The Witch's Key, Book 1

by Sarra Cannon

  I hadn’t had any time to look into the cases of the missing girls or even to question Uncle Martin about Kai or his family. Instead, I’d been focused on school work and my new training in the woods.

  Martin took me out there over the weekend and drilled me nonstop until I’d nearly passed out from exhaustion. It was fun to play around with my magic again, though, and I was definitely learning a lot.

  I hadn’t brought up the issue of the keys or my questions about the Council, though. Martin had seemed pretty serious about me never mentioning it again, and to be honest, I was terrified to find out the answer.

  The Witch’s Council ruled our coven. To lose faith in them after everything else I’d lost would destroy me.

  Besides, Martin seemed to trust them. He’d worked as a Keeper in the coven for decades. Maybe even a century or longer. So, if I trusted Martin, I would also have to trust that he would only put his faith in an organization that deserved it.

  On Monday, Peyton gave me a ride to her house after school, which was on the other side of Newcastle. The rich side, according to Brandy, and as soon as we drove up to the gate that surrounded Peyton’s house, I decided rich was an understatement.

  This was generational wealth.

  I wouldn’t have even thought anyone in a small town like Newcastle had this kind of money.

  Actually, the only houses I’d ever seen like this were estates in Europe owned by centuries-old vampires. Just who were Peyton’s parents, anyway?

  “Wow, your house is beautiful,” I said.

  Peyton scrunched her nose as she pulled her Audi sports car through the gate. “It’s impressive, but it’s not exactly the homiest place in the world,” she said. “My parents are rarely ever here, which means I’m alone a lot. I prefer going over to Brandy’s house. It’s not as big, but their house really feels like home, you know?”

  “Not really,” I said. I’d never had a house that felt like a true home. Home had been wherever my parents’ job took them.

  “Brandy hates it, though. She says she wants to be rich like me someday, and she’s determined to become a model and make millions someday,” Peyton said. “Did you know she has six older brothers?”

  “Brandy does?” I asked, my eyes wide.

  “Yep. All of them handsome and all of them overprotective of their pretty younger sister,” Peyton said with a laugh. “They’ve all graduated and moved on to college or new jobs now, but when they were all home, that house was filled with laughter. It still is, because her parents are the coolest ever, but I know she misses her brothers.”

  “And you don’t have any brothers or sisters?” I asked.

  She parked in a huge garage that housed five other cars. I tried not to gape.

  “Sadly, no,” she said. “Which is not for lack of trying on my parents’ part. They wanted a house full of kids, but it just didn’t work out. I’m actually adopted, but I don’t talk about it much.”

  “Oh, wow. I had no idea,” I said.

  That got my imagination going, though. If she really was descended from some line of magical beings I couldn’t identify, maybe she had no idea about it. Were her parents vampires? Why the heck didn’t Uncle Martin tell me there was so much supernatural activity in Newcastle?

  It was almost like he’d specifically tried to hide it from me.

  “It’s not really a big deal, but there are times I wonder who my real parents are,” she said, a sad expression darkening her features for just a moment. “But I know how lucky I am to have been adopted into this family, and I love my parents. I just wish I could see them more.”

  “What kind of business are they in?” I asked. “You said they were off at some conference today?”

  “For the past three days, actually.”

  She opened a door through the garage and led me through an elaborate mudroom to the kitchen, which was immaculate and gigantic. White marble countertops. A walk-in refrigerator. Copper pots hanging above the island. This was a real chef’s kitchen, but I suddenly understood the sadness in her voice when she talked about her parents being gone all the time.

  This felt more like a showroom than the cozy kitchen Martin and I shared.

  I was starting to understand what she meant by a place that felt like home. This wasn’t it.

  “They’re interior designers,” Peyton said. “I’m sorry to sound bummed out about it. I actually never tell anyone I’m adopted, but for some reason, I feel like I can trust you. That’s not weird, is it? I mean, I know we just met.”

  I wanted to hug her. She was just so genuine and sweet. I loved that she felt like she could trust me so easily. I felt the same way about her.

  “It’s not weird at all,” I said. “I haven’t had a lot of chances to make friends in my life. It means a lot that you trust me.”

  She smiled. “Okay, enough sappy talk. Come on, let’s go find you a bathing suit.”

  When Peyton had said she had a spare bathing suit I could use, what she apparently meant was that she had a Nordstrom’s in her closet. She led me into a bedroom as big as the kitchen, through a private bathroom that rivaled the only spa I’d ever been inside, and into a closet twice the size of my bedroom at Martin’s house.

  The whole room smelled of lavender.

  She opened one of the hundreds of drawers to reveal no less than a dozen bathing suits with tags still attached.

  “Pick one,” she said. “I could never wear them all, and we seem to be roughly the same size. Sometimes, I think this is how my parents apologize for being gone all the time. Like all they ever really wanted was a doll to dress up.”

  She gasped and put a hand over her mouth.

  “I don’t know why I just said that. That’s a terrible thing to say.”

  When she looked up at me, there were tears in her eyes.

