Iridescent Chaos: (Enchanted Chaos, Book 3)

by Sorensen, Jessica

  “Because we were panicking,” I tell him, pacing in front of Sky. “We need to stay calm so we can think straight.”

  “I am calm,” he lies, his hand lowering to his side. “You’re the one that’s freaking out.”

  I don’t point out that I can tell he isn’t calm, that his anxiety is flowing down the link in sharp, zappy waves.

  “We need to figure out a way to move her without touching her.” I scan the room as if there’s some sort of solution hidden somewhere.

  All I see, though, is snow drifting from the cloudy ceiling, lightning zapping against the icy floor, a fire crackling in the corner of the room, and the wind is swirling fragments of the elements through the air.

  I frown at the sight. As much as I love this world, mostly because it kind of felt like it was created by Sky and me, it might be a good thing we’re leaving because I’m pretty certain this place is about to get swept away by the elements…

  An idea suddenly occurs to me, a risky one so I don’t immediately say it aloud. I’ve never been much of a risk taker, and my instincts tell me to figure out another, much safer, plan. But after a handful of seconds tick by and nothing else comes to me, I realize Easton was right when he said that riskiness might be our only option, as much as it goes against all of my instincts, especially the ones I have toward Sky.

  “You remember that one time we created that wall of ice that moved like a wave?” I say, turning to East.

  His brows briefly knit but then rise to his hairline as what I’m suggesting clicks.

  Then he snaps his fingers. “You know what? That might work.”

  I’m more apprehensive about it, though.

  “It’s risky. We’ll have to walk behind the wave and use our powers the entire way through the portal. And if we end up losing track of her or our powers, and the ice melts for even a second…” I gulp audibly.

  “Yeah, I can see your point…” He stares at the portal, deliberating. “We can do it, though,” he says, looking back at me with determination. “We’re strong enough—I know we are. Plus, we both care about Sky enough that we’ll make sure we won’t fuck this up.”

  Hearing him admit he cares about her makes my jaw tick. But I shove the irritation aside, knowing I have more important things to worry about right now than my jealousy issues.

  I take a few breaths, trying to collect myself. “Let’s do it then.” I lift both my hands in front of me and he steps forward and lines his palms with mine.

  I take another breath, then channel my power of ice while he works to unleash his power of water. As the elements leave our body and collide, they form a movable, flexible wave of ice that glistens against the flashes of the lightning and glow of the fire.

  Once we feel like we have a steady connection with the wave, we crouch down and shift it underneath Sky’s feet. She remains frozen, crouched down on the wave of ice as it slightly sways against the wind.

  “You ready for this?” I ask East as I prepare to guide the wave through the rainbowy portal.

  He nods, a bit of nervousness evident in his expression, an unnatural look for him, but he quickly collects himself. “Yep, let's do this.”

  Taking a deep breath, I sidestep and he moves in sync with me, along with the wave Sky is on. We continue to move together, stepping into the portal and rainbow light, and warmth surrounds us.

  “My powers already feel stronger,” East says as we enter the portal. “That world was definitely messing with them.”

  He seems relieved that we’re leaving, but I don’t share his feelings. I liked being in that world, although I understand that we needed to leave. I just hope that one day we can go back, but since we opened the portal there by accident, I’m not sure we’ll be able to.

  But on a positive note, East having more control over his powers alleviates some of my worry about us getting safely through this portal. And his powers seem to grow even more as we continue moving deeper into the rainbow light, step by step, carefully guiding the wave and Sky with us.

  The farther we get in without any mishaps, the more I start to believe that everything is going to work out perfectly, that we’re going to make it through the portal without any hiccups. I should’ve known better, though. Should’ve remembered that nothing ever works out perfectly.

  I get a reminder of that about halfway into the portal when tendrils of smoky darkness start to creep through the walls of the portal and mix with the rainbow-tinted light.

