I came to feeling lighter.

  Chaos was swearing.

  I was still in dragon form. Still in the Shadow Realm. The washed-out world stretched around me, empty of anyone I knew.

  ‘This is all my fault!’ Chaos paced inside my skull. ‘Order should be in charge. I should go back to the void.’

  “What happened?” I scrambled to my feet, claws scraping against shadow-stone.

  ‘Attwater came,’ Chaos said, raw and shaken. ‘He took the others. I couldn’t ask permission to help while you were asleep. I didn’t think it through the way Order would have.’

  Right.

  A cosmic entity was spiraling in my head.

  That could not be good for me.

  I slipped out of the Shadow Realm and back into the real world, color slamming into existence.

  Then I shifted into human form.

  “So he took all of them?” I asked.

  ‘Ruth, Elias, Jerod, and Ivan,’ Chaos grumbled.

  Yeah.

  Looked like the hoard bond I should have had with Jack was necessary now.

  “Jack Vicars,” I said sharply, “I claim you as hoard.”

  Magic snapped into place. The connection locked.

  Then—

  ‘What the fuck, Dad?!’ Jack’s voice slammed into my head.

  “I need to talk to Order,” I said aloud. “I don’t even know if hoard bonds work like this.”

  ‘Hello, Daniel,’ a well-mannered voice said.

  “Skip the pleasantries,” I snapped. “Your counterpart is spiraling, and I need you to get him under control.”

  ‘Chaos?’ Order’s voice tightened.

  ‘I didn’t ask,’ Chaos cut in, panicked. ‘He was unconscious. I couldn’t act without consent. I froze.

  Now his friends—and his mate—have been captured.’

  ‘Dad has a mate?’ Jack choked. ‘Fuck.’

  I blinked.

  “I have a what?”

  ‘Who the hell did you meet, Dad?’ Jack demanded.

  “Ruth. A nightmare dragon shifter,” I said, then shook my head. “Quit distracting me.”

  ‘Chaos,’ Order said sharply.

  ‘What?’ Chaos snapped back.

  ‘We put these restraints in place for a reason,’ Order said, his voice gentle but firm.

  ‘You used to do this without restraints?’ Jack shouted, and I winced.

  ‘Your offspring is very outgoing,’ Dragoon grumbled.

  ‘And he is also yours,’ another voice snarled.

  It sounded like Jack—but deeper. Rougher. Something older beneath the surface.

  I rubbed my face as the argument spiraled, then clenched my jaw.

  ‘Kharyx!’ Jack barked, snapping at the primal voice that wasn’t fully his.

  Shadows swallowed me, and the world snapped into place inside a bunker that rarely needed maintenance.

  I crossed the room and flipped the generator. The lights flickered on.

  Racks of guns, knives, traps—everything I classified as armory—glinted back at me. I didn’t come here often. Mostly just to keep things functional.

  “Jack, let Order talk,” I snapped.

  ‘I know,’ Chaos muttered. ‘But it made me powerless to stop them.’

  ‘And I was powerless to stop Odin from trying to separate Jack and me,’ Order said quietly. ‘But you came and helped. You know what happens when we remove these conditions.’

  I really wanted to ask what had happened.

  I decided I was better off not knowing.

  ‘What happened?’ my son asked immediately. Curiosity of a cat.

  ‘Let’s just say this is not our first universe,’ Order replied.

  ‘That’s not reassuring at all,’ a female voice said from Jack’s end of the bond.

  I grabbed my holsters and started buckling them into place.

  “Who the hell is that, Jack?”

  ‘Hillary,’ he said. ‘The AI that got stuck in my head.’

  My son did not need a crowd living in his head.

  The words not our first universe hit Chaos hard.

  ‘I know,’ he said quietly. ‘I’m the one who suggested it—after I pretty much destroyed the last one.’

  Silence followed.

  ‘And that,’ Order said softly, ‘is why we do not act without consent.’

  The weight of that settled deeper than the weapons on my hips.

  “Chaos, you got through to me when no one else could,” I said. “Enemies get the drop on you no matter how prepared you are. What matters is how you deal with the aftermath.”

