"Going somewhere without us?" Faye said. She was speaking to Diana, but her eyes remained fixed on Cassie.
"Not now," Laurel muttered.
Diana let out a deep breath. "I didn't think you'd be interested," she said. "We're going to trace the dark energy."
"Not interested? When all the rest of you are so busy? Of course, I can only speak for myself, but I'm interested in everything the Circle does. What about you, Deborah?"
The biker girl's scowl changed briefly into a malicious grin. "I'm interested," she said.
"And what about you, Suzan?"
"I'm interested," Suzan chimed in.
"And what about you, Chris?"
"I'm-"
"All right," Diana said. Her cheeks were flushed; Adam had come to stand at her side. "We get the point. We're better off with a full Circle, anyway-but where's Nick?"
"I have no idea," Faye said coolly. "He's not at home."
Diana hesitated, then shrugged. "We'll do our best with what we have," she said. "Let's go down to the garage."
She gestured at Melanie and Laurel and they went first, elbowing past Faye's group, who looked as if they wanted to stay and argue some more. Adam took charge of Sean and got him out the door, then began herding- the Hendersons. Deborah and Suzan looked at Faye, then followed the guys.
Cassie had been hanging back, hoping for the chance to speak to Diana alone. But Diana seemed to have forgotten her; she was engaged in a staredown with Faye. Finally, head high, she walked past the tall girl who was still semiblocking the doorway.
"Diana..." Faye called. Diana didn't look back, but her shoulders tensed: she was listening.
"You're going to lose them all," Faye said, and she chuckled her lazy chuckle as Diana went on to the staircase.
Biting her lip, Cassie stepped forward furiously. One good shove in Faye's middle, she was thinking. But Faye rounded smoothly on her, blocking the doorway completely.
"Oh, no, you don't. We need to talk," she said.
"I don't want to talk to you."
Faye ignored her. "Is it in here?" She moved quickly to the walnut cabinet and pulled at a handle, but the drawer was locked. They all were. "Damn. But you can find out where she keeps the key. I want it as soon as possible, do you understand?"
"Faye, you're not listening to me! I've changed my mind. I'm not going to do it after all."
Faye, who had been prowling around the room like a panther, taking advantage of this unique opportunity to examine Diana's things, stopped in her tracks. Then she turned slowly to Cassie, and smiled.
"Oh, Cassie," she said. "You really kill me."
"I'm serious. I've changed my mind." Faye just smiled at her, leaning back against the wall and shaking her head. Her heavy-lidded golden eyes were glowing with amusement, her mane of pitch-black hair fell across her shoulders as her head moved. She had never looked more beautiful-or more dangerous.
"Cassie, come here." Faye's voice was just slightly edged with impatience, like a teacher who's put up with a lot from a backward student. "Let me show you something," Faye went on, catching Cassie's elbow and dragging her to the window. "Now, look down there. What do you see?"
Cassie stopped fighting and looked. She saw the Club, the in-crowd at New Salem high school, the kids who awed-and terrorized- students and teachers alike. She saw them gathered in Diana's driveway, their heads gleaming in the first rays of sunset: Suzan's strawberry blond turned to red, Deborah's dark curls touched with ruby, Laurel's long, light-brown hair and Melanie's short auburn and the Henderson brothers' disheveled yellow all highlighted by the ruddy glow in the sky.
And she saw Adam and Diana, standing close, Diana's silvery head drooping to Adam's shoulder. He was holding her protectively, his own hair dark as wine.
Faye's voice came from behind Cassie. "If you tell her, you'll kill her. You'll destroy her faith in everything she's ever believed in. And you'll take away the only thing she has to trust, to rely on. Is that what you want?"
"Faye..." Cassie seethed.
"And, incidentally, you'll get yourself banished from the Club. You know that, don't you? How do you think Melanie and Laurel are going to feel when they hear that you messed around with Diana's boyfriend? None of them will ever speak to you again, not even to make a full Circle. The coven will be destroyed too."
Cassie's teeth were clenched. She wanted to hit Faye, but it wouldn't do any good. Because Faye was right. And Cassie thought she could stand being blackballed, being a pariah at school again; she even thought she could stand to destroy the coven. But the picture of Diana's face...
It would kill Diana. By the time Faye got finished telling it her way, it would. Cassie's fantasy of confessing to Diana and having Diana understand vanished like a pricked soap bubble.
"And what I want is so reasonable," Faye was going on, almost crooning. "I just want to look at the skull for a little while. I know what I'm doing. You'll get it for me, won't you, Cassie? Won't you? Today?"
Cassie shut her eyes. Against her closed eyelids the light was red as fire.
Chapter Two
Somewhere on the way downstