The Witch's Key, Book 1

by Sarra Cannon

  Within reason, of course.

  Certain types of magic were forbidden until you’d unlocked the next key.

  Over the years, I’d chosen to fill mine with various herbs, salts, gemstones, and spell components we’d found on our travels. I also had a section at the top that housed my favorite deck of tarot cards, a small cauldron, a mortar and pestle, and a sage smudge.

  Naturally.

  I pulled the miniature cauldron down from the top shelf, along with the mortar and pestle and a handful of herbs.

  It took me a while to locate my vial of melted snow from the Arctic, but I finally found it hiding in the back behind a dragon’s fang.

  I took all the tools to my desk in the corner and unwrapped the straw I’d stolen from Sir Bean.

  This better work.

  I read the spell’s instructions about fifteen more times before I started mixing it all together. When the base ingredients were all in place, I used a small pair of embroidery scissors with a skull on them to cut off the top of the straw, right where Kai’s lips would have touched it.

  “Cognosco.”

  My hand trembled as I let the straw fall into the mixture below.

  Excitement bubbled inside me as the spell did its work. The white smoke that poured from the cauldron looked exactly like it was supposed to. Now, I just had to wait a few minutes for the spell to identify Kai’s origins.

  When that happened, the smoke would change colors. Red for vampire. Orange for were. Pink for fae. And so on.

  I had a list of smoke colors and their corresponding creature here in the spell book, so it was only a matter of time.

  Only, time was ticking and the smoke hadn’t changed colors.

  I tapped my foot against the wood floor. When I’d watched my parents do this, the smoke had changed much faster.

  After ten minutes, I started losing hope. The smoke was dissipating. Soon, there would be nothing left. I read through the spell again and shook my head. I’d done everything right. I hadn’t missed an ingredient or said the wrong word. It should have worked.

  Disappointment fell over me like a shadow as the white smoke went out entirely, leaving nothing but a pile of ash inside the cauldron.

  Either I’d been completely wrong about Kai and he was human, after all, or he’d somehow managed to cloak his identity. This, of course, just made me even more determined than ever to figure out what he was.

  I pulled down all of my father’s old books, searching through them for clues until I could hardly keep my eyes open.

  When my alarm went off the next day, I woke to find myself surrounded by a giant pile of leather-bound books. As I attempted to crawl out from under them, I nearly knocked my old laptop to the floor.

  I’d hardly slept at all the night before. Instead, I’d tossed and turned, dreaming about the night my parents died and all the things I wished I’d done differently.

  I’d learned months ago that the best way to get through nights like that was to just stay awake. So, a few hours earlier, I’d pulled out the laptop, connected to Martin’s base-level Wi-Fi, and done a little research on the missing girls.

  There wasn’t a lot to learn, though. It was always possible the police were holding back on what they knew, but according to the local press, there were no leads and no real clues to follow.

  The girls’ families had all just woken up one day to find them gone. No note. No evidence of a struggle. Nothing missing or out of place. They’d just disappeared.

  At first, there had been some speculation that the girls had just run away from home. That’s what people always said when teen girls went missing. But after the third teen disappeared, people started to take it more seriously.

  At this point, it seemed like everyone in town was just waiting for them to find the bodies.

  I shuddered at the thought of it.

  I wanted to believe all four of those girls would be found alive, and if there was anything I could do to help, I at least wanted to try.

  Which is why I didn’t say a word about it to Martin. Instead, I planned to do some extra research at school today and see what I could find out from my new friends. There had to be some clues the police were either overlooking or that they thought weren’t important. Things I would recognize that they would think were trivial or unrelated.

  I had to at least try.

  Still, in the back of my mind, part of me was saying I should leave it alone. Let the Council deal with it. Stop being so impulsive and headstrong.

  I was still convinced it was my actions that had gotten my parents into trouble a few months ago. Maybe I needed to leave the hard work to the Slayers who were qualified to deal with it.

  Why did I always have to jump head-first into everything dangerous?

  I couldn’t seem to help myself.

  “Leaving early today?” Martin asked, just catching me as I walked out the door. “You haven’t even had breakfast.”

  “I’ll grab something at school,” I said. “I’m going to do some work in the library before the first bell. I might be late again today, too. I’ll try to make it home for dinner.”

  “Well, that’s quite the change from yesterday,” he said with a smile. “It’s good to see you enjoying yourself, but perhaps you can carve some time out for me this weekend. There’s something I want to show you.”

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Don’t worry about it now,” Martin said, waving his hand. “Have a nice day.”

  “Bye,” I said.

  Martin had some kind of surprise for me. I was sure of it.

  I stepped out the front door with a smile on my face, but it was immediately wiped away by the sight of the dark-eyed guy standing on the sidewalk directly outside the gate of my uncle’s house.

  Kai Richards not only knew what I was. He apparently also knew where I lived.

  “We need to talk,” he said.

  Not Your Enemy

  I did the stupid thing and looked behind me, just to be absolutely sure Kai was talking to me, which of course he was. There was literally nothing behind me but the door to the house.

