Beautiful Chaos (Caster Chronicles 3)

I should’ve been relieved, but Reece was right. I was disappointed. I didn’t want John to be one of Sarafine and Abraham’s pawns. I wanted him to be one of the bad guys. That’s how I saw him—how I would always see him.

More than anything, I wanted Lena to see him that way.

Lena wasn’t thinking about John. “We have to talk to my uncle. We have to find Ridley before she does anything stupid.”

Right. If I knew Ridley, she was probably hitchhiking her way out of Summerville by now. After the stunt she pulled tonight, she knew Lena would go straight to Macon. And Ridley wasn’t big on facing the music. “I think it’s a little too late for that.”

Lena bent down and flipped back the corner of the pink shag carpet. “Let’s go.”

“You sure about this? I don’t want to, you know, wake him up or something.” I also didn’t want to see the look on his face when we told him that Ridley had turned Savannah Snow’s house into a thirty-on-thirty boxing match, using the Charmed belt of an Incubus we were all looking for—who just happened to be living in Ridley’s bedroom.

Lena opened the trapdoor. “I doubt he’s asleep.”

Liv shook her head. “Lena’s right. We have to tell Macon. Immediately. You don’t understand, we’ve been—” She faltered, looking at Lena. “Your uncle has been trying to find John Breed for months.”

Lena nodded. It wasn’t a smile, but it was something. “Let’s go.”

John ripped open another bag of Doritos. “While you’re down there, can you ask him to let me out of here?”

“Ask him yourself,” Lena said. “You’re coming with us.”

John looked down into the darkness that led into the Tunnels below us, then back at me. “Never thought you’d be rescuing me, Mortal.”

I wanted to kill him or punch him in the face. I wanted to make him pay for everything he’d done to Lena and Link, all the trouble Abraham had caused because of him. But

I would leave that to Macon.

“Trust me, I’m not.”

He smiled, and I stepped into the air, feeling for the rough solidity of the steps I would never see.

10.19

The Ultimate Weapon

I knocked on the door of Macon’s study, and it swung open. I didn’t need to worry about waking him up, though. A miserable-looking Link was already sitting at the table.

Macon waved me in. “Link has filled me in on everything. Luckily, he came straight here, before he hurt anyone.” I hadn’t considered the damage a raging Incubus could inflict.

“What part of everything do you know?” I stepped inside.

“That my niece snuck out of the house.” He looked at me pointedly. “Not a wise decision.”

“No, sir.” Macon was already angry, and I didn’t want to tell him something that was going to make him even angrier.

He crossed his arms. “And that Ridley somehow managed to Cast a Furor?”

A whole lot angrier.

“I know you’re upset, but there’s something more important I need to tell you.” I glanced at the door. “Or maybe you should see for yourself.”

“John Breed.” Macon loomed over him. “This is quite an unexpected turn of events. All things considered.”

John was standing just inside the door of the study, as if he was going to make a break for it, Mortal-style. In Macon’s presence, his smart-ass attitude was gone.

Link was staring at John like he wanted to tear him apart. “What the hell is he doin’ here?” I felt bad for Link, being stuck in the same room with John. He had to hate John even more than I did, if that was possible.

Lena couldn’t look at her uncle or Link. She was ashamed of Ridley, and herself for not figuring it out sooner. But more than anything, I knew she was worried about her cousin, no matter what she’d done. “Ridley stole the Arclight out of Uncle Macon’s grave after we buried it. She freed John, and she’s been using his belt as a conduit to channel his powers until now.”