by L. J. Smith
“Are you sure? Any small mistake, and who knows what we could do to them, or even to ourselves,” Diana said.
“You’ll see,” Scarlett said to Diana in a patronizing tone. “It’ll be as simple as singing a song in a language you don’t understand. All you have to do is hit the tones right. The deeper meaning is beside the point.”
“How does the curse work?” Diana asked, staring down at the book’s illegible text. “What will it do to the hunters?”
Scarlett grinned. “Don’t worry. It’ll happen so fast they’ll hardly feel a thing.”
“But what exactly will it do to them?” Diana persisted.
“It’ll take away the power from their stone relics,” Scarlett said. “And break the bond between the hunters and their marks.”
“So we’ll all be unmarked.” Cassie looked the spell over with Adam. Based on her instincts and their limited research, everything Scarlett said seemed right.
“And anyway, Diana,” Scarlett added, “Max is being spared. As long as he’s nowhere near his relic when we cast this, he’ll be fine. So what are you so nervous about?”
Cassie let the comment pass. “All right then,” she said. “We’re just about ready to do this.”
Adam turned to Diana. “Those caves where the hunters have their headquarters are down by the rockier shores. We’ll need rowboats to get to them.”
Diana pulled out her phone. “Max can help with that. If it’s all right with you, Cassie, I think he should be included in this discussion.”
Cassie hesitated, but Adam didn’t. “Are you planning to invite him over? Here?”
Diana squared herself to Adam. “Max is turning his back on hundreds of years of his own ancestry and is probably going to be disowned by his father for helping us. So yes, I’m planning to invite him over so he’s clear on how all this will go down.”
Adam took a breath that sounded like assent and Cassie told Diana to go ahead. Within the hour Max was standing in her bedroom with his muscular arms crossed over his chest, hovering over her father’s book.
Scarlett showed him the spell and he squinted at it. He scratched the stubble on the side of his face and looked at Diana. “Can you ensure their safety?”
“The spell will deactivate the relics,” Scarlett said. “That’s what it’s designed to do. Beyond that, none of us are in a position to ensure anything. This is a battle we’re going into, after all. War doesn’t come with guarantees for either side.”
Max chewed on his thick lower lip, mulling things over in his mind. “Well, I want to be there to make sure both sides play fair.” He rested his sharp eyes on Scarlett, understanding somehow that it was her spearheading this crusade. “Consider me the referee.”
Scarlett grinned. “Then I guess the only question left is, how soon can we leave?”
They all looked to Max for the answer.
“Tonight,” he said confidently, reaching for Diana’s hand. “We’ll go tonight. The sooner we get this over with, the better.”
They had an hour till dusk, just the right amount of time to arrive at the caves in sunlight, and to depart shrouded beneath the cover of night. It took three boats to get them all there. Cassie, Adam, Diana, and Scarlett were at the front, under Max’s guidance. As he rowed them closer and closer to the caves, Cassie’s nerves started to get the best of her, and she suddenly wished they’d composed a backup plan. She hadn’t wanted to appear doubtful at the time, but now that they were sitting out in the water with only Max’s word to go on, Cassie wished the Circle had at least considered an escape strategy. What if Max was simply delivering them to the hunters’ lair like cargo?
Cassie looked to Faye in the boat behind theirs. They locked eyes and Cassie immediately understood that Faye was ready for anything. She was perched on the edge of her boat’s bow, watching and calculating. Cassie gave her a nod. For once, Faye’s suspicious, cunning nature served as the most necessary comfort, and Cassie was thankful for it. If this turned out to be a trap, Faye was fully prepared to take Max out to save the Circle—and Cassie would join her.
As their boats neared the caves, the hulking fissures grew larger but no less threatening. By the time they had drifted within walking distance of the main cave’s entrance, Cassie got the sense that she was about to step into the mouth of a stone dragon.
“We’re here,” Max said somberly. “Get up slowly unless you feel like going for a swim.”