  What in the world was he doing here? Did he know what I’d done?

  My hands immediately went clammy, and I started to sweat.

  “I don’t want to be late for school,” I said.

  “This won’t take long.” His voice was deeper than I’d anticipated. “I’ll walk with you.”

  By this point, my heart was pounding about a thousand beats a second, and I wondered if I was going to pass out.

  How could he possibly know? What powers did this guy have, exactly?

  I nearly tripped over my own feet as I joined him on the sidewalk. He towered over my five-foot-four-inch frame, and I wondered if this guy had superhuman strength to go along with his size.

  As the daughter of two natural-born Slayers, I had exceptional speed and some innate magical talent, but I wasn’t gifted with strength the way some others were.

  Maybe I should start bringing some kind of weapon with me to school. Or would that get me kicked out? Yeah, probably not a great idea for the principal to find a silver dagger in my backpack.

  Of course, until I figured out what he was, I wouldn’t know what type of weapon would hurt him, anyway.

  “I’m guessing you just want to introduce yourself,” I said, stalling as we walked toward the school. “Just part of the Newcastle High welcome committee, right? They always send the sweetest, most non-intimidating students to make sure us newbies feel safe. Well, it’s super nice to meet you. I’m Lenny, by the way. Not that you asked.”

  He didn’t look amused.

  “You already know what I want to talk about,” he said. “You’re messing with things you don’t understand, and it’s going to stop.”

  Well, now that just made me want to dig deeper. He obviously didn’t have me quite as pegged as he thought he did. Telling me to stop was nothing but more temptation.

  “Or maybe you want me to stop because
I understand more about what’s going on than you want me to,” I said, stopping to look him in the eye. I had to look up quite a bit to get there, but hopefully I managed to look somewhat menacing, despite the height difference.

  Okay, well, apparently that was amusing to him.

  He smiled. Or maybe smirked was a better word for it.

  “You’re what? Seventeen? A witch with her first key who thinks she can take on the world? I’ve seen your kind before. You need to stay out of this before you get yourself killed.”

  I lifted my chin in defiance.

  “And who exactly do you think you are? We’re in the same grade at school, so that makes you what? Eighteen, maybe? Unless you flunked a few grade levels trying to understand the basics of how to be a decent human being,” I said. “Oh, but wait, you’re not human, are you? I may not be skilled enough yet to know what the heck you are, but I can guarantee you I didn’t grow up in a small town like this, and I know a lot more than you think.”

  His eyes narrowed in on my face, which was probably turning pink right about now.

  “You stole my straw yesterday, didn’t you?”

  He took a step closer, causing me to take a step back toward the wrought iron fence behind me.

  “I knew something was up when it went missing, but I underestimated you. I never dreamed you were sneaky enough to get it without me seeing.”

  I wasn’t sure whether to take that as an insult or a compliment, but when he took another step toward me, I lost the ability to care.

  “You obviously didn’t find the information you wanted from it,” he said. “Can’t you see you’re in over your head. Even from day one.”

  He was standing so close, I couldn’t breathe. He was right about me, and I didn’t want him to be.

  How was it that he could see me so clearly, and I couldn’t see the truth about him at all?

  “Who are you?” I whispered.

  He put a hand on the fence behind me and leaned down, so close I couldn’t see anything beyond those dark eyes of his. They seemed to be looking inside me.

  “I’m not your enemy,” he said, something sincere in his voice making my mouth go dry. “Don’t make me change my mind on that. You’ve had enough trouble this year. I’m sure the Council would like to keep it that way.”

  His words knocked what was left of my breath from my lungs. It was like he’d physically punched me in the stomach.

  He knew about me. About my parents.

  “How do you know about the Council?” I asked. “About my parents? If you were a member of my coven, I’d know about it.”

  “Word gets around the community when something like that happens,” he said.

  For the first time since I’d laid eyes on him, he had a human expression on his face.

  Sorrow.

  Empathy.

  Had I misjudged him?

  “I’m sorry for what you went through, Lenora. I don’t want anything else to happen to you here,” he said. “Just stay out of it. Don’t keep digging into my past or trying to find answers about me or what’s happening in this town. Leave it alone, and I’ll do my best to make sure you’re left alone, too.”

  His eyes locked on mine for a long moment before he pushed off the gate and started walking toward the school, leaving me standing there with my mouth open and my heart racing.

  “Wait,” I shouted, somehow managing to find enough strength in my legs to follow him.

  He stopped, but he didn’t turn around.

  “You know my name. My past. Apparently, you know everything about me, and yet you won’t even tell me the most basic thing about who you are or how you know all of these things?” I said. “Not exactly fair play, is it? You can’t expect me to just turn away from that and pretend there’s nothing going on here. What do you know about those missing girls, Kai? Did you do something to them?”

  His entire body tensed. Before I could even blink, he’d grabbed my arm and pulled me tight against him. One second, he was at least six feet away, and the next, he was almost on top of me.

  And I thought I was fast.

  “How did you do that?” I asked, breathless.

