The Witch's Key

by Sarra Cannon

  I was so glad they weren’t here to see this. I was glad they had died not knowing how badly they’d been betrayed.

  And if I somehow managed to survive this night, I vowed to find every last person who’d had anything to do with that betrayal and put an end to them myself.

  “It’s fun to see the fire spark in your eyes,” Algrath said. “It will be even more fun to watch that spark go out.”

  From what I could tell, he was almost done drawing those extra symbols in the dirt. Olive and Brandy had their backs to me, so I couldn’t exactly make out what they were doing, but it looked like maybe they were tying some bundles of herbs together.

  How much longer until I got locked into this circle, though?

  How much longer until Martin found us?

  I knew I should just stay put. Wait for the others to rescue us and not do anything impulsive that could get everyone here killed, but I couldn’t help but think through all the possibilities.

  Earlier at the cabin, Asher had said something about how once the ritual had begun, the circle would be locked or protected somehow, and no one would be able to do anything but sit back and watch.

  Once the ritual was over, they would be able to fight Algrath and his brother, but the five of us girls would all be dead. That wasn’t exactly giving me good vibes right now.

  Especially since Algrath seemed to be anointing the circle with some type of oil. That seemed like one of those last-step kinds of things. I was starting to feel antsy. All I needed was a single opening. One opportunity to get the upper hand.

  I needed a sign.

  And what better person to give it to me than an angel from above.

  Kai’s head did roll slightly to the side. He was coming to.

  I glanced at Algrath to make sure he wouldn’t see what was happening, but he wasn’t paying attention at all. Instead, he was yelling at Brandy for moving too slowly.

  I moved my eyes back to Kai, willing him to open his and see me here. To do something.

  Come on, I begged. Please help me.

  I sent it up like a prayer, and he heard me. By some miracle, he actually opened his eyes and lifted them to mine.

  At that moment, I wished so hard for the ability to read minds or communicate telepathically, but facial expressions would have to do for now.

  I nodded very slightly toward Algrath, Brandy, and Olive off to Kai’s left. Then, I turned my body slightly to show that my hands were bound behind my back.

  Kai did a good job taking it all in without actually moving too much or drawing anyone’s attention. I wanted to cry in relief. Even though we were both bound and basically powerless, it just felt so good to know I wasn’t alone in this.

  Just meeting his eyes and knowing that someone here cared about me made all the difference.

  I was not going to let Algrath bring us down. If he was right and my parents died just so he could get me here, I was going to make him regret that choice for a thousand years to come.

  I needed a plan.

  Yes, I had been told over and over again to stop rushing into things or being impulsive, but what else could you do when your back was against the wall? I had no idea if Martin was actually coming for us.

  What if they’d all gotten caught in some kind of trap back at the cabin? Or what if Algrath had put more wards and traps here in the woods? It might take Martin and the others too long to get to us.

  Questions rushed through my mind, and I lost focus to the panic building inside me.

  So, instead of letting it take over, I closed my eyes. I remembered just how focused I’d been back at the cabin when the fight had started. That was all because Kai had convinced me to sit down for a moment and just breathe. Recenter.

  Maybe if I could just do that now, something would come to me.

  I took several deep breaths, listening to Kai’s voice in my memory. I let go of everything else around me and just focused on that breath. I focused on connecting to my own true center. My heart.

  And I knew the moment I had really done it, because I could suddenly feel the wind on my cheek and hear the rustling of the leaves above our heads.

  I opened my eyes and looked around again, seeing from a new, calmer perspective.

  A strange feeling in my gut told me it was now or never as Algrath turned to place some kind of woven crown of vines and dark flowers on LaTasha’s head.

  The ritual would begin soon. There was no more time to wait, and there was no time to doubt myself. Impulsive or not, I was our best hope.

  I glanced from Algrath to Kai to the circle, looking for an answer.

  And suddenly, there it was.