  “Is that darkness from Sky?” East says, scanning the portal. “Or is it…” He trails off as a tall figure emerges through the wall of the portal just a little ways behind us.

  Usually creatures can only enter from the entrance and exit of a portal unless they’re extremely powerful. Which means…

  My stomach drops as I realize who the figure could be. And my suspicions are confirmed as it turns toward us and the rainbow light casts across its shadowy face and evil eyes.

  “The god of darkness,” I utter, momentarily frozen in shock.

  His wispy hair moves like snakes, smoke rises from his skin, and his charred lips curl into a smirk. “You, little elemental enchanter, have something that belongs to me.” His cloudy eyes zero in on Sky.

  “Fost,” Easton hisses. “We need to move now.”

  I snap out of my trance and focus on guiding the wave forward, away from the god of darkness and toward the exit of the portal.

  “You think you can outrun me!” the god of darkness shouts, his voice reverberating against the walls and making the rainbow light dim. “How foolish you are. Do you not understand what I am? What I can do? How powerful I am?”

  “We’ve managed to get away from you before, so maybe you should be the one worrying about us.” Easton throws him a taunting smirk at him, even though I can tell he’s scared shitless.

  “Did you, though?” he questions, wisps of darkness reaching through the rainbow light toward us. “Because it looks like my element of darkness has taken over the elemental enchanter power source. And once I slip inside her, her and her power will be mine forever.”

  Anger bursts through me and my power of lightning briefly slips out, bolts of blue energy zapping from my skin, making the ice beneath Sky start to melt.

  “Get a hold of yourself!” Easton yells, snapping me back to reality.

  I drag my attention off the god of darkness and focus on getting Sky out of here. Deep down, though, I know this might not end well. That even if we reach the end of the portal without the god of darkness getting ahold of Sky, he could exit the portal with us if we don’t get it sealed quickly enough.

  That doesn’t mean I’m not going to try. I’m going to try with everything I have in me.

  Shoving everything else out of my mind, I center all of my focus onto moving the wave, trying to put some distance between the god of darkness and us. Strangely, he appears to be struggling to keep up with us, the distance between us growing instead of shrinking.

  “He’s weak for some reason,” Easton mumbles as he casts a glance behind us. “I wonder why.”

  I concentrate on the wave carrying Sky. “I don’t care why just as long as he stays weak long enough for us to get out of here and get the portal sealed.”

  “I want us to get out of here too, but I’d like to know why he’s so weak right now…” He trails off, his eyes widening in the direction behind us.

  Fearing the worst, I glance over my shoulder and spot a tendril of darkness snaking toward us. My instinct is to smack it away, but if I move my hands away from East’s the wave could melt, and Sky being in her unconscious state, will more than likely fall through the bottom of the portal.

  So instead, I lift my foot and give a lame ass attempt at kicking it, but fail. I look to Easton for help, but he just quickens his pace. I do the same, but the tendril chases after us, slithering and reaching for Sky. The tip of it brushes against her head and fear lashes through me. If it gets a hold of her, he could pull her back to him.

  T
aking a deep breath, I prepare to do something that will forever change me. “I’m going to grab Sky and make a run for it,” I tell East.

  “Don’t you fucking dare,” he bites out, shaking his head. “If you do, darkness will get you too.”

  “Maybe, but with how short of a distance we have left, I should be able to get her out of here before it takes me over completely.”

  “Fost,” he warns. “Don’t be a fucking idiot. We can get her out of here. Just keep moving.”

  Ignoring him, I start to pull my hands away from his, but then horror lashes through me as the tendril slips into the strands of Sky’s hair.

  “No!” I shout, starting to pull my hands away from East so I can grab her.

  But then the tendril lets out a hiss and withers back, as if it’s been burned.

  The god of darkness releases a bellowing scream. “Give me my queen or else you’ll be punished! She’s mine! She belongs to me!”