He smiled then and Cassie recognized the warmth in his face for the first time. She returned his expression as affectionately as she could. In a way, Max’s predicament wasn’t so different from her own. Like Cassie, he was caught between two opposing sides, between dark and light, his father’s nature and his own free will. It couldn’t have been a simple decision for him to assist them.
“Thank you,” Cassie said to him, hoping to relay some sentiment of camaraderie.
Max nodded, and Cassie said a silent prayer that they were right to rely on him. For his sake and hers.
Cassie climbed out of her rowboat carefully and reached for Adam to steady her on solid ground. She squeezed his hand tightly, needing him close to her now more than ever. It occurred to Cassie that if this attack went poorly, if they failed, it could mean their deaths. These moments could very well be their last. Then a far scarier thought crossed Cassie’s mind. What if she survived but Adam didn’t? The idea of going on without him was unfathomable to her.
Cassie tried to absorb every detail of Adam as he was now. His electric-blue eyes and wild hair, and the strength that shone in his features even at the worst of times—perhaps especially at the worst of times.
“I don’t want to let go of your hand,” Cassie said.
“That’s good, because I won’t let you.” Adam brought her fingers to his lips. “Ever.”
The whole Circle joined hands then, to link their power. They walked toward the caves in a long line, ready to recite the dark chant they’d memorized.
Cassie’s stomach twisted with fear and she struggled with the urge to return to the boats and row home. She glanced back to watch Max heading toward the caves behind them. He would be watching the confrontation from a safe distance. The look on his face was one of love and honor and he was focused solely on Diana. Any residual anxiety Cassie had that Max was leading them into a trap fell away. The cord that connected Max to Diana connected him to the entire Circle—and he was as devoted to this mission as the rest of them.
Candlelight was the first thing Cassie noticed upon entering the cave. It flickered in orange and yellow flashes against the wall, illuminating their way deeper into the bowels of the dark cavern.
Cassie could hear the hunters’ soft mumbling before she could see them. There they were: Mr. Boylan, Jedediah Felton, and Louvera Felton, along with two others Cassie hadn’t seen before. They were gathered just where Max said they’d be and they were kneeling in a meditative state, performing some kind of ritual. They all had their eyes closed and their heads bowed toward an intricately composed altar. Their ancient relics lay on the ground beside them.
Adam gripped Cassie’s hand tighter, and with her other hand Cassie squeezed Diana’s fingers in her own. She was suddenly acutely aware of her own breath and the slight sound her own footsteps made upon the gravelly cave floor. She got the distinct feeling that the spell they were about to perform filled her heart and lungs. It rushed through her veins.
This is it, she thought, and she could hardly contain her urgent desire to begin spewing forth the words. They contained her every wish, hope, fear, and need.
The hunters remained motionless, clueless to their impending invasion. It was perfect timing. The words, or sounds really, that Cassie had memorized formed on her lips almost of their own accord. They had fully taken her over. The same must have been true for all the Circle members. Each of them appeared entranced, melded to the spell just as Cassie was.
The twelve of them continued forward, all-powerful and bathed in darkness. They cast the
curse, chanting in unison, before the hunters had any idea they’d even arrived.
Chapter 29
It felt different from any magic Cassie had ever done before. The energy behind the words surged through her like it did when she had uttered the spell on the rooftop, but this was exponentially more powerful. It had the strength of the whole Circle behind it. The cave started to tremble and shake around them. Rocks crumbled to the ground. The elements seemed to be bending to the Circle’s will.
The hunters woke from their trance in a panic. Cassie registered the terror in each of their faces and the pure shock of being ambushed in their safe space. They’d been caught with their every defense down.
The hunters began reciting the same words from the rooftop and the woods, and their relics brought out the marks on each member of the Circle. Like on the rooftop before Suzan was killed, the hunter symbols glowed brightly upon each of their chests. But against the Circle’s curse, the hunters’ relics had no other effect. Mr. Boylan shook his like a remote control with a faulty battery, frustrated and enraged by its failure to perform.
