by Smith, L. J.
“And I was glad to see him,” she continued, “because you know I’ve been trying to repair my friendship with him any way I can. But we’d just got to talking when the sky turned black and this awful storm started. We knew immediately by the looks of it that it was something supernatural.”
“The hunters,” Adam said.
Cassie nodded. “We couldn’t get away fast enough. Lightning bolts were flying straight for us. One would have . . .”
Cassie felt herself get choked up. She struggled to swallow down the knot that had formed in her throat. “Nick risked his life to save me, Adam. I would have been hit if he hadn’t acted so quickly to push me out of the way.”
Lines formed on Adam’s forehead, but he stared straight down at the bedspread.
“He proved himself a real friend in that moment,” Cassie said. “To both of us. Don’t you think?”
Adam continued looking down for a moment before raising his eyes to meet hers. “Yes, you’re right,” he said, and then shifted uncomfortably.
Cassie could see by the way he tightened his jaw that he was bothered it was Nick who had saved her, but he would never say that. “I wish I’d been there, but I’m glad you’re okay.” Adam took her hands and massaged them in his own. He brought them to his lips and kissed them. “I don’t know what I would have done if you’d been hurt.”
He kissed the inside of her wrist and up her forearm. Cassie knew where this was leading. As difficult as it was, she forced herself to remove her arm from his grasp.
“There’s more,” she said. “I talked to my mom. Really talked to her.”
Adam refocused his attention and sat up straight. “And?”
“She told me about my father. You know he wasn’t all bad, Adam. She really loved him.”
Adam seemed unsure of how to react. Black John was always a touchy subject between them.
“I know how that sounds,” Cassie said. “But try to imagine it. Being in love with someone the way we are, truly in love, and then losing that person to the dark side.”
Adam shook his head. “I don’t want to imagine that.”
“Neither do I, so think about how awful it must have been for my poor mother.” Cassie could feel her emotions getting the best of her, and she fought the urge to start crying.
Adam reached for her hands again. “I can hardly think of anything worse,” he said. “But it’s good that you can understand it now. I’m glad you had this breakthrough with your mom.”
Cassie let her eyes wander around Adam’s room. For some reason it was difficult to look at him just then. Instead, she focused on the poster taped to his wall, of some band she’d never heard of.
“I’m sure your father was easy to fall in love with,” Adam said. “He was a charismatic man, a natural leader. Your mother’s smart—she wouldn’t have been with him otherwise. It wasn’t her fault, what happened.”
Sometimes Adam knew just what to say. It was a subtle shift in Cassie’s mind, but all of a sudden she felt at ease. If Adam didn’t blame her mother, in a way that meant he didn’t blame Cassie either. She locked eyes with his and reached for him.
“The important thing is that you’re okay,” Adam said, allowing himself to be drawn in. “And that we’re together.”
Cassie lay back, and Adam curled up next to her, pulling her close. She loved him so much, it almost ached. She felt she could never get enough of him.
Adam kissed her passionately and then paused for a moment. “With everything going on,” he said. “I’m just relieved—”
Cassie put her fingers over his mouth to quiet him. “Enough talking,” she said, and pulled him closer.
Chapter 14
“Okay,” Diana said. “We don’t have much time. Who has something to report?”
The Circle was eating lunch in their new spot, a small patch of woods up one of the narrow paths on the edge of school grounds—a green grass hideaway beneath the cover of high birches and leafy apple blossoms. Adam suggested it as their new lunchtime turf for the warm-weather months.
All eyes turned to the Henderson brothers. They’d had a mission this morning: to set off a stink bomb in third-period math. The plan was to be sent to the new principal’s office together, where they could then tag team and look for evidence. The Circle was looking into anyone new in town, but the principal was number one on their list of potential hunters.
“Shouldn’t we wait for Faye?” Deborah asked as she unpacked her lunch.
“Lately all we do is wait for Faye,” Melanie said. “If she’s got better places to be, then we should go on without her.”
