The Power

by Lisa J. Smith

  "We should give her a while to get to a phone," Diana said.

  They all waited. Rain beat at the windows, and the wind howled in the chimney.

  "Isn't there anything we should do? Like – I don't know, nail boards over the windows or something?" Cassie asked.

  "Normally, yeah. We'd put up storm shutters, lash everything down, all that stuff," Adam said. "But if this one hits us, I think we're history, so there's not much point."

  They waited.

  "Try her again," Diana said, and Cassie did.

  "Her mom hadn't seen her since this morning," Suzan said. "I wonder where she and Black John are?"

  Cassie wondered too. Wherever they were, Faye wasn't answering her beeper.

  "I think," Cassie said at last, "that we're out one coven leader. And – well, I wanted to look this up in my Book of Shadows first, but Melanie, doesn't it say somewhere that in an emergency you can elect a new leader?"

  Melanie smiled faintly, then nodded, as if she knew what Cassie had in mind. "In a crisis,"

  she said. "If the remaining coven all agrees, a new leader can be elected."

  There was a shifting around the Circle, people straightening up and looking interested.

  "Oh," said Laurel, "that's a good idea."

  "Especially since we've got the Master Tools," Adam said.

  "Let's do it," said Deborah.

  Cassie was excited. She'd taken an oath while watching Faye draw that circle at the crossroads, and now she was going to see her oath fulfilled. She'd promised that Faye wouldn't be leader forever, and in a few minutes Faye wouldn't be.

  She opened her mouth joyfully to say, "I nominate Diana," but before she could speak she heard Diana's voice.

  "I nominate Cassie," Diana said clearly.

  Cassie simply stared at her, amazed. When she got her breath back she said, "You're joking."

  "No," Diana said. Then she turned, speaking to the rest of the Circle, speaking formally.

  "Cassie," she said, "has shown the most power of any of us, including Faye. She can call on the elements – we've seen her call on Fire. She can communicate over long distances. She's had true dreams, and she was the one who led us to the Master Tools. Her grandmother told her that her family has always had the clearest sight and the most power. And she's strong, stronger than I am for this kind of fight. I nominate Cassie."

  Cassie was stunned, but the others were nodding.

  "She's pretty tough," Deborah said, "even if she doesn't look like it."

  "She got that dog off me," said Chris, sticking out his foot and examining it.

  "She's smart, too," said Laurel proudly. Aside from Diana, Laurel had been Cassie's first friend in the Circle. "She thinks of things most people wouldn't think of."

  "She has ideas," Suzan agreed, nodding her strawberry-blond head sagely.

  "I like her," Sean ventured hesitantly, from his place in the ring of white stones. "She's nice to me."

  "She's a natural," Doug said, grinning his wild grin.

  Nick just said, "Yes."

  Cassie realized they were serious. "I'm also Black John's ..." She stopped and tried again.

  "The fact that Black John is my ..." She still couldn't say the word.

  "I think that may actually work for us," Melanie said, looking at Cassie with thoughtful gray eyes. "If he doesn't really want to hurt you it might handicap him – a little."

  Everyone was still nodding. Cassie swallowed and gazed around the Circle. It didn't seem to have occurred to anyone that she might just be tooscared to do it, to lead the fight against Black John. In her own heart, she knew she didn't want to face him again – that she wasn't ready. She didn't know if she'd ever be ready.

  But they were all looking at her: Diana with earnest faith; Deborah and the Hendersons with innocent confidence. Even Nick and Melanie were nodding, urging her.

  Cassie looked at Adam.

  His blue-gray eyes were something like the ocean outside – murky and full of turmoil.

  "You can do it," he said tersely, answering her unspoken question. "And I think it's best for the coven. I don't know if it's best for you."

  Cassie let out her breath.

  They believed in her. She couldn't let them down.

  "If everybody agrees," she said, scarcely knowing her own voice.

  "We'll do it the easy way," Melanie said. "All in favor of Cassie as leader, raise your hand."

  Every hand was raised.

