Cassie's grandmother shook her head. "To talk! If they'd come to us, to the older women, we might have warned them. Me and Laurel's grandma, and Adam's grandma, and Melanie's great-aunt Constance-we could have told them a few things, maybe saved them. But they went alone, without telling anyone. On Imbolc, February first, more than half the group that he had put together went to challenge him. And out of that group, not one came back."
Tears were running slowly down the seamed old cheeks. "So you see, it was the brave ones, the strong ones that went and died. The ones that are left are the ones too scared or too stupid to see the danger-I'm sorry, Deborah, but it's true." Cassie remembered that both Deborah's parents were alive. "All the best of Crowhaven Road went to fight Black John that Imbolc Night," her grandmother said.
"But howl" Cassie whispered. She was thinking of that row of gravestones in the cemetery. "How did they die, Grandma?"
"I don't know. I doubt if anyone alive knows, unless it's..." Her grandmother broke off and shook her head, muttering. "There was fire in the sky, and then a storm. A hurricane from the sea. The older women got together the babies that had been left with them, and the young parents that hadn't gone with the group, and we managed to save them. But the next day the house at Number Thirteen was burned to the ground, and all the ones who'd gone to challenge Black John were dead.
"We never found most of the bodies. They were washed out to sea, I suppose. But one thing we did find was the burned corpse at Number Thirteen. We knew it was him by the ring he wore, a shiny black stone we used to call lodestone. I forget the modern name. We took him out to the old burying ground and put him in the bunker. Charles Meade, Diana's father, dropped that chunk of concrete in front of it. We figured that if he'd come back once, he might try again someday, and we meant to stop him if we could. And after that the parents that had survived hid their Books of Shadows and did their best to keep their children away from magic. And it's strange, but most of them forgot what they could. I guess because they couldn't remember and stay sane. Still, it's funny, now, how much they've forgotten."
The cracked voice had been growing weaker and weaker, but now Cassie's grandmother grasped Cassie's wrist hard. "Now, listen to me, child. This is important. Some of us didn't forget, because we couldn't. I'd named my daughter for a prophetess, and she did the same for her daughter, because we've always had the second sight. Your mother couldn't bear what her gift showed her, and so she ran away from New Salem; she ran all the way to the other coast. But I stayed, and I've watched all my premonitions come true, one by one. The babies that were born on Crowhaven Road in that single month grew up different, despite everything their parents could do. They were drawn to the Powers and the old ways from the beginning. They all grew up strong-and some of them grew up bad.
"I've watched it happen, and in my mind I've heard Black John laughing. They burned his body, but they couldn't burn his spirit, and it's always been here, waiting, hanging around the old burying ground and the vacant lot at Number Thirteen. He was waiting for his coven, the one he'd planned, the one he'd gotten born. He was waiting for them to come of age. He was waiting for them to bring him back.
"I knew it would happen-and I knew only one thing could stand against him when it did. And that's you, Cassie. You have the strength of our family, and the sight, and the Power. I begged your mother to come home, because I knew that without you the children of Crowhaven Road would be lost. They'd turn to him, the way their parents did, and he'd be their leader and their master. You are the only one who can stop him from taking them now."
"So that's what you and Mom fought about," Cassie said in wonder. "About me."
"We fought about courage. She wanted to protect you, and I knew that by protecting you we'd lose all the others. You had a destiny even before you were born. And the worst was that we couldn't tell you about it-that was what the prophecies said. You had to come here all unknowing and find your own way, like some innocent sacrifice. And you did. You've done everything we could have wanted. And the time was coming when we could have explained it all to you... but she fooled us, that Faye. By the way, how'd she do it?"
"I..." Cassie didn't know what to say. "I helped her, Grandma," she said finally. "We found the crystal skull that belonged to Black John, and it was full of dark energy. Every time we used it, somebody died. And then-" Cassie took a deep, ragged breath. "Then, tonight, Faye told us to bring the skull to the cemetery. And when she uncovered it there-I don't know-all this darkness came out..."
Cassie's grandmother was nodding. "He was master of dark things. Just like the real Man in Black, the lord of death. But, Cassie, do you really understand?" With a supreme effort, the old woman tried to sit up to look in Cassie's face. "When you took the skull to his burying place and let that energy out, it was enough to bring him back. He's here now; he's come back again. Not a ghost or a spirit, but a man. A walking, breathing man. He'll look different the next time you see him; once he's had a chance to pretty himself up. And he'll try to fool you." She sank back wearily.
"But, oh, Grandma I helped let him loose. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..." Tears swam in Cassie's eyes.
"You didn't know. I forgive you, child, and what's done is done. But you have to be ready for him..." Cassie's grandmother's eyes drifted shut, and her breath had a frightening sound.
"Grandma!" Cassie said, shaking her in panic.
The old eyes opened again, slowly. "Poor Cassie. It's a lot to face. But you have strength, if you look for it. And now you have this." Feebly, she pressed the Book of Shadows again into Cassie's hands. "The wisdom of our family, and the prophecies. Read it. Learn it. It'll answer some of the questions I don't have time for. You'll find your way..."
"Grandma! Grandma, please..."
Her grandmother's eyes were still open, but they were changing, filming over, as if they didn't see her anymore. "I don't mind going now that I've told the story... but there's something else. Something you need to know..."
"Cassie!" The voice came from the doorway, and it startled Cassie so much that she jerked and looked up. Laurel was standing there, her elfin face white with concern. "Cassie, what's happening in here? Are you okay? Do you want a doctor?" She was staring at Cassie's grandmother on the floor.
"Laurel, not now!" Cassie gasped. She was crying, but she held on harder to her grandmother's knotted old hands. "Grandma, please don't go. I'm frightened, Grandmother. I need you!"
Her grandmother's lips were moving, but only the faintest of sounds came out. ". . . never be afraid, Cassie. There's nothing frightening in the dark if you just face it..."
"Please, Grandma, please. Oh, no..." Cassie's head dropped down to her grandmother's chest and she sobbed. The knotted hands weren't holding hers anymore.
"You said you had something else to tell me," she wept. "You can't go..."
An almost inaudible breath came from her grandmother's chest. Cassie thought it was the word "John." And then, ". . . nothing dies forever, Cassie..."