Page 13 of Torn Ivy
“Something bigger is going on here,” I mutter with a frown. “Everything from the last few weeks is leading up to something more.”
“What do you mean?” Tate asks.
“I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet. I get the feeling that this is one giant game of Tetris that Death is playing. We just need to figure out how to start moving the pieces around ourselves.”
“No sweat,” Tate mutters. “Death Tetris, here we come.”
5
IVY
I stand in the cavern,pink energy still crackling around me as I try to process everything I’ve just learned. My whole life has been a lie, orchestrated by forces I didn’t even know existed, and now they want me to become some kind of chaotic entity to fight Death.
Part of me wants to tell them all to go fuck themselves. To run as far and fast as I can from this insanity. But another part, a growing part, feels a strange sense of rightness. Like pieces of a puzzle I didn’t know I was solving are finally falling into place.
“Okay,” I say finally, looking at the faces around me. Josh, Vex, Cathy, Ramsey. People I thought I knew. People who have lied to me. But also, people who might be my only chance at saving my guys and stopping Death. “What’s the next step?”
Josh, his expression way too serious, says, “Now that your powers have awakened, we need to train you to use them. Chaos magick is unpredictable and dangerous. If you can’t control it, it will consume you.”
“Lovely,” I mutter. “And how exactly does one train to use unpredictable magick?”
Vex grins, and it’s not a comforting sight. “By embracing the chaos, of course.”
“You sure I can’t run, instead?” I ask, but it’s a non-starter. If I run, my guys die. That is not happening.
“You could,” Vex says, almost reluctantly, like he doesn’t want to give away a big secret. “I know of maybe one place you could go where he wouldn’t find you.”
“And that would be?” I ask, curious despite myself.
“An Academy a few hundred miles from here called MistHallow. Much like this one, but way higher up on the food chain.”
“Hmm.” I ponder, but then shake my head. I’m not running. Not now. If I fail, then I can, but Poison doesn’t run from fights. Ivy might on occasion, but Poison is a badass, and I need her right now.
So, I shift. Pink bobbed hair, baby blue eyes. Killer body.
And in doing so, the magickal clothes that Vex gave me disappear, leaving me naked in a roomful of creatures who want me to take on Death and win.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
It about sums up my day.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I mutter, crossing my legs and covering up my tits in a futile attempt at modesty. “Anyone got some clothes?”
Josh snickers while Vex leers at me. Cathy rolls her eyes and snaps her fingers, conjuring a simple black outfit of leggings, a tank top, and boots.
“Thanks,” I say grudgingly, quickly pulling on the clothes.
“Now then,” Cathy says briskly, “let’s get started with your training.”
“What? Right now?” I ask incredulously. “Don’t I get a moment to, I don’t know, process all this bullshit you’ve just dumped on me?”
“Time is a luxury we don’t have,” Ramsey says, his face still bloody from where I punched him.Good. “If you go back out there, you have this ultimatum hanging over your head.”
He’s right, but maybe that’s not the worst thing. Maybe I can buy some time.
“Actually,” I say slowly, “maybe going back out there is exactly what I need to do.”
Josh frowns. “What are you thinking?”