  “For some reason, I don’t think he can touch her,” East mumbles, glancing at me with his head angled to the side.

  I think he might be right. And while I’m not sure why, I don’t have time to mull it over.

  I pick up my pace, more than eager to get the hell out of this portal. East matches my long strides, seeming just as eager. We keep moving until we near the end of the portal. Before we exit, I flick one final glance over my shoulder at the god of darkness. He’s looming in the distance, watching us, his cloudy eyes storming with fury.

  “I will get my queen back,” he promises, smoke curling from his flesh. “She belongs to me. Always has. I’ll find you again and this time I won’t be alone.” With one parting look at Sky, he dives out of the side of the portal, taking his tendrils of darkness with him.

  His words confuse the hell out of me along with his decision to bail.

  “What the hell?” I mutter with a shake of my head.

  Easton shakes his head from side to side. “I have no damn idea.”

  My thoughts drift back to that day at the school when darkness tried to attack Sky, and we ended up opening the portal to Enchantment. I’d been so relieved that we managed to escape that I hadn’t thought too much about how easy it was for us to get away.

  Sure, darkness had been swarming my car, but when a tendril had slipped through the vents and tried to grab Sky, I’d simply been able to swat it away. With how powerful the god of darkness is supposed to be, it seems like he should’ve been able to get a hold of Sky that day if he really wanted to. Not to mention he probably could’ve a few times before that, seeing as how no one had a clue what Sky was until a couple of weeks ago.

  “I think you’re right,” I tell East as we stop in front of the circular exit of the portal. “For some reason, he can’t touch her.”

  “Why, though?” Easton questions. “I mean, darkness is all over her right now, so why can’t the god of darkness touch her? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “The darkness on her right now is created by her power of darkness,” I point out. “It’s not his power.”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s true.” A pucker forms at his brow as he assesses Sky. “We need to find out what’s keeping him from being able to touch her. It might help us find a long-term solution to getting darkness completely out of her.”

  I nod in agreement. “I know.”

  But it makes me a bit unsettled that we’re pretty much clueless as to why the god of darkness can’t touch her. Not that it’s a bad thing, but if we know more about it, we could maybe use that to our advantage.

  Pressing my lips together, I start to move out of the exit, gradually inching the wave of ice with me.

  “Why do you think he called Sky his queen?” East asks as he matches my steps.

  “I have no idea. The god of darkness isn’t even a king, so why the hell would he think Sky is his queen?”

  “Maybe he’s going crazy,” East suggests. “Elemental protectors of darkness are known for that.”

  “I know, but…” I waver, replaying over what the god of darkness said. “He spoke as if Sky was his queen before.”

  East’s brows draw together. “Now that you mention it, he kind of did, didn’t he?”

  I nod, worry stirring through me. “He also seemed so possessive of her. And I get it. She’s the power source of the elemental enchanter god. But why is he so fixated on her when there’s four other power sources out there?”

  “Maybe he already has them.” He frowns. “Maybe she’s the final piece he needs to do whatever it is he plans on doing with all that power.”

  Dread creeps through me, but I quickly stifle it, knowing it’s going to interfere with the wave.

  “He said he’d find us again and he’d have help when he did,” Easton mutters worriedly. “Who the hell do you think he has helping him?”

  “Maybe the hunters—they were the ones who helped him take over the school.” I pause. “I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if he has some elemental protectors of darkness helping him.” As my thoughts get distracted, the wave becomes wobbly. “We should probably discuss this later. Right now, we need to get her out of here.”

  He nods and then we move the wave forward, moving with it as we exit the portal.

  Through all of the chaos, I’d almost forgotten that a). We have no idea where we’re going to end up and b). We’re not sure if this is really were Porter is, that it all depends on how good of a portal we created.

