Episode 7 of The Witch’s Key: “More To It Than That”
I hope you all had an amazing weekend! It’s time now for Episode 7 of The Witch’s Key!
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Episode 7: “More To It Than That”
Blythe Greer scared the crap out of me. I’d never seen her smile. Not once the entire time I’d known her.
Even her ravens all seemed to have hard expressions when they delivered notes from her.
I’d grown to fear the sight of her, even as a child, because whenever she appeared in person, it was almost always to deliver bad news or to reprimand my parents in some way.
I needed to tread carefully here.
“I haven’t done anything to interfere directly in any investigation into the missing girls,” I said.
“Missing girls?” Martin asked. “How on earth did you get tangled up in that mess?”
I sighed. At least Ms. Greer hadn’t been here long enough to explain everything to Martin.
“It’s all anyone is talking about at school,” I said. I looked Ms. Greer directly in the eyes. “The school the Council insisted I attend, by the way.”
She had literally no expression. Unless “harsh” was an expression.
“The girl who was taken today was my friend,” I said.
I didn’t offer anything else, because frankly, I didn’t know how much the Council knew. The fact that they knew anything kind of gave me the willies, because I hadn’t really done anything beyond the locating spell. I had no idea they were watching me this closely.
“I’ve done nothing wrong,” I said.
“Where were you just now?” Ms. Greer asked. “At school like you were supposed to be?”
I shifted my weight and adjusted the bag on my shoulder. “I was visiting another friend I’d made at school the past couple days.”
I glanced at Uncle Martin, hoping maybe his expression would give me some clue as to what kind of trouble I was in here. Truth be told, I really hadn’t done anything illegal. Not yet, anyway.
I had used my magic a few times, but I hadn’t done anything that uninitiated witches aren’t sanctioned to do. Why, exactly, was Ms. Greer here in Newcastle?
“See, she was just visiting a friend,” Uncle Martin said. “I told you she’s done nothing wrong. A mirror spell is not a punishable offense if no one sees it. Why are you here, Ms. Greer? Let’s get down to it. I’m too old to play games, especially where my ward is concerned.”
Blythe Greer kept her eyes on mine for a long, silent moment. It was enough to make my hands sweat and my mouth go dry, but I at least managed to keep my knees from knocking together. Audibly, anyway.
“Put your bag down and sit,” Ms. Greer said, motioning to the dusty couch in the formal sitting room no one ever used.
I glanced at Martin, and he nodded slightly.
“You may go,” she said to Martin, not even bothering to look at him.
His mouth opened for a moment, and I thought he was going to tell her to stuff it at first. After a few seconds, though, he excused himself and walked away.
Crap. Now, I really was on my own.
I did as Ms. Greer asked and set my bag down on the floor next to the couch. I dusted off a small section of the velvet surface and sat down, coughing as a cloud of dust surrounded me. Man, when was the last time anyone actually sat on this thing? 1902?
If I ever did hope to have friends who came to visit and hang out the way we’d done at Peyton’s, we were going to need to make some serious changes around here.
Maybe Peyton’s parents would be so grateful once I helped save her life that they’d come to our house and redecorate the entire place for free. All new furniture and paint. Give the old place a facelift.
I imagined the look on Uncle Martin’s face as they tried to pull down his black chandelier, and I smiled.
“This is no laughing matter, Lenora,” Ms. Greer said.
I pressed my lips together and straightened my shoulders.
I didn’t want to make this any worse, but I couldn’t help myself. It was a defense mechanism.
“I know why you weren’t at school just now,” Ms. Greer said.
I took a deep breath. Okay, so they knew where I was, but how in the heck had the Council sent someone so quickly? I’d only just gone to Kai’s a couple of hours ago.
“I am extremely disappointed that you chose to go outside our coven for information,” she said. “The situation with these young women is unfortunate, but it’s not your concern. Why did you seek the help of an outsider, rather than come to me or even your uncle?”
None of my concern?
I crossed my arms in front of my chest. That was exactly why I hadn’t come to her. I knew she would tell me to stay out of it.
