The Secret Circle: The Complete Collection

by L. J. Smith

  R i t e

  F o r

  E x o r c i s m

  He was doing it. Cassie could hardly believe her eyes.

  The veins on the insides of Nick’s arms wriggled beneath the skin. A disturbing high-pitched sound escaped his mouth, the screech of something sinful and starving.

  The letters spurted from his pen faster and faster. He worked for about two minutes without pause. Then with one sudden motion he slammed the pen down onto the desk and looked up at Cassie. His face bubbled; his lips effervesced.

  “Cassandra,” he said. His voice was unfathomable, a bottomless cavern. “Get me out of here.”

  Cassie shuddered. Get who out of where? “Nick? Is that you?”

  Nick’s eyes rolled back into his head. His whole body shook, and he fell onto the floor, convulsing.

  Cassie leaned over him, smacking his cheek, pressing on his racing heart. “Nick, come back to me,” she screamed. “It’s Cassie, please come back to me.”

  A gurgling sound came out of Nick’s mouth, and she realized he was choking on his own tongue. “Nick!” she yelled, pulling him upright and hugging him close to her chest. She held him so they were heart to heart.

  “Please don’t leave me,” she said into his ear. “I can’t go on without you.”

  The awful gurgling sound stopped, but Nick’s body still convulsed.

  “I’ve got you,” Cassie said. “I’m here, and I’m not letting you go.”

  She kissed his soaking-wet head and his face. She encircled his torso so tightly they could have melded together as one.

  Gradually, the shaking lessened.

  Cassie continued holding him, rocking him back and forth, as his heartbeat began to steady.

  In those few minutes, the spell ceased to be relevant. Nick, heavy in her arms, was her whole world.

  It was a while before he coughed and startled himself awake. She reawakened with him. He blinked his eyelashes rapidly and looked around the room. When he locked eyes with Cassie, she saw they were back to their normal color.

  “What just happened?” Nick asked.

  Cassie reached for the notebook that now contained the full text of the exorcism spell. “This happened,” she said. “You did it.”

  “And I made it back?”

  “Yes,” Cassie said, throwing her arms around him again. “You did.”

  Nick was exhausted by the possession. Cassie had to help him to the bed and give him water to drink. She watched him sleep for almost an hour, following the rise and fall of his chest, listening to his even breaths. She wanted to touch him but wouldn’t dare disturb his slumber. He’d given everything, and now he needed his rest.

  While Nick continued to sleep, Cassie examined the spell. It was mystifying to look at, all hard-pressed inky lines, abrupt starts and stops. Nick’s distress was visible in every stroke. Cassie read it over, and over again.

  Nick woke to her still analyzing its contents, absorbing each and every detail. “What does it say?” he asked groggily, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

  “We need a personal item from each of our friends,” Cassie said, turning to him. “Something that’ll contain some of their energy or essence.”

  She looked around her bedroom as Nick threw off the covers and stood up. In her closet, she found the hoodie Adam had left at her house, and in her jewelry box was a pair of gold hoop earrings Diana had recently let her borrow.

  “That’s a start,” she said, placing the two items side by side on her bed, in the center of the Nick-shaped indentation lingering on the sheets. “But how will we find stuff from everyone else?”

  Then she remembered everything that had been left in the basement when her friends were all sleeping there.

  “The secret room,” Nick said, sharing the thought with her.

  The two of them hurried downstairs to rummage through their friends’ belongings. They tore through the room, pulling at every drawer and opening every closet, tossing useless finds aside and out of the way.

  Nick found a pair of Sean’s sneakers, Doug’s skateboard, and Chris’s baseball cap. Cassie grabbed Deborah’s motorcycle helmet, Laurel’s favorite scarf, and a pair of Melanie’s eyeglasses.

  Then Nick held up a satiny red thong. “I’m pretty sure this is Faye’s,” he said.

  Cassie ripped it from Nick’s hands, laughing. She couldn’t help it. She was giddy. Their friends were as good as saved.

  They stood over the great pile of stuff they’d accumulated, admiring it.