  My mother had always insisted the right answers came to a witch when she needed them most, as long as she knew how to look for them.

  I just hadn’t been looking in the right place.

  The truth had been right there in front of me this entire time. Algrath spoke of balance, so of course he had brought me here.

  Heart pounding, I worked through all the calculations. Could this really work?

  But I knew that it could. And if anything went wrong, the only one who would die tonight would be me.

  I wasn’t ready to leave this world just yet, but if I could save the rest of them, what other choice did I have?

  I was done thinking it through. Martin or Gowan might be angry with me for being impulsive, but if they had a chance to yell at me, that would mean I’d won, so that was a risk I was willing to take.

  I waited for Algrath to turn around as he grabbed another of the strange, dark crowns before I made my move. Kai seemed to sense my intentions, and he shook his head, but it was too late. My plan was already in motion.

  I turned around and picked up a piece of the broken mirror that had been set on the ground in front of my chosen symbol. It was so sharp, it sliced through the skin on several of my fingers, but I simply gritted my teeth and focused on the task at hand. Cutting through the magical rope that bound my hands together.

  To my relief, it worked, and my arms were instantly freed.

  Algrath sensed my movement, though, and turned, throwing a poison spell toward me. I deflected the spell with the mirror, sending it back toward Algrath. Brandy screamed and fell to the ground, her hands covering her head like the coward she was.

  But I didn’t have time to worry about her.

  Without hesitation, I positioned the mirror shard in my right hand, reared back, and threw it straight at Kai. At the same time, I reached down and grabbed the small compact mirror Brandy had dropped before, slipping it into my pocket.

  My mouth went dry with nerves as the mirror flew through the air. It was either going to free him or stab him, but luckily, my dad had spent enough time practicing dagger throws with me that my aim was true.

  The shadowy ropes that held Kai’s body were severed as the mirror sliced through them and then embedded into the tree’s bark.

  Algrath hissed, his form shifting again from Peyton to his true self as he threw a massive ball of hot flames toward me. This time, I had no mirror to deflect it, and since Algrath had taken my key, I had no magic to shield with, either.

  I braced myself for impact as I dove toward the ground, but just as the flames should have hit me, a bright light flashed all around us. Kai knelt above me, his beautiful, golden wings shielding us both from the flames.

  “How are we going to fight him?” he asked. “I can’t keep this up for long. We need more help.”

  I shook my head and nodded toward the tree where the mirror had landed.

  Kai’s eyes widened, and he understood immediately. “I’ll do it,” he said.

  “It has to be me,” I said. “He left Peyton back at the house, and those other two girls don’t have magic in their blood. He needs me to make this ritual happen. He doesn’t need you.”

  Kai waited a long moment before he finally nodded.

  “Run,” he said. “Now.”

  With him as my temporary shield, I stood and ran. Algrat
h couldn’t release his brother from that last mirror without a full sacrifice. If he didn’t get it done tonight, he’d have to wait until the next full moon, and he knew as well as I did that Martin and the others weren’t going to give him another chance.

  Every step I took was followed by the pounding of footsteps right behind me. I pushed my body harder, sliding once on a pile of pine needles and somehow managing to straighten up and keep running.

  Spells exploded all around me, but nothing too deadly and nothing I couldn’t dodge. Algrath couldn’t risk killing me here. He needed me to die inside the circle.

  My heart pounded, and I opened my mouth to breathe. I had never run so fast in my life, but still, it didn’t seem to be enough. Algrath was right behind me, practically breathing down my neck.

  Once, I even felt what I imagined to be claws scrape down my back, and I shuddered.

  To gain more power, he must have shifted back to his demon form, which was fine with me. I was so tired of seeing him wear Peyton’s face.

  “You won’t escape me,” Algrath said. “You’re just wasting everyone's time.”

  Time.

  I just needed a little more time.

  My lungs burned as I pushed harder. Faster. I just needed to get a little bit further into the woods, and everything would be okay.

