Triumph of Chaos (Red Magic) (13 page)

Dusk had given way to true darkness, and when I reached the patio, everyone was sitting around the lit fire pit. Ben was reclining casually in a folding chair, but Brad was standing behind him, looking profoundly uncomfortable.

Dr. Farren glanced up as I came around the corner. “Good. We’re all here.”

I noticed that my parents had joined the circle at the fire this time, and my heart soared. I grinned at Mom, and then I looked around at the group. “I have some news to share with you.”

Everyone stared at me expectantly, and I swallowed, remembering that I hadn’t told them about my confrontation with my old patron.
Bad news first.
“Well, two things, actually. Aphrodite is on the side of the crazies.” Lorna gasped at my admission, and Izzy shook her head sadly. I decided not to mention Aphrodite’s threat; it didn’t seem the right time for that, especially with two Nons sitting around the circle with us. “But the second thing is good news,” I hurried to add. “Persephone told me that the third Red hasn’t chosen sides yet.”

Ben cleared his throat. “Could you tell us what side you guys are on?”

Justin glared at him. “We’re the good guys. We want to keep the world from ending.”

I ignored him and spoke directly to Ben. “Some of the gods have decided that they want a redo: the modern world doesn’t give them enough attention, so they’re looking for a way to end things and start over.”

Ben looked pale under his tan, but he nodded. “Okay. And you said Pele is on the crazy side?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure where she stands on this, but she’s certainly not a big fan of me. I assume she’s working with them.”

“That doesn’t sound like her,” Brad muttered.

Dr. Farren leaned forward. “Regardless of who is working to end the world, we are working to preserve things.” She looked at me pointedly. “How does the other Red matter?”

I stared at her openmouthed. It was Izzy who finally answered.

“If we could convince her to help us, we’d be even stronger. Working together is the only way to end this, right?” Everyone nodded, although I noticed that my dad barely moved his head. Izzy continued. “Then it makes sense that we should work with another Red if possible.”

“Did you forget what happened the last time two Reds teamed up?” Dad spoke quietly, but his words still stung.

Struggling to get a grip on my emotions, I answered, “I wouldn’t be the one to go look for the other Red. It’s too dangerous.” I stared into the flames, carefully avoiding eye contact with the rest of the circle.

Dr. Farren’s voice was clear and strong. “I volunteer. I can’t do much here without the support of my patron.”

“I’ll go with you.” Justin flashed a smile. “Two Whites should be able to withstand anything this Red can dish out.”

I looked at Justin, surprised. He didn’t meet my eyes.

Izzy smiled in the firelight, ignoring my distress. “All in favor?”

Lorna raised her hand, followed by my parents. Everyone looked expectantly at me.

I shook myself and looked away from Justin. “Well, duh, of course I’m in favor of finding her. She’s somewhere in India.”

Dr. Farren nodded. “I still have family there. That might help us get started.”

“Um,” my mom began hesitantly, “if you two are going, what does that mean for this group?” She gestured around the fire. “I mean, are you still planning to work as a Coven?”

There was a pause, and then I shook my head, remembering Persephone’s words. “I don’t think that will work for us. Sharing power like that might make us stronger, but we’ve seen that it can also make us vulnerable.” Lorna whispered something and nodded her head vigorously. “But we’re all committed to standing against the destruction of the world.”

My dad stood up. “In that case, count me in. I promise to support each of you as far as I can, and I promise not to do anything that may harm the world.”

Mom nodded, holding his hand. “We both promise.”

Ben cleared his throat. “I think,” he said with a quick glance at Brad, “that we’d like to help, if we can.”

Izzy smiled. “We’ll start teaching you magic right away.”

Ben nodded, but Brad looked sick. “I still don’t think Pele is part of the problem.”

I was about to say something truly snarky, but Dr. Farren cut me off. “Then maybe it would be a good idea for you to contact her.”

Brad’s eyes widened. “I can do that?”

We all nodded.

“How?”

“Do you have something from Hawaii?” Lorna asked.

The twins nodded, but it was Ben who answered. “We always travel with a bag of sand. Mom’s idea. She says that way we’ll never be parted from our home.”

Justin rolled his eyes. “That must be fun to explain to airport security.”