  “Where should we perform the spell?” Nick asked.

  Cassie reached into her pocket and unfolded Nick’s translation. “It says here it should be performed at the point of origin. What do you think that means?”

  “Maybe where the possession took place,” Nick said. “That would be the caves.”

  Cassie agreed. The remote caves where all this began seemed like an appropriate location.

  “Do you think we should bring Max?” Cassie asked. “Someone besides us should be there in case something goes wrong. Though the caves are probably the last place he wants to see again.”

  “He might say no, but we should ask him.” Nick gathered their friends’ belongings into his arms to carry upstairs. “I’ll go over to his house and talk to him about it while you gather the rest of the materials.”

  Cassie felt her chest fill with hope. “We make quite the pair,” she said.

  “The daughter of an evil witch,” Nick said, smiling. “And a half-possessed screwup.”

  “The dream team,” Cassie laughed.

  That evening, Cassie, Nick, and Max rowed through the dark, out to the caves. Max wanted to come. He’d told Nick he felt it was his duty to see the demons’ destruction through—after all, they were his father’s true murderers.

  Nick docked the boat, tying it with thick rope to a protruding stump. He and Cassie entered the cave, with Max following close behind. They got right to work, solemnly preparing the spell. But the strange energy of the space didn’t go unnoticed. So much had happened there. Max stood over the spot where his father had lain dead. His shoulders seemed to fold in on themselves; his head hung down listlessly.

  Cassie went to him. “You can wait outside by the boat,” she said. “It means a lot that you’re here, but I know this must be painful for you.”

  “It’s not only that,” Max said. The hard dirt of the cave floor shuffled loudly beneath his feet. “Do you really think they’ll be saved?”

  “I hope so.” When Max remained quiet she added, “Don’t you?”

  “Of course,” he said immediately. “I want Diana to be okay.” Then he lowered his voice. “I just don’t know if I’m ready to see her again, to have her be back for real.”

  Cassie glanced at Nick preparing the spell. “In all honesty, I feel the same way about Adam. I’m nervous to face him after . . .” She paused. “After all that’s happened.”

  Max appeared surprised by this.

  “Nobody’s relationship is perfect,” Cassie clarified. “No matter how it appears on the outside.”

  “But the cord,” Max said. “It’s supposed to be this bond that overcomes everything. We’re supposed to be soul mates. But I’m still so—” He stopped himself.

  “Angry,” Cassie said. “Hurt, confused. It makes sense for you to feel all of that.”

  She reached for Max’s hand and squeezed it. “Adam’s my soul mate, but his love for me wasn’t strong enough to break through the possession. In fact, he’s been with Scarlett all this time. You know how that makes me feel?”

  Max shook his head. “I can’t imagine.”

  “The cord begins the bond, Max. But it’s something you have to work on.”

  “Everything’s in place,” Nick interrupted, blowing out a match.

  Max was still holding Cassie’s hand. “You know what, Cassie?” he said. “You’re alright.”

  “Feeling’s mutual,” she said.

  Nick brought Cassie the Master Tools—the
bracelet, the garter, and the diadem—and she put them on. Max took a step back, and Nick entered into the circle with everyone’s stuff.

  Cassie lit the final four candles, one at each compass point, and closed the circle with her dagger. She stood at the northernmost point. The only sound aside from their breathing was the whistle of wind from the cave’s mouth.

  Cassie shut her eyes and began to chant. Once she felt like her energy was balanced, she started reciting the words of the exorcism.

  Mando vobis, spiritus, quicumque es, et omnes clientes tui inferri haec corpora migrare.

  She opened her eyes to let her gaze pass over Nick and the items belonging to her friends. She could see the spirit and energy contained in each item as a hovering color. All the items together created a multicolored cloud.

  Litteris mando tibi me servire. Minister sum bonorum.

  Cassie raised her hands over the pile and called out, “Recesserimus adverse potentiae.”

  Then she dug her hand into a bowl of salt Nick had prepared. She filled her fist with its fine translucent grains, then sprinkled them over the pile of her friends’ belongings and upon Nick’s head.

