Episode 21 of The Witch’s Key: “The Ritual”
Here we are!! You made it *almost* to the end of the story. Today is part one of the season finale of The Witch’s Key.
I explain more in today’s video, but despite staying up almost all night and writing all day today, I still didn’t manage to finish the resolution/epilogue of the story.
Today, you’ll get to read the climax of the book and the end of the action. On Monday, I’ll read and post the resolution and epilogue!
I have a lot of news to share before the video and chapter, so keep scrolling to see all the awesome announcements. So many amazing things to talk about.
I hope you enjoy today’s climax!!! I can already see a lot I want to change and tighten up in edits, but I’m really proud of this and I hope you love it.
Preorder The Witch’s Key Now!
Great news! The Witch’s Key is available now for preorder!
Amazon | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Kobo Books
The Witch’s Key will release on May 19, and while it will be this same story you’ve hopefully come to love, it will be professionally edited and even better by then!
I will also be publishing this in paperback, but that will not release until the ebook is available in May. Thank you so much!
Make Your #MoondustCupcakes
As part of our finale celebration, chef Pamela Batalla was so amazing to actually create Moondust Cupcakes for us to make. I am floored. Look at these!!
If you would like to make these for yourself, you can head over to this dropbox file and download the recipes!! Thank you so much, Pamela.
And if you make these or have your own moondust creation, please use the hashtag #MoondustCupcakes on Social media so everyone can see!
Sir Bean Logo and Merchandise!
Y’all!!!! This is something I am crazy excited to share with you today. A good friend of my husband George made us an amazing logo for Sir Bean!!!! I can’t stop with all the exclamation marks, because I’m so excited!!!
And here it is… A Knight riding a coffee bean… He fights for coffee beans everywhere!
How amazing is this?? I’m so in love with it! I can just see it on coffee mugs and cupcake boxes, haha.
And what’s even more fun is that George put together a special store over at teespring with some exclusive Sir Bean Merchandise like T-shirts, mugs, and stickers! Come check it out and order your Sir Bean shirt today!
Listen to the Live Finale (Part 1) now!
Read Episode 21: “The Ritual”
I woke to the sound of my body being dragged through the dirt and pine needles on the forest floor.
Peyton—or rather the demon who had stolen her appearance—had wrapped me in the same kind of netting I’d seen around Kai a few nights ago and was pulling me by my ankles. I struggled against the restraints, but it was no use. My arms were pinned to my side, and the more I struggled, the tighter the net became.
I also no longer had access to my backpack. That meant I had no weapon, no reagents, no hope.
I glanced around, trying to get my bearings. We were definitely still in the forest. I had no way of knowing if it was the same forest near the cabin, though, or not. Asher had said the wards wouldn’t work to keep Algrath from going through a portal, so we could be anywhere by now.
Martin’s tracking spell would lead him straight to Algrath as soon as it was fully activated, but would he make it here in time?
I had no way of knowing how long I’d been unconscious, but it couldn’t have been long. Algrath had to cast this entire, complex ritual by midnight. It was all happening so fast.
Up ahead, voices spoke in hushed tones. It sounded like they were arguing, but I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying.
I craned my neck to try and see what was going on and where Algrath was taking me, but my vision remained slightly blurred from whatever smoke had knocked me out earlier. My body and mind were both slow to react, as if I’d been drugged with something.
“Don’t worry, Lenny. We’ll be there soon,” Algrath said, but he still had Peyton’s face. Her voice.
It broke my heart to even think about it.
My first real friend, and she had turned out to be a demon in disguise. I’d never even met the real Peyton. How could I have fallen for her friendship act? Was I really so desperate that I was blind to people’s true nature?
At least the real Peyton was safe, for now. That was one girl who would make it home to her parents tonight. But where were the other four? And what had Algrath done with Kai and Gianna?
I didn’t have to wonder long, though, because Algrath only pulled me about fifteen more feet before dropping my legs and bending down near my face.
He still wore Peyton’s face, but I had to force myself to see beyond that. No doubt he was only keeping up the charade to mess with my emotions, just like Gowan had said he would.
