The Hunt (20 page)

Everyone fell silent. They all averted their eyes except for Faye, who watched Cassie carefully, and Scarlett, who seemed to be enjoying the show.

“None of you can possibly understand,” Cassie repeated. “It's not just the burns. I haven't been myself since I got the book. And if I start using magic from it, I don't know what
I'm capable of doing to the rest of the Circle. Or what using the book could do to all of you.”

For a few seconds nobody said anything, and then Diana made an effort to break the quiet. “I'll bring the book back here when Cassie feels she's ready. Not a moment before.” She threw an angry glance at Scarlett. “But feel free to whine and moan about it all you want.”

There was a sudden
whoosh
at the room's entrance that startled everyone at once. It was the sound of the secret door opening.

Cassie's mom stepped forward and immediately locked eyes with the new face in the room, but her expression wasn't one of unfamiliarity, it was cautious recognition.

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt,” she faltered.

“That's okay, Mom,” Cassie said. “This is Scarlett Forsythe, our newest Circle member.”

Her mother's eyes flared. Cassie could tell she had nearly gasped but managed to restrain herself. “Really,” she said in a noncommittal tone and forced a smile.

Scarlett grinned at her. “You knew my mother.”

Cassie's mom inclined her head slightly and an odd expression crossed her face, like she was trying to determine if this was a nightmare. “Yes. A long time ago. Your resemblance is striking.”

“So I've been told.” Scarlett spoke loudly, aggressively,
as if she were angry with Cassie's mom simply for being alive when her own mother wasn't.

Cassie positioned herself between them, feeling protective of her mother. “We're okay down here,” she said. “Scarlett is one of us now and we're just finishing up some business. You can go up to bed.”

Her mother's eyes were still fixed on Scarlett, as if she couldn't bear to look away from her.

Cassie guided her out the door and across the basement, back to the stairs.

“What is she doing here?” her mother hissed.

“We had no choice but to initiate her after Suzan's death. It all happened so fast. We need her and she needs us—at least for now.”

“Be careful,” her mother whispered, hugging her tight. “You cannot trust her.”

“Tell me about it,” was all Cassie could bring herself to say.

The Circle decided to crash at Cassie's that night for safety, “to
watch over one another,” they'd said, but Cassie knew what they'd meant was to watch over Scarlett. Scarlett may have earned her spot in the Circle when she forced the hunters away in the woods, but she was a long way
from securing the Circle's confidence. Tonight they would all sleep with one eye open.

Adam had crept into Cassie's bedroom to say good night, and he was taking his time leaving, in no rush to separate from her. He was softly running his fingers up and down the inside of her arm, the way she loved. Cassie didn't want him to leave her either. She wanted him to hold her tight until she drifted to sleep.

Adam leaned in and began kissing her neck, tenderly and quietly. He was being gentle with her, but she could hear the heaviness of his breathing. She understood how much he'd been missing having her this way. But then a knock on the door disturbed them.

“It's Scarlett,” the voice on the other side of the door said. “Can we talk?”

Adam held Cassie tighter and shook his head, but Cassie told him it was okay. Reluctantly, he got up and let Scarlett in.

“I'd like to speak to Cassie privately,” Scarlett said, dismissing Adam with a flick of her wrist.

“Now?” Adam asked, with a tinge of frustration to his voice.

Scarlett stepped past him and climbed onto Cassie's bed. “Yes, now.”

Only after a nod from Cassie did Adam comply. “I'll be right out here on the couch,” he said. “If you need anything.”

Scarlett smiled at Adam's overprotectiveness and waited for him to close the door before she turned to Cassie and said, “I thought we could tell secrets.”

Cassie thought back to their first sleepover, how excited she was to have a sister to share things with. How naive she'd been back then. She wouldn't be fooled again. “Okay,” she said icily. “You first.”

“I knew you'd say that.” Scarlett nudged her on the arm. “I have a secret about … dark magic.”

Cassie suddenly felt wary, but she reminded herself that her whole Circle was only one scream for help away. “Go on.” She braced herself for the worst.

“I can read Black John's book,” Scarlett said. “My mom helped teach me before she died.”

Scarlett's face was open and serious, and Cassie understood this was no trick. She was telling the truth.

“It's in our blood,” Scarlett continued. “The language. You'll have to work to unlock it, but you know how to read the book, too, Cassie.”

Cassie called to mind the few words in the book she could comprehend, and it all started to make sense to
her. Instinctively, she'd known this all along.

“I understand you're worried about the dark magic taking over,” Scarlett said. “But we were built to control it. And with time, you will be able to.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Cassie asked.

Scarlett laughed. “You love to keep those guards up, don't you? I'm telling you all this because we're on the same side now. And I want to defeat the hunters just as much as you do. They've killed people I loved, too.”

Cassie thought back to Scarlett explaining how she first came to New Salem on the run from the hunters who had killed her mother—but Cassie doubted that was all there was to it. Then she remembered her daydream from a little while earlier, and how she was able to shake out of her evil thoughts. Maybe Scarlett was right about being able to control the darkness.

“Do you trust me?” Scarlett asked.

Trusting in Scarlett would never come easy. But for right now, Cassie didn't have much of a choice. “No, I don't trust you,” she said. “But I do believe you.”

“Well, I guess that's a start.” Scarlett got up and went to the door. “Get some rest,” she said. “We have a big day ahead of us.”