  I couldn’t help myself. I threw my arms around her as she cried.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I guess I’m just feeling extra sad about them missing most of my first week of school my senior year. I was trying to stay so positive, but sometimes there just comes a point where you can’t hold it in anymore. Do you ever feel that way about your parents?”

  I tensed and pulled away as she wiped her eyes.

  “My parents died earlier this year,” I said. “It’s not something I like to talk about, either.”

  “Oh my gosh, Lenny. I had no idea,” she said, taking my hand. “Now, I feel like a real jerk.”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “You didn’t know.”

  She shook her head and sniffed. “I should have. You mentioned living with your uncle the other day. I just didn’t put it together.”

  “Let’s just go downstairs and hang out for a while,” I said, holding back tears of my own. “This has actually been really good for me. Having friends, I mean. It’s helping me feel like there’s hope for a life after what happened. It means more than I can tell you.”

  She wiped at her cheeks again and put on her best Peyton smile, instantly warming the entire room with the joy behind it.

  “No matter how dark things feel sometimes, there’s always something to be grateful for, isn’t there?” she said. “Right now, I’m feeling extremely grateful for good friends. Get dressed. I’ll meet you down there.”

  I chose a black bathing suit—one of the only ones that wasn’t a teeny tiny bikini, thank you very much—and headed back down to the kitchen. By the time I got down there, Brandy was leaning against the counter in her bathing suit, popping open a sparkling water.

  Olive and her mom had just arrived, too.

  “Mom, this is the new girl I was telling you about.”

  “So nice to meet you, Lenny.” Olive’s mom was a tall, thin woman with the kind of energy that seemed to fill up the entire kitchen. Her dark blonde hair was cut in an asymmetrical bob that framed her face. She gave me a warm smile and patted me on the back. “I’ve heard nothing but good things about you. Welcome to Newcastle.�
��

  “Thank you, Mrs.--”

  I could not for the life of me remember Olive’s last name, but her mom waved away the thought.

  “Just call me Ms. Julie,” she said.

  She placed a white baker’s box on the marble counter and gave Peyton a wink.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Peyton asked.

  “My new flavor just for you to test out,” Ms. Julie said. “But wait until everyone’s gone. I don’t want anyone else influencing your opinion. Text me later. I’m just dying to find out what you think.”

  “I will. Can’t wait.” Peyton hugged Olive’s mom like they must have known each other for a long time.

  And I guess they had. Peyton had said they’d all gone to school together since kindergarten.

  As I watched them, I wondered what that must feel like. To have had the same friends for a lifetime, really. A part of me definitely wanted that, even though I’d never really thought about it until now.

  My parents had each other, sure, but they hadn’t been close to anyone else but me. They hadn’t even talked to Uncle Martin all that often. We were like a closed family unit, and even though it had seemed lovely at the time, I suddenly realized there was so much I missed out on as a kid.

  “I’ll be back to pick you up in a couple hours,” Ms. Julie said. “You girls have fun. Be safe.”

  “Thank you,” Olive said, sticking her tongue out at her mom’s back once she’d turned.

  “What was that for?” Peyton asked.

  “She’s going to hang out with her new boyfriend again,” Olive said. “I’m so sick of him. He gives me the creeps.”

  “It’s his eyes, I think,” Brandy said, leaning against the counter. “Like he’s always high on something.”

  “Is he?” Peyton asked.

  “Maybe,” Olive said with a shrug. “Let’s not talk about him. Anything but him. I just want to have some fun.”

  “Fun we can do,” Peyton said, smiling as she started to run. “Race you to the pool.”

  She ran straight through the open sliding doors along the back of the house and jumped in. Laughing, we all followed her in and had the best afternoon I’d ever shared with girls my age in my life.

  Later, Peyton gave me a ride home, and her eyes grew wide when she saw the house.

  “Wait. You live here?” she said, equal parts wonder and fear in her eyes. “Everyone says this is a haunted house. I didn’t even think anyone lived here anymore.”

  “I moved in with my great-uncle after my parents died. He, uh, keeps to himself a lot,” I said. “But it’s definitely not haunted.”

  Looking at it from this perspective, though, I could see why people would say that.

  It was a dark house in all respects. A massive Victorian painted a dark grey with back trim and a black roof. Even the windows looked dark with Martin’s thick curtains covering them and no light showing through from inside.

  A familiar raven perched on the front porch near the door.

  Maybe I needed to talk to Martin about installing some outside lights to make the place look more inhabited. Especially if I ever wanted to convince people to come visit me.

  “So, I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said, opening the car door to get out.

  Peyton touched my arm, and a flicker of warm energy flowed through me. I smiled. Definitely not fully human, but what?

  It was going to be fun to find out. Especially if she didn’t even know about it, herself.

  “Hey,” she said. “Thanks again for listening to me earlier. It was really nice to get that off my chest, instead of holding it all in for a change. It means a lot.”

  “That’s what friends are for, right?” I said, smiling.

  “Definitely,” she said. “See ya tomorrow.”

  I waved goodbye as she turned around in our driveway and headed back toward her house.

  I’d never felt so close to someone who wasn’t family before, and even though I really liked Brandy and Olive, too, there was just something about Peyton that felt so warm and true.

