Enchanted Chaos (Enchanted Chaos 1)

“Meaning someone went through a lot of trouble to keep what she is a secret,” Porter says, his gaze glued to me. “Your parents maybe?”

Again, I can’t answer. And not just because my lips won’t cooperate, but because I honestly don’t know the answer.

When I make no effort to respond, Holden yanks his fingers through his hair. “We really need to get this wall down. I’ve already tried, but I think I need more power.”

“Well, there’re six of us. That should be enough.” Max points at the doorway. “East, go get Fost.”

Easton arches a brow. “You think he’s going to listen to me?”

Max presses him with a firm look. “Make him understand the bigger picture.”

“Fine.” Easton pushes to his feet and hurries across the room, casting a weird glance at me before walking out.

“You know it’s not going to be that easy, right?” Porter tells Max as he props his boot-clad foot onto his knee. “It’s going to take Fost a while to get used to this.”

“I know.” Max roughly drags his fingers through his hair. “But, right now, he needs to suck it up. He can have his meltdown later.”

Thunder abruptly booms, and the entire house quivers.

“Well, I think Easton just repeated your message to him,” Hunter quips to Max then flashes a grin in my direction. “Unless you’re doing that?”

“Nope, that’s not me.” I’m surprised I can say those words aloud, seeing as it has to do with my powers. Then again, it’s sort of me denying I’m using my powers, so …

I’m so damn confused, among a million other things, and that confusion only magnifies when Easton returns to the room with a pissed off looking Foster in tow.

Seriously, what’s the deal with this guy? Why does he seem to hate me? Because he finds me repulsive? So what? That doesn’t give him the right to treat me like shit.

“So, what the hell are we doing?” Foster grumbles as he crosses his arms.

“We’re going to try to get this wall around Sky down. But I think it’s going to take all our powers, especially yours.” Holden approaches Foster then leans in and lowers his voice, whispering something to him.

Foster absorbs his words, his gaze skating in my direction.

Awesome. They’re talking about me. That’s okay, though. At this point in my life, I’m used to guys being jerks toward me. At least, that’s what I try to convince myself. But the truth is, having Foster hate me is going to suck big time since we’re living under the same roof.

“Fine,” Foster says after Holden is done whispering to him.

Holden nods, gives him a pat on the shoulder, then moves back and turns to address the room. “So, I’ve been looking through Mom and Dad’s book of secret spells, and there’s one that suggests our powers can break a blocking spell.”

“You think that’s what she’s got around her?” Porter asks.

Holden gives a wavering nod. “It’s my best guess.”

“I think you’re probably right.” Max tosses a glance at me. “I noticed she was unreadable the first time I met her, which I thought was pretty weird. Since I thought she was human, though, I didn’t think it could be a blocking spell. Now that we know she’s probably not human, I’m betting that’s what it is. I also know that disintegrating blocking spells can be complicated and sometimes nearly impossible.”

“I know.” Holden stuffs his hands into his back pockets. “But it can’t hurt to try.”

“I don’t know about that,” I chime in. “Disintegrating anything sounds kind of dangerous.”

“You should get used to danger,” Foster says in a neutral tone that throws me off a bit. Where’d the snippy Foster go? “Our kind are always in danger of something.” A strange, horrifyingly puzzled look flashes across his face before he looks away from me and swallows hard. “It’s what killed our grandparents.”

Fear lashes through me. “What happened to them?”

“Let’s save that story for another time,” Holden says before Foster can reply. “Right now, we need to try to get that wall down.” He collects the opened book from the table and hands it to Max, tapping the top of the page. “That’s what I want to try.”

I lean over to get a look, but Max is already slanting forward and handing the book to Porter. After Porter reads the page, he gives the book to Hunter.

“It could work,” Porter says. “But we need to be careful that we don’t overload her with our powers.”