Beautiful Chaos (Caster Chronicles 3)

r /> That was it. Lena wrenched her arms free and slammed her hands into Liv’s shoulders. Liv fell backward, hitting the ground hard. Lena wasn’t going to let her have the last word. Or the last hit.

“Okay, little Miss I’m-Not-Here-to-Steal-Your-Boyfriend.” Lena imitated Liv’s voice. “Really, we’re just friends, even though I’m smarter and blonder than the rest of you combined. And did I mention my cute little British accent?”

Liv kicked mud at her, but Lena moved out of the way just in time. Lena didn’t stop there. “And if that’s not enough, let me martyr myself, so you can spend the rest of your life feeling guilty. Or maybe I can spend all my time with your uncle, so he can think of me as the daughter he never had. Oh, wait—he already has one of those! But who cares. Because if Lena has it, I’m going to try to take it!”

Liv scrambled to her feet and tried to slip past me. I held on to her. “Stop it! You’re acting like idiots. It’s a Cast! You don’t even realize who you should be mad at!”

“And you do?” Lena screamed, trying to reach around me to grab Liv’s hair.

“Of course I do. But the only person I’m angry at isn’t here.” I bent down and picked up Ridley’s scorpion belt from the muddy grass. I handed it to Lena. “It’s Ridley. And she’s gone. So I have no one to yell at.”

I heard the Beater’s engine gunning. I pointed out the gate, and we watched the Beater peel away from the curb. “Actually, I think there’s someone even angrier at her than I am. And it looks like he’s taking off to find her.”

“You really think this is some kind of Cast?” Lena looked at Liv.

“No. I think we always fight like stray dogs in the street when we try to socialize at parties.” Liv rolled her eyes.

“See? There you go, having to be the smart one all the time.” Lena tried to pull free, but I clamped down harder on both of their arms.

“It’s a Furor, you moron,” Liv snapped.

“I’m a moron? I said Furor before this whole thing started.”

I pushed them both through the gate in front of me. “You’re both acting like morons. And now we’re gonna get in the car and go up to Ravenwood. And if you two can’t say something nice to each other, don’t say anything.”

But I didn’t have to worry, because if there was one thing I had figured out about girls, it was that pretty soon they would give up trashing each other. They’d be too busy trashing me.

“That’s because he’s afraid to make a decision,” Liv said.

“No, it’s because he doesn’t want to upset anyone,” Lena snapped.

“How would you know? He never says what he’s thinking.”

“That’s not it. He never thinks about what he’s saying,” Lena fired back.

“Enough!” I pulled through the crooked iron gates of Ravenwood, furious at both of them. Furious at Ridley. Furious at how the year was turning out. Furor, that was the right name for it, whatever this was. I hated feeling this way, and I hated it even more because I knew the feelings were real, even if it took a spell to bring them out into the open.

Lena and Liv were still fighting when we got out of the car. Even though they knew they were under the influence of a Cast, they couldn’t help themselves. Or maybe they didn’t want to. The three of us walked toward the front door, and I stayed between them. Just in case.

“Why don’t you give us some space?” Lena pushed in front of Liv. “Ever heard of a third wheel?”

Liv pushed her back. “Like I wanted to come here? So once again, I’m supposed to clean up your mess? Then you’ll forget all about me, until next time—”

I wasn’t listening anymore. I was looking at Ridley’s window. I saw a shadow pass in front of it, behind the curtains. All I could see was a silhouette, but I could tell it wasn’t Ridley.

Link must have gotten here first, except I didn’t see the Beater. “I think Link’s in there.”

“I don’t care. Ridley has a lot of explaining to do.” Lena was halfway up the staircase when I crossed the threshold. I sensed the change immediately—the air itself felt different. Lighter, somehow. I looked back at Liv.

Her expression looked the way I felt. Confused. Disoriented. “Ethan, does something feel weird to you?”

“Yeah—”

“It’s the Furor,” Liv said. “It’s broken. The magic can’t pass the Bindings.”

“Ridley! Where are you?” Lena was steps from her cousin’s door. When she reached it, she threw open the door without knocking. She didn’t seem to care if Link was in there or not. But it didn’t matter.

The guy in Ridley’s room wasn’t Link.