“I have it under control,” he said, shaking the papers at her. “It’s just this spell—”
He stared at the writing on the crinkled page in his grip. “It’s . . .”
Suddenly his eyes turned black. His upper lip curled oddly to the left. He began to mumble: Discedere, malum spiritus. Exi, seductor. Relinquere haec innocens corpora.
Cassie tore the papers away from him and smacked her hand onto his heart. It was beating faster than even Adam’s had, that night at the caves.
“Calm down!” she screamed. “Stay with me, Nick.”
He took a few deep breaths, and his heartbeat slowed, thankfully, but his eyes were still darker than their usual mahogany brown.
“I could read it,” he said, with a tremble in his voice. “For a few seconds I could understand the spell.”
Cassie glanced at the indecipherable text on the paper in her hand and then back at Nick. It all became clear. “Not you,” she said. “The demon inside you.”
Nick wiped the sweat from his brow. “I could read it because I’m possessed?”
Cassie nodded. “Whatever Blak ancestor of mine that’s trying to possess you can decipher the spell.”
They both got quiet as they allowed this new possibility to settle over them: Nick would have to give himself over to the demon in order to translate the spell.
“No,” Cassie said, before Nick even opened his mouth to speak. “It’s too dangerous.”
“It’s our only hope,” Nick insisted. “I have to give up control to the demon. Then I’ll come back again.”
“But what if you can’t?”
Nick took the papers from Cassie and went to her desk. He let his eyes pass quickly over the text. “I’m strong enough,” he said. “And once the spell is translated, you’ll be able to rid the whole Circle of demons.”
Cassie wanted to believe that Nick would be able to return, that she would be able to bring him back—but she couldn’t really be sure.
“I don’t want to do this,” she said.
But Nick had already opened Cassie’s notebook to a blank page and picked up a pen.
Cassie was terrified of what they were about to attempt, but Nick refused to be deterred. He closed his eyes for a moment, pen in hand, with the spell before him.
“I know I can do it,” he said, and when he reopened his eyes, they were black as marbles.
Cassie stepped back.
Nick sat up, unusually rigid. For a few seconds, he made no sound or movement. Then he began talking in a voice that wasn’t his own, in a language he could have never known—a low, guttural growl. And then he began writing.
Cassie watched from over his shoulder.
Nick’s whole body trembled, his neck twisted in impossible ways, but he continued to move the pen across the paper.
His script was shaky but clearly legible. Across the top of the blank notebook page, he wrote:
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. Purgát? 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.”