The Secret Circle: The Complete Collection: The Initiation and The Captive Part I, The Captive Part II and The Power, The Divide, The Hunt, The Temptation

by L. J. Smith

  Cassie sat up and brought her knees in toward her chest. “I’m sorry,” she said. “But I’m just not myself right now. I think you should go.”

  Adam’s face crumpled, a combination of disappointment and confusion, but he simply nodded and got up to gather his things.

  “Okay,” he said. He glanced down at Black John’s book still open on the floor but thought better of mentioning it. “When you’re feeling better, I’ll be waiting for your call.”

  He left, quietly shutting Cassie’s bedroom door behind him.

  The second Cassie heard Adam leave the house, she leapt out of bed. Her father’s book was still splayed open on the floor, held in place by the obsidian crystal. Suddenly it all became clear. Her charge of emotions with Adam just now—she’d felt it before. It was the same surge she felt when she handled her father’s Book of Shadows.

  She got down on her hands and knees and examined the book at eye level. Her fingers trembled with anticipation, still warm from where she’d been singed earlier. The book had some power over her—she understood that now. Each time it burned her hands it affected her mind. It was changing her.

  Cassie thought back to every time she’d lost her temper since she’d first opened the book, every disagreement with the Circle, every frustration with her mother. She’d handled the book just before each time. And what had just happened with Adam … Cassie had felt how destructive she was being in the moment, but hadn’t been able to stop herself. Cassie reached for the book with both hands and the obsidian crystal slid out of place and onto the floor. The book is the problem, Cassie thought, but also the solution. She flipped through its pages in search of any symbols that struck her as familiar. Minutes passed before she realized she was holding the book without being burned.

  Cassie lifted her fingertips up to her eyes. They were perfectly fine. No new marks, no tingling. It was what she’d been hoping for since she’d first taken the book from the basement. But deep down, she couldn’t ignore the dismal reason the book no longer rejected her hands. As she was turning darker, it was beginning to welcome her. The balance in Cassie was shifting.

  But she couldn’t let that scare her. Now that she’d come this far, abandoning her search for the witch-hunter curse wasn’t a choice. The threat the book posed would just have to be considered an occupational hazard, a risk that came with the job of saving her Circle.

  She continued turning the pages, gaining momentum with every word, absorbing all she could from each dot and stroke. The book’s contents still appeared as an archaic code, and she didn’t understand most of what she took in, yet there were certain symbols she found especially curious, ciphers that seemed to reach out and speak to her. Cassie could feel the meanings of these lines like a bar of classical music; they moved her from the inside out.

  Part of her wanted to run and tell Adam immediately, to show him how peacefully the book lay in her hands. But if touching the book was changing her, she didn’t want anyone else to fall victim to its curse. And she also shouldn’t handle the book more than she had to. Or as much as she wanted to.

  Cassie thought for a moment about her options. She turned back to the book’s first page and carried it over to her desk. She pulled out a spiralbound notebook and took a ballpoint pen in hand. She sat and carefully copied the page, line for line, into her notebook, and then she copied the second page as well. It took nearly an hour to painstakingly duplicate every sign and symbol until she had an exact replica, one that could be translated without any doubt. When she was done, she admired the finished product. Cassie would show it to Adam in the morning and apologize to him for her weird behavior. It wouldn’t solve all their problems, but it was a good start.

  CHAPTER 11

  Normally Cassie would have called Adam before showing up at his house first thing in the morning, but she was too anxious to bother with that today. Adam answered his door wearing only striped pajama bottoms. He was surprised to see her, but he appeared pleased as he crossed his arms over his chest in embarrassment and invited her in.

  Adam pulled out a kitchen chair for her. There was a half-eaten bowl of cereal on the table—she’d obviously caught him in the middle of breakfast.

  “I hope you don’t mind me barging in on you like this,” Cassie said. “I wanted to say that I’m sorry about my behavior last night.”