  Diana jumped up. "I'll get the things," she said. She and Adam headed for the cellar and returned a few minutes later with the brass and leather document box. Everyone leaned forward to look as she opened it, and there was a soft hiss of amazement around the Circle.

  "They're beautiful," Suzan said, touching the silver diadem with one perfectly manicured nail.

  "Yes," said Diana, unzipping her backpack. "Here, Cassie, put this on." It was the white shift Diana wore at meetings.

  Cassie felt heat stealing into her face. She couldn't wear that. She would look . . .

  "Don't worry, you won't be cold," Diana said, and smiled.

  "But – you're taller than me. It'll be too long-"

  "I hemmed it," Diana said. And then, in the silence that followed, she said gently, "Take it, Cassie."

  Slowly, Cassie took it. She went into the bathroom, still slightly steamy now, where the boys had washed Sean, and she put on the raw-silk shift. It fit perfectly.

  Diana had this planned, she realized.

  She was embarrassed to walk back out, but she told herself this was no time to be worried about how much skin she was showing. Chris and Doug whistled as she rejoined the group.

  "Shut up, this is serious," Laurel said.

  "She might as well stand here, in the circle of white stones," Melanie said. "Get out, Sean."

  Sean, looking relieved, stepped out. Cassie stepped in.

  Silence fell.

  "I adjure thee to work for the good of the Circle, to harm none, to be faithful to all. By Water, by Fire, by Earth, and by Air, lead us peacefully and with good will," Diana said.

  Cassie realized she was getting the part of the ceremony that Faye had missed when Faye had become leader.

  "Look – this is only temporary, isn't it – ?" she began.

  "Sh," said Laurel, kneeling. Cassie felt something soft being fastened just above her right knee. She looked down to see Laurel buckling the green leather garter.

  Coolness encircled Cassie's upper arm, and she turned to see Melanie clasping the silver bracelet there. It was surprisingly heavy; Cassie knew she'd feel the weight whenever she moved that arm.

  "Look at me," Diana said. Cassie did. Between her two hands Diana was holding the diadem of delicate twisted silver, with the crescent moon on top. Cassie felt it settle into her hair, lightly but firmly. And then, all over her body, from the silver of the garter buckles, to the silver of the bracelet, to the circlet touching her forehead, Cassie felt a rush of tingling warmth. An – aliveness.

  These are the real tools; not just symbols, she thought. They have power of their own.

  In that moment, she knew she could direct their power. It was part of her, suffusing her with strength. She was a witch, from a line of powerful witches, and she was leader of this Circle.

  "All right," she said, stepping out of the ring of stones and going over to take her Book of Shadows from her backpack. She was no longer worried about how she looked; she knew she looked good. That didn't matter. They had a little time ahead of them, and she wanted to use it to their advantage.

  "All right, look; while we're waiting I think we should go through our Books of Shadows –

  my grandmother told me to study mine, and it's better than doing nothing," she said. "We can take turns reading out loud until it gets dark – he won't move until then."

  "Are you sure?" Melanie said.

  "Yes." Cassie didn't know how she knew, but she knew. Her grandmother had called it the Sight, but to Cassie it was more like a
voice –

  an inner voice, a voice at her core. By now, she knew enough to listen to it.

  Nobody argued. Those who had them reached for Books of Shadows. Outside, the wind wailed dismally.

  FIFTEEN

  Around four o'clock the power went off. The house got colder. They lit candles and went on reading.

  "'For Protection Against Fire and Water,'" Cassie read. But Melanie said the spell which came after wasn't powerful enough to protect against a hurricane, and Cassie knew she was right.

  "Here, this is To Cast Out Fear and Malignant Emotions,'" Diana read from her own book.

  "'Sun by day/ and moon by night/ let all dark thoughts/ be put to flight.' Nice thought."

  They went on reading. A Charm to Cure a Sickly Child. An Amulet for Power. Three Spells to Bind a Lover. To Raise a Storm – that, they didn't need, Cassie thought wryly. She read again about crystals: how the larger a crystal was, the more energy it could store and focus.