  Eicio a daemone amici. Purgátæ sis salis per salutem corporis et animae sanitatem. Omne malum quod te colit omnis malitia et astutia, qua te longe repellantur.

  Next Cassie dipped her hands into a bowl of water. She sprinkled its droplets over the pile just as she did with the salt.

  Eicio a daemone amici. Mundata sitis aqua vi fugant potestatem hostium excidere ex animo amoveas malis.

  She raised both her arms up in a V and called out in a confident voice, “Discedere, malum spiritus. Exi, seductor. Relinquere haec innocens corpora. Abire!”

  Cassie bowed, closing her eyes. A surge of energy welled up in her chest. It spilled over and flooded her veins with an icy hot rush. She strove to maintain her footing, to not cry out. But this gushing energy was more than she could bear—she had to succumb to it, falling to her knees with a desperate gasp.

  When she reopened her eyes, she felt better, empowered, almost blissful. She thought she sensed a change in the air, but only Nick would know for sure.

  “How do you feel?” she asked him, rising back to her feet.

  He looked at Cassie and at Max, who were watching him carefully. “I’m not sure.”

  “Try accessing the demon,” Cassie said.

  Reluctantly, Nick closed his eyes for a moment and went inward. It only took a few seconds for the slithering things to show themselves on his neck.

  “Whoa!” Max yelled. “Okay, stop.”

  Cassie quickly dropped down to wrap her arm around Nick’s shoulders. “Stop,” she said. “We failed.”

  Nick breathed deeply until he was back to himself.

  “What could have gone wrong?” Max asked.

  Cassie removed the diadem from her head, as well as the bracelet and the garter. “I don’t know,” she said. “I felt like it was working, but I couldn’t maintain it. It was too much.”

  “You need help,” Nick said. “This spell is too powerful to perform on your own.”

  “What about your mom?” Max suggested.

  Cassie shook her head. “Too risky. And my mother’s magic isn’t . . .”

  She trailed off and Nick finished her sentence for her. “It isn’t Blak magic.”

  “Which only leaves one person strong enough to help me,” Cassie said.

  Max looked at both of them, unsure what they were getting at.

  “Scarlett,” Nick said. “You need Scarlett’s dark magic.”

  Chapter 12

  It was just after dawn, and Cassie was walking along the beach, thinking of everything and nothing at once. She climbed up the bluffs and over the dunes, getting pebbles in her shoes, until she found a soft patch of sand free from driftwood and beach grass. She sat, pulled her knees up, and took a breath of salty air. The ocean roared in front of her.

  What could be worse than needing someone you couldn’t stand, someone you literally never wanted to see again? It made Cassie sick to her stomach. If all of Cassie’s problems could be embodied in one person, it would be Scarlett: She’d brought havoc and dark magic to Cassie’s Circle; she knew Cassie’s friends would be possessed by performing the hunter curse and allowed it to happen; not least of all, she’d managed to steal Cassie’s boyfriend—for now. But Nick was right. Cassie had to get Scarlett on her side. As much as she hated to admit it, she needed her.

  If Cassie couldn’t perform the exorcism successfully by the full moon, her friends would be lost to her forever. And so would Adam.

  Cassie let the memory of her failed attempt at the exorcism wash over her. It was a terrible disappointment, but alone here on the beach she could admit something else—she’d felt a flash of relief at the failure.

  Of course she wanted Adam back. But what would it actually feel like now to have him return? What if she felt nothing at all?

  First save him, and then address the state of their relationship, she told herself.

  That afternoon Cassie headed to the abandoned warehouse where Scarlett was staying. The warehouse she swore she’d never step foot in. Scarlett was right about one thing: Never say never.

  It was too risky to bring Nick to a place that was swarming with ancestor spirits. As strong as she knew he was, and as much as she feared being there alone, it would be reckless to deliver him to them that way. It took some convincing, but eventually Nick agreed.

  The building was a fifteen-minute walk down the coast. Everyone in town casually referred to it as “the warehouse,” but it was actually an old naval base that had been closed in the late 1980s. The main floor had been used as barracks to house soldiers and military families. Some of the upper floors were used to store weapons. And a section toward the back of the building, below ground, was known as the Bomb Wing. It had been used for raids and drills.

