Don't look at it! Don't give it any more power! the voice in her head cried. Cassie stared instead at Faye, urgently.
"Faye, whatever you're doing-it's not what you think! It's not safe!"
"Leave me alone!"
Swirling, rising, higher and higher. The darkness had been thin and transparent at first, but now it was thick and oily. Cassie wouldn't look at it, but she could feel it. It was almost at the top of the skull, uncoiling, wheeling.
"Faye, look out!"
The black-haired girl was directly over the skull, directly in the way of the rising dark. Cassie grabbed her, pulling at her.
But Faye was strong. Snarling something incoherent, she tried to shake Cassie off. Cassie threw one glance at the skull. It seemed to be grinning wildly at her, the smoke corkscrewing inside it.
"Faye," she screamed, and wrenched at the other girl's shoulders.
They both fell backward. At the same instant, out of the corner of her eye, Cassie saw the darkness break free.
Chapter Five
"You stupid outsider," Faye screeched, twisting away from Cassie. "It was just getting started-now you've ruined everything!"
Cassie lay on her back, gasping. Then she pointed shakily, sitting up.
"That's what I ruined," she said, her voice soft from lack of breath, and from fear. Faye looked up at the ceiling, at the dark, charred circle on the white plaster.
"It was coming right at you," Cassie said, too unnerved to yell, or even to be angry. "Didn't you see it?"
Faye just looked at her, black lashes heavy over speculative golden eyes. Then she looked at the skull.
Cassie leaned over and covered the skull with the cloth.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm taking it back," Cassie said, still breathless. "Diana was right. I was right, if I'd listened to myself. It's too dangerous to handle."
She expected Faye to explode, possibly even to fight her. But Faye looked up at the stain on the ceiling and said musingly, "I think it's just a matter of more protection. If we could capture that energy-channel it. . ."
"You're crazy," Cassie told her bluntly. "And," she added, "our deal is finished. I did what you asked: I brought you the skull. You used it and you almost got killed. So now it's over."
Faye's lazy expression disappeared. "Oh, no, Cassie," she said. The hint of a smile curved her lips, but her eyes were predatory. Ruthless. "It's only starting. Don't you see?" She began to laugh. "You're more my captive now than ever. It's not just Adam anymore-now I can tell Diana about this. How do you think the Princess of Purity is going to feel when she finds out her 'little sister' stole the skull? And then brought it to me to use?" Faye laughed harder, seeming delighted. "Oh, Cassie, you should see your face."
Cassie felt as if she were smothering. What Faye said was true. If Diana found out that Cassie had dug up the skull-that Cassie had lied to her-that the whole story last Sunday about being too scared to go home had been a trick...
Just as it had the last time she'd stood in this room, Cassie felt her spirit, her will, draining away. She was more trapped than ever. She was lost.
"You take the skull back now," Faye said, as if it had been entirely her idea. "And later- well, I'll think of something else I want from you. In the meanwhile, you just keep yourself available."
I hate you, Cassie thought with impotent rage. But Faye was ignoring Cassie completely, bending to pick up the bristling kittens, one gray and one orange, which had crawled out from under the dust ruffle. The vampire kittens, Cassie remembered distractedly-the ones with a taste for human blood. Apparently even they hadn't liked this business with the skull.
"What about that?" Cassie said, pointing at the dark stain on Faye's ceiling. "Don't you feel at all responsible about letting it loose? It could be out killing somebody-"
"I doubt it," Faye said, and shrugged negligently. "But we'll just have to wait and see, I suppose." She stroked the orange kitten and its fur began to lie flat again.
Cassie could only stare at her, tears rising to her eyes. She'd thought she could control Faye, but she'd been wrong. And right now the new dark energy could be doing anything, and she was helpless to stop it.
You could tell Diana, an inner voice, the core voice, whispered, but Cassie didn't even pretend to listen. She could never tell Diana now; that chance was over. Things had gone far too far with Faye.
"Cassie, are you nervous about something?" Laurel had paused with the white-handled knife in her hand.
"Me? No. Why?" Cassie said, feeling every moment as if she might jump out of her skin.
"You just seem kind of jittery." Laurel gently snicked the knife through the base of the small witch-hazel bush. "Now, this won't hurt a bit... you've got plenty of roots down there to grow back from..." she murmured soothingly. "It's not about Homecoming, is it?" she asked, looking up again.
"No, no," Cassie said. She hadn't even thought about Homecoming this week. She couldn't think about anything except the dark energy. Each day she expected to hear about some new disaster.
But today was Thursday, and nothing had happened yet. No avalanches, no bodies found, nobody even missing. Oh, if only she could let herself believe that nothing would happen. The energy she and Faye had released had been small-she felt sure of that now-and maybe it had just evaporated. Cassie felt a delicious peace steal through her at the thought.
Laurel had moved over to a clump of thyme. "It's not too late to change your mind about coming," she said. "And I wish you would. Dancing is very witchy-and it's Nature. It's like one of our incantations: