Cassie disappeared to the kitchen and returned with some snacks to liven the mood. She set down a plate of cookies and a bowl of popcorn that nobody touched, and then sat beside Adam on the couch.
Deborah took the floor. “Our magic isn’t strong enough against them,” she said. “How are we supposed to rescue Faye?”
Sean widened his eyes. “We should burn down the warehouse.”
Chris approved, but Doug shook his head. “That’ll never work.”
“We only need to distract the ancestors long enough to give Faye a chance to escape,” Diana said. “Maybe a fire would do the trick.”
“I have a better idea.” Laurel stood up. “Somnus pulvis,” she said, looking at Diana. “Sleep powder.”
“Seriously?” Chris laughed out loud. “You think a little pixie dust can take down the most powerful witches of all time?”
“For about two or three minutes,” Laurel said defensively. “And that’s all we need to get Faye out of there.”
She turned to Cassie. “I was up all night studying the ingredients. All we have to do is get it into their eyes and they’ll go right down.”
Cassie tried to sound appreciative. “That sounds great, Laurel, but I don’t think any potion or powder will work on a demon.”
“A regular potion won’t,” Laurel said. “But if I spell it, and mix in the proper herbs, it will.”
Diana’s face broke into a half-smile. It was the first of its kind all day. “You really think you can do it?”
“Of course she can,” Melanie said. “Laurel’s a genius!”
Laurel pulled a slip of paper out of her pocket and began reading off ingredients. “We’ll need lavender, chamomile, valerian, boneset, foxglove, marjoram.”
“What are we waiting for?” Adam stood up. “Let’s head to the garden.”
Cassie followed the group outside. It was a long shot, one she wasn’t even sure she believed would work. But seeing her Circle hopeful was worth going along with the idea.
As soon as it grew dark outside, the Circle left for the warehouse. They’d collected all the ingredients from Laurel’s list, crushed them into a fine powder, and spelled it with magic. They each held a small felt sack of that powder now, to be tossed into the eyes of their enemies.
Their plan of action was straightforward: stun the ancestors, put them to sleep, rescue Faye. Every Circle member had an ancestor to target. Cassie would pursue Scarlett.
Nick checked the loose pane in the warehouse’s back window. “These ancestors are so cocky,” he whispered, “they still haven’t bothered to cast a guarding spell to keep us out.”
They hadn’t even secured the broken window, Cassie realized. They obviously revered themselves as too powerful to take such precautions.
Nick pulled aside the loose pane, and the Circle climbed through, catlike, one at a time. The ancestors didn’t hear them come in. They were seated in the main room having a discussion, totally unguarded. Cassie squeezed her fistful of powder in her right hand and located Scarlett leaning on a crate, off to the side of the group.
“Let’s go,” Nick said, and the Circle descended upon them, scattering into battle.
Adam was the first to hurl his fistful of dust into Absolom’s eyes.
Absolom blinked rapidly and hobbled on his feet for a few seconds, then covered his face and screamed. He fell over onto the floor as an acidic smell rose to the air. His skin sizzled gruesomely beneath his hands. Cassie wasn’t sure what was happening.
Laurel was horrified, but she still managed to hurl her dust into Charlotte’s face.
Diana took out Alice. Deborah handled Beatrix. It may as well have been battery acid they were throwing, singeing the ancestors’ eyes and faces so badly that an acrid cloud of smoke filled the room. They dropped, shrieking, one by one.
Cassie locked eyes with Faye, standing with her hands down at her sides in the middle of all the action. She didn’t move; she appeared mesmerized that this battle was being fought on her behalf—that she was the prize.
Scarlett raised her hands in defense, to stop Cassie’s approach with a spell, but it only took one second to heave her handful of toxic dust into Scarlett’s eyes. She went down, the same as the others, writhing on the floor between Samuel and Thomas.
Soon Faye was the last left standing. The Circle assembled around her.
“Come on, Faye,” Cassie said. “Let’s get you out of here.”
“Quickly,” Melanie added. “We may only have a few minutes.”
Faye began backing away. “What makes you so sure I want to leave?”
The ancestors were already climbing up to their feet, but they still cradled their faces and covered their burning eyes.
“Faye,” Diana said, reaching out to her, but Faye batted Diana away. “No,” she said. “I like it here. They understand me. And they have power, real power.”
“We don’t have time for this!” Melanie shouted.
“I’m not coming with you,” Faye said.
Deborah grabbed her by the arms. “Yes, you are.” She tried to wrestle Faye toward the window, but Faye pushed her off, filled with rage. She splayed her fingernails, which were long and painted bloodred.
“I’ve learned a few new spells since I’ve been here,” she threatened. “Don’t make me show you.”
Cassie centered her energy. Faye left her with no choice but to use magic against her. A simple binding spell would do. Just enough to haul Faye out of here.
But before Cassie could get the words out, Laurel screamed.
Absolom was firmly on his feet. He let out a muffled groan and shook his head from side to side. His eyes were singed, the skin around them pink and raw, but he could see.
Cassie shot Faye with her spell, but Faye blocked it with a deflection.
Then Alice lurched forward.
“Retreat!” Diana yelled out.
Faye still had her hands set and ready to defend herself against any spell hurled her way.
Cassie gave Diana a nod. “Retreat,” she repeated, and everyone fled to the open window.
Cassie was the last to jump through. By the time the fresh air hit her face, she heard all the ancestors grumbling, swearing their revenge. The smell of their scalded flesh was still strong in the air.