“Oh, Lenny, you can’t imagine how long I’ve dreamed of this moment,” Algrath said, smiling. “Ever since Martin helped to put my brother in those mirrors, I have dreamed of someday using the sacrifice of someone he loved to bring my brother back again. When he finds you here…The balance of it all is just so deliciously beautiful. Martin, of course, will be devastated. It will be so much fun to watch. At least until we kill him, too.”
I struggled harder against the shadowy netting, but it only grew tighter around my body.
Algrath laughed. “This is every bit as much fun as I’d hoped it would be.”
“Ouch,” someone said. “This stupid broken mirror cut my finger again. I’m so tired of this. When are we going to get started, already?”
I recognized that voice.
Confused, I turned my head toward the girl who’d just walked up behind Algrath, and I gasped.
Brandy stood there, one hand on her hip, holding a bloody finger toward the demon.
“Do you see what that mirror did to my finger? You promised me immortality and eternal youth,” she said. “I didn’t sign up to drag girls through the woods and draw pentagrams in the dirt. Seriously, Peyton, I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing here, but if you ask me to do one more ridiculous thing, I’m giving up on you.”
Algrath made Peyton’s eyes sparkle with mischief, but it made my stomach turn.
How long had Brandy been caught up in all of this? And how could she seriously believe that was still Peyton in there? Didn’t she realize what was happening?
I wanted to warn her that she was making deals with a demon, but I didn’t want to interrupt their conversation. For now, I needed to just listen and observe. Brandy had gotten herself into this mess, so she could deal with the consequences.
“I don’t want to be here, either,” Olive said, stepping forward. She had her arms wrapped tightly around her body, and she was shivering.
I wanted to scream at both of them. Had they been part of this the entire time? Were none of my new friendships real?
“Shut up, Olive,” Brandy said sharply. “You seemed more than happy to do this when we talked about it a few weeks ago.”
Olive frowned and looked at me, shaking her head.
“I didn’t know we were going to have to do this,” she said. “I thought we were just setting my mom and that Bates guy up for drug dealing. If you’d told me this had anything to do with our friends going missing, you know I wouldn’t have been a part of this.”
“Well, it’s too late to back out now,” Algrath said, but it was obvious Olive still believed that was her friend Peyton.
I had no idea what story they’d fed her about why Peyton had only pretended to go missing, but poor Olive was in this just as much as I was now. We were probably both going to die before all of this was over.
Algrath pulled Brandy’s finger to his lips and kissed it. Brandy made a face, but when she looked down, she smiled and clapped her hands.
“There we go,” she said. “That’s the kind of magic I want to be able to do. Olive, did you see that? I told you Peyton was a witch. She’s going to give us some of that power tonight. That and more. I’m going to have flawless skin for the rest of my life. I can hardly wait.”
Olive didn’t look impressed by the magic. Instead, she turned away, leaning her head against a tree, her shoulders shaking.
Brandy shrugged and pulled a small mirror from her pocket. She applied a thick layer of lip balm and stared at herself for a long moment before scrunching her nose in disapproval and snapping the mirror shut.
She put it back in her pocket, and turned to Algrath.
“When is our magic going to kick in, by the way?” she asked, a look of disgust on her face as she glanced at something on the ground at her feet.
If I was reading her right, there was also sheer terror locked away somewhere in her eyes, but she seemed to be willing to face that terror in order to gain eternal beauty. I felt like I was going to be sick.
“Don’t tell me you’re losing your stomach for this, already?” Algrath asked with Peyton’s voice. “We’re just getting started, Brandy. But don’t worry. You’ll get your magic soon enough, and I promise you, once you do, you’ll hardly remember what it was like to be so plain.”
Brandy frowned, but she quickly shrugged it off and pulled her shoulders back.
“Good, because I’ve done everything you asked me to,” Brandy said. “I made those little bundles of lavender and poison ivy you asked me for, making sure to use vines from Olive’s backyard. I put that black vase in Olive’s house the other day before school for you, for whatever good that seemed to do.”
Algrath met my eyes and smiled again. The Devil’s Snare. He’d had Brandy plant the trap before Kai and I got there.