  It was as if we were kindred spirits. Destined to be friends.

  As I walked back into the house, I felt this warmth deep inside. It felt like hope and comfort for the first time in a really long time.

  Like everything was going to be okay, despite Kai’s warning or the missing girls.

  Somehow, it would all work out for the best.

  But the next morning, as I strolled up, actually excited for another day at school, I noticed the scared looks on everyone’s faces as I passed. People were huddled together, whispering and holding hands. Some people were even crying.

  I found Brandy and Olive holding each other near the picnic tables out front, and I rushed up, my heart racing.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, a black hole of fear opening in the pit of my stomach.

  “It’s Peyton,” Brandy said, her dark skin stained with tears.

  “She’s gone missing.”

  Crossing A Line

  This couldn’t be happening.

  “We just saw her yesterday afternoon,” I said. “She dropped me off at my house last night. That was just a few hours ago. It’s not possible that she’s gone. She’s probably just late for school.”

  My entire body was shaking.

  Peyton was the first real friend I’d ever made, and even though I’d only known her a few days, I already felt so close to her. She couldn’t be gone.

  This whole thing had to be some kind of misunderstanding.

  “It’s true,” Brandy said. “Her mom called me early this morning asking if Peyton had decided to sleep over at our place. She’s done that a few times when her parents were out of town, but I haven’t seen Peyton since I left her house yesterday afternoon.”

  “Me, either,” Olive said. “She texted mom about the cupcake at like eight or nine last night. The cops think that was the last time anyone heard from her.”

  “Lenny, you were probably the last person to see her before she disappeared,” Brandy said. “Did she say anything about where she was going after she dropped you off?”

  It felt like someone had just dropped a massive weight on my chest.

  “No. She just said she was going home,” I said. “Maybe she just went to visit someone else? Does she have a boyfriend?”

  No one in my new group of friends seemed to have a boyfriend, but I was grasping at straws, wanting to make sense of this.

  “Not anymore,” Brandy said. “She’d been dating Maddox Penn for two years, but they broke up over the summer.”

  “Maybe she went to his house,” I said. There had to be a logical explanation.

  “There’s more to it than that,” Brandy said, wiping her face with a tissue. “Believe me, I want this not to be real more than you do. I’ve known Peyton my whole life, Lenny. She’s my best friend. But they know she’s been taken. She’s not just visiting a friend or something. I can’t say anything else, because the police told me not to talk about it, but they’re going to want to question you, too, Lenny. They might already be talking to your uncle.”

  My mouth went dry, and I had to sit down on the picnic table’s bench for a second.

  The police knew for sure Peyton had been taken?

  My mind had already put it all together, but I just didn’t want to believe it. The four other missing girls, and now this. It couldn’t be a coincidence.

  Whoever took those other girls had Peyton, too.

  But why?

  After the confrontation with Kai, I had taken a step back from figuring out what happened to those girls. Besides, I knew my uncle Martin wouldn’t want me messing in this stuff. This was potentially Council business, and if not, it was human business.

  I shouldn’t get involved.

  But now, the only friend I’d ever made was gone.

  I had to find her.

  I closed my eyes and let my head fall into my hands.

  Find her? How the heck was I going to do that? I knew nothing about
this town or most of the people in it. I didn’t know anything about the other girls who had gone missing or why the police knew for sure Peyton was gone, too.

  I didn’t have the first clue about where to start.

  Except, I did have one clue.

  A chill went through me, and I looked up slowly.

  I had an encounter with a supernatural mystery dude just last week who very forcefully told me to mind my own business. He’d practically threatened me if I didn’t stay out of it.

  Which meant he knew a lot more than I did.

  I stood up and scanned the crowd of students gathered outside the main entrance to the school. He had to be here somewhere. Besides, he was super tall, so it should have been easy to find him.

  “I don’t know how I’m going to focus at school today,” Brandy said. “I think I’m just going to call my mom to come get me. Do you both want to come over to my place and wait for news?”

  “I’ll call my mom, too,” Olive said. “She’s just as upset about this as I am. Peyton’s parents must be a wreck, too. They worshipped her. They’re never going to forgive themselves for being out of town.”

  “Geez, you’re talking about her like she’s never coming back,” I said. “She’s been gone a few hours. We’re going to find her.”

  Brandy’s lower lip quivered, and tears started falling down her cheeks again in a steady stream.

  “You’re right. We can’t give up hope,” she said. “But you don’t know what it’s been like this year. Every time a girl has gone missing, we’ve put up posters all over town, started a Facebook page, searched the woods, held candlelight vigils. We’ve kept the hope alive. But then, six months goes by without a single clue or sign of them, and it’s hard to believe they’re ever coming back. We’ve done this four times now, and none of those girls have ever come home.”

  “Listen, it’s going to be different this time,” I said, touching Brandy’s arm. “This time it’s Peyton. We can’t let this happen. We’ll find her.”

  Brandy nodded, but I could tell she didn’t have much hope.

  And she was right. I hadn’t been here when those other girls disappeared. I hadn’t been a part of those vigils and the search for them.