  But I couldn’t take another step. Exhausted and spent, I fell to my knees, tears streaming down my face as I struggled to catch my breath.

  Algrath laughed, and I spun around, skittering backward like a spider.

  “You aren’t going to win,” I said. “Martin’s on his way as we speak. He’ll save me, and he’ll send you to the same kind of prison you’re brother’s been rotting in for decades.”

  “Martin can’t save you now,” he said. “You’ve been cloaked from his sight with one of the most powerful cloaking spells ever cast. I was even able to disarm the family sigil here in the training grounds. I’ve sent him down a different path, but when he gets there, he’ll realize he’s too late. By the time he finds you, you’ll be dead and gone. Can’t you see that I’ve already won?”

  “You’re wrong,” I said, scooting backward another foot or so. I couldn’t let him catch me and drag me back there. “Martin is tracking you right now. That night you attacked us in the woods by Bates’s factory, he injured you with a dagger laced with his own blood. That blood is now pumping through your veins. An untraceable tracking spell that will lead him and the other Slayers straight to you.”

  Algrath tilted his head strangely to one side.

  “You’re lying,” he said, stepping toward me. “Martin’s not that clever. No one tricks me.”

  “It’s true,” I said, showing absolute terror on my face as I backed up again, two more feet toward the tree behind me.

  Algrath lashed out with his shadowy ropes, but I was ready for him. I pulled Brandy’s mirror from my pocket and deflected his spell with it. I just needed to pull him a little bit closer.

  “Martin will be here any minute. I won’t let you hurt me. I won’t let you take me back there to that ritual. I’ll run all night, if I have to.”

  I scrambled to my feet and turned as if to run again. Algrath followed me, anger and hatred in his eyes as he reached for me.

  Only, as soon as he stepped over the line drawn in the dirt, his movements turned to molasses.

  “What is this?” he asked, obviously slower to catch on than I’d expected.

  Slowly, I turned back toward him, my chest rising with each labored breath as my heart pumped so hard.

  Had I really done it?

  “It doesn’t feel good, does it?” I asked, stepping right up to the outer line of the Demon’s Circle Gowan had drawn for me in training yesterday. “To be trapped with no way out?”

  Algrath shook his head in confusion and, for the first time, looked down.

  Terror and disbelief blossomed on his face like a series of fireworks.

  “This is impossible,” he said, attempting to run toward the barrier. His movements were slow and labored, and despite his determination and energy, he hit the invisible barrier and fell back. “No. No one tricks me. You couldn’t have had time to set this up. No one even uses these, anymore. There’s no way you knew how to draw this.”

  “I didn’t,” I said. “I have an old friend to thank for that, but it’s really you I should be thanking.”

  Algrath growled at me.

  “You’re disgusting,” he said, spitting at the ground. Acid sizzled in the dirt at his feet.

  “You’re the one who chose this location in the woods, of all places,” I said. “Martin’s training grounds? That was your decision, wasn’t it?”

  Algrath pushed against the invisible barrier of the circle, testing his boundaries, but each time the barrier repelled him, the reality of his situation seemed to deepen.

  Finally, he screamed so loud it shook the ground.

  “I wanted Martin to find you here on his own property, where he trained the Slayer who captured my brother,” Algrath said, dropping to his knees. “I wanted him to know that it was his own actions that took you from him. How did you know where we were?”

  “There are symbols burned into the trees at the edge of the training grounds,” I said. “The moment I saw one, I knew what had to be done. It’s over, Algrath.”

  He took several ragged breaths before looking up at me, his teeth bared.

  “It’s not over yet,” he said. “You may have me trapped, but you can’t hurt me. Surely you didn’t think that small mirror could hold me. You couldn’t even banish me if you wanted to. I took your key, remember?”

  I reached for the familiar key and locket at my neck and shook my head.

  “You really don’t think much of me, do you?” I said. “What kind of witch wears her real key in plain sight of a demon?”