“Is the Council sending someone else to save them?” I asked.
“The Council does not answer to you, child.”
“Technically, I don’t answer to the Council yet, either,” I said, regretting my words the second they popped out of my mouth. “I haven’t taken the test, I mean.”
“You are forbidden to look into the disappearances of these human teenagers any further,” Ms. Greer said. “You are not allowed to look for them, research the facts, or try to aid them in any way. This an official order from the Council of Witches. Do you understand what that means, Lenora?”
I clenched my jaw so tight, I thought I was going to break a tooth.
There was no way I could just sit back and watch those girls die. I wouldn’t do it.
“Lenora, answer me.”
I bit my tongue and tried to hold it in. I even thought through an appropriate, obedient response, but I couldn’t force myself to actually agree to it.
In the end, like always, my tongue had a mind of its own.
“Are you seriously telling me the Council is planning to do nothing to help these girls?” I asked, standing. “They all have magical blood. Magical ancestry, just like us. What if it was me who’d gone missing? Would I just be left to die?”
“Of course not, but it wasn’t you who was taken, and none of those young women are in touch with their magical abilities in any way,” she said. “They don’t even know what they’re capable of, and I’d be surprised if they could access any magical abilities with how little there is in their systems, even with extensive training. Those girls are not part of our world.”
“That doesn’t make them any less valuable,” I said, daring to step closer to her. I was so angry, my body shook with it. “You could choose to send in a few slayers and save them right now. I know you could.”
“What the Council decides and why is none of your concern, and if you have any aspirations of becoming an official part of the Slayer community, you’ll do exactly as you’re told and leave this alone.”
“Or what?” I asked, standing my ground.
Ms. Greer’s eye twitched slightly. She wasn’t used to being defied in any way, but I couldn’t help myself.
“Trust me when I say you don’t want to find out,” she said.
The threat in her eyes made me feel a bit sick to my stomach. What would they do to me if I kept going with this investigation? Would they kill me?
Surely not.
But from her expression, I honestly couldn’t tell.
“At least explain to me why the Council is choosing not to get involved. It doesn’t make any sense,” I said. “Kai told me he has research that proves this demon has done this before. Several times. How is killing this many girls okay with the Council? How is this not crossing some kind of line?”
Ms. Greer’s eyes flashed with red, like embers igniting deep inside her.
“The Council does not have to explain its decisions to you or to anyone,” she said. “And Kai Richards is not a part of our Council. He isn’t even abiding by the laws of his own sect, and his actions are eventually going to get him killed. Just like—”
She cut her words off, and tugged at the bottom of her jacket.
“I don’t want to see you go down with him, Lenny, but if you continue to look into this or take any action to try to save those girls, I won’t help you when the Council calls for you. I was very close to your parents, but I want to make it absolutely clear that I will not step in to save you if it comes to that.”
Her words stung.
Deep down, I’d always assumed that despite her harsh ways and ruthless reputation, she was loyal to my parents. For some stupid reason, I believed that meant she would look after me the way she’d always looked out for them.
A Keeper’s job, ultimately, was exactly that. To make sure their Slayers had all the information, training, and support they needed to execute the Council’s orders.
As my parents’ Keeper for most of their career, I felt there was mutual respect and affection in their relationship. Why had I believed that would extend to me after my parents died?
“Have I made myself clear, Ms. Thorne?”
I swallowed back tears and did my best to hide my emotions.
“Crystal,” I said.
“Good. I don’t particularly like to have to handle things in person if it can be avoided, but I came here out of respect for your parents and their loyalty to me and to the Council,” she said. “Stay out of this, Lenora, and you’ll be just fine. Don’t make me come down here again, though. I won’t be this pleasant next time we meet.”
Pleasant? Yeah, she’d been a real joy to have around for the past half hour.
According to her, I was going to have to just let my new friend and four other innocent girls be sacrificed by a demon, regardless of the fact that no one could explain why.
Such pleasant news.