  The spell To TurnAside Evil, she read aloud, although she didn't understand it.

  "'Invoke the power which is yours alone, calling upon the elements or those features of the natural world which lie closest to your heart. These powers have you over all that is evil: powers of sun and moon and stars, and of everything belonging to the earth.'"

  She read it again, puzzling. "I still don't get it."

  "I think it means that as witches we can call on nature, on the things that are good, to fight evil," Melanie said.

  "Yes, but how do we call on them?" Cassie said. "And what do they do when we do it?"

  Melanie didn't know.

  It got dark. The gray light from the windows got dimmer and dimmer and finally faded altogether. Wind banged the shutters and rattled the glass in the windows. The rain kept coming steadily in the blackness.

  "What do you think he'll do?" asked Suzan.

  "Something unfriendly," said Laurel.

  Cassie was proud of them. They were scared;

  she knew them well enough to know that fear was what was behind Deborah's restless pacing and Melanie's stillness, but none of them were running away or backing down. Doug cracked bad jokes, and Chris made paper airplanes. Nick sat tense and silent, and Adam kept Doug's headphones on, listening to the news on the radio.

  At six o'clock the storm stopped.

  Cassie's ears, used to the drumming of rain and the clattering and banging and howling of wind, felt suddenly empty. She looked and saw the others were all sitting alert.

  "It can't be over," Suzan said. "Unless it missed us?"

  "It's still out in the Atlantic," Adam said. "They think it should hit land in about an hour.

  This is just the calm before the storm."

  "Cassie?" said Diana.

  "I think he's making his move," Cassie said, trying to sound calm. And then every muscle in her body tightened.

  Cassandra.

  It was his voice in her mind. She looked at the others and saw they'd heard it too.

  Bring your coven to the end of Crowhaven Road. To Number Thirteen, Cassandra. I'm waiting for you.

  Cassie's fingers clenched on a piece of unfolded laundry lying nearby. She tried to concentrate on the power of the Master Tools, on the warmth where they touched her. Then she pushed with her mind, forming words.

  We're coming. Say hello to Faye.

  She let out her breath. Doug grinned at her. "Pretty good," he said.

  It was sheer bravado, and they all knew it, but it made Cassie feel better. She inconspicuously wiped her wet palms on the laundry and stood up. "Let's go," she said.

  Diana had been right; wearing the symbols of the coven leader and the white shift, she didn't feel cold. Outside, the sky was clear and the earth was silent except for the sound of the waves. Yes, the calm before the storm, Cassie thought. It was a very uneasy calm, ready to erupt into violence again at any moment.

  Melanie said, "Look at the moon."

  Cassie's stomach lurched.

  It looked like a crescent moon, a silver disk with a bite out of it. But Cassie sensed the wrongness there. It wasn't a crescent moon; it was a full moon being invaded, overshadowed.

  She was watching darkness fall on a bright world.

  She thought she could actually see the shadow moving, covering more of the white surface.

  "Come on," she said.

  They walked up the wet street, making for the headland. They passed Suzan's house with its Grecian pillars, a gray bulk against the moonlight. They passed Sean's house, just as dark.

  Water gurgled down the sides of the road in little rivers. They passed Cassie's house.

  They reached the vacant lot at Number Thirteen.

  It looked just the way it had when they had celebrated Halloween here by making a bonfire and calling up Black John's spirit. Empty, deserted. Barren. There was nobody here.

  "Is it a trick?" Nick asked sharply. Cassie shook her head uncertainly. The little voice inside wasn't telling her anything. She looked eastward at the moon, and felt another shock.

  It was visibly smaller, the crescent very thin now. The shadow was not black or gray, but a dull copper-brown color.

  "Ten minutes until totality," Melanie said.

  "About half an hour until the hurricane reaches land," said Adam.

  A fresh wind blew around them. Cassie's feet, in the thin white shoes Diana had brought for her, were damp.

  They stood uncertainly. Cassie listened to the waves crashing at the base of the cliff. Her senses were alert, searching, but nothing seemed to be happening. Minutes dragged by and her nerves stretched more and more taut.