Brad snorted self-consciously. “There was that one time—”

Dr. Farren interrupted. “The two of you should try to contact Pele and find out what she wants. However, it might be best not to mention all of this.” She gestured around the circle.

“Or me,” I added under my breath.

Brad heard me, and he nodded. “How do we contact her?”

For a minute, everyone was silent. Then we all began offering ideas at once.

“I speak to Isis in graveyards,” Izzy said.

Lorna spoke over her. “Nepthys comes in my dreams.”

“Libraries and museums are good for me,” Dr. Farren said.

“Baldur shows up if I ask him to. I mean, I just ask the air, and he’s there.”

Mom, Dad, and I remained silent, and Ben turned to us. “What about you?”

I shrugged. “The gods usually just show up: I haven’t had much luck summoning them.” I thought about my broken mirror from Aphrodite and felt a stab of guilt. “Well, sometimes I can,” I amended lamely.

Ben nodded. My parents remained silent, but he didn’t press them. “I’m sure Brad and I can think of something. We’re pretty close to Ma Pele, even if we haven’t talked to her the way y’all have talked to your gods.”

“We’ll figure out what side she’s on before we do anything else.”

Justin rose. “And Dr. Farren and I will leave for India soon.”

She nodded. “Immediately. As soon as I can contact my family and make arrangements.”

Immediately?
My heart turned over, but I forced a smile. Mom squeezed my hand. “I’m glad you’re staying home this time, sweetie,” she whispered in my ear. I didn’t answer her. How could I explain the tangled mess of emotions I’d been feeling ever since Justin volunteered to go?

Izzy and Lorna chanted an incantation, and the fire extinguished in a pillar of white smoke. As the circle broke apart and everyone moved away, I felt the strangest sense of abandonment, as if we’d never be all together again. I shook myself, trying to stop thinking so negatively, but something still felt off.

That night, I had bizarre dreams. Justin and I were fighting, and then we started making out. Things were really getting steamy, but when I opened my eyes in the dream, I was kissing Loki. “You can’t escape me now,” he whispered, but his voice sounded exactly like Marcus’s.

I fought against him, and the god turned into a column of flame. I couldn’t pull my hands away, and I watched in horror as my skin started to smoke.

“This is what comes from fighting chaos. You must embrace your nature. Destruction is all you were made for!” Loki’s voice merged with Marcus’s and Justin’s, and all three of their voices swirled around, taunting me while I lay there burning.

I woke up screaming and sopping wet.

“You were on fire!” Izzy’s voice was shaky, and it took me a minute to realize I wasn’t dreaming anymore.

Blue light radiated from her body, and when I looked down at myself, I was still glowing faintly. “Did you douse me with water?” I asked her, incredulous.

She nodded, her eyes wild. “You started screaming, and when I woke up, the room was full of smoke.”

I drew a deep, shuddering breath. “Thank you.” Not wanting to risk using magic, I got out of bed and began pulling off the soaked sheets. “I was having a nightmare.”

Izzy helped me strip the bed; the sheets made a soggy puddle on the floor. “So, what, nightmares make you spontaneously combust?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know what happened. I was dreaming about Loki. He was the fire in my dream.”

She looked shaken. “Does that mean he attacked you? But I thought the gods couldn’t attack humans directly.”

“They can’t.”

We looked at each other then, realization dawning on us both at the same moment. Izzy’s eyes flashed. “Someone helped him get into your head.”

“Who would do that?”

Izzy spoke with certainty. “Rochelle.”

She was the obvious choice, but I shook my head. “She can’t do anything out of her territory.” I didn’t know if that were true or not. I’d used Red magic unintentionally in Scotland, but once Marcus and I met, it was almost as if I needed his permission to use my powers. I hoped that meant that Rochelle couldn’t reach me here.

Izzy frowned. “But then who was it?”

I remembered Marcus’s voice in my dream. “Izzy,” I began cautiously, “do you believe in ghosts?”

Izzy sat down on her bed. “What are you talking about?”

“You might think I’m crazy, but I keep hearing Marcus’s voice.”

She stared at me. “You think Marcus is haunting you?”

