The Witch's Key

Episode 15: Wonder How Long That Will Last

I could hardly breathe as I looked up at Kai. He'd been completely transformed.

Yes, of course, he'd always been a good-looking guy, but now, with his white wings extended behind him and their golden light casting the most beautiful shadows across his face, I was mesmerized.

Whatever part of me had been holding out, refusing to fall for anyone so fast, completely gave in, and I suddenly became acutely aware of his hands on my face.

"You're an angel," I managed to say, my voice barely more than a whisper.

He was like a dream, and I wondered if I'd maybe eaten a Moondust cupcake and all of this was a figment of my drugged imagination.

But when he ran a fingertip across the line of my hair at my forehead, I knew there was no way this feeling inside me was made up. It was just about the most real thing I'd ever felt in my life.

"Half angel," he said with a slow smile, our eyes locked. "I was trying to keep that to myself for as long as possible, but that became impossible the second you rushed head-first into danger, yet again."

I blushed and sat up.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think we were in any real danger with them gone," I said. "How was I supposed to know the house was trapped?"

He sat back and his wings slowly faded into nothing. I missed their light and warmth immediately. He looked normal and human again, but my heart hadn't stopped racing.

"It's curious, too. Now that I think about," he said, frowning.

"What's curious?" I asked, taking my first good look around at the house.

There was a huge pile of grey ashes where the trap demon had fallen, and there were dark, burned fingerprints in some of the doorways and on the floor from the demons' touch. There was no way to really hide what had happened here.

I seriously hoped Olive wasn't going to be the first one home.

"It's curious that I didn't trigger that trap when I came in alone," Kai said. "I don't know how this particular trap works, but with most traps, they're triggered when anyone comes in contact with them. So, why didn't I trip it when I walked in?"

I stood.

"Why don't we discuss it while we walk out the door?" I asked, shuddering as I stepped over the trap demon's ashes.

It wasn't dead. Just banished. To really complete the job, we would have needed to perform an extra ritual on the ashes to either kill or contain each demon, or at least make sure it never came back from hell. But we didn't have the right tools, energy, or the time.

After being trapped in here with no way out, I was ready to feel the sun on my face and to see this house in the rearview mirror.

Kai apparently agreed, because he stood and followed me out the door just as quickly.

We didn't bother walking along the back fences. Instead, we made our way straight to his car and headed back toward Martin's house.

"It's possible the trap didn't trigger because you were invisible," I said. "But to be honest, I don't think that has really ever stopped a trap before, unless it was a really weak one."

"Which means someone specifically set that trap for you," Kai said.

I shook my head. "That doesn't make any sense," I said. "If someone knows we're getting close to the truth, why wouldn't they just set a trap for both of us? We've been together every step of the way with this."

"It doesn't make sense to me, either," he said. "But I think it's something we should at least keep in mind. Maybe someone involved specifically wants you dead, Lenny. I don't want to think that could be true, but I've been investigating this for months and never had anything like this happen. You start investigating and a day later, you've already been attacked and almost killed twice. I don't think that's a coincidence."