  Adam’s posture softened at her apology. “It’s okay. We’re all under a lot of stress, and emotions are running high.”

  “It’s still no excuse for what I said about Scarlett.”

  Adam turned away and Cassie felt vaguely uncomfortable. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

  “I brought you something.” Cassie reached into her bag to pull out the pages she had transcribed. “I copied the first two pages of my father’s book for you.”

  Adam took the papers and set them down flat on the kitchen table. “You copied these exactly?”

  He quietly inspected each line, taking long enough that Cassie began to worry, but before he could say anything negative, she reached out to run her fingers through his unkempt hair.

  “You know I can’t do this research without you,” she said. “That’s why I want you to have your own copy.”

  Adam warmed to her touch. “Thank you for trusting me,” he said.

  She wished she could be totally honest with him and tell him the book no longer burned her hands, but Adam wouldn’t view her ability to handle the book as a necessary evil like she did. He would be too concerned for her safety. Cassie was confident that if dark magic was allowing her to read the book, then she must be stronger now, strong enough to control it.

  Adam was silent for a moment, and then he gave Cassie’s arm a light stroke. It was a small gesture, but it brought a murmur of release to her lips.

  “Just to be extra cautious,” he said, “I want you to leave the book alone until I can get to work translating these pages. Can you do that?”

  “Of course,” Cassie replied, hoping more than anything that she could.

  The smell of garlic filled Cassie’s nose when she arrived home for dinner. Her mom was in the kitchen stirring a pot with a wooden spoon.

  “Let me guess,” Cassie said as she hung up her jacket. “Italian?”

  “Spaghetti and meatballs,” her mother said, from over the stove.

  Cassie noticed a new energy in her mother’s voice and a freshness to her face. Maybe it was having three more kids to keep an eye on that had given her a renewed sense of purpose. Not that Faye, Laurel, and Nick weren’t a handful, but it was clear her mother enjoyed having them around the house and playing a role in protecting them from the hunters, and she was flattered they hung around the secret room even more than they had to.

  Cassie gave her mother a kiss on the cheek.

  “What was that for?”

  “Can’t I kiss my own mom without having a reason?” Cassie said.

  “Of course you can. You just never do.” Her mother grinned and handed Cassie an onion and a knife. “But since you love me so much tonight, you can be my sous-chef.”

  Cassie put on an apron and began chopping while her mother asked her questions about what was going on with her friends and at school. For a moment, Cassie feared her mother’s interrogation was trying to get her to admit she’d taken Black John’s book from the secret room, but as their small talk progressed, she realized her mother had no idea the book was missing. Cassie told her about what had happened at the dance and about the protection spell being broken. She told her about Diana agreeing to spend more time with Max in spite of the risk it posed. And then she thought about Adam. So much was happening with him, Cassie hardly knew where to begin.

  “Scarlett is getting closer,” Cassie said. “And I’m a little worried she could be after more in my life than just my Circle, if you catch my drift.”

  “You don’t mean Adam, do you?”

  Cassie nodded and her mother shook her head sympathetically. “Cassie, I’m sorry. I’ve been through
that and I know how it can turn your whole world upside down.”

  This was the first time Cassie’s mom had ever alluded to what had happened with Black John and Scarlett’s mother. Cassie made no reaction, hoping her mother would say more.

  “And when it’s not a Circle member,” her mother continued, “but someone close enough to the Circle, that’s even worse. Outsiders are always the most difficult to deal with.”

  Cassie wiped a few onion tears from her eyes with her forearm. Did that mean Scarlett’s mother hadn’t been a Circle member? Cassie had always assumed she was.

  “The tensions that kind of thing can cause within a Circle can be brutal,” her mother said. “No matter how strong that Circle is. Our Circle was strong, but it still tore us all apart.”

  Then she put down her wooden spoon and her face became tender. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Pay no attention to me when I carry on like that. It’s just that sometimes old hurts are hard to shake.”

  “It’s okay,” Cassie said. “It’s good for me to hear it. I can handle it.”

