Page 14 of Torn Ivy
“Death gave me a choice: kill my guys, or he takes my soul, right? Well, what if I pretend to go along with it? Buy us some time while I figure out how to use these new powers?”
Vex shakes his head. “It’s too risky. If Death realises you’re stalling?—”
“He’ll what? Kill me? Take my soul? That’s what he’s planning anyway,” I argue. “At least this way, I have a chance to save the guys and learn to control this chaos magick bullshit.”
Cathy looks thoughtful. “It could work. If you’re convincing enough.”
“I’m a damn good liar when I need to be,” I say, gesturing to my shifted persona.
Ramsey nods. “She has a point. It might be our best shot at catching Death off guard.”
“Okay,” Josh says after a moment. “But you can’t go in blind. We need to give you at least some basic training before you face Death again.”
I nod, relieved they’re not fighting me on this. “Fine. Give me the basics.”
“It’s not as simple as that. Chaos magick is… chaotic. By its very nature, it shouldn’t exist,” Cathy says.
“Are you sayingIshouldn’t exist?” I growl.
“Yes,” she states. “When your soul rejected Death’s calling, you became something that shouldn’t exist. Deal with thathowever you want, but do it quickly. The longer your magick is left to run wild, the more it will tear you in half.”
“Do you mean that literally?”
She purses her lips but doesn’t reply.
“Okay, then,” I say, taking a deep breath. “Let’s do this. Teach me how to control this chaos magick before it tears me apart.”
Josh nods, his expression serious. “The first thing you need to understand is that chaos magick doesn’t follow the rules of normal magick. It’s unpredictable and wild. You can’t control it so much as guide it.”
“How?”
“By embracing the chaos,” Vex says, stepping forward. “You need to let go of your preconceptions about how magick should work. Forget everything you think you know.”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “That shouldn’t be too hard, considering I didn’t know I had active magick until about ten minutes ago.”
“Fair point,” he concedes. “But you’ve been around magick users. You have ideas about how it should work. Forget all of that.”
“Okay,” I say slowly. “So what do I do instead?”
“Feel the energy inside you,” Cathy instructs. “That pink crackling power. Don’t try to control it. Just let it flow through you.”
I close my eyes, focusing on the strange energy I can feel buzzing beneath my skin. It’s wild, unpredictable, like lightning trapped in a bottle. Every instinct screams at me to contain it, to force it into submission, but I resist the urge. Instead, I try to relax, to let the power flow freely through me.
“Good,” Josh murmurs. “Now, think of something you want to happen. Don’t try to make it happen, just hold the intention in your mind.”
I think of my guys - Tate, Torin, and Bram. I want to find them, to know they’re safe. The energy inside me surges in response to my desire, crackling along my skin.
“Open your eyes,” Ramsey says softly.
I do, and gasp.
6
BRAM
“What the fuck?”I snap, staring at Ivy, or rather Poison, in disbelief. One moment we were in the Thornfield parking lot, the next we’re... wherever this is. Some kind of underground cavern filled with strange creatures and Poison crackling with pink energy.
Tate and Torin look equally as baffled next to me, shaking off the very unsettling ride we just came on.