  "Look," Diana whispered.

  Cassie looked at the moon again.

  The dull brownish shadow was swallowing up the last fingernail-thin edge of brightness.

  Cassie watched it go, like a candle winking out. Then she gasped.

  The sound was involuntary and she was ashamed of it, but everyone else was gasping too.

  Because the moon hadn't just gone dark, like a new moon, and it wasn't even the coppery-brown color. As it was covered by shadow it turned red, a deep and ominous red, like old blood. High in the sky, perfectly visible, it glowed like a coal with unnatural light.

  Then someone choked and Sean made a squealing noise.

  Cassie turned quickly, in time to see it happening. On the empty lot before them, something was appearing. A rectangular bulk was taking shape, and as Cassie watched, it became more and more solid. She could see a steeply pitched roof, flat clapboard walls, small windows irregularly placed. A door made of heavy planks. It looked like the old wing of her grandmother's house, the original dwelling from 1693.

  It shone with a dull light, like the blood-red moon.

  "Is it real?" Deborah whispered.

  Cassie had to wait a moment to get the breath to speak. "It's real now," she said. "Right now, for a few minutes, it's real."

  "It's horrible," Laurel whispered.

  Cassie knew what she was feeling, what the whole coven was feeling. The house was evil, in the same way that the skull was evil. It looked twisted, askew, like something out of a nightmare. And it gripped all of them with an instinctual terror. Cassie could hear Chris and Doug breathing hard.

  "Don't go near it," Nick said tightly. "Everybody stay back until he comes out."

  "Don't worry," Deborah assured him. "Nobody's going near that."

  Cassie knew better.

  The inner voice, silent just a few moments ago, was telling her clearly now what she had to do. What it wasn't telling her was how to get up the courage to do it.

  She looked behind her, at the rest of them standing there. The Club. The Circle. Her friends.

  Ever since her initiation, Cassie had been so happy to be a part of this group. She'd relied on different members of it at different times, crying on Diana and clinging to Nick and Adam when she needed them. But now there was something she had to do, and not even Nick or Adam could help her with it. Not even Diana could go with her.r />
  "I have to go alone," she said.

  She figured out that she'd said it aloud when she saw them all staring at her. The next instant they were all protesting.

  "Don't be crazy, Cassie. That's his territory; you can't go in there," Deborah said.

  "Anything could happen. Let him come out," Nick told her.

  "It's too dangerous. We won't let you go by yourself," Adam said flatly.

  Cassie looked at him reproachfully, because he was the one who'd said that being coven leader might not be good for her; and he was right, so he was the one who should understand now. Of course this was dangerous, but she had to do it. Black John – John Blake – Jack Brunswick, whatever you wanted to call him – had summoned her here, and he was waiting for her inside. And Cassie had to go.

  "If you didn't want to listen to me you shouldn't have elected me leader," she said. "But I'm telling you now, that's what he wants. He isn't coming out. He wants me to go in."

  "But you don't have to," Chris said, almost pleading.

  Of them all, only Diana was silent. She stood, mouth trembling, tears hanging on her lashes. It was to her that Cassie spoke. "Yes, I do," she said.

  And Diana, who understood about being a leader, nodded.

  Cassie turned away before she could see Diana cry. "You stay here," she said to all of them, "until I come out. I'll be all right; I've got the Master Tools, remember?" Then she started walking toward the house. The nails in the heavy timber door were set in a pattern of swirls and diamonds. They seemed to glow redder than the wood around them. Cassie touched the iron door-handle hesitantly, but it was cool and solid to her fingers. The door swung open before her and she went inside. Everything here was slightly misty, like a red hologram, but it felt real enough. The kitchen was much like her grandmother's kitchen and it was empty. The parlor next door was the same. A flight of narrow, winding stairs rose from the back corner of the parlor.

  Cassie climbed the steps, noting with a strange amusement the incongruity of the tin lantern hanging on the wall. It was giving off a cold, eerie red light, barely brighter than the house itself. The stairs were steep and her heart was pounding when she reached the top.