  “I know you can, honey. But that doesn’t mean you should have to deal with my jaded past. My experiences aren’t yours, and they don’t have to be.”

  Her mother rested her hands on Cassie’s shoulders. “Adam is a good boy,” she said. “He’s worth fighting for.”

  “But what if I lose?” Cassie asked.

  Her mother looked at her lovingly. “All that’s in your power is to try. The outcome will be what it’ll be. But ultimately, Cassie, the people who are meant to be together will end up together.”

  In spite of all the heartbreak her mother had endured, Cassie could see she truly believed those words. But her mother had ended up alone after all. And Scarlett’s mother had ended up dead. Cassie wasn’t sure if her mother’s indestructible faith inspired her or filled her with sadness.

  “So don’t you worry,” her mother said. “You just focus on figuring out what to do with your father’s book—figure out how to break that spell so you can open it safely, without getting burned. The rest will all fall into place.”

  Cassie felt a twinge of guilt for not telling her mother that she’d already been studying the book. But she couldn’t bring herself to confess. There still had to be some secrets, even between them.

  Her mom was right about one thing, though: The book was the only thing capable of getting Cassie out of this mess.

  CHAPTER 12

  Cassie arrived at the beach for the full moon ceremony just as Diana was drawing a circle in the sand with her pearl-handled knife. It was already five minutes to midnight, when the moon would be at its highest point, so she had to hurry.

  Diana went around the circle with water she’d collected from the ocean, then with a stick of calamus-scented incense, and finally with a lighted white candle. Pungent, smoky smells filled the air.

  “Cassie,” Adam called out when he spotted her. “Where’ve you been? I’ve been calling you.”

  “I’m sorry. I know.” Cassie continued watching Diana. “I was helping my mom clean up after dinner and I lost track of time.”

  “Uh-oh,” Faye said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Don’t you two know good communication is the foundation of a healthy relationship?”

  “Actually,” Suzan said, “I’m pretty sure it’s trust.”

  Faye smirked. “No, that can’t be it.”

  Adam was not amused by their banter. “I had something important to tell you.” He made an effort to pull Cassie aside. “That’s why I kept calling.”

  “You guys! It’s almost midnight, come on!” Diana held a lit candle in one hand and reached out to grab Cassie with the other. But she clutched Cassie’s pointer and index fingers just where her most recent burns had scabbed over. Cassie cried out softly in pain.

  Diana looked at her, confused. “Are you okay?”

  Cassie stretched the sleeves of her shirt down over her hands.

  “Did I hurt you?” Diana asked.

  Faye and the others gathered around Cassie. “Lift up your sleeves,” Faye commanded.

  After a glance at Adam, Cassie did as she was told.

  Immediately, everyone’s eyes settled on the scars and scabs she’d been working so hard to keep hidden. Cassie looked around and realized the time had come for her to tell them about her father’s book. There was no other way of explaining the burns, and Cassie didn’t want to outright lie to her Circle—they didn’t deserve that.

  With an encouraging nod from Adam, and with the group’s rapt attention, Cassie made a clear, concise announcement: “I have Black John’s Book of Shadows,” she said. “It’s what gave me these scars.”

  “You found—you mean—are you serious?” Diana sputtered.

  Cassie nodded. “I’ve been searching it for any hint on how to defeat the hunters or Scarlett. But it’s dangerous,” Cassie continued, holding up her hands as an example. “You have to understand, I don’t want anyone else to get hurt, not until I know it can help us.”

  Faye leaned on Sean to keep from falling over. “Black John’s book has been in your house this whole time? And you kept it from me?” She was practically hyperventilating. “I can’t even imagine the spells that must be in there. Go get it, Cassie. Right now.”

  Cassie shook her head. “I can’t read it, and neither can you. It’s written in an ancient language. And besides, we don’t know what the book is capable of.”

  “Actually, Cassie,” Adam interrupted, “that’s why I kept calling you earlier.”

