The Witch's Key Read Free

Carlos and Spinelli operate one in the past.
I knew that the little square pad below the keyboard controlled the
mouse, and that clicking the mouse was a basic command essential to
its operation. Given that knowledge and coupling it with the spell
that Lilith cast to help me, I set to work. Before I knew it, I was
whipping around that site, negotiating hyperlinks and clicking on
live icons that I didn’t even know were live until they took me to
pages deep within the hollows of Witchit dot com. There, I found
how Lilith learned to make the whisper box. I came upon a recipe
for something called Lover’s Brew and I put it in my favorite
places. I even found a link to a posting of The Witch’s
Creed , something that Lilith apparently molds to fit her own
agenda. But hey, I’m not the judgmental type.
    Things were going well for a while, until I stumbled
onto a link that brought me to the Chatter Shack, a forum where
witches and warlocks discuss the latest in witchery, perpetuate
rumors and gossip about all things paranormal. That is when I first
realized how extensive and intricate the witch community really
was. These people have an intelligence network rivaling the NSA.
They know what’s going on with some witches that even the witches
themselves don’t know, including Lilith. My mouth was still agape
when Lilith came out of the lady’s room and took her seat across
from me.
    “Lilith,” I said, excitedly. “There’s something you
should know.”
    A guilty smirk crossed her lips. “Don’t tell me. You
figured out that the spell I cast before I went into the lady’s
room was bogus. I know. I’m sorry, but everyone knows how to surf
the web. I thought if you—”
    “No! That’s not it. Wait…. That wasn’t a real
spell?”
    “Uh-uh.”
    I hate when she does that to me. “Never mind.” I spun
the computer around so that she could see for herself. “Look at
this.” She narrowed her eyes at the screen and began reading. “They
know about me.” I said. “That article, it mentions me by name. It
says that a witch in New Castle recently participated in the rite
of passage and allowed a mortal named Anthony Marcella to join
her.”
    She pulled back and peered up over the top of the
computer. “So?”
    “What do you mean, so? They know about me!”
    “Tony, relax. We’ve broken no laws. I carried you
through the passage and restored your youth. Big deal.”
    “What about the Witch’s Creed? Isn’t there something
in there forbidding the inclusion of mortals in ceremonial
rituals?”
    “Creed, shmeed,” she said, wrinkling her nose in a
grimace. “It’s so much dogma. Besides, it’s not like it’s a
contract that witches sign or anything. I think of it more as a
suggestion to good witchery than anything.”
    That helped me some. I settled back into my chair and
welcomed the returned of our waitress with two puny thimbles of
coffee. As I loaded mine with cream and sugar, Lilith fell back
into reading the online article, probably searching it to see if
she had been mentioned by name, as well. From the look on her face
when she finished, I concluded she hadn’t.
    “Well, what do you think?” I asked, setting my coffee
thimble on the table.
    I watched her eyes roll up at me, squinting with her
smile, though the computer veiled her face from her nose down. “You
want to know what I think?”
    “Yes.”
    Her sights shifted to a spot in the café by the front
door, just over my shoulder. “I think this Geek’s nest attracts
more kinds of people than you know.”
    I shook my head slightly. “Come again.”
    She nodded. “Over there, with the Macintosh. It’s
your buddy, Spinelli.”
    “Dominic?”
    “You know another?”
    “Damn! Is he alone?”
    Before she could answer, a little bell over the door
chimed, ringing in a new patron. She waited until the door shut and
the patron sat down before answering, “Not anymore.”
    “Double damn! Carlos?”
    “Yup.”
    “What do we do?”
    “Just