Anger and frustration grew inside me, but I held it back as much as I could. At least until Ms. Greer had made it to her car.
Then, I screamed and punched the wall.
Uncle Martin reappeared from wherever he’d been in the back rooms. “I take it your conversation with Blythe was not productive in the way you might have hoped?”
My fist was still balled up, and I was definitely not done punching things. I couldn’t wait to have more offensive magic in my arsenal, so that I could more effectively express my anger when I needed to.
Right now, I would have very much liked to blow something up.
“It doesn’t make any sense that the Council isn’t stepping in to save these girls,” I said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that their disappearances are tied to rituals performed throughout the world over the past decade. She didn’t even try to deny that. So, how could the Council just let that go? Isn’t this exactly why Slayers exist? To make sure things are balanced? To save the innocent?”
I reared back and punched the doorframe. This time, I hurt myself, but the pain was satisfying. I was so angry, the pain made sense to me. A lot more than the Council’s decisions, anyway.
“They can’t actually expect me to obey their orders, can they? Sitting back when we know there’s something we could still do to help them is murder, Martin. It’s evil, and I thought that’s what we were supposed to stand against. Or am I missing something here?”
He was quiet as I shouted and punched and kicked. I realized I must look like such a child, but I had no other way to express myself. I wanted to destroy everything in my path right now.
“If you want to sit down and talk about this, let’s do it in the kitchen with a cup of hot tea or coffee,” Martin said, his voice calm. “But if you prefer to stay out here and destroy your own ancestral home, so be it.”
I leaned my head against the doorframe and sighed.
What I wanted was to destroy the demon responsible for all of this.
Telling me I couldn’t even try was like chopping off my arms.
Martin had already walked back through the dark hallway toward the kitchen, and I followed him with heavy footsteps.
He was surely going to tell me to obey the Council. That they had their reasons, blah blah blah. I didn’t want to hear it. I wanted answers, not to be told I would have to stay in the dark forever.
Was this what it was like to be a Slayer, too? I’d always imagined my parents as these all-powerful witches with the ability to make their own decisions and exact justice on any creature who deserved it.
But maybe that had been a child’s view of something much more complex. Maybe my parents had been more like soldiers this whole time. Maybe they’d never been free.
I waited in silence as Martin brewed some fresh coffee and poured us each a cup. I always took mine with a bit of cream and sugar, but he drank his black.
“Thank you,” I muttered when he pushed a steaming white mug toward me.
“First, I want you to know that you don’t have to sneak around in this house.” His voice was stern, but I could see a hint of sorrow in his eyes, too. “When you keep things from me, it makes it impossible for me to fully protect you, and regardless of what the Council or Blythe Greer have to say, I will always be here to protect you. Even when you make bad decisions.”
His words went deep and cooled my anger, but I wasn’t ready to let it go.
“I don’t see what the big deal is here about me talking to Kai,” I said. “It’s not like anyone told me not to hang out with the guy. I wasn’t doing anything wrong.”
“You skipped school, as though you had my permission,” Martin said.
I made a face and wrapped my hands around the warm mug.
“Okay, that was probably a bad decision. I’m sorry about that,” I said. “But I was afraid that if I talked to you about what was going on, you’d just tell me to stay out of it.”
“Which means that you already knew what you were doing was wrong,” Martin said softly. “For future reference, if your initial thought is to hide your actions from me, it’s probably something you’re not supposed to be doing.”
I sighed. He was right, but that didn’t make it any easier.
“You have to understand how confusing this is, though,” I said. “I’ve been raised to fight for justice and balance. To save the lives of the innocent and make sure that any demon or other creature tipping the scales too far toward evil is punished. So, I see something happening right under my nose here in Newcastle, and I’m supposed to just let it go? Pretend it’s none of my business? Why? Why aren’t they sending someone?”
Tears sprang to my eyes, even though I’d been good at holding them back so far. Slayers weren’t supposed to cry.
“I know it isn’t easy to understand,” he said softly. “But a Slayer’s job is not to decide who is punished. Slayers are executioners in our world, but they are not the judge and jury. If you want to be a proper Slayer, you will have to learn to only act when a sentence is handed down to you.”