  “I’m not going to warn you again. Let this go,” he said, loosening his grip on me.

  His dark eyes met mine, and I could see just how much this meant to him. He was serious about it, but there was something more reflected in his gaze. At first I’d mistaken it for anger, but I could see now I was wrong.

  He was scared.

  But of what?

  Before I could say another word to him, I blinked and he was gone again, mixing in with the crowd of students already entering the school.

  I was still just standing there in a daze when Peyton found me a few minutes later.

  “Everything okay?” she asked. “You look like you’ve already had a rough morning, and it’s not even eight yet. Did you have bad dreams last night, too? Because I’m telling you, I had some really weird ones last night. Something about a cat in the woods. It was crazy, and strangely compelling when you think about it.”

  “How is a cat in the woods compelling?” I asked, not exactly wanting to offer up information about how my day was going so far.

  “Because it was a tiger or something. I was trying so hard to find it. I mean, it was just a dream, but my whole body hurts this morning, like I was running in my sleep,” she said with a yawn. “I’ll be fine, though. I just downed a double-espresso at home before I got here. With any luck, that’ll kick in any minute.”

  Brandy joined us as soon as we hit the main entrance to the school, but she gave me a strange look.

  “What?” I asked. “Do I have something on my face?”

  “Nothing you want to talk about this morning?” she asked.

  What now?

  Was everyone just determined to grill me about my business today? These people barely knew me.

  “Not that I can think of, why?”

  Her jaw dropped open, and she smacked my arm.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said. “I saw you talking to Kai on the way in this morning. He was practically all over you. I have never, and I mean never, seen him get close to anyone like that. Since when are you guys a thing?”

  Peyton screamed and grabbed my arm. Apparently, that espresso just kicked in.

  “What? You talked to Kai this morning and you weren’t even going to mention it to us?” she asked. She pushed me over to a corner, and they both blocked me in completely. “Tell us what happened.”

  “Don’t leave anything out, either,” Brandy said. “This guy has been a mystery since he first got here. We need details.”

  “Ooh, what’s happening here?” Olive asked, her eyes twinkling as she approached.

  I felt like some kind of caged animal.

  “Lenny’s dating Kai,” Peyton said. “We’re trying to get her to spill the beans about it.”

  “Oh, come on,” I said, my cheeks warming. “We’re not dating.”

  My mind was spinning, trying to come up with any kind of story that would make sense. I didn’t exactly want rumors flying about me dating Kai Richards. The guy was angry enough as it was.

  “Well, you were definitely talking to each other, and getting up close and personal from what I saw,” Brandy said.

  “As of yesterday when we left Sir Bean, you had never so much as talked to him. What happened last night that you aren’t telling us about?” Peyton asked. Her eyes narrowed, but then she broke out in a huge smile. “I’m so excited for you. I mean, I knew you were pretty, but I had no idea you were such a siren. No one has been able to get his attention in six months, and you bag him in a day.”

  I groaned.

  “I haven’t bagged anyone,” I said. “We just ran into each other on the way to school this morning, and I introduced myself. While we were walking, I tripped and snagged my backpack on the fence. He helped me untangle it. It was totally innocent, and completely embarrassing. He probably thinks I’m such a clutz at t
his point and will never talk to me again.”

  “Oh,” Brandy said with a pout. “Well, dang. I thought maybe you guys had made a connection or something.”

  “I wish,” I said with a laugh that I was sure came off sounding too fake.

  “At least now he knows who you are,” Peyton said. “That’s a step forward, right? Now you have an excuse to talk to him again if you see him in the halls. To say thank you.”

  She was sweet to try to be encouraging about it, but Kai had made it clear he wanted nothing to do with me. He probably wanted me gone from the school, to be honest. But I wasn’t going anywhere, and now that I’d had a few minutes to recover from our encounter, I was more determined than ever to figure out what was going on in this town.

  We Thornes didn’t intimidate easily.

  But it was obvious I was going to need more information about him if I was going to get to the bottom of all of this. I needed a plan, but the bell rang, I had to settle for homeroom, instead.

  “Hey, before I forget, you’re all invited to my house next Monday after school,” Peyton said. “We can go swimming, veg out by the pool, watch some TV, and just hang out for a while. My parents won’t be home until Tuesday morning. They’re at another one of their business conferences in the city, so I’ve got the house all to myself. What do you say?”

  “You already know I can’t resist your impromptu pool parties,” Brandy said. “I’ll be there.”

  “I have a few things to do with mom that afternoon,” Olive said. “But I’ll have her swing me by your house as soon as we’re done. I don’t have to work Monday, thank God.”

  “Lenny, what about you?”

  I smiled. “I’m there,” I said. “I don’t actually own a bathing suit, though. I can just put my feet in or something.”

  I wondered if Martin knew a place in town where I could buy a bathing suit. I hadn’t been shopping at all since I got to Newcastle.

  Peyton laughed. “You can have one of mine,” she said, linking her arm in mine as we walked toward homeroom. “I have a couple I’ve never worn. This year is going to be so much fun. I’m so glad you came to school here, Lenny.”