Episode 15 of The Witch’s Key: “Wonder How Long That Will Last”
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Witch’s Key!! If you’re new to this story, you can begin by listening or reading it here:
This is a bit of a shorter episode today, and I’m going to be taking a break from reading this story for a few days as I write the ending and make sure it’s a cohesive and exciting last few episodes!
I’ll still be going live daily on YouTube at 4PM, but I’ll be reading a different short story for a few days and then coming back to read Episode 16 on Monday!
Listen to my Reading of Episode 15
Episode 15: “Wonder How Long That Will Last”
I could hardly breathe as I looked up at Kai. He’d been completely transformed.
Yes, of course, he’d always been a good-looking guy, but now, with his white wings extended behind him and their golden light casting the most beautiful shadows across his face, I was mesmerized.
Whatever part of me had been holding out, refusing to fall for anyone so fast, completely gave in, and I suddenly became acutely aware of his hands on my face.
“You’re an angel,” I managed to say, my voice barely more than a whisper.
He was like a dream, and I wondered if I’d maybe eaten a Moondust cupcake and all of this was a figment of my drugged imagination.
But when he ran a fingertip across the line of my hair at my forehead, I knew there was no way this feeling inside me was made up. It was just about the most real thing I’d ever felt in my life.
“Half angel,” he said with a slow smile, our eyes locked. “I was trying to keep that to myself for as long as possible, but that became impossible the second you rushed head-first into danger, yet again.”
I blushed and sat up.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think we were in any real danger with them gone,” I said. “How was I supposed to know the house was trapped?”
He sat back and his wings slowly faded into nothing. I missed their light and warmth immediately. He looked normal and human again, but my heart hadn’t stopped racing.
“It’s curious, too. Now that I think about,” he said, frowning.
“What’s curious?” I asked, taking my first good look around at the house.
There was a huge pile of grey ashes where the trap demon had fallen, and there were dark, burned fingerprints in some of the doorways and on the floor from the demons’ touch. There was no way to really hide what had happened here.
I seriously hoped Olive wasn’t going to be the first one home.
“It’s curious that I didn’t trigger that trap when I came in alone,” Kai said. “I don’t know how this particular trap works, but with most traps, they’re triggered when anyone comes in contact with them. So, why didn’t I trip it when I walked in?”
I stood.
“Why don’t we discuss it while we walk out the door?” I asked, shuddering as I stepped over the trap demon’s ashes.
It wasn’t dead. Just banished. To really complete the job, we would have needed to perform an extra ritual on the ashes to either kill or contain each demon, or at least make sure it never came back from hell. But we didn’t have the right tools, energy, or the time.
After being trapped in here with no way out, I was ready to feel the sun on my face and to see this house in the rearview mirror.
Kai apparently agreed, because he stood and followed me out the door just as quickly.
We didn’t bother walking along the back fences. Instead, we made our way straight to his car and headed back toward Martin’s house.
“It’s possible the trap didn’t trigger because you were invisible,” I said. “But to be honest, I don’t think that has really ever stopped a trap before, unless it was a really weak one.”
“Which means someone specifically set that trap for you,” Kai said.
I shook my head. “That doesn’t make any sense,” I said. “If someone knows we’re getting close to the truth, why wouldn’t they just set a trap for both of us? We’ve been together every step of the way with this.”
“It doesn’t make sense to me, either,” he said. “But I think it’s something we should at least keep in mind. Maybe someone involved specifically wants you dead, Lenny. I don’t want to think that could be true, but I’ve been investigating this for months and never had anything like this happen. You start investigating and a day later, you’ve already been attacked and almost killed twice. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
There are no coincidences.
I could hear my father’s voice in my head. He used to say that all the time. Don’t overlook anything or dismiss it as just a coincidence. Everything had meaning to some degree. Everything was potentially important.
And paying attention to those little details could mean the difference between life and death.
So, on top of everything else, I needed to think about why someone might specifially want me dead. Or want me to stay out of this whole investigation.
There was no real reason for Julie Peterson to care about me, in particular, even if Algrath was currently running around pretending to be her.
But there was one name that came to mind. Someone who would have a lot to lose if I discovered a connection between her and a powerful demon.
Ms. Greer would potentially lose everything, including her position as Keeper, if the Council found out she was involved in this, working for the other side.
I wondered if she was still in town, and if so, if Martin knew how to get ahold of her.
When we made it back to Martin’s without running into any demons, I sighed in relief. I’d been checking out every car we’d passed on the way home, and I realized my entire body had been tense the whole drive home.
We found Martin in the kitchen making paninis.
My stomach growled. I was so lucky to live with someone who really knew how to cook. My parents had been all about quick and easy meals, so I’d grown up on fast food, canned vegetables, and ramen noodles.