“And now, I’ve even drawn this design you gave me and put these broken mirrors beside each of the girls and their symbols,” Brandy said. “I’m not doing one more thing until you give me a taste of that beauty and power you promised. I’ve had to betray a lot of people I cared about to get here, and I just want to make sure we’re still in this together, Peyton.”
Algrath, apparently, had already gotten tired of Brandy’s non-stop talking, because when he turned, his face flashed from Peyton’s to his true, demonic form.
Even though I’d half been expecting it, I still had to look away. To see something so pure and beautiful instantly turn into something so grotesque was unsettling, to say the least.
Brandy screamed and fell back on her butt in the dirt. She dug her heels into the dirt to push herself backward, but Algrath simply pointed a bony finger toward her, sending a dark rope around her waist and pulling her back toward him.
“You will not make demands of me, human. And you won’t threaten me, either,” Algrath said. His face settled back to Peyton’s. “You’ll do whatever I tell you to do, or you will die with the rest of these worthless girls. Now, finish the preparations. I want you to double check each symbol and make sure each girl is placed exactly where she needs to be placed for this to work.”
“Of course,” Brandy said, her hands visibly shaking. Tears glistened in her eyes.
Well, that answered my questions about whether or not Brandy knew what was really going on out here.
It blew my mind that someone who seemed so sweet and genuine had come out here willingly to help her friend kill five girls.
And not just us.
About fifteen feet away, Kai hung suspended about halfway up a tree. I prayed to see his eyes flutter open or his body move in a way that would let me know he was even still alive, but he didn’t move at all.
I looked for Gianna, too, but I didn’t see her anywhere.
From what I could tell between the conversation and what little visibility I had around here, the four girls who had been kidnapped after Peyton all lay on the ground in a clearing just ahead.
LaTasha Owings, Marcia Valentine, Samantha Anderson, and April Green.
I’d never officially met any of them, but as Algrath grabbed my ankles again and began pulling me toward the clearing, I realized that I shared something in common with those girls.
Peyton had never really been the fifth girl intended for the sacrifice. It was me Algrath intended to kill tonight.
“Why me?” I asked. “Why not just use the real Peyton for the fifth sacrifice? Why do you need me? Or is this really just about getting back at Martin after all this time? That’s a long time to hold a grudge, don’t you think? Besides, I never did anything to you. I don’t deserve this.”
“What I feel is not a grudge,” Algrath said, sucking air through his teeth. His anger made Peyton’s eyes turn black for a moment. “This is so much more than a grudge. It’s hatred that runs so deep, it crosses the boundaries of time and blood. You are a Thorne, and in my mind, that makes you guilty of crossing my family.”
He laughed and then glanced at Brandy, who was leaning over something on the ground a few feet away.
“Besides,” he said softly, “to restore my brother to full strength, there are three things I must do. One, release each piece of the mirror into which he was banished. As you no doubt already know, tonight’s ritual will release the final piece.”
I couldn’t quite see what Algrath was doing with his hands, but it was no use straining myself to look. The shadowy netting was already so tight, I could hardly move at all.
I had no idea how much preparation this ritual required, but one mistake we’d all made was assuming Algrath was working alone. We never even discussed the possibility that someone else might be setting up a second location for the ritual.
That first circle by the cabin had been nothing more than a decoy to throw us off.
“Second, of course, I must sacrifice young, magical blood. The more innocent and powerful, the better,” Algrath said, a smile slowly spreading across his lips as he looked directly into my eyes. “Imagine my joy when I was able to convince the Council to send you here. I held Peyton as an insurance policy, just in case I couldn’t capture you, but when you showed up at the cabin tonight, you made all my dreams come true.”
“You convinced the Council to send me here?” I asked, chills going through me.
Algrath giggled.
“Don’t tell me you haven’t put that piece of the puzzle together yet,” he said, clicking his tongue with disapproval. “And I thought you were supposed to be smart.”
I didn’t take the bait. Obviously, part of Algrath’s game was that he used insults to get you riled up. I didn’t care if he thought I was smart or not. What really bothered me was the idea of the Council sending me to Newcastle High like a lamb to the slaughter.
“What’s the third thing?” Brandy asked.
