Iridescent Chaos (Enchanted Chaos 3)

“If Hunter says we can trust her then we should. Or at least trust him.” Porter takes a long sip of the drink, briefly glancing at me from over the rim and causing that hunger to rise inside me for a fleeting instance. “Plus, the link’s not going to let Hunter do anything to put Sky in harm’s way.” Licking his lips, he sets the empty glass down on the counter.

“True.” The tension starts to unwind from Foster’s muscles, but returns as Hunter enters the room.

All of the brothers glance at him expectantly, but he simply stands in the doorway, staring at me with an unreadable look on his face. Through the link, I can sense he’s troubled by something.

“What is it?” I dare ask him.

His gaze dances between Foster and I before ultimately landing on me.

“Camille read something… Interesting on you.” He scratches at his neck, his gaze skimming across his brothers who appear as confused as I feel. Then he returns his attention to me, releasing an uneven breath, but doesn’t say anything else.

“What did she read on her?” Foster finally asks impatiently. “And where the hell did Camille go? I thought she was going to help you fix the link?”

“I sent her away,” Hunter says, reclining against the door with his arms crossed and his gaze fixed on me.

I try not to squirm, but holy hell, he’s making it difficult.

Why is he looking at me like that? Like I’ve confused the hell out of him?

“Why the hell would you do that?” Foster shakes his head at Hunter with annoyance.

Hunter’s gaze flits from him to me again. That’s when I sense it, a heavy amount of dread, an impending warning.

Something bad is about to happen.

“It was pretty pointless for Camille to be here right now,” Hunter says with a shrug.

Why?

Max steps to the middle of the room, looking at Hunter with concern. “What about the link? From what you guys talked about earlier, you made it sound like Camille was going to have to help us fix the link.”

Hunter casts another glance in my direction then sinks his teeth into his bottom lip. “I guess there’s no way to say this without someone freaking out, although I don’t think everyone is going to.” His gaze briefly sneaks in the direction of Porter and East then he stares down

at the floor with a crinkle between his brows. “When Camille first tried to read Sky, all she could see was what she thought was darkness. But when she touched her, she realized there was a block on Sky that’s protecting her from her powers. While she could read some bits and pieces about Sky, she couldn’t read everything. But she did see enough that she could tell the altered link is what is protecting Sky from the god of darkness being able to touch her.”

Silence consumes the room but my head is crammed with so much noise—so much worry. And not just my worry.

“So what’re you saying?” Foster’s flat tone suggests he knows exactly what Hunter is saying and he just doesn’t want to accept it.

Hunter glances up, his expression blank—controlled. “I’m saying that somehow when the link was altered, it transformed into this massive protection spell that’s interwoven between all of us and Sky. That apparently all of our powers and emotions being so connected offers a level of protection for Sky that no other spell can offer.” He releases an exhale, slipping his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “So yeah, basically as long as the altered link exists, it’ll be really complicated for Sky to be harmed, not just by the god of darkness, but by a lot of creatures.” He glances at me and bites down on his lip harder. “So if we want to make sure Sky is extremely protected, we need to leave the link as it is for now.”

The room grows quiet, but the noise inside my head gets louder, buzzing and gnawing at my brain. It’s a combination of my own panic rushing through me along with theirs. It’s so overwhelming that I start to feel sick and I wrap my arm around my stomach.

“It doesn’t have to be forever,” Hunter says, glancing at his brothers, his gaze lingering on Foster. “As soon as we find all the power sources, we can start rebuilding Elemental and getting rid of darkness, and hopefully everything can go back to normal.”

Foster laughs hollowly. “You say that like normal will just be there waiting for all of us after this, but who the hell knows what’s going to happen while we try to track down all the other power sources.” He shakes his head, his jaw clenching. “Things could change—they already have.” He reels around and storms toward the stairway.

I want to follow him, but my feet won’t budge. It’s like I’m being pulled in various directions, and no matter what direction I take, I’ll end up at a Porterson brother.

“Sky,” Max says in a cautious tone. “Can you tell us how you feel about all of this? Because at the end of the day, it’s not just about how my brothers and I feel about keeping the link. You’re a part of this… You have to deal with all of this too. In fact, it affects you more than it does the rest of us.”

I stare at the doorway that Foster went through, part of me longing to run out of it and down the stairway. When I reached the bottom, I’d bolt into the trees and keep running until my legs gave out. But that’d be a cowardly move. And besides, the last time I took off after hearing some bad news, a human guy tried to kiss me and he nearly died.

Sucking in a breath, I turn and face Max. “If keeping the link altered protects me, then I guess we should probably leave the link altered for now… As long as everyone else is okay with it.”

Max’s green-eyed gaze carries mine. “Are you sure? Because we can fix the link now and then find a place to hide you. Maybe we can put you back into Enchantment, if you and Foster can get another portal opened up to it.” He lowers his voice. “I know the altered link’s been a lot to deal with—that all of us are a lot to deal with—so we’ll understand if you want to fix it.”

I’m grateful he’s giving me an option, but deep down, I know there’s really only one answer. And besides, even if the link is fixed, my life isn’t going to return to normal, not with the god of darkness chasing me, not with my soul being tethered to Porter, not with the blood promise I made with East alleviating some of the guilt I feel about Brody. At least, I’m fairly sure that’s what’s happened, even if East won’t admit it.