The Hunt (22 page)

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.

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, casting 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.”

“You're not my leader,” Faye called out. She blinked her eyes and looked around, surveying the situation. She appeared a little dazed, but her eyes had returned to their normal color.

Cassie exhaled with relief. “Faye, thank goodness you're all right.”

Faye tossed back her mane of black hair and tilted her head. Just as quickly as Faye had seemed normal, her eyes
went dark as night. Cassie started backing away in fear. Scratches and bite marks were reddening upon Faye's hands and arms, and eel-like lesions were forming on her neck and face.

“I'm on your side, Cassie,” Faye said, moving closer still. “And I want you to be on my side.”

“Cassandra holds the book. She is ours,” a bold voice behind Cassie said. It was Adam. His features were now firm and serious.

Diana curled her fingers and twitched. “Cassandra shall not be against us; her blood is required.”

Cassie continued her backward retreat from the group and realized Scarlett had disappeared. She caught sight of her just as she was about to flee through the mouth of the cave.

“So this was your plan all along?” Cassie ran after Scarlett, shouting. “To poison us this way just so you could have a black magic Circle?”

Scarlett whipped around and put her hands on her hips. “What was it you asked me back at the Mission House? ‘Who's Daddy's favorite?' Now you have your answer.”

“But none of us have to be this way.”

Scarlett continued toward the water and showed no sign of slowing down or even listening.

“Bring us the book, dear one,” Adam called out.

“I was falsely accused, but the book shall set us free,” Melanie's deep voice repeated.

Of course. Scarlett was going home to get their father's Book of Shadows. But there was no way Cassie was going to let that happen. The dark energy was still coursing through her as well—the remnants of the evil spell remained in her veins. She reached for it mentally, through her own blood and bones. She raised her hands and harnessed every trace of its power toward Scarlett and shouted out, “
Non fugam!
”

Scarlett was instantly thrown backward, as if she'd run up against a pane of glass.

From the ground, she turned to Cassie, stunned. “You didn't.”

“
Congelasco
,” Cassie said, freezing Scarlett in place.

Then without hesitation, Cassie lifted her hands to the sky. “
Spelunca est a carcere!
”

Now no one but Cassie was free to leave the cave. Squeals came from the entire Circle as they scrambled in vain to follow her.

“She doth betray us!” Diana shouted.

“Cassandra,” Adam nobly called to her. “You're making a terrible mistake.”

But before any of them had the chance to try to stop her, Cassie ran for the water's edge. She climbed into one of the boats and set the oars with a splash. She rowed hard, still facing the mouth of the cave. The sun was setting in vivid pinks and purples, outlining the cave's arching shape in a brilliant silhouette. Under any other circumstances, Cassie would have considered the sight of it beautiful.

Cassie arrived back at her house in a cold sweat. Her clothes
had been splashed wet from her furious rowing; she'd wanted to get as far away from the caves as fast as she could. Now she was safe in her bedroom, but she was alone—she'd never been so alone in her entire life. Her friends and her one true love were lost to her. Her mother was out, but even if she were home, how could Cassie explain this terrible series of events, especially when it began with her disobeying her mother's warning? This was all her fault. And only she could fix it. It was just Cassie, now, and her book.