“I can hear you,” Faye called out from the top of the path. She made her way down slowly.
“As I was saying.” Diana raised her voice. “Chris, Doug, did you find anything?”
Faye made it down the path just in time to nudge Doug in the ribs with her pointy black boot. “Go ahead, say it. You came up with nothing.”
“We came up with nothing,” Chris said while Doug remained silent. “But not due to lack of trying. Mr. Boylan seems like a pretty straight-up guy.”
“I don’t buy it,” Nick said. “He comes into town, and everything blows up. It’s too much of a coincidence. We should question him, push the investigation further.”
Cassie noticed Nick was looking at her when he said it.
“There’s no need to be reckless,” Diana said.
Nick guffawed. “Yeah there is.”
Nick was immeasurably different from Adam, who was so righteous, always. Even his adventure-seeking was based in devotion; never for a moment was it a form of revolt.
As Cassie watched Adam now, she observed how he scrambled around the group, always the mediator, trying to keep the peace above all else. The unity of the Circle meant more to him than anything.
That was it. That was the thing rolling around in the back of her mind since they’d argued the other night, the thing she couldn’t quite put her finger on. But now that it occurred to her, it rang out with indisputable truth: Nothing came before the Circle to Adam. Not even her.
As if her discreet competition with Diana weren’t enough, Cassie realized she would also be eternally pitted against the Circle as if it were another woman—a woman with greater hold over Adam’s loyalty. How could she have not realized this sooner?
Diana, who’d barely touched her salad, glanced at Adam now, and then cleared her throat. “And has everyone been avoiding Outsiders, like we discussed?”
Cassie threw her peanut butter and jelly down onto her napkin. “You don’t have to be so vague, Diana, everyone knows which Outsiders you mean.”
Melanie and Laurel looked down at their lunches. Cassie’s sudden and uncharacteristic insolence obviously made them uncomfortable. Suzan and Sean glanced at each other with widened eyes, and Deborah’s face tightened. But Nick, Cassie noticed, was grinning, amused by her outburst.
“Catfight,” Faye called out, rubbing her palms together. “Now remember, ladies, no hair pulling.”
But Diana remained poised as always and revealed no defensiveness in her reply. “That rule applies to all Outsiders equally, Cassie. It’s not just about you being friends with Scarlett.”
Cassie felt her cheeks redden and her neck heat up. “You have to believe me,” she said with a shaky voice. “There’s nothing sketchy about Scarlett. Just because she’s an Outsider doesn’t make her against us.”
“It doesn’t?” Faye said sardonically.
“You can’t say that for sure,” Diana insisted. “We barely know anything about Scarlett.”
“Yes, I can.” Cassie was yelling now. “I know what I see when I look at her. And I trust my sight.”
It was a low blow for Cassie to mention her sight—a reminder to Diana that it was Cassie alone who had the gift of psychic visions.
“Look out,” Faye said. “Cassie’s bringing out the big guns.”
“Your sight may be clouded,” Diana said rigidly.
But Cassie
shot right back. “Clouded by what?”
“By the fact that you’ve been obsessed with her since the second you met.” Diana snapped at last, losing her cool.
“Aha.” Faye clapped her hands together. “Finally the truth comes out. Diana’s jealous Cassie found a new best friend!”
A round of snickering passed through the group. Suzan and Deborah both nodded approvingly.
“A fault in the flawless marble that is our precious Diana,” Faye said. “I love it.”
“I’m not jealous.” Diana settled her green eyes directly on Cassie.
“Yes, you are,” Cassie said.
Diana was rendered speechless by this final attack, but she refused to take her eyes away from Cassie’s. Cassie wouldn’t look away either. All the frustration and confusion and anger she’d felt over Diana’s rejection of Scarlett and her going to Adam behind her back seemed to be flowing out of her now. And right back at her came Diana’s disappointment and outrage over Cassie’s audacity to defy her and the group. It was a standoff of wills. Was this what they had resorted to? This petty face-off? Nobody moved or said a word, and for a second Cassie thought it could go on forever.