  Cassie had heard stories about this place since she first moved to New Salem—scary stories, in fact—but she’d never believed them or experienced them herself. There were tales that the warehouse was haunted by evil spirits, the ghosts of fallen soldiers. Neighborhood children dared one another to knock on the windows without running away. Cassie had the urge to run away now as she crossed onto the property. She knew that the building was indeed haunted, not by ghost soldiers, but by the Blaks.

  From the front, the multistory building looked like a run-down industrial factory. Most of the windows were boarded up, and its exterior was dotted with rusty metal signs that read: U.S. GOVERNMENT PROPERTY, NO TRESPASSING. Vandals had spray-painted over many of them with rainbowed graffiti tags, pictures, and the occasional political statement.

  Cassie approached the main entrance’s corroded door, and Scarlett slid it open before she even had the chance to knock.

  “To what do I owe this pleasure?” Scarlett asked.

  “We need to talk,” Cassie said.

  “I knew you’d come around.” Scarlett gestured for Cassie to enter.

  Cautiously, Cassie stepped over the rickety threshold that reminded her of a barn door. Inside, the warehouse looked almost like a movie set, a backdrop to a film about World War II or Vietnam. Camouflage jackets hung on hooks, helmets above, jungle boots below. There was weaponry everywhere and an odor of metal and dirt. At any moment, Cassie believed, a whistle-blowing drill sergeant might storm the set, calling for attention. After nearly thirty years of this building being abandoned, standing in it now felt like traveling back in time. It was amazing that it had never been looted, perhaps because everyone who visited here recognized its rare timeless quality.

  Chris, Sean, and Doug appeared from the shadows. They gathered around Cassie, up on the balls of their feet, their fingers spread. Cassie steeled herself for whatever spell they were ready to hurl her way.

  “Leave us alone!” Scarlett commanded.

  Then Diana called to them from upstairs, snapping them to attention. Cassie could see her standing at the top of the stairwell.
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  They lowered their arms, deflated, and made their way up the steps. Cassie checked every shadow and corner. There was no sign of Adam.

  Scarlett waited for Chris, Sean, and Doug—and Diana—to fully disappear before inviting Cassie to join her in a makeshift living room. They sat across from each other on drab green military cots, opposite a metal ammunition box that served as a coffee table. Kerosene lanterns propped up on rusted crates provided the only source of light.

  Cassie looked up and all around the vast mildewed room. Old paint chipped from the walls in broken, musty shards. The air was stuffy and stale, though the ceilings were high. Cassie felt a damp chill. This was a dismal place, and she didn’t want to be here a moment longer than necessary.

  “I’ll get right to the point,” she said, edging forward to the corner of her rank cot. “You’ve won, Scarlett. I’m done.”

  Scarlett’s lips cracked slightly into a smile and her dark eyes widened, but Cassie could see she was doing her best not to reveal too much emotion. “Continue,” she said. “I trust there’s more.”

  “I’ve come to offer you a trade,” Cassie said.

  Cassie glanced at each corner of the warehouse floor to check for spying spirits, but she saw none. Still, she couldn’t help but feel like she was being watched.

  “I’ll trade you Black John’s Book of Shadows,” she whispered, “in exchange for your help in exorcising the Circle.”

  Scarlett’s face brightened, but she still appeared dubious. “You must be joking.”

  “I’ve translated most of the book at this point anyway,” Cassie continued in a hushed tone. “And it’s brought me so much trouble, I want nothing more to do with it.”

  “But giving it to me could unleash hell,” Scarlett said. “You understand that. So what’s the trick?”

  “No trick. All I want is to save my friends.”

  “So let me get this straight,” Scarlett said. “You’re willing to sell out the entire world for friendship.” She uttered the last word like it was a disease.

  “Yes,” Cassie said. She knew this was a dangerous deal, but she was desperate. And she had a plan to get the book back once her friends were on her side again. For now, she had to take it one step at a time.