The Secret Circle: The Complete Collection (31 page)

Read The Secret Circle: The Complete Collection Online

Authors: L. J. Smith

Tags: #Young Adult, #Fantasy, #Romance, #Vampires, #Juvenile Fiction, #Teenage Girls, #Horror & Ghost Stories, #Love & Romance, #Witchcraft, #Fiction, #Fantasy & Magic, #Social Issues, #Young Adult Fiction, #love, #Dating & Sex, #Massachusetts

BOOK: The Secret Circle: The Complete Collection
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Standing in the light of a full moon, take a strand of the lover’s hair and tie knots in it, saying
:
 
No peace find
No friend keep
No lover bind
No harvest reap
 
No repose take
No hunger feed
No thirst slake
No sorrow speed
No debt pay
No fear flee
Rue the day
You wronged me
.
 
Cassie’s pulse was fluttering in her wrists. Would anyone really put a curse like that on someone they loved, no matter how unfaithful?
She was still staring at the page when there was a movement at the door. She shut the book hastily as Diana came in, hair wrapped in a towel turban. But her eyes were drawn instantly to the gold chain Diana was dropping on the nightstand. It lay there next to a round stone with a spiral pattern in it, gray swirled with pale blue and sprinkled with quartz crystals. The chalcedony rose that Diana had given to Adam, and that Adam had given to Cassie. Now it was back where it belonged, Cassie thought, and something around her heart went numb.
“The bathroom’s all yours,” said Diana. “Here’s a nightgown—or do you want a T-shirt?”
“A nightgown’s fine,” Cassie said. All the time she was washing up and changing she kept seeing the key. If only Diana would leave it there . . .
It was still on the nightstand when she popped her head back in Diana’s room. Diana was already in bed.
“Want me to shut the door?”
“No,” Diana said, reaching up to turn out the light. “Just leave it open a bit. Good night.”
“Good night, Diana.”
But once in the guest room next door Cassie propped herself up on two pillows and lay staring at the ceiling. Strangely, it was almost peaceful, lying there and knowing that for the moment there was nothing she could do but wait. She could hear the sound of the ocean behind Diana’s house, now louder, now softer.
She waited a long time, listening to the quiet sounds. She felt relaxed, until she thought about getting up—then her heart started to pound.
At last she was sure Diana must be asleep. Now, she thought. If you don’t move now, you never will.
Breath held, she shifted her weight in the bed and let her legs down. The hardwood floor creaked slightly as she crossed it, and she froze each time.
Outside Diana’s door, she stood straining her ears. She could hear nothing. She put her hand on the door and slowly, by infinitesimal degrees, she pushed it open.
Carefully, lungs burning because she was afraid to breathe too loud, she placed one foot inside the threshold and let her weight down on it.
Diana was a dim shape on the bed. Please don’t let her eyes be open, Cassie thought. She had the horrible fantasy that Diana was just lying there staring at her. But as she took another slow, careful step inside, and another, she could see that Diana’s eyes were shut.
Oh, God, Cassie thought. I have to breathe. She opened her mouth and exhaled and inhaled silently. Her heart was shaking her and she felt dizzy.
Take tiny steps, she thought. She crept farther into the room until she was standing directly beside Diana.
On the nightstand, just a few inches from Diana’s sleeping face, was the key.
Feeling as if she was moving in slow motion, Cassie put her hand out, placed it flat on the key. She didn’t want to make any noise, but as she slid the necklace toward her, the chain rattled. She closed her fingers over it and held it tightly.
Now to get away. She forced herself to creep, all the time looking over her shoulder at the bed—was Diana waking up?
She reached the cabinet, and the little brass keyhole.
Fit the key in. She was fumbling; her fingers felt clumsy as sausages. For a moment she panicked, thinking, what if it isn’t the right key after all? But at last she got it in and turned it.
The lock clicked.
Hot relief swept over Cassie. She’d done it. Now she had to get the skull and call Faye—and what if Faye didn’t answer? What if Diana’s father caught her phoning in the middle of the night, or if Diana woke up and found the skull missing . . .?
But as she eased the cabinet door open the world blurred and went dark before her eyes.
The hall light was shining into the cabinet. It was dim, but it was clear enough to show that all Cassie’s caution had been in vain, and all her fears about getting the skull to Faye were pointless.
The cabinet was empty.
Cassie never knew how long she stood there, unable to think or move. But at last she pushed the cabinet door shut with shaking hands and locked it.
If it’s not here, then
where
is it? Where? she demanded frantically of herself.
Don’t think about it now. Put the key back. Or do you want her to wake up while you’re standing here holding it?
The journey back to Diana’s nightstand seemed to take forever, and her stomach ached is if someone were grinding a boot there. The key clinked as she replaced it on the nightstand and the chain stuck to her sweaty hand. But Diana’s breathing remained soft and even.
Now get
out
, she ordered herself. She needed to be alone, to try and think. In her hurry to get away she forgot to be careful about placing her feet. A board creaked.
Just keep going, never mind, she thought. Then she heard something that stopped her heart.
A rustling from the bed. And then Diana’s voice.
“Cassie?”
Chapter 4
 
        
 

“C
assie? Is that you?”