  That’s the thing with portals. One small error and you could end up walking straight into some random place, like say, the Underworld. I know since Easton and I ended up once accidentally opened a portal to the Underworld and let some grim reapers into the house through it. Thankfully, my parents helped us get the reapers back into the portal. But my parents aren’t here right now, which means if we messed this up, we’re going to have to fix it on our own. It worries me a bit, and I hold my breath as we step out of the last of the warm, rainbow light, and into…

  I stumble as my feet land onto a solid, dirt ground. I quickly regain my balance and hurriedly peer around. Tall, leafy trees, crystalized vibrant flowers blooming everywhere, and a glittery blue sky…

  “Wait… Are we in the fey world?” I ask, shock whipping through me.

  Shit, this is bad. Really, really bad.

  While the fey world can be a tranquil place, the fey themselves are often tricky, manipulative creatures. The kind of creatures we definitely don’t want finding out what Sky is.

  I think we may have messed up big time.

  Foster

  I almost grab Sky, spin around, and jump back through the portal, but it’s already closed, so I’m left stuck where I am, trying to figure out what to do next.

  “Well crap, we are in the fey world,” Easton mumbles as he glances around at the trees covered with pale purple sunlight.

  “Why would Porter be here?” I ask, then realize we’re still holding Sky up with the wave. “Here. Let’s set her down.”

  We carefully lower the wave to the ground then slowly dim our powers until the ice melts.

  Blowing out a breath, I wipe my sweaty palms on the sides of my jeans then turn in a circle, trying to figure out if Porter is really here, or if we messed up with the portal.

  As far as I know, Porter doesn’t often visit the fey world. But I don’t spend a ton of time with him either, partly because he’s secretive and partly because he gets into trouble frequently, and danger and being an elemental enchanter don’t mix.

  “He comes here sometimes.” Easton rolls up the sleeves of his shirt and shakes the water off his hands. “Porter, I mean.”

  I give him a questioning glance. “How do you know that?”

  He shrugs, avoiding my gaze, pretending to be fixated with the vines swaying from the tree branches. “Because I’ve come here a couple of times with him.”

  Okay, that’s news to me.

  “When?” I wonder. “And how did I not know about this?”

  He shrugs again. “Just because
we’re twins doesn’t mean we know everything about each other.”

  “I know, but coming to the fey world… Usually creatures only come here to get into trouble.” Sure, East occasionally gets into trouble, but nothing too major.

  At least that’s what I’ve always thought.

  “There’s more to it than that,” he mumbles, shifting his weight and scratching at his brow, a strange flurry of emotions whisking down the link, some laced with pain and others laced with worry.

  What’s going on with him? What isn’t he telling me?

  I’m about to ask, not that I think he’ll tell me, but the snapping of branches snags my attention.

  My power instantly snaps out, bolts of lightning humming across my skin as I position myself in front of Sky. East draws his power out too, rain dewing his skin as he moves up beside Sky and stares out at the trees in front of us.

  “What if it’s the fey?” I hiss underneath my breath.

  “We could be okay, although maybe not. It all really depends on whether or not their friends with Porter,” he replies, reminding me that I don’t know my brothers as well as I thought.

  “I didn’t realize he had friends here,” I mumble, my gaze skimming the trees.

  East gives a tense shrug without looking at me, his gaze fixed in the direction we heard the noise. When branches snap again, I prepare to have another problem on our hands as three figures emerge from the trees.

  “What are they?” I whisper to East.

  He shakes his head, squinting against the sunlight. “I’m not sure.”

  I let my power charge. But as the figures get closer, I can make out their faces. Relief suddenly washes over me.

  Max, Holden, and Porter.

  Easton frees a breath, his arms lowering to his sides. “Man, you’re paranoia is starting to rub off on me.” He glances at me, amusement tugging at his lips, reverting back to his normal, joking self.

  For right now, I’ll let him be, but make a mental note to ask him why the hell he’s been hanging out in the fey world with Porter and why he’s never mentioned it to me before. And also why he’s carrying this sadness inside him.