“I didn’t realize you were listening to our conversation,” Algrath said. He stood and ran a hand down Brandy’s hair. She instantly seemed to forget her question.
Did he have some kind of coercion powers, too?
“What was I saying?” Brandy asked with a shake of her head.
“Nothing important,” Algrath said. “Let’s take Lenora out of her net and wake everyone up. It’s almost time.”
That seemed to wake Brandy up a bit. Her eyes lit up, and she bounced on her toes.
“I was hoping you would say that. I can’t wait.”
I honestly couldn’t tell if Brandy was under some kind of spell, or if she really thought sacrificing five girls was a reasonable price to pay for eternal beauty. Still, the fact that she seriously believed this demon would follow through was a little heartbreaking.
Algrath hadn’t gotten a chance to say what the third thing was that he needed in order to help restore his brother’s power, but I was pretty sure I knew what it was.
He needed a vessel.
When Regmothean was first released from the mirrors, he would be weak from having been split into pieces for so long. The ritual itself would give him his body back, but he would need to rest.
I knew from my reading that the best place for a demon to rest and regain power was inside a host. In this case, a non-magical human who would not interfere with the fact that Regmothean intended to consume her entire life force in order to restore his former power.
Plus, Martin and the others would be looking for them. Regmothean needed a place to hide for a while. At least until his host died.
If Brandy hadn’t looked so happy about the prospect of killing all of us to get what she wanted, I might have felt sorry for her.
Algrath bent down next to me again, and despite Peyton’s lovely face, he stank of sulphur and ash.
“Now, listen here, Lenny Thorne, you be a good girl, you hear me?” he said. “I’m going to let you out of this net, but if you make so much as a single attempt to get away from me, I will kill your little boyfriend over there and your red-headed Slayer friend. Do you promise to be a good girl?”
I nodded, feeling powerless as Algrath finally dissolved the purple, shadowy netting around my body. He left my hands bound behind my back, though, and moved me into place in the circle, propping me up on my knees.
Gowan had said our emotions were our greatest weakness, and he had been absolutely right. How could I do anything now when Algrath had control over people I loved? I had no choice but to do as I was told.
Now that I was upright, I did a quick scan of the clearing.
Gianna lay on the ground about twenty feet away. She was wrapped in the kind of netting that had held me, but she didn’t seem to be conscious at all. I glanced up at Kai, and for a second, I thought I saw his head roll to one side slightly, but when he went still again, I wasn’t sure if I had imagined it or not.
The four other girls intended for the sacrifice were all kneeling in the dirt around the ritual circle, just like me, spaced out at each point of the pentagram. They seemed to be awake but under some kind of trance or spell that made them unaware of what they were doing.
At least I hoped they were unaware. That, at least, would have been merciful.
Each girl had a symbol burned into her forearm, work Algrath had done back at the cabin. A matching symbol had been drawn in the dirt in front of each girl.
I had been moved to the fifth point of the pentagram, and the symbol there, I realized as I focused in on a sore feeling on my own forearm, had likely already been burned into my skin, as well.
Panic threatened to overwhelm me, and I wanted to just run. But I thought of Kai and Gianna. I couldn’t put their lives at risk.
Besides, where would I go? We were deep in the woods somewhere, and I had no idea which way to go to find the road or the cabin. It was also possible this was all some kind of trick and Algrath had taken us through a portal to another town while I was passed out.
Where exactly were we?
I couldn’t act on impulse without thinking it through, but if I was going to do something, I had better do it fast. I had a feeling that as soon as I was locked into that circle on my knees, it was already too late to stop this thing.
“That was a clever trick with Julie Peterson,” I said, wanting to get Algrath talking so I could at least give Martin a chance at finding us.
The last I’d heard, we were only fifteen minutes or so away from the location spell being dead accurate. How much time had passed since then? It had to have been at least ten minutes. He could be here any minute.
“Even Martin really fell for it, as you saw. Seeing her there in the closet made it seem like she’d been there the whole time, but you really only abducted her yesterday when she went through that portal with Bates. Is that right?”
