headed to the library.
“Yeah, well…” I dumped the ingredients for the sealing spell into the bowl. This whole ordeal was a giant shit show. I’d summoned a friggin’ demon, for Hecate’s sake, and there was a good chance Cinder…our former acting High Priestess…had summoned one too. Salem was turning into total chaos with all these tears in the veil…that the Holland witches were apparently responsible for, and Shade just had to one-up me every chance he got.
Oh, and now the asshat was in the process of turning Miles against me. And with Miles would go Ginger too. She was super nice to me now, but she and Miles were dating, so…
“Whoa,” Ember said as she froze in the kitchen entrance. “What’s gotten into you? It looks like a tornado tore through the place.”
“What?” I snapped before glancing around the room. Holy mother of magic. Loose herbs littered the countertop, and my orderly line of bottles was now scattered across the room. Some lay on the floor while others rolled across the opposite counter. A box of baking soda had fallen open on the tile, and footprints—my footprints—tracked from the pantry to the sink to the place I currently stood.
“What the hell?” Ground sage coated my hands, so I paced to the sink and rinsed it off. I didn’t remember doing any of this. That could only mean one thing… “Chaos?”
A full three seconds passed before he answered. “Yes.”
“Yes? That’s all you have to say?” I picked up the strewn bottles and lined them up again before getting a dustpan after the rest of the mess. Ember returned to her stool and laid the journal in front of her.
“I’m trying not to take over, but our souls are melding. You’re the epitome of order. That’s the only reason you’ve been able to resist my nature for so long.”
“For so long? A day and a half is long?”
Ember pinned me with a steely gaze. “What’s going on? Did Chaos make you do this?”
“You need to tell her.”
“The hell I do.” I scrubbed the counter with a disinfecting wipe.
“Stop!” Ember slapped her hand on top of mine, stilling me. “I want to help get this demon out of your head, but I need to know what’s going on. I’m only hearing one side of your dialogue, so you need to explain it to me.”
I sucked in a deep breath and tried to slide my hand out from under hers. She tightened her grip. “It’s not important. Let’s just read the journal and see if Cinder mentioned anything about finding a skull.”
“It is important. I have never seen you make a mess in your entire life. Even as a toddler, you were organizing your toys more than playing with them.”
“Tell her.”
“Okay. Fine.” I pulled my hand again, but she didn’t let go. Cocking my head, I gave her a hard look, and she finally released me. “You’ve got so much shit on your plate right now; I didn’t want to worry you.”
She folded her hands on top of the journal. “Worry me, Ash. Please.”
“It’s…” I drummed my nails on the counter twice. “Chaos can’t stay in my head forever.”
“Obviously.”
“His consciousness is kinda melding with mine, and if I don’t send him packing soon, he’ll sorta take over.” I shrugged and returned to my cleaning.
Her mouth formed a straight line. “Say that again without the qualifiers.”
I huffed. “His consciousness is melding with mine, and if I don’t get him out soon, he’ll take over.”
She leaned on her forearms. “This is serious, Ash.”
“I know it is. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you.” I dumped the contents of the mixing bowl into the trash. Who knew what I’d thrown in there during my chaotic blackout?
“How long do you have?”
“I don’t know. Chaos?”
“With your immense power, no more than two weeks.”
I looked at Ember. “Two weeks, tops. Read the journal while I restock the kit. It’s our best bet for fixing all this.”
My sister scanned the pages while I made another batch of sealing potion. Thankfully, Chaos stayed quiet and didn’t turn me into Hurricane Ash again. Ember gasped a few times, and I tried to ignore the growing expression of alarm widening her eyes as she absorbed whatever Cinder had written.
She swallowed audibly and looked up from the pages. “Holy Hecate. The curse, Ash. You didn’t break the curse by surviving. You are the curse.”
CHAPTER TEN
The blood in my head plummeted to my feet. I held onto the counter and slowly made my way around to Ember. “What do you mean, I am the curse? What does it say?”
“She knew you would find it. Cinder knew you’d detect the spell.”
I clenched my teeth. “What does it say?”
She let out a slow breath and opened the journal to the first page. “‘Dear Ash. If you’re reading this, I never made it back.’” She pushed the book toward me. “Do you want to read it?”
I shook my head and sank onto the stool next to her, a sense of dread tightening my stomach, making me feel like I’d swallowed a brick.
Ember nodded and continued reading aloud. “‘I know you planned to organize the library in Dad’s absence, so I hid your favorite sigil book next to this journal in hopes that you’d find it should I go missing too. I really did leave in search of our parents. I didn’t lie about that, but there are other things you need to know. You and Ember.’ Hold on. I need a drink. Want one?”
I swallowed the dryness from my mouth. “Sure.”