Out of desperation, he picked up a rock from the ground and threw it at Cassie. The other hunters followed his lead, grabbing for whatever they could throw. But the Circle remained untouched. The air around them deflected the rocks and foreign objects hurled their way like a protective force field. The Circle’s command was impenetrable.
Cassie felt calm and more in control of her magic than ever. And never before had all the members of the Circle worked together so seamlessly, so machinelike in their efficiency. Maybe Cassie had underestimated them, and herself.
The hunters quickly weakened beneath the effects of the spell. Scarlett said it would be quick and painless, that it would be over before the hunters knew what hit them. It was hitting them now with full force. Mr. Boylan swayed back and forth on two wobbly legs, no longer able to even raise his arms in defense. The skin on his face and neck turned ashen and withered. He seemed to age decades right before Cassie’s eyes.
The old man hunter, Jedediah, dropped to his knees, holding his head in his hands. He twisted his white hair around his wrinkled fingers and opened his mouth to scream, but no sound escaped. The sight of him reminded Cassie of a famous painting—that ghostly face wide-mouthed with shock. Like the painting itself, the old man’s shriek was still and silent.
Louvera, his daughter, lifted up her stone relic like a shield and waved it back and forth in an attempt to protect herself. But her hands shook so furiously she could barely hold on to it. It slipped from her grip and hit the ground with a thud. She crawled around on all fours, urgently trying to recover it.
The spell was working without a flaw. Cassie noticed that the hunter mark on her chest had begun to fade. With every second, the symbol grew dimmer, weaker, as if losing its charge. It couldn’t be long now before the relics were drained of all their power and their marks were erased for good. Then the Circle would be safe, and the hunters would never be a threat to them again.
A strange calm and optimism came over Cassie. Her mind drifted to a kinder place, where she imagined a future for herself and her friends free from this heavy ancient rivalry. They were so close now to turning their world into one where Diana and Max would be allowed to love each other and none of them would have to hide in secret rooms or caves. Hunter and witch alike, they would all be released.
Then Jedediah fell backward from his knees, flat onto his back. His ice-blue eyes were open and unblinking, but they were sapped of all emotion, all feeling. Cassie remembered that same cold look in others she had once known and loved—her grandmother, Melanie’s aunt Constance, and Suzan. She knew the look well, and she immediately understood that it wasn’t just the old man’s powers that had been taken away—it was his life.
Louvera tried desperately to crawl to him, but she couldn’t make it. A moment later, she went limp with the same lifeless cold hardened to her eyes.
“No!” Max rushed in from just outside the cave’s entrance. “You’re killing them!” he screamed.
But Cassie couldn’t stop. None of them could. The spell had been unleashed and it was working through the Circle now. The words came from their own lips, but they were merely spectators to their effect.
“You have to stop!” Max shouted directly into Diana’s face, but she made no reaction. It was as if her eyes couldn’t even see him.
Passive as empty vessels, the Circle brought the other two hunters down to the ground, dead. Max just stood there, horrified. He could do nothing as his fellow hunters fell like dominoes all around him. Without his relic, he was both immune to the curse and powerless in trying to stop it.
He ran to his father, wrapped his arms around him, and tried to lift him up. “Let’s get you out of here,” he said.
His father appeared unsure if it was really his son who’d come to his aid, or if it was just a mirage. Either way, he was too feeble to be moved.
Max started to cry. “Dad, I’m so sorry,” he said. “Forgive me, please.”
Mr. Boylan made no response. He could only gaze up at his boy, bewildered and terrified.
“I love you,” Max said. “Can you hear me, Dad? I love you.”
But his father’s eyes had turned to stone. His breath had ceased. It was only his lifeless body lying in Max’s arms.
The spell ended itself at the moment of his death. Everyone in the Circle suddenly woke up, as if from a dream, and looked at one another, stunned. There was a slight edge of relief in the air. They’d won; they understood that much. But had they just … killed?