  Seagulls squawked in circles overhead as Adam regarded the group, a gloomy look on his face. “Cassie showed me a portion of the book yesterday, and I was up all night trying to translate it. I compared some of the symbols in the book to the ancient map I used to locate the Master Tools.”

  Diana nodded, knowing that map well. “I remember those inscriptions,” she said. “Black John had written them himself.”

  Adam fixed his eyes on Cassie again. His voice was a stricken monotone. “From the little bits and pieces I could figure out, Cassie is now bound to Black John’s book.”

  For a few seconds Cassie lost her hearing. The hammering thump of her heartbeat was the only sound in her ears. She could see everyone’s reactions—Diana’s terror, Faye’s apprehension, Adam’s distress—but she felt like she was watching them from somewhere hushed and far away. It was gruesome, the way the faces of her friends altered. Not one of them would ever think of Cassie the same way again.

  “Are you sure?” Diana asked. Her voice hit Cassie’s ears with a pop.

  “Bound was definitely the word I translated,” Adam said. “And any dark magic involving that word can’t be good.”

  Diana took a deep breath. “No. Not good at all.”

  “What exactly does this mean?” Suzan asked.

  “In the scientific sense,” Laurel said, “being bound simply means being held to another element. It’s a union, physical or chemical. And it’s inseparable.”

  Melanie cut in to clarify. “Simply put, it means Cassie’s obligated to the book. As in tied in bonds. Like a prisoner.”

  “Melanie.” Diana chastised her with a glare. “It’s an attachment. That’s all. Don’t jump to worst-case scenarios.”

  Cassie wanted the group to believe Diana was right: that being bound to the book only meant she was attached to it, nothing more. But Cassie couldn’t deny what she knew to be the truth: The book did have an influence over her. Every time she touched it, it was like darkness took her over. She was beginning to feel like she had a split personality.

  Cassie began to cry, and Adam walked slowly over to her. He put his arm around her torso. “Cassie, I’m sorry you’re going through all this. But the Circle can help you now. You’re not in this alone.”

  “That’s right.” Diana took a step closer and also put her arm around Cassie. “We can all look into those symbols and help with the translation.”

  “You can copy a few pages at a time for us to study,” A
dam said. “Using the obsidian crystal, so you’re as safe as possible.”

  There were supportive nods around the Circle, except from Faye who crossed her arms over her chest. “Just to be clear,” she said. “We are talking about Cassie being undeniably linked to dark magic, right? That’s what Black John’s book is, and that’s what Cassie’s bound to.”

  A heartrending stillness settled over the group like a heavy quilt. There was absolute silence except for the roar and crashing of waves in the distance.

  Adam nodded grimly. “Like Scarlett, Cassie does have dark magic in her blood, and the book is obviously reacting to that.” He turned to Cassie and swallowed hard. “In fact, as someone who knows dark magic so well, Scarlett might be able to tell us something useful about the book. Maybe she can help.”

  Cassie stared down at the sand, unable to speak.

  “Adam,” Nick shouted. “You do remember that Scarlett is out to kill your girlfriend, right?”

  Faye raised an eyebrow. “Trading off Princess Cassie for Evil Witch Scarlett? That sounds like a great suggestion to me.”

  “And while we’re at it, we can get the Master Tools back,” Deborah said.

  “That’s not what I meant.” Adam shot Cassie a desperate look. “I just meant we could confront her. Maybe even bargain with her.”

  “No way,” Nick said. “If we find Scarlett, we’re taking her down, not asking her for advice.”

  Cassie forced down the bile that had risen in her throat. She staggered back to the center of the group and everyone got quiet again, their faces turned toward her expectantly.

  “It’s not a bad idea to try to get information out of Scarlett.” She looked at Adam with a strained smile, though she was beginning to wonder if he had feelings for Scarlett he wasn’t admitting—even to himself. “But we’re dealing with two evils here, and at least the book can’t fight back.” And with that, Cassie had the final word.