A tear escaped down my cheek, and I didn’t even bother to wipe it away. I just stared into my cup of coffee.
“Over time, it will get easier,” he said. “I’m sorry you had to be introduced to this side of the business so quickly, and in such a difficult way. I know how excited you were to have made a friend.”
For a long time, I couldn’t say anything. I was afraid that if I opened my mouth to speak, the floodgates would open, and my words would turn to sobs.
I had to have more control over myself than this, or I would never be able to control my magic. I’d definitely learned that from my parents. When you allowed your emotions to control you, things went wrong. A Slayer must always be in control of themselves.
When I felt calm enough to speak, my voice was nothing more than a whisper.
“Do you think this is the right call?” I asked, finally getting up the courage to look at Martin, even though I knew I’d disappointed him. “If Keepers are the ones that judge who deserves to live and die, then tell me, is this the decision you would have made? To just let this demon go?”
Uncle Martin’s eyes widened. He hadn’t been expecting that question. I could see instantly that he didn’t want to answer it, and that just proved what I’d been feeling all along.
He didn’t think this was right, either.
Something was off.
“If you want me to be honest with you about everything from now on, then I need to know I can trust you to tell me the truth, too,” I said. “Tell me it’s the right thing to do to just let this demon kill my friend and the others, and I’ll drop it right now.”
His eyes fluttered closed, and he let his head drop into his hands for a moment.
“You’re as strong-willed as your father, you know that?”
“I’ve heard that before,” I muttered.
He sighed and looked up to meet my eyes.
“To be clear, this is not my case. Therefore, it’s not my decision to make.”
“But?” I asked, knowing there was more to it than that.
“But no. This is not the decision I would have made. Frankly, I’m surprised the Council didn’t deal with this demon a long time ago,” he said. “In the end, though, the Council has the final say. They must have their reasons, and we simply have to trust that.”
“That’s not good enough for me,” I said, my heart breaking at the idea of having to just walk away and let Peyton die.
Martin placed his hand on mine. A rare gesture that made my heart race.
“I will give you this one piece of advice,” he said. “I said something similar to your father when he first became a Slayer.”
I took a deep breath and looked up into Martin’s eyes as he spoke.
“You are the only one who can decide what’s right for you,” he said. “But if you go against the decisions of others, you must be ready to face the consequences of that decision.”
I left Martin and went up to my room to be alone for a while, but his words kept echoing in my brain.
The decision was mine, but if I decided to disobey the Council, the consequences would be mine to bear, as well.
But what about the consequences of letting someone I cared about die when there might have been something I could do about it? If I just let that happen, I knew a piece of me would die with her.
If that was the truth of being a Slayer, then I couldn’t take their stupid test and join them, anyway. I couldn’t live that kind of life.
I’d rather turn my back on magic than turn my back on my friends.
I was thinking through everything that had happened throughout the day, and wishing I could just crawl into a hole, when someone knocked.
But they hadn’t knocked on my door.
I sat up straight in bed and turned my eyes toward my second-story window.
Carefully, I stood and peered toward the window, slightly terrified that whatever demon had taken Peyton was now here to get me. Who would knock on my window this late at night? Or ever?
With a flick of my wrist, I commanded the window to swing open.
“Incendium,” I said with a wobbly voice.
Kai leaned in, his eyes on the fire spell that engulfed my hand.
“Glad to see you’re still alive,” he said with a smirk. “And that you’re ready to fight. Are you up for a little outing?”
I let the spell fizzle and sighed in relief. How the heck did he get up here? And why was I so happy to see him, even after he’d just gotten me into trouble?
Maybe because he was the only one who wanted to help me save my friend.
Maybe I was willing to deal with the consequences, after all.
“An outing?” I asked. “Why?”
He climbed into my room, and the look in his dark eyes was suddenly very serious.
“Because,” he said, “I think I may have figured out who took Peyton.”
Episode 8 Coming Soon!