  He went quiet as I retrieved my high-caliber revolvers and slid them into their holsters.

  ‘Do you have a plan?’ Chaos asked, his voice low.

  “I need parameters for what we can do with your magic,” I said, opening cabinets until I found a rucksack and an ammo pouch for my belt.

  Jack started laughing.

  ‘Parameters is not a word I would associate with Chaos,’ Hillary said dryly.

  ‘Your son’s head is a very busy place,’ Dragoon growled.

  It was busy before anything else got added.

  ‘Creative imagination and will are going to matter,’ Chaos said. ‘When Jack used me, it was instinctive. You’ll probably have to work harder at it.’

  “Yeah,” I sighed, dropping the rucksack to the floor. “That tracks. You done feeling guilty so we can get shit done?”

  I didn’t want this crowded conversation inside my skull any longer than necessary.

  ‘I can’t wallow a bit longer?’ Chaos sounded almost amused.

  “I have friends and family to save, so no,” I said, pulling an empty ammo case from the cabinet and clipping it to my belt.

  ‘Then let my redemption begin,’ Chaos replied.

  He could call it whatever the hell he wanted as long as we got through this without another cosmic guilt spiral. I spiraled enough for the both of us.

  “Sorry, Jack,” I said. “I’m cutting communications and figuring out how to save everyone.”

  ‘Do you need my help?’ he asked.

  ‘Let’s not give them two vessels to grab,’ I said, slamming the cabinet shut and lifting the rucksack. ‘I have a feeling that would be very bad.’

  ‘Okay. I’m going to check on my mate, Christa, then.’ Jack started to sever the connection.

  “Your what?” I froze.

  ‘We’re dating and taking it slow, Dad,’ he grumbled. ‘Neither of us is in a hurry. We’ve only known each other since July.’

  “Mate is—”

  Not now.

  ‘Like a soulmate, but without rushing anything,’ he sighed. ‘If it helps, think of it as a friend who could turn into more. And Christa’s good for me. She makes sure I get places on time.’

  That explained more than it should have.

  “Intrusive thought, Jack,” I said, moving to the workbench in the armory. “How would sex work with all those voices in your head?”

  Jack choked.

  ‘Wait a minute?!’ Hillary screeched, making me wince. ‘I’m supposed to observe that?!’

  Order chuckled and severed the connection.

  Jack did get his ADHD from me, so—

  I thought it was a valid question.

  ‘I really do like the way you think,’ Chaos chuckled.

  “Plan,” I said, setting the rucksack on the workbench and unzipping it. “I need allies, but I also need to prepare. How creative is too creative?”

  Silence.

  Long silence.

  I don’t believe I’ve ever been asked that before, Chaos said slowly.

  “Perfect.” I grinned and braced my hands on the table.

  What are you going to do? Chaos sounded genuinely worried.

  I reached for his power. My instinct to shut down flared—but it felt muted. Manageable.

  That alone was a win.

  I pictured Carter standing beside me. Blaine needed to stay in town and keep Merlin out of trouble. I let Chaos flow and locked onto Carter’s presence.

  The air snapped.

  A startled curse.

  Carter appeared mid–push-up, glaring up at me.

  “Your form is off,” I said mildly.

  “What the fuck, Vicars?!” he shouted, scrambling to his feet.

  I grinned. “Drop and give me twenty.”

  He cursed magnificently and went at it like it was a matter of life and death.

  “Sorry,” I said, already turning inward. “But I need your help.”

  ‘Chaos,’ I added silently, ‘who knew Jerod and Ivan? Would they help? And can I project myself to them? I can pull rank on Carter—but not strangers.’

  Chaos seemed to be mentally gawking.

  ‘Did you just—'

  ‘You said be creative,’ I replied.

  Chaos stalled completely.

  “Carter, watch my body while I’m gone,” I said.

  “What?!” Carter’s head snapped up from his push-ups.

  I let Chaos carry me—an astral projection of sorts—toward anyone who cared about Jerod.