“It’s always so much fun to come up with ways to trick Slayers and Keepers,” Algrath said. “It was relatively easy to make it seem that Julie and Bates were working together to kidnap innocent girls. Once all of this is over, that local detective who thinks he’s so smart is going to be blaming this entire thing on the two of them. Such a local tragedy, but our heroes in blue got it all figured out.”
“How are they going to explain her motive, though?” I asked. I needed to keep him talking. “Why would Ms. Julie want anyone dead? Especially her daughter’s friends. It’s not like the police know about the moondust in the cupcakes.”
“No, but they’ll find poor Olive’s diaries,” Algrath said. “She was always so jealous of her more popular friends. Even the new girl in town seemed to catch the eye of the hard-to-get bad boy. The diaries, combined with the scene they’ll find out here, will be enough to convince them.”
I shook my head. “But why even bother? Why do you care if the police wrap this up or not?”
Algrath had been using some kind of wand or stick with a few crystals encrusted at the tip to draw in the dirt, but he suddenly stopped and gave me a curious look.
“You know the Council doesn’t want the human world to find out about our kind. This is part of my agreement with the Council,” he said. “As long as I promised to make sure to keep our world concealed in all of this and provide a somewhat local explanation for the normal world to swallow, the Council promised to send me you.”
I didn’t really want to believe him, but it made sense. Was this real, or another one of his tricks to manipulate me?
“Of course, that meant they had to let two of their most powerful Slayers die, but that didn’t bother them too much,” he said. “Your parents were getting in the way of their progress, anyway. It was only a matter of time before they needed to be put down.”
Tears welled in my eyes, and I shook my head.
“That’s not true,” I said. “The Council had nothing to do with my parents’ death.”
Algrath raised an eyebrow and stopped moving for a moment.
“Didn’t they?” he asked. “Not that it matters now. Once you’re gone, there are only a handful of people who will know the truth, and they’ll never admit to it. With any luck, I’ll be able to take out a few more of their insubordinate Slayers before this is all over. Then they’ll really owe me.”
“I don’t believe you,” I said. “The Council would never work with a demon like you. You’re lying to get under my skin.”
Algrath laughed, throwing his head back.
“I love how incredibly naive you are,” he said. “You’re so innocent and trusting, just like your mother, really. You believe that just because the Thorne family has been loyal to them for centuries, the Council must have pure intentions. But the truth is, there are many within the coven and even the Council itself who believe it’s time for a new way of doing things. This new group of leaders understands that the only way to gain the true power they desire for the coven, they’ll have to work with demons. Not against them.”
I didn’t want to believe a word he was saying, but there had to be some reason the Council had refused to get involved in such a high-profile case. And they had, in fact, commanded me to go to school here in Newcastle.
As for the death of my parents, many of us had been confused about how that whole thing went down. I had blamed myself, but maybe it really hadn’t been my fault at all.
A tear fell down my cheek.
My parents had dedicated their lives to the Witch’s Council, and this is how they’d been repaid?
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.
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. Algrath 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.
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. “He’ll 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 named Renee 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. You can’t even banish me. 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 site of a demon?”
This was a trick Gianna had told me about. 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 couldn’t banish me even if you knew how. 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.”
Algrath hissed and beat his fists against the circle’s barrier, but he was ours now.
Martin nodded to Darius, who then pulled a medium-sized mirror 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.
I took a deep breath and turned to Darius, my eyes questioning as I held my hands out.
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.
“In Quod Relego,” I said.
Algrath’s image wavered before us, and a thin line of smoke and flame formed from the mirror to his body, pulling him forward.
Gowan and Darius stepped toward me, placing their hands on the edges of the mirror.
“In Quod Relego,” they repeated.
The wind around us kicked up and rain began to fall again in sheets all around us. Lightning flashed and a moment later, thunder boomed in the distance. In my hands, the mirror vibrated and warmed.
“More,” Gowan shouted over the storm.
Britta and Asher ran toward us, placing their hands over ours as we huddled together.
As a group, we all repeated the incantation one more time, pooling our power together. Standing as one.
“In Quod Relego.”
With that, Algrath’s body was pulled into the mirror and the storm around us stopped instantly.
Drained and exhausted, I released the mirror and fell to my knees just outside the Demon’s Circle.
It was over.
Algrath had finally been defeated.