But then, of course, Adam got between them. “Let’s move on,” he said. “We don’t have much time and we still have lots to discuss. Diana, Deborah, tell us what happened when you followed Max.”
At the mention of Max’s name, Faye lashed out, immediately furious. “You did what?”
Diana had a new argument to deal with now, so she reharnessed all of her energy toward Faye. “We haven’t even accused Max of anything yet. No need to overreact.”
“I have every reason to overreact. You went behind my back.”
“He’s an Outsider, and he’s new in town,” Deborah said. “You knew he was on our list.”
“And we followed him straight to your house,” Diana said as calmly as still water.
Shock broke through the surface of the group, cracking them apart into a fissured hysteria. This meeting was turning out to be much more volatile than anyone anticipated.
“He was at your house?” Melanie’s gray eyes flared.
“So that makes two people who’ve been breaking the no-Outsider rule,” Laurel said with a tinge of antagonism in her usually peaceful voice.
Suzan blurted out with her mouth half full of Twinkie, “But Max wanted nothing to do with Faye. He’s been avoiding her for weeks.”
Deborah shook her head, disbelieving, “Well, something changed. He’s into her now. He dropped his whole I’m too good for everyone thing and was pawing after Faye like a needy puppy. He even ditched lacrosse practice to be with her. It was almost like he was under a spell . . .”
As soon as Deborah uttered the word spell it dawned on her and everyone.
Adam wielded his electric-blue eyes at Faye. “You didn’t,” he said. “Tell me you didn’t.”
But they all knew. That’s what Faye had been up to all this time, making her late to meetings and secretive about plans. Faye did a love spell to get her crush.
“You swore,” Adam said. “We all swore not to practice any magic.”
Faye waved Adam off with her long red nails as if to wipe him away from her sight. “It was nothing. A simple love spell is hardly magic at all.”
Melanie went to Adam’s side. She was angrier than Cassie had ever seen her. “They’ll find us now, you know. The hunters.”
“Relax.” Faye laughed. “They’re not cupid hunters. No one noticed. And no one will.”
“But any slip could mean we’re outed,” Nick said. His hands were balled into fists, and his breathing was heavy. “We can’t afford to make mistakes.”
Faye whipped around and rushed at Nick. “Why don’t you tell that to Cassie?”
“Cassie hasn’t done anything wrong. You have.” Nick squeezed his fists tighter.
“Are you sure?” Faye shoved Nick forcefully in the chest.
“That’s enough,” Diana screamed out. “This discussion is getting us nowhere, and we all have to get back to class. We’ll pick this up later.”
But how? Cassie thought. How could they possibly pick up all these broken pieces? Everyone gathered their trash slowly and began making their way back to the school building, but Faye stayed put. “Seriously? You’re all leaving? The fun was just getting started.”
Melanie elbow checked her on her way back to the path, but Faye remained unfazed. She called out to Cassie, amused, “I like the new angry version of Melanie so much better than the boring old reasonable one, don’t you?”
Cassie ignored her, stuffing the remaining bread from her sandwich back into its paper bag.
“The new jealous version of Diana isn’t bad, either,” Faye continued. “And the lying version of Cassie, well, that’s not so new.”
It was what Faye wanted, to draw her into a fight, but Cassie couldn’t ignore her any longer. She met Faye eye to eye. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. “And I don’t care, either.”
Faye reached out and caught Cassie’s chin with her strong fingers. “You should care.”
Cassie resisted the urge to pull away. The red stone Faye wore around her throat reflected the sunlight into Cassie’s eyes, burning them, but she held her gaze. “I’m not afraid of you,” she said through Faye’s grip.
“One more of your many stupid mistakes.” Faye squeezed her fingers tighter around Cassie’s chin.
“Hey! Let her go.” It was Nick at the top of the path.
Laughing, Faye released her. “This one can take care of herself, Nicholas. She doesn’t need you saving her. Isn’t that right, Cassie?”
