by L. J. Smith
She sat upright from her lounging position on the sofa. “You had to know there was no way we would step right into the hunters’ hands, right?” She narrowed her snakelike eyes at Cassie. “Not with this group of cowards, anyway.”
Nick rose up from his chair. “Shouldn’t we put it to a vote?”
“No.” Faye laughed. “It’s called veto power. Right, D?”
Diana looked down at her thin hands. “It’s called an executive decision.”
“We can’t go after the hunters in Cape Cod,” Adam said. “But what if we try to lure them back here to New Salem?”
“There’s no time for that!” Cassie lost her patience.
Chris Henderson shot up and went to Nick’s side. “We should vote. Like we always do.”
“I agree.” Doug joined his brother and Nick in their small insurrection. “Since when did you all become fascists? I say we go rescue Scarlett.” Then directly to Cassie he said, “I know what it’s like to lose a sister. You shouldn’t have to.”
“And I trust Cassie’s judgment,” Nick called out. His jaw was tight, but his eyes were full of emotion. “I’m willing to take the risk.”
Cassie’s heart was confused. How could her soul mate not understand her the way Nick sometimes did? Adam was standing there now, stubborn and overly protective, shaking his head no while Nick was willing to do whatever it took to support Cassie and rescue Scarlett.
“It’s not going to happen, boys,” Faye said maliciously.
“We have the right to vote on it,” Nick insisted, with Chris and Doug growing visibly more restless at his side.
But even if they voted, it was clear who would win. After everything they’d been through, Scarlett was still an Outsider to them. They would do anything to save Melanie’s great-aunt, but when Cassie’s own sister was in trouble, and they had a way to save her, they refused.
“Fine.” Diana appeared flustered and a little annoyed by this mutiny. “We’ll vote. But the decision is the final decision for the Circle. And let me just remind you that—”
“Save your energy.” Cassie cut Diana off. “I don’t need your vote. I don’t need any of you.” She walked away, leaving a fracture in the Circle as she went.
Chapter 22
Cassie lay awake staring up at the canopy cascading down from her four-poster bed. She observed the sun reflecting off the pewter candlesticks upon the mantel and off the china clock on the opposite wall. At times she still felt like a stranger in this room, as if she were at an extended slumber party at some other girl’s house.
When Cassie didn’t get out of bed at her regular time, her mother knocked on her door gently with her knuckles.
“You’re going to be late for school,” her mother said, letting herself into the light-filled room.
Cassie didn’t bother to say she didn’t feel well. She didn’t bother to speak at all. In fact, she was nearly catatonic in her motionless silence.
“You don’t look so good,” her mother said, squinting with concern. “Are you sick?”
Cassie had been avoiding her mother since the night she found out she had a sister. She knew if she confronted her about it, her mother would only try to explain it away like she did everything else. So instead, Cassie held the secret close to her chest, like a concealed weapon.
Her mother felt her forehead. Fretfully, she examined Cassie’s eyes and the flushness of her skin. “I don’t think you’re running a temperature,” she said.
Her long dark hair, pulled back from her face, made her appear even paler and thinner than usual, and Cassie worried that her mother was actually the one who wasn’t well.
But as much as Cassie wanted to open up to her mother and tell her everything that was going on, she couldn’t. She wasn’t ready to forgive her yet.
“I’m not going to school today,” Cassie said bluntly, making it clear she was in no way asking permission to stay home.
But her mother didn’t argue. “I’ll make you a hot cup of tea,” she said.
“I don’t want any tea.”
“Okay then, no tea.” She retrieved an extra blanket from the mahogany chest in the corner, shook it out, and covered Cassie with it lovingly. “Is everything all right, Cassie? Are you angry at me about something?”
Cassie turned onto her side, away from her mother. “I’m not angry,” she said to the window. “I’m tired. Will you close the door on your way out?”
Her mother made no sound for a few seconds, but Cassie could sense her deliberating, whether she should push her daughter to talk to her when she knew something was wrong or let it go and give her the space she asked for.