Cassie ran with the others toward Chris’s rusted Jeep. Sean gripped the leather steering wheel, ready to gun the accelerator as Cassie climbed into the back. In all, the Circle was a sorry sight.
Melanie patted Laurel on the back. “I know the powder didn’t do what we thought, but it still did the job.”
Gentle Laurel was too traumatized by her potion’s grotesque effectiveness to reply.
“I hadn’t expected Faye to put up that much of a fight,” Deborah said, breathing heavily.
“I guess we took for granted that she only crossed over to save the people at the benefit,” Diana said. “So much for that idea.”
Cassie said nothing. What was there to say? The clock was ticking, and their chances of winning back Faye’s loyalty weren’t looking good, not good at all.
It was the middle of the night when Cassie sprang awake. She’d been thinking about Faye in her sleep, replaying the scenes of her crossing over and the Circle’s failed attempt at winning her back, in different combinations. In each version the details changed, but the outcome always remained the same: failure. Coming up short.
There was no use trying to go back to sleep now. Cassie was too wound up. It felt like two tennis balls had been lodged into the space between her neck and shoulders. She climbed out of bed, wrestled into her favorite hoodie, pulled on her sneakers, and quietly made her way outside.
Unlike Cassie, Crowhaven Road was sound asleep. She could almost hear the street itself snoring peacefully, unconscious to the horror of waking life.
She turned east toward the water, following the smell of salt in the air, to the rocks that guarded the beach. Climbing them strained her muscles, but once she jumped down to the other side of their divide, a stretch of white sand welcomed her. This late at night the beach was deserted, a forsaken paradise. It was quiet enough to hear the waves lapping uninterrupted at the shore.
Cassie looked up at the yellow moon. Only two more nights till it would be a full bright circle and the ancestors would cast the eternal-life spell.
She inched closer to the water. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw a shadow. She searched left, then right. It must have just been her imagination. Then there it was again—for sure this time—a quick, sharp movement behind an outcropping of rock near the water.
Cassie told herself to turn around and run right home, but her legs remained in place like two wooden posts stuck in the sand. Her eyes widened to searchlights. She wanted this, didn’t she? Isn’t this what she’d come looking for? To just have it out and be done with it already, to end this battle of wills against Scarlett and the ancestors once and for all.
But in the next moment, the shadow detached itself from the rocks and came into view. It wasn’t an ancestor or Scarlett. It was Nick.
Cassie felt a jolt at the sight of his face, the rough shape of his shoulders. “You scared me,” she said.
Nick stood tall and watched Cassie with steady eyes. “You don’t look very scared,” he said.
It was true. Her adrenaline was pumping and her heart was fluttering within her chest, but she wasn’t afraid. She was excited.
“Cassie,” Nick said. He surprised her by taking hold of her arms, just above the elbow. His hands felt strong, rugged, as he squeezed tighter. He grazed his lips against her ear. “I miss you.”
If the ancestors had won, Cassie thought, and she really was facing the end of her days, then why not?
Nick’s lips found the soft spot on her neck, just below her ear.
If she was soon to die . . .
No.
If she was soon to die, she wanted to die beside Adam. No one else.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you, Nick,” Cassie said, taking a step back, breaking free from his urgent hold.
“About what?”
“Everything.” She took a seat upon the moist rocks, to rest her quivering legs. “What we haven’t had time to talk about.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.” Nick sat beside her. She’d lost his eyes again.
“What was building between us,” Cassie said softly. “While Adam was gone.”
In the moonlight Cassie could see Nick’s carven, handsome features with their hint of defensiveness.
“I think it was a confusing time for both of us,” Cassie said as honestly as she could. “We’ve always had a connection, Nick, and we probably always will. But that doesn’t mean . . .” She couldn’t finish her sentence.
Cassie couldn’t ignore the depth of Nick’s feelings for her, not when his love was so strong it allowed him to fight his possession. But she would be lying if she said that what she felt for him was equally as strong, or the same.
“I know I haven’t been fair to you,” she continued. “You were there for me when I needed you, in a way no one else has been. But Adam is my one true love. I have to let you go, for real this time.”
Nick’s jaw tightened. She’d caught him completely off guard by being so blunt. In fact, she’d caught herself off guard as well.
“I think we may be facing the end, Nick, all of us. Once the ancestors have eternal life, they’re likely to unleash another bubonic plague on the world. It’s more important than ever for us not to be distracted.
“I really do love you,” she added, after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence. “But not the same way I love Adam. And you deserve someone who loves you that way.”
Nick nodded, stone-faced, and then brushed off Cassie’s words in his usual manner. “I’ll get over it,” he said, as if their moment was nothing. “What we should be thinking about right now is Faye. Look at that moon.”
He pointed at the sky. “That’s our stopwatch.”
Cassie didn’t allow herself to glimpse the waxing gibbous moon another time. It was too terrifying to look at.
“If only we could catch Faye in a moment of weakness,” he said. “But she’s never weak. She’s Faye.”
It was true, Cassie thought. The last time Faye had allowed herself to be vulnerable was—
Of course.
Cassie snapped to attention. The sound of the ocean was crisp in her ears. It was whispering to her, sharing its deeply hidden secrets.
“What is it?” Nick asked.
“I know just the place,” Cassie said. “To catch Faye with her heart open.”
Chapter 23
Cassie stepped across the crooked stream and around the few small ponds that led to Suzan’s grave. It was evening but still light as day, barely a shadow upon the ground.