I shook my head. “Not haunting, exactly. Hanging around to get revenge is more like it.”

“On who?”

“Loki.” With a shuddering sigh, I finally told her everything about Marcus’s death. She listened, her face pale, and then she shook her head in disbelief.

“But why would Marcus let Loki use him to hurt you? That doesn’t make sense.”

I didn’t want to tell her the details of the dream; I still hadn’t told her that I’d kissed her brother twice before he died. Nervous, I cleared my throat. “Marcus was in my dream just now, too. What if as a ghost he can’t control his actions, but Loki can still use him?”

Izzy frowned and closed her eyes. “That still doesn’t sound right.”

I hesitated. “So, um, he hasn’t contacted you?”

She shook her head, her eyes still closed. “No. Which is one of the reasons I don’t think Marcus is actually haunting you.”

“But I keep hearing his voice!”

Her eyes flew open and she glared at me. “Did you ever think, Darlena, that maybe Red magic has scrambled your brain a bit?”

I stared at her, dumfounded. Instantly, she dropped her gaze.

“I’m sorry. I just refuse to believe that he’s a ghost.”

“So the automatic assumption is that I’m crazy? Thanks a lot.”

Izzy stood up and gathered the wet bedclothes from the floor. “I’ll put these in the laundry room. Why don’t you take a shower or something and change?” She didn’t meet my eyes as she left the room.

Annoyed, I changed out of my wet pajamas into a T-shirt and a pair of yoga pants. I didn’t really want to stick around and talk to Izzy if she was going to accuse me of being crazy, so I pried the plywood off the window and slipped down the tree like I had so many times before. The night air was sticky and hot, and clouds obscured the sky.

I trudged along the road in the darkness, sifting through the pieces of my dream. Had it really been Marcus? Whether he was haunting me or not, there was truth to Loki’s words: if I kept denying my nature, it would destroy me. Not knowing what else to do, I kept walking, frustrated.

For months, I’d felt the Red energy building up in me like a pressure cooker waiting to burst. It tingled beneath my skin, and without conscious effort, I opened myself up to it. It was like slow dancing across a bed of coals; my body twinged in pain, but there was something delicious about the sensation, too. My fingers twitched in anticipation, and I felt the swirl of chaos threaten to overwhelm me. Sparks glowed on my arms, dancing over my skin, and I knew that if any Nons saw me, they’d think I was a human firecracker.

I don’t know how long I stood there consumed with magic. But at some point, a twig snapped behind me, sounding like a gunshot, and I whirled around, ready to fight. That was when I realized where I was.

I’d walked all the way from my house to Rochelle’s without even knowing it. The windows of her house were dark, and I realized with a start that I’d never thought about how Rochelle’s parents were handling everything that had happened. Did they think their daughter had disappeared? Did they even remember her? Rochelle’s parents were Nons, and as far as I knew, they were still totally oblivious to the things Rochelle was capable of.

The house loomed behind me like something from a scary story, but that wasn’t what pushed me over the edge. In the darkness, I thought I could see Rochelle leaning casually against the mailbox, smirking at me. She lifted a hand to wave or attack, and I snapped.

Without thinking, I thrust the magic I’d been holding forward in a defensive move. Flames shot out of my hands, hitting the house with an impact that shook the ground. As soon as I released the magic, my foggy head cleared, and I realized how stupid I’d been. Rochelle wasn’t there anymore.

She’d never been here
, I realized, as the violent orange flames I’d conjured consumed the large white house. The heat from the fire was intense, as if I’d stuck my head in the oven after Mom baked. My eyes watered, and my ears roared. The fire wasn’t soft or gentle; it was a raging, violent monster. I stood rooted to the spot as Rochelle’s house burned. For a moment, I wondered if her parents had been inside.
Oh, gods, had I killed them?
I felt sick, but my thoughts and my body were disconnected. I didn’t even try to control the blaze; I just watched.
Maybe Izzy’s right,
I thought dispassionately.
Maybe I have gone crazy.
Suddenly afraid of myself, I looked up and could have sworn I saw Loki’s face in the smoke, but I couldn’t be sure.

A few blocks away, a siren sounded, followed by another, and as they came closer, I did the only thing I could think of.

I turned and ran.