“Please,” Cassie said, to help her along. “Can you just go and let me rest?”
Her mother inhaled and then exhaled deeply. It was the sound of resignation. “Okay,” she said. “Let me know if you need anything. I’ll make some soup for lunch later.” She made her way out of the room without another word.
Cassie couldn’t have felt more alone once the door clicked shut. Her mom was a stranger to her and, as if that weren’t enough, Adam had sided against her at their last meeting, and Diana felt like more of an enemy than a friend. Cassie had no one to turn to.
She got out of bed and went to the window. The sight of the jewel-blue water always soothed her, but it looked cool and lonely to her today.
I have to find some way to save Scarlett, Cassie thought. No matter what it takes.
What good was it being a witch if Cassie couldn’t use her powers? Then again, how much power did she have without the full Circle behind her?
A shiver ran up her spine as she stared out at the ocean, but no answers came to her. She perceived the immeasurable span of the water and its waves, but her internal rhythm didn’t synch to it the way it usually did. For once, it didn’t appear to her that the sky and sea were waiting, watching, and listening to her.
She began to feel feverish, achy, and clammy. You’re not actually sick, she told herself, but she still returned to bed and buried herself deep within her covers. Minutes passed, maybe an hour, but she couldn’t rest. Every time she drifted toward a loose, mind-numbing sleep, she’d startle awake. How could she allow herself to rest at a time like this?
Her Book of Shadows was in arm’s reach within her nightstand drawer. She pulled it out and paged through it, searching for some hint or clue as to what to do next. But she knew deep down there were no magical shortcuts. She would have to go to Cape Cod and battle the hunters herself. It was the only way. She could die trying, and she knew it, but she couldn’t think of a better reason to die.
Her thoughts were interrupted then by another knock at her bedroom door, this time louder and less gentle.
“Mom, I’m sleeping,” she called out.
“It’s Adam,” said the voice behind the door.
Cassie didn’t tell him to come in, but he turned the knob and opened the door anyway. “Your mom said you weren’t feeling well,” he said, closing the door behind him.
Cassie watched him with indifference. “I’m fine,” she said.
He kicked off his shoes and sat on the bed beside her. Something glistened in his eyes that made Cassie realize he was going to try to sweet talk her.
“I don’t recall telling you to make yourself comfortable,” she said.
He didn’t flinch. “I get it, Cassie. You’re angry with me. But please hear me out.”
Cassie made no reply.
Adam took that as his cue to continue. “You know I’m always on your side,” he said. “And I want to save Scarlett just as much as you do. We all do.”
“Then there shouldn’t be a problem,” Cassie said. “We all want the same thing.”
Adam furrowed his brow. “I wasn’t finished,” he said. “I want to save Scarlett, but I’m worried about how this is playing out. And I don’t want you, or any of us, to get hurt.”
“This is beginning to sound like a broken record, Adam. All anyone talks about is how dangerous everything i
s, how we can’t perform magic, how we can’t go after the hunters. I’m beginning to think Faye is right. This Circle is a bunch of cowards.”
Adam pitched forward slightly, as if Cassie had socked him in the gut. “I’m not a coward,” he said.
Prove it, she wanted to say, but she felt a spasm of self-reproach. Battering Adam would get her nowhere. There would be no convincing him to see this her way.
“I’m not a coward,” Adam said again, tightly, and for a moment Cassie glimpsed something in him that she found frightening. A commanding power that always lay dormant inside him. If only she could harness that power to work for her rather than against her on this.
Cassie knew deep within her soul how powerful the Circle actually was when they worked together. They didn’t need to rely on a protection spell to keep them safe. Why couldn’t Adam see that?
“I can’t talk about this with you now,” Cassie said. “I need some time to myself. To think.”
Adam stood up. His eyes turned as dark as the sky in a storm. “I love you,” he said. “And if you have to be upset with me in order to prove that love, that’s fine. But I’m not willing to lose you.”