  This was a trick Gianna had told me about. Just before the battle began, she’d had me take a handful of dirt and transform it into a passable replica of my key. Apparently, it had fooled even Algrath.

  When all of this was over, I would have to thank both her and Gowan for everything they’d taught me. They’d saved my life.

  I reached down into my boot and tugged on the silver chain tucked inside.

  Algrath screamed again as I secured the locket and key around my neck.

  “You aren’t strong enough,” he growled. “You aren’t even a real Slayer.”

  “Maybe not,” I said, real tears falling down my cheeks as a set of familiar faces appeared on the other side of the circle. “But they are.”

  Algrath’s eyes got so big, I thought they would burst, and he let his head fall back in a loud roar that shook the trees around us.

  Martin nodded to me from across the circle as the others spread out around Algrath.

  “You,” Algrath said, turning to stare at Martin with pure hatred in his eyes. “I will make you pay for this. Someday, you will burn in agony for eternity, my plaything in hell.”

  Martin raised an eyebrow.

  “Will I?” he asked. “Because I seem to remember your brother making a similar statement right before I sentenced him to eternity inside a mirror filled with flames and terror. I believe he’s still there, isn’t he?”

  Algrath hissed and beat his fists against the circle’s barrier, but he was ours now.

  Martin nodded to Darius, who then pulled a much larger mirror than mine from his satchel and pointed it straight at Algrath.

  “Don’t do this,” Algrath said, turning to me as he shifted one final time into the girl I thought I’d grown so close to on that first day of school.

  To me, Peyton appeared on her knees in the circle, tears streaming down her face.

  “Don’t let them do this to me, Lenny,” she said, her voice sounding so real and sincere, it tugged at my heart. “No one will ever be your friend if you live this kind of life. Have mercy on me. I’m begging you.”

  I shook my head, amazed at how the manipulative powers of a demon like
this could still make me feel anything even though I knew who was really inside.

  It hurt to let go of the idea of having a friend like Peyton. I wanted so badly to feel like I was part of something. Like I mattered to someone.

  But as Kai stepped out of the shadows with Gianna and the other girls, I looked around the circle at the Slayers who had been willing to go against the Council to stand at my side. I did matter to a lot of people, actually. I had all the friends I needed, right here.

  “Wait,” I said, wanting to get answers before we banished him to a fate worse than hell. “You had an angel with you. Zuriel. Where is he?”

  Kai and I shared a look of hope and fear.

  “Zuriel, yes,” Algrath said, turning to look at Kai. “I threatened to kill his child if he refused to help me find the mirrors, so he did as I told him. I planned to feed him to my brother when he went free, but sadly, heaven took him from me when we reached Newcastle.”

  “Heaven?” I asked.

  “Yes, he was summoned,” he said. “By God himself, for all I know. I decided his half-breed son would work as a good substitute, and I was so close to making it happen. I promise you, you won’t get away with this. When I find a way out, I will hunt each one of you down and make sure you and everyone you’ve ever loved suffers for eternity.”

  I took a deep breath and turned to Darius, my eyes questioning as I held my hands out. I wanted a piece of this guy.

  Darius looked to Martin, who tried to suppress a small smile before he nodded.

  Darius handed the mirror to me, and with a deep breath, I pointed it straight toward Peyton. A friend I’d never had.

  A demon who had taken so much from me, it was going to feel good to put him where he really belonged.

  “Don’t,” he screamed, attempting to shift and stand up, but as he did, Martin took something from his pocket.

  “Just like your brother, you deserve to burn inside that mirror,” he said, calmly throwing a handful of some kind of dust toward Algrath. “Incendium.”

  Algrath’s body went up in white flame that brought him back down to his knees.

  “Now,” Gowan said.

  I took several deep, nervous breaths and held the mirror straight with one hand. I closed my other hand around the cool silver case of my mother’s locket, drawing power from her memory and her love.