Sick dismay tingled down Cassie’s nerves. Then she heard her own voice saying, as she turned, “I—I was scared . . . I didn’t want to bother you . . .”
“Oh, don’t be silly. Come lie down,” Diana said sleepily, patting the bed beside her and shutting her eyes again.
It had worked. Cassie had gambled that Diana had just woken up that instant, and she’d been right. But Cassie felt as if she were reeling as she went over to the other side of the bed and got in, facing away from Diana.
“No more nightmares,” Diana murmured.
“No,” Cassie whispered. She could never get up now and call Faye, but she didn’t care. She was too tired of stress, of tension, of fear. And something deep inside her was glad that she hadn’t been able to go through with it tonight. She shut her eyes and listened to the roaring in her own ears until she fell asleep.
In her dream she was on a ship. The deck was lifting and dropping beneath her, and waves rose up black over the sides. Lost, lost . . . What was lost? The ship? Yes, but something else, too. Lost forever . . . never find it now . . .
Then the dream changed. She was sitting in a bright and sunny room. Her chair was low to the ground, its spindly wood back so uncomfortable that she had to sit up straight. Her clothes were uncomfortable too; a bonnet as close-fitting as a swimming cap, and something tight around her waist that scarcely let her breathe. On her lap was a book.
Why, it was Diana’s Book of Shadows! But no, the cover was different, red leather instead of brown. As she leafed through it, she saw that the writing in the beginning was very similar, and the titles of some of the spells were the same as in Diana’s.
A
Charm to Cure a Sickly Child. To Make Hens Lay. For Protection Against Fire and Water. To Hold Evil Harmless
.
To Hold Evil Harmless!
Her eyes moved swiftly across the words after it.
Bury the evil object in good moist loam or sand, well covered. The healing power of the Earth will battle with the poison, and if the object be not too corrupt, it will be purified
.
Of course, Cassie thought. Of course.
The dream was ebbing. She could feel Diana’s bed beneath her. But she could also hear a fading voice, calling a name. “Jacinth! Are you in there? Jacinth!”
 
Cassie was awake.
Diana’s blue curtains were incandescent with the sunlight they held back. There were cheerful pottering noises in the room. But all Cassie could think about was the dream.
She must have read that spell in Diana’s Book of Shadows last night, absorbed it unconsciously as she was flipping through. But why remember it in such a weird way?
It didn’t matter. The problem was solved, and Cassie was so happy that she felt like hugging her pillow. Of course, of course! Before the skull ceremony Diana had said the skull should be buried for purification—in moist sand. Adam had found it on the island buried in
sand
. Right below Diana’s back door was a whole beach of sand. Cassie could hear the ocean breaking on it this minute.
The question was, could she find the exact
place
in the sand the skull was buried?
 
Faye was in writing class. And she was furious.
“I waited up all night,” she hissed, grabbing Cassie by the arm. “What happened?”
“I couldn’t get it. It wasn’t there.”
Faye’s golden eyes narrowed and the long red-tipped fingers on Cassie’s arm tightened. “You’re lying.”
“No,” Cassie said. She cast an agonized glance around and then whispered, “I think I know where it is, but you have to give me time.”
Faye was staring at her, those strange eyes raking hers. Then she relaxed slightly and smiled. “Of course, Cassie. All the time you need. Until Saturday.”
“That may not be long enough—”
“It’ll just have to be, won’t it?” Faye drawled. “Because after that I tell Diana.” She let go and Cassie walked to her own desk. There was nothing else to do.
They had a minute of silence at the beginning of class for Mr. Fogle. Cassie spent the minute staring at her entwined fingers, thinking alternately of the dark rushing thing inside the skull and Doug Henderson’s tip-tilted blue-green eyes.
At lunch there was a note taped on the glass door of the back room in the cafeteria.
Outside in front
, it said. Cassie turned from it and almost ran into Adam.
He was approaching with a loaded tray, and he lifted it to stop her from knocking it all over him.
“Whoa,” he said.
Cassie flushed. But then, as they stood facing each other, she discovered a more serious problem. Adam’s smile had faded, she couldn’t stop flushing, and neither of them seemed to be going anywhere.
Eyes in the cafeteria were on them. Talk about déjà vu, Cassie thought. Every time I’m in here I’m the center of attention.
Finally, Adam made an abortive attempt to catch her elbow, stopped himself, and gestured her forward courteously. Cassie didn’t know how he did it, but Adam managed to carry off courtesy like no guy she had ever known. It seemed to come naturally to him.
Girls looked up as they went by, some of them casting sideways glances at Adam. But these were different than the sideways glances Cassie had seen on the beach at Cape Cod. There, he’d been dressed in his scruffy fishing-boat clothes, and Portia’s girlfriends had averted their eyes in disdain. These glances were shy, or inviting, or hopeful. Adam just tossed an unruly strand of red hair off his forehead and smiled at them.
Outside, the members of the Club were gathered on the steps. Even Nick was there. Cassie started toward them, and then a large shape bounded up and planted its front feet on her shoulders.
“Raj, get down! What are you doing?” Adam yelled.
A wet, warm tongue was lapping Cassie’s face. She tried to fend the dog off, grabbing for the fur at the back of his neck, and ended it by hugging him.
“I think he’s just saying ‘hi,’” she gasped.
“He’s usually so good about waiting just off campus until I get out of school. I don’t know why—” Adam broke off. “Raj, get down,” he muttered in a changed voice. “
Now
!” he said, and snapped his fingers.
The lapping tongue withdrew, but the German shepherd stayed by Cassie’s side as she walked over to the steps. She patted the dog’s head.
“Raj usually hates new people,” Sean observed as Cassie and Adam sat down. “So how come he always likes you so much?”
Cassie could feel Faye’s mocking eyes on her and she shrugged uncomfortably, staring down into her lunch sack. Then something occurred to her: one of those witty comebacks she usually only thought of the next day.

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