Cassie glanced at Adam. He looked pale and sick, like he might faint.
Diana seemed a little dazed, too, unable to figure out what had just occurred.
Cassie spoke up for her. “Max,” she said. “We had no idea that was going to happen. The spell was only supposed to disable the relics. We would have never performed it if we knew the hunters would lose their lives. That’s not how our Circle does things.”
“You just killed my father,” Max said. “He’s dead! Do you understand that?” He passed his eyes despicably over each member of the Circle. “I trusted you,” he said. “And you betrayed me.” He set his father’s body gently down and stepped back with tears streaming down his face.
He glared at Diana. “Don’t follow me,” he said, and the way he said it sounded like a brutal threat. Then he ran from the cave and quickly disappeared from their sight.
Diana appeared stunned, but Cassie could feel her best friend’s heartbreak as her own. The guilt and remorse she must have been suffering was unimaginable, enough to put her into a state of shock.
Cassie stepped slowly toward her. She placed her hand upon Diana’s shoulder, hoping to offer her some comfort. But Diana focused sharply on Cassie in a way that brought her to a frightened halt. Diana’s eyes were black as marbles.
“He may flee thither,” she said. “But he shall be slain before his enemies.” Her voice was gravelly and harsh, nothing like its regular tone.
Cassie was too alarmed to move a muscle. “Diana?” she asked. “Are you—”
“Let us rejoice in our victory.” Diana turned grandly to Scarlett. “Thine, O leader,” she said, bowing to Scarlett, “is the greatest power. And thou art exalted as head above all.”
Scarlett nodded and Cassie noticed the corners of her mouth raise up ever so slightly. “I told you I’d get my Circle,” she said.
Chapter 30
Cassie looked around in confusion. Something strange was happening to all the members of the Circle.
Adam was sneering oddly. His hands were balled into fists and he was grinding his teeth. There was sweat dripping from his forehead down the front of his face, but he seemed not to notice. He also stared at Cassie with narrowed blackened eyes.
A shiver ran down Cassie’s spine. “Scarlett,” she said. “Tell me what you’ve done to them.”
“I didn’t do anything.” Scarlett smirked. “They did it to themselves, c
asting that spell against the hunters. Any spell cast from our family’s book by a nonfamily member calls on our bloodline. It gave the perfect portal into our world for a few unsettled spirits.”
Cassie looked around at her friends, now all strangers to her. Sean was mumbling in an incoherent language while Chris laughed like a lunatic and Doug convulsed in a fit on the ground. Melanie’s and Laurel’s faces had altered. They looked nothing like themselves, and they chattered in voices that weren’t their own—Melanie’s was deep and husky while Laurel’s was high-pitched and playful like a child’s.
“I am falsely accused,” Melanie declared, while rocking forward and back.
Laurel laughed and clapped, and replied in a piercing singsong, “But you will be condemned to hang.”
“Meet the family,” Scarlett said.
Cassie wavered. “I don’t understand.”
“Some of them are still working their way through.” Scarlett gestured toward Chris, Doug, and Sean. “But they’ll be up and talking like the others soon.”
“Who are they?”
Scarlett smiled. “Our ancestors. These are the people who passed down Black John’s Book of Shadows.”
Cassie looked around at her friends, the truth registering slowly: speaking in tongues, convulsions, changes in vocal intonation and facial expression, superhuman strength.
“The Circle is possessed,” she said.
Scarlett rolled her eyes. “Well, duh. These spirits have been waiting to manifest for hundreds of years, to get their power back. And we gave it to them.”
Adam stepped forward. His hands were no longer balled into fists and he’d stopped sweating, but his eyes remained dead and black. His body must have been fighting the possession before, but it had now been fully overcome.
He nodded confidently at Cassie and then bowed before Scarlett. “In shackles no more,” he said. “To you I am indebted.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it.
“Oh yeah,” Scarlett said, grinning. “And I’m their leader.”