He put his hands on his hips. The sun glimmering through the window brought out all the different colors in his hair, the shining waves of red mixed with brown and gold.
“If time is what you want, okay,” he said. “I’ll be here when you’re ready. But I have one request.”
He paused to make sure Cassie was listening carefully to him.
“What’s your request?” she asked, still not returning his gaze.
“Don’t do anything rash without talking to the Circle first.”
Cassie buckled. That wasn’t exactly a fair thing to ask of her.
“Promise me,” he said.
She made the mistake then of looking into Adam’s pained, loving eyes. He wasn’t a coward. He was a good, brave soul, and he always wanted the best for everyone.
“Please,” he said. “Don’t do anything reckless.”
Cassie was no less angry with him than she was when he arrived, but she also loved him with all her heart. And she was powerless against the urge to put his troubled mind at ease. “I promise,” she said.
But she knew it was a promise she probably couldn’t keep.
Chapter 23
Darkness for miles, that was all Cassie could see. A red-toned darkness like the insides of her own eyelids, but her eyes were wide open. She sensed the ramshackle house far out in the distance, hidden within the blackened night. She called out, Scarlett!
Scarlett didn’t come to Cassie in this dream—Cassie went to her. She forced her way through the pitch-black night as if blind and mad, hollering Scarlett’s name. It was like traveling through outer space in a starless universe, but with persistence Cassie hit upon what she was searching for. The house. And through the rickety door of the house, Cassie discovered Scarlett. She was bound at the wrists and ankles to a splintered wooden post, and she was screaming.
They were whipping her. Whoever they were. Cassie tried to make out the hunters’ faces, but she couldn’t. They didn’t have faces; they were formless black entities like ghosts. She could only sense their trembling dark souls and how they were frightened to the point of brutality. It was their fear driving them, fear of the unknown, of the supernatural, of witchcraft. Like Holy War soldiers, their faith in their own righteousness was unbreakable, and their capacity for violence against their enemies was extreme. They whipped Scarlett mercilessly over and over again, unaffected by her screams.
Cassie wondered why the hunters didn’t tape Scarlett’s mouth shut, to quiet her. And then the thought occurred to her like a light being switched on. The hunters wanted Scarlett to talk, to spill information—not only the secrets of her magic, Cassie realized, but the secrets of the Circle, who they were and where to find them. Scarlett cried and shrieked and spit at the shapeless hunters, but no words escaped her bruised mouth. Was she bearing all this pain to protect the Circle? And to protect Cassie?
Her beaten body hung from the wooden post limp and wilted like a dying flower. Her face was a mess of blood and dirt, and one of her eyes had swelled completely shut. Her damp red hair dripped like blood down her bony shoulders. She’d been stripped almost nude; her torso and legs were streaked with lash marks and purple welts. How much longer could she possibly take such abuse?
Like in the last dream she’d had, Cassie couldn’t move. Her feet were frozen in place at the doorway—from where she could see Scarlett but wasn’t sure if Scarlett could see her. She called out to her from where she stood.
Scarlett, I know where you are, she said. And I’ll be there soon. I promise.
With that, she jolted awake.
My sister, Cassie thought, my poor, dear sister. She’d rather Scarlett give the hunters what they wanted, to tell them the entire truth about the Circle, if it meant they’d release her alive. Better that than seeing her die to protect them. Scarlett had come to New Salem to seek out the safety of the Circle, not the other way around. How had the situation come to this?
But Scarlett was still alive, that much Cassie was sure of. And as long as she was still alive, there was still time to rescue her. Maybe if the Circle understood that Scarlett was being tortured for protecting them, they’d consider rescuing her a little more seriously. Maybe they’d finally accept her as one of their own.
And then there was a piercingly loud sound in Cassie’s ear. She looked over at her nightstand and realized her phone was ringing, but who could be calling at this time of night?
“Hello?” Cassie answered cautiously, half-believing it was going to be one of the ancient witch hunters from her dream on the other end of the line. But the scratchy voice that apologized for waking her belonged to Deborah.