I would have traded all the paninis in the world to have them back, but at least there were a few perks to my new life.
Martin narrowed his eyes at me. “What happened to you, Lenora? You’ve been fighting,” he said. “I told you not to engage and to watch from afar. I take it you ignored my instructions. Again.”
“It wasn’t exactly my fault,” I said, grabbing a handful of homemade potato chips from a bowl on the counter.
Kai and I explained the entire scene that had played out at Ms. Julie’s house, filling him in on everything from the backyard poison ivy to the trap demon triggered only by me.
“You never should have gone into that house,” Martin said, glaring at Kai.
“It was my decision to go in, so don’t take it out on him,” I said as we sat down to eat.
“Oh, I have no doubt it was your decision to go inside, but Kai here was told to keep you out of danger,” Martin said. “Kai, I thought we worked this out earlier.”
Kai cleared his throat.
“Yes, sir. We did,” he said. “I’ll do better next time.”
I frowned.
“No, that’s not fair,” I said. “I’m allowed to make my own decisions, even if they’re bad ones. I don’t want anyone holding me back from what I need to do.”
“Yes, it would be a tragedy if someone saved your life by keeping you from rushing into things like The Devil’s Snare,” Martin said with a chuckle. “Don’t worry, girl. No one is trying to take away your freedom, but until you develop a little more common sense and a little less jump-right-in, I’m going to continue to look out for you. It’s called family.”
He put his hand on mine for a brief moment, and tears sprang to my eyes.. It meant a lot to have someone like Martin looking out for me.
And hey, now I also had a guardian angel. Kind of.
I smiled at the thought of it and glanced at Kai.
I still had so many questions about his heritage. Where had his mother come from? What coven did she belong to? And how, exactly, had his father fallen in love with a human witch?
There were a lot of myths about angels and some people actually doubted their existence at all, but one thing everyone seemed to agree on in the legends was the humans and angels were not allowed to be together.
Angels probably also weren’t supposed to be friends with Slayers, but Kai had said his father was good friends with my parents.
I wanted to know more about that.
And more about what had happened to his father.
So many questions, so little time.
“What’s next?” Kai asked, polishing off the last of his sandwich. “That was delicious, by the way. Those would be a huge hit at Sir Bean, I bet. Melvin has been thinking about adding a full menu.”
Martin smiled and cleared away the dishes.
“If I ever get bored enough to need such a diversion, I will let you know,” he said. “For now, though, we have quite a lot to take care of before tomorrow. I would like to go back to have a look at that portal, if there’s time, but first—”
His words were interrupted by the chime of the doorbell.
That doorbell hadn’t made a sound since the day I moved in three months ago, and now it had rung twice in one day. I groaned. More bad news? I wasn’t sure my heart could take it.
I wanted to rush out to the foyer to answer it myself, but after our earlier conversation, I decided to resist my jump-right-in tendencies, as Martin had called it, and wait for him to slowly make his way out there, instead.
“Aren’t you going to see who’s here?” Kai asked, leaning his tall frame against the kitchen counter.
“No. As a matter of fact, I’m being super mature right now and waiting to see what Martin says. I can be patient and calm if I want to be.”
“I see,” Kai said with a smirk. “Wonder how long that will last?”
I lifted my chin in defiance and tried to appear calm as my toes tapped inside my shoes.
What was taking Martin so long? Was it the police again? Did the detective know I’d broken into the Peterson house?
Well, that would just be a big mess I couldn’t explain.
I bit my lip and frowned, checking the clock. Kai stifled a laugh.
“Lenny, come out here, please,” Martin called, and my stomach flipped nervously.
Kai and I exchanged looks, and then we both practically ran into each other trying to cramp through the kitchen doorway at the same time.
I laughed as I pushed in front of him and he bumped my arm with his, but when he reached the foyer, his eyes grew wide.
Almost scared to look up, I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the worst. I expected the detective or maybe Blythe Greer, but instead, a group of five people wearing harsh expressions stood in the entryway, their eyes trained on me.
I gasped and then screamed as I ran forward. A tall woman with long, red hair in a high ponytail stepped forward, her arms wide open as she leaned forward to pull me into a huge bear hug.
“Gianna,” I said, wrapping my arms around her.
My mother’s best friend. I hadn’t seen her since the funeral.
“What are you all doing here?” I asked, finally pulling away to look at the group of five Slayers whose presence was surely not sanctioned by the Council.
“We’re here to help you banish this demon, once and for all,” Gianna said. She smiled, her eyes darting from me to Kai. “But first, we’re going to show you a few tricks to help you stay alive, next time you get yourself into trouble.”
I smiled, excitement rushing through me like it was Christmas morning.
Five of the most powerful, deadliest Slayers in the WItch’s Council were going to teach us how to fight. Our chances of saving Peyton and the others just grew exponentially.