She wrapped her hand around the doorknob and then
released it again. “One more thing.” She swiveled back around on her heels. “I think it's adorable that you and Adam are trying so hard to stick together through all this. I am so impressed by how accepting you've been.” She paused to draw the moment out, relishing it. “About the cord between him and me, I mean. You must have taken lessons from your friend Diana.”

Cassie felt something inside her tighten and then unhinge. A caustic taste like battery acid filled her mouth, tainting her voice with venom. “You stay away from Adam.”

“I just complimented you, Cassie. Don't go spoiling it with your awful temper.” Scarlett lifted her eyebrows and pursed her full lips. And with that, she was gone.

“What did Scarlett say to you last night?” Adam asked. He
and Cassie were taking an early morning walk out on the bluff before the others woke up.

“A lot.” Cassie stared off at the horizon as she spoke, imagining herself getting lost somewhere in that line between the ocean and the sky. She didn't have the heart to tell Adam that Scarlett knew about the cord between them.

“She got me thinking about my power,” Cassie said. “I don't want to live in fear anymore. In fear of myself and what I'm capable of.”

“You shouldn't have to.” Adam was trying to be supportive, even though Cassie's dark powers were far beyond
his realm of understanding. He was afraid for her and she knew it. In his eyes she could see how much he wished he could take on the burden himself.

“So what does Scarlett suggest you do?” Adam asked.

“She said if I embrace my dark magic I can learn to control it. Which has obviously been my problem lately. Controlling it.”

Adam stepped around Cassie to face her, blocking her view over the bluff. “Do you think you can learn to do that?”

“I don't know what I think. I'm not sure if I can even trust my own thoughts.”

Adam wrapped his arms around Cassie and pulled her in. She could smell the salt water drifting in the air and off his skin. “Well, I'll tell you what I think. I think we won't know until you try. And I will stand by you every step of the way, no matter what.”

“But what if it goes badly? What if it changes me, more than it already has?”

“None of us knows what the future holds or who we'll become, Cassie. But I do know that we can be true to who we are right now. And that applies to me loving you, and you loving me, and to you being able to connect to the light inside of you. That's not going anywhere.”

Adam kissed the top of Cassie's head and then let her go. “But you also have to trust yourself. You have to have faith in your own fundamental goodness.”

Cassie nodded. “I think I'm ready to.”

Without another word, Adam swooped in and kissed her. She almost laughed—it was the last thing she expected him to do at that moment. She had been on the verge of asking him about the brief look he had exchanged with Scarlett the night before, the one that had set her off in an internal jealous rage.

But as she leaned in to kiss him back, she forgot all about that. She could feel the sun on her back and hear the ocean in the distance. Sometimes Adam knew just what to do to make everything all right.

Everyone was groggy from sleep and clinging to coffee mugs when
Cassie announced a Circle meeting in the secret room. Faye sat with her bedspread still wrapped around her and even Diana looked like she could have used another hour of rest, but Cassie's news was sure to wake them right up.

“I've done some thinking since yesterday,” she said to the group as they gathered round. “And I've decided that Diana should bring my father's book here for Scarlett to take a look at.”

Scarlett met Cassie's eyes and something passed between them, a beat of understanding. But Cassie quickly looked away, breaking the moment. She didn't want to feel like she had too much in common with her sister.

“I know the spell my father used will work to defeat the hunters.” Cassie had everyone's full attention now. “And Scarlett can translate it for us. She understands the book's language.”

All attention spun to Scarlett's direction. Faye tossed her blanket off like a cape.

Diana's mouth dropped open. “Scarlett can translate it for us?” she repeated. Her green eyes flashed at Cassie. “That's a huge responsibility for Scarlett to take on alone.”

Faye smirked. “What Diana means is, how do we know we can trust her? If none of us know the difference. She can tell us to do anything she wants.”

“Because I'm trusting her,” Cassie said.

“That's it?” Faye was expecting more.

Cassie's heart thumped and thrashed within her chest, but she maintained her strength and composure. “And because it's time to end this, once and for all. Scarlett has no reason to mislead us. She wants to be rid of the hunters just as much as we do.”

“Hear, hear,” Nick said from his sleeping bag. “So when and where do we go after them?”

“I can help with that.” Diana shook off the surprise of the prior moment and spoke up. “Max knows where the hunters assemble. I bet we can infiltrate one of their meetings.”

“We can ambush them,” Nick said. “When they least expect it.”

“But in exchange,” Diana deferred to Cassie, “I ask that the Circle spare Max from whatever the curse will do.”

“No way,” Faye shouted. “There's no reason to believe Max's puppy-dog love for Diana is any more real than his feelings for me were.”

“Faye, we've been through this already,” Melanie said. “You have to let it go.”

“I'm not going to let it go,” Faye insisted. “Because it was the same thing—”

“It wasn't the same thing.” Diana's cheeks were flushed and her eyes were sharp. “It wasn't even close to the same thing. I've tried to be nice about this, Faye, but you're making that impossible. Do you need me to break it down for you?
You
were using magic to mess with Max's mind.
I
have found my soul mate. Do you get the difference?”

Faye defied Diana with a fixed stare. “As a leader of this Circle I hereby raise the issue of Diana's inability to be impartial when considering Max's trustworthiness.”

“Oh shut up, Faye,” Melanie said.

“Melanie!” Cassie shouted. “You're out of line. Faye has the floor and she's raised a legitimate issue to the Circle.”

Diana swung around to look at Cassie. “Seriously? You're going to let her go with this?”