“What’s happened?” Cassie knew if Deborah was calling her in the middle of the night that someone was either hurt or dead, possibly both.
“Someone set Laurel’s lawn on fire,” Deborah said. “Burning in the shape of the hunter symbol.”
If Cassie hadn’t just woken from a nightmare, she would have sworn she’d just entered one.
“Laurel’s been marked,” Deborah added, in case Cassie didn’t comprehend the full magnitude of the situation.
Cassie suddenly felt like she was suffocating, like one of the hunters from her nightmare had grabbed hold of her neck and was squeezing the breath out of her.
“Cassie?” Deborah said. “Are you okay?”
Cassie coughed. Laurel. Of all people to be marked, they’d gotten to sweet, peace-loving Laurel. How could this be happening?
“I’m just shocked,” Cassie said. “Go on.”
Deborah resumed speaking in her gravelly whisper. “So we’re going to have a Circle meeting early tomorrow before school. To figure out what to do.”
“Of course,” Cassie said. “I’ll be there.”
“We’re meeting at Diana’s. At six thirty
A.M
.”
“Okay.” Cassie felt shaky and weird. Her voice didn’t come out sounding like her own. Those invisible hands were still squeezing her throat closed, making it hard for her to breathe. “Is Laurel all right?” she managed to ask.
But the phone clicked. Deborah had already hung up. It struck Cassie as strange that of all the Circle members who could have called her with this news, it was Deborah who did it. Not Adam or Diana.
Careful not to wake her mother, Cassie got out of bed, slipped on her sneakers, and wrapped her jacket around her shoulders. Then she unlatched the front door and slinked out to the edge of their property. From high up on the bluff she had a long view of the whole block, every old house on crooked Crowhaven Road—the ones in good repair as well as the ones that looked as if they might tip over into splintering timbers in a strong wind.
Cassie strained her eyes to see far out. First, she saw that the fire had been extinguished, but she could still smell the remnants of smoke and burnt grass in the air
. And then she noticed two bodies moving around in the dark, along the outskirts of the lawn. It was difficult to make out who it was through the lingering smoke. Cassie squinted her eyes, but it was no use. She considered taking the walk down. It had to be someone in the Circle. But then the bodies began moving closer, and Cassie recognized who it was. It was Adam and Diana.
Diana’s long blonde hair shined beneath the streetlights as she walked, closely and carefully with Adam, toward her house.
Cassie felt a pang of resentment. They were both up and out, together. And neither of them took the time to call Cassie themselves.
How had she drifted so far from the two most important people in her life?
Cassie turned around and went home with an emptiness in her stomach. She tiptoed across the living room floor, back to her bedroom, and gently closed the door. Then she kicked off her shoes and climbed into bed, sorry she’d ever left it in the first place.
She could guess what they were doing. They were planning, strategizing, and plotting the meeting that would happen in a few hours. That was just who they were and how they would always be. The brave knight and the high priestess, ever vigilant. They were the real influence behind the group, no matter who was called leader or who wore the Tools.
Adam may have been Cassie’s soul mate, but there would always be the Circle. And the Circle, if represented by one person, would be Diana. Not for one second did Cassie suspect that Adam was cheating on her with Diana. He didn’t have to. What he shared with Diana was something above and beyond cheating.
Cassie stared up at her ceiling, sleepless. Let them strategize. Cassie was done waiting on the sidelines. She would go to rescue Scarlett herself and destroy the hunters before they marked anyone else—and before they had the opportunity to kill Laurel.
But Cassie knew she’d need two things if she was going to fight the hunters by herself: the diadem and garter from Diana and Faye.
Chapter 24
The next morning, Cassie arrived at Diana’s house with coffee and fresh muffins. Diana looked a little unsteady accepting the bag of baked goods from Cassie, unsure of what to make of her kind gesture. Since they’d last disagreed and Cassie stormed out of their Circle meeting, they’d avoided each other. So it was only fair for Diana to be a little suspicious of such an abrupt and dramatic change of heart.