  And I hoped to hell they cared about Ivan too.

  ‘No one has ever used my power like this!’ Chaos protested.

  ‘I don’t think outside the box,’ I grinned. ‘I steamroll it flat.’

  Reality snapped into place.

  A tavern. Or something close enough to pass.

  I hovered beside a table crowded with a collection of—

  …Halloween creatures.

  Fuck.

  I was a Shadow Lord, and I was absolutely not ready for that responsibility.

  Bonus problem: I knew exactly what kind of creature each of them was.

  The vampire noticed me first. He jumped back, eyes wide, swearing in something Eastern European.

  I hoped it was swearing.

  The rest just stared.

  “Do you know Jerod and Ivan?” I asked.

  I’d never been good at small talk. Especially not in emergencies.

  Synchronized blinking was apparently a thing.

  The green-skinned witch was the first to shake herself out of it.

  “You know where he is? We haven’t seen him since the band broke up and Ivan went to drag him to therapy.”

  The mummy shifter beside her—golden-brown skin, dark eyes, perfectly styled black hair—tilted his head.

  “That was ten to eight months ago. Before the robots.”

  “Yeah. He got captured by Dr. Attwater,” I said. “He has a thing with fear.”

  I glanced around the table.

  “So… you want to help me rescue him again?”

  “Again?” The werewolf with brown fur and very little facial expression frowned.

  “That implies he escaped once,” said a tall, bony man with nearly black skin and no hair at all. Skeleton shifter. Weird.

  “My buddy Elias. Werewolf,” I said. “Helped him escape. He got recaptured too.”

  The man who looked like he’d been stitched together from several people—two bolts jutting from his neck—turned and shot a stern look at the man beside him, who was bouncing slightly in his seat.

  “No, Albert. You may not ask him how he’s doing this.”

  Albert had messy blond hair, wide excited eyes behind glasses, and was wearing a lab coat over a button-up shirt with a bow tie. An interesting fashion choice.

  “But if I had the magical and scientific parameters of such a projection, then I could—”

  “No, Albert.”

  The entire table glared at him.

  He crossed his arms and pouted.

  I probably should have tuned the magic a little better.

  “Yes. Of course we’ll help,” the vampire said, his accent barely noticeable. “I’m Drac.”

  “Wanda,” he added, gesturing to the witch.

  “Raj,” the mummy said.

  “Wolfman,” the werewolf offered.

  Why.

  “Jake,” the skeleton said.

  “Frankie,” the construct added.

  “Albert.” Yeah. I knew exactly what he was.

  “Do you have a plan?” Drac asked.

  I liked his efficiency.

  “Working on it,” I said. “I was focused on finding people who knew Jerod and Ivan and could help. I can teleport you back to my armory. Carter can help us plan.”

  “How are you doing this?” Wanda asked.

  “Chaos magic,” I grinned. “I’m being creative.”

  Raj grinned wider. “Then let’s get this show on the road.”

  The rest of them groaned.

  He was also wearing an alarming amount of gold jewelry.

  “ADHD moment,” I said, looking around the table. “What exactly kind of group are you?”

  They stared at me like I was supposed to know.

  “Midnight Ride,” Jake said. “The rock band. How do you not know that?”

  “Haven’t left the property in about twenty-six years,” I shrugged. “Only got out in the last couple weeks.”

  They just stared.

  I reached for Chaos magic to snap myself back into my body—and bring the band with me.

  I really hoped Chaos knew what it was doing.

  You wanted creative! Chaos protested.

  Yeah. Probably should’ve specified. We’d work with it.

  The magic twisted—

  —and I slammed back into my body hard.

  Emotional whiplash hit like it always did after shifting. I staggered and clutched my head.

  “I am not doing that again.”

  “Who the hell are all these people?!” Carter demanded, already on his feet and pacing.

  “Why does he feel like the source of fear?” Drac asked calmly, studying Carter.

  Carter flipped him off.

  I narrowed my eyes at him and felt an oily slickness clinging to his aura.

  “Do you have some power that could help?” I asked.