Cassie climbed up the path to Nick’s side as Faye shouted, “You’ll never be Adam, Nicholas. No matter how hard you try.”
Cassie looked down the path at Faye, feeling the fire in her gut rise to her throat. “Faye, you’re pathetic. And deep inside, you’re weak, far weaker than me. Don’t push me to prove it.”
Faye licked her bloodred lips and then slid her tongue seductively across her teeth. “That’s more like it,” she said. “Give me more of that dark side, Cassandra. That’s what I want to see.”
Chapter 15
It was a good ten-minute walk to the lighthouse, plenty of time for Cassie to work up her heart rate and fill her lungs with cold, fresh air. Some of the tension among the group from earlier had dissipated. Cassie thought Faye was being let off a little too easily after performing the love spell, but she was too relieved to see everyone getting along again to mention it. Besides, Cassie had also been forgiven for hanging out with Scarlett.
It was Diana who suggested the twelve of them walk to the lighthouse together in one large group, but they all wanted to do it. Driving was cool, Cassie thought, but there was nothing like sauntering up the street on a moonlit night in a huge pack of your closest friends. It made her feel invincible, and part of something so much bigger and more important than herself.
It was a full moon, and Laurel brought along a bag of fresh-baked cookies. It was an old family recipe of Laurel’s that required the crushed leaves of an herb called mugwort, which had to be picked and ingested during a full moon. Laurel claimed the cookies improved divination, clairvoyance, and psychic powers, but Cassie and the others stuffed their mouths full of them as they walked because they were delicious. All those other things were just bonuses.
Adam felt for Cassie’s hand, and when he found it, she didn’t pull away. Cassie had been on edge lately for sure, but for the moment everything felt fine and her connection to Adam was strong. His fingers wrapped around hers reassured her that in spite of all they had to fear, she wasn’t in this alone, and together they could overcome anything.
The night was invigorating. The trees overhead smelled of sweet flowers, and the ground beneath Cassie’s shoes was moist with dew. A rare carelessness came over them as they walked. Not just Cassie and Adam but the whole group. They hollered up the street, goofing on one another and banging on garbage cans.
Chris challenged Doug to race him the rest of the way, and they all started running in order to judge the winner. They stopped short when they saw it and collectively gasped.
It seemed impossible. The lighthouse had been burned to the ground. In its place was a pile of soot and ash.
Irrationally, Cassie thought they must’ve arrived at the wrong location. How could a structure so sturdy and steadfast, so permanent in its vigilance, have melted down to this? But the anger in Adam’s eyes forced Cassie to accept the harder truth. Not only was the lighthouse gone, but someone had destroyed it on purpose.
Melanie spoke first. “That was a historical landmark,” she said. “It’s been there for, like, three hundred years.”
“That’s what you’re thinking about right now?” Nick said. “How about how the hunters knew exactly where to find us?”
Diana placed her hand gently on Nick’s shoulder. “Hold on, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. We don’t know for sure it was the hunters.”
Nick shrugged off Diana’s hand. “This was a message, loud and clear. How much clearer would you like them to be?”
Diana turned to Melanie and Laurel. “You two were the last ones here, weren’t you? Are you sure you didn’t accidentally leave any candles burning?”
Melanie’s eyes widened. “Are you accusing us of burning down the lighthouse?”
“I’m not accusing,” Diana said. “Just asking.”
Cassie couldn’t stand to listen to any more arguing. She made her way over the grass, toward the edge of where the entrance to the cottage once stood.
Cassie heard Adam come to Diana’s defense against Melanie and Laurel. “It would be better for all of us if you had been the ones to burn it down,” he said. “Then at least we’d know for sure it was an accident and not an act of—”
“It wasn’t an accident,” Cassie called out to them. Her voice echoed over the space between them like an ocean wave. Right where the entrance to the light keeper’s cottage once stood was a symbol burnt in ash on the ground. It was the same symbol that appeared on Constance’s forehead.
