Bound Book 2

Chapter 27 - The Key

Skylar

"Right, so we have some news," Raina says excitedly, her eyes twinkling as she looks at Dmitri and me across the table.

We arrived about an hour ago after I packed some items of clothing and toiletries, the essentials that I would need while staying with Dmitri. The fact that I lived down the road meant that the anxiety that I had forgotten something was non-existent, as I could literally just take a walk and get it.

Dmitri had put my bag in his room, my thoughts as to whether we would be staying in the same room forgotten once Raina and Ally got hold of me. Instead of being discreet about it, Dmitri brought my bags through the front door, practically parking them in front of the table where Raina and Ally were sitting. The smug smile on his face as they gawked at the bags and then at me was enough to have me wishing that the earth would swallow me whole. Blaise on the other hand continued looking at the book on the table, a deep scowl on his face.

Only once Dmitri was satisfied with their reaction did he deposit my bags in his room. While it was embarrassing, the feelings of relief and excitement and just contentment that I could feel coming from Dmitri through our bond were enough for me not to get upset. If I was in his shoes and the person I love forgot me, I would also be excited for a moment like this. Needless to say, Raina and Ally were similarly ecstatic that our relationship was improving.

Looking at the two of them across the table, I am suddenly hit with a wave of gratefulness. Here these two people were that owed me nothing, slogging away day after day to find something that could explain what was happening to me. And not for anything. Because...we had become friends, at least to me. The thought makes me emotional, my eyes threatening to leak.

The smile on Ally's beautiful face starts fading, concern quickly replacing it. "Are you alright Sky?" she asks, Raina's smile similarly disappearing. Dmitri's head nearly snaps off as he looks at me, his keen gaze taking in my watery eyes. For a change, Blaise is looking at me with concern instead of irritation.

I blink rapidly, sniffing my nose as I do. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to ruin your excitement. I just...," I hesitate not sure what I am trying to say, "I'm just really grateful to you guys for sticking by me and helping me. I know I haven't been easy or my usual self and yet you have stuck around. It means so much."

"That's what friends do Sky," Raina says, her smile returning to her face. Coming from her, who I think despises me half of the time, that is like hearing Father Christmas tell you that you have been a good child. Sort of unbelievable.

"Of course, where else would we be?" Ally asks in her quiet tone, the smile returning to her face.

Blaise has lost interest, his attention back on the book. Dmitri takes my hand under the table, his fingers lacing through mine. His way of comforting me.

"Okay, enough of that mush, let's hear it," I say, way too loudly and with more vigor than I intended.

"So, we found a chapter in Elsabeth's book with a title that is similar to the Latin phrase 'Clavis Est Ad Potentiam Super Pmnia', 'Key to Power Above All'. This key supposedly unlocks something that contains a power so strong, in the wrong hands it can be devastating. It holds the power to both light and dark magic, as well as all the abilities of all the supernatural races. All rolled into one. Once opened, if that power gets out it has the power to destroy or create," Raina says, looking at each of us as she speaks.

"Okay, but I still don't understand what this has to do with me?" I understood that what they were saying spelled doom and gloom in a way, but why was I involved in all of this?

"Well, there is a page missing here which we think Gael took, which maybe describes what and where the key is," Ally says, as she fingers the edges of the missing page which is just visible between the two pages open on the table.

"What if," Ally says, pausing ominously as she looks at Raina, "the key is not a traditional key at all. What if you are the key?" Her eyes land on me.

Blaise's head darts to the side, his eyes moving between me and Ally.

"You're saying the key is a person," he says incredulously. A look of shock is on his face before he schools his expression, his eyes glazing over as they usually do when he is thinking.

"Yes. Perhaps that is why your mother and father were trying to hide you. To keep you out of the wrong hands. Imagine if Gael got his hands on you and used you to unlock that power, he would be unstoppable," Raina says, her voice soft as she states a situation none of us are keen on ever seeing materializing.

"We know he is power hungry. There have been many stories of him absorbing other witches' powers. We also know he uses dark magic. If he had the key to access dark magic fully, imagine the consequences. And he would be physically near impossible to kill. As fast as a Lycan, werewolf, or vampire, and as strong. With their healing abilities. Add instant access to ancient light and dark magic where you have the power to take and give life with the click of your finger. It's scary. All that in one person would be disastrous to us all." Ally's somber face and words paint a picture of doom.

"So what you're actually saying is that I am a key that leads to death and destruction." This sums it up for me.

"Well, technically, but if we can find what it opens and perhaps destroy it, then your usefulness as a key falls away, leaving you to be who you have always been. Skylar Morgan." Dmitri's words echo around the room, the seed of hope for some normalcy in my life starting to push through the ground.

If we could achieve this, I might just be able to live a peaceful life. A life I had hoped to live when I first moved to Willow Falls. The only difference would be that perhaps I would live it alongside someone, I think, my eyes meeting green ones.

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