  “It bound Jack’s dragon the last time I let it help.” Carter crossed his arms and scowled.

  I knew that stance.

  I sighed. “This is Jerod’s band. Midnight Ride. They’re going to help.”

  “A band?” Carter stared at me like I’d finally snapped.

  “We have powers,” Wanda said, cocking her hip with a grin. “So we’re not useless.”

  “I’m still getting over the—” Frankie began, then shot a sharp look at Albert. “You are not to touch or take apart any weapons. Get away from that rifle.”

  Albert had been edging toward a newer scoped rifle mounted on the wall.

  He jumped and looked instantly guilty.

  Yep.

  No different than basic training.

  “What are we up against?” Drac asked, keeping a careful eye on Albert.

  “As far as I know,” I said, gathering ammo and tossing it into the rucksack, “we’re dealing with a Dr. Attwater who’s way too interested in fear—”

  “And you brought me here?!” Carter blurted, alarmed.

  Then he froze.

  “Attwater?!”

  I turned to him slowly. “Is there some intelligence we should know, Carter?”

  My tone must have shifted, because he stiffened—visibly fighting the urge to salute.

  The band gawked at him.

  “I may have… visited him as a child,” Carter ground out, like it physically hurt. “When I was in foster care. So yeah. I probably have a good idea where his fear powers came from.”

  I blinked.

  “I didn’t say he had fear powers,” I said quietly. “I said he was too interested in fear.”

  Carter’s eyes widened.

  Panic flooded them.

  That was new.

  He’s the host of Fear, Chaos said. He helped Jack when we took out Odin and Taro.

  I studied Carter.

  That explained the oily slickness—probably overlapping with my Halloween heritage.

  “Carter. What did Fear do?”

  He trembled. “How do you know?”

  “I’m the Vessel of Chaos,” I shrugged. “He was there with Jack.”

  “Fuck.” Carter started pacing.

  “Is he okay?” Jake asked quietly.

  “Dude, he is so not okay,” Raj snapped.

  “Drac. Keep them in line,” I said, already moving.

  I shifted Carter and myself into the Shadow Realm for a private talk.

  He looked around wildly and scowled. “This doesn’t help.”

  “What happened with you and Attwater?” I crossed my arms, feet planted shoulder-width apart.

  He paced.

  The kid should’ve tried digging a latrine with all that pacing instead of stealing explosives.

  I waited him out.

  “The foster family I was with thought therapy would help,” Carter finally said. “With the creepy feeling that followed me around.”

  “Creepy feeling?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “He’s locked away now,” Carter snarled. “It doesn’t leak.”

  That did not sound healthy.

  “Dr. Bartholomew Attwater was the shrink they sent me to,” Carter let out a strained laugh. “Highly recommended. Specialized in kids.”

  “Would push-ups or sit-ups help right now?” I asked. They always had when he got stressed.

  He shot me a grateful look and dropped to the ground, starting push-ups. At least those didn’t require eye contact with the floor he’d been glaring holes into.

  “It started off bad,” Carter said between reps. “He asked about my birth family. I was a shifter stuck in a human foster system, so I started off by lying… badly.”

  “He kept trying to get the truth out of me. I told my foster family, but they were scared of me and believed him. It came to a head one day when I was cowering from him. Ebon was going nuts in my head and Fear…”

  He paused.

  Paused mid–push-up.

  Trembling.

  “Fear snapped,” he whispered. “Left a piece of himself inside him that festered. I ran from that foster family to escape.”

  He dropped to the ground and buried his face in his arms. “I locked Fear away after that. Ebon and I agreed shifting was too risky in case he got loose.”

  I knelt down beside him. I held no judgement in my voice, “Are you too compromised to help me?”

  “No.” He glared at me, “i can function.”

  Carter and I were going to have a long talk after all this was over.

  I took us out of the Shadow Realm and back into the bunker.

  The band had been busy while we talked.

  Ammo had been neatly packed into the rucksack, along with my hunting sprays that killed scent. My various animal traps had been added as well. Drac snarled at Albert every time he edged too close to the pile.

  Wolfman and Wanda each carried one of my pump-action shotguns. Raj had claimed a pair of my high-caliber six-shooters.

  “No, Albert,” Frankie sighed. “You do not get a weapon. You would take it apart before the fighting started, and then everything would be bad.”

  “Fine,” Albert grumbled, grabbing a bag. “I’ll make the pipe bombs with screws and stuff, like you asked.”

  Jake stood off to the side, holding a sword made of bone and a matching dagger.

  I arched an eyebrow at the skeleton shifter.

  “I can literally make anything out of bone appear,” he grinned. “It’s supposed to be used on Halloween to scare people—but it comes in damn useful if you’re creative enough.”

  Creative enough was starting to feel like a theme.

  “I thought you said they were a rock band,” Carter stared.

  “Doesn’t mean we don’t know how to fight,” Wanda grinned at him. “How else do you scare tough people on Halloween?”

  He blinked.

  Raj studied Carter. “Is it wise to bring a human with us?”

  I glanced at Carter. He gave a slight shake of his head.

  “Carter helped defeat robots,” I said. “He’ll be fine.”

  “Can you scare shifters?” I asked, genuinely curious.

  The matching vicious grins made Carter and me swallow hard.

  “So that could help,” I muttered.

  “You can assume your hybrid form for extra protection,” Raj grinned at me. “Shadow dragons can make it as creepy or as mild as they want.”

  I blinked.

  “Hybrid form?” I asked flatly.

  “Like Wolfman,” Drac said, jerking a thumb toward the imposing werewolf. “But dragon.”

  I turned to Carter and sent, ‘Hybrid form?’

  He gave me a startled look. ‘Jack inherited those mind powers?’

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Let’s finish packing while you fill me in on the abilities at our disposal,” I sighed.

  “I can fly and do hexes,” Wanda said, digging through a cabinet until she found a strap for her and Wolfman’s shotgun.

  So. Aerial support.

  “With how close the full moon is,” Drac said, “if we strike then, Wolfman’s speed, agility, strength, and stamina increase tenfold.”

  “True,” Wolfman nodded.

  Vicious melee.

  “I can turn into sand and fly,” Raj grinned. “But also—I can manipulate sand. Think sandblaster. And I can create gold.”

  So a mobile fighting unit. In, hit hard, back out.

  “I’m strong. I can discharge electricity,” Frankie said, grabbing ammo from the shelf and handing it to Drac.

  He hesitated.

  “Also… I can remove body parts and have them move independently of me.”

  I paused.

  Remote assets. Mobile distractions. And something Attwater would absolutely hate.

  “I can blow anything up!” Albert said proudly.

  Judging by the eye rolls, this was a frequent announcement.

  Demolition expert.

  I glanced at Jake. “So just bone constructs?”

  He grinned. Not a nice grin.

  “I can do bone spikes and—”

  He threw the dagger at Carter.

  It stopped an inch from Carter’s face, hovering there before snapping back into Jake’s hand.

  “…that.”

  Precision ranged melee. Crowd control.

  “And I manage people,” Drac smiled as he zipped up the rucksack.

  Strategist.

  Carter leaned over and whispered, “You said they were a band?”

  “You defeated robots with retail workers, parents, and their kids,” I slapped him on the back. “Let’s go get our friend.”

  Chaos: One question, Lady Emberflame. Why do you write so fast?

  Lady Emberflame shrugs: I fall in love with characters and work on multiple books at once.

  Order: Emberflame, that is not how it’s done.

  Lady Emberflame: It works for me. When I get close to finishing one, I turn all my attention to it.

  Chaos: There is this thing called burnout.

  Lady Emberflame: Been there. Done that. I’ve got a system now.

  Order: Discovery writing is not a system!

  Lady Emberflame: Does it help that I edit as I go?

  Order glares.

  Lady Emberflame: I’m almost done writing book four, though.

  Chaos slowly turns to Order.

  Chaos: This is book two.

  Chaos: Order… sedatives?

  Order: Did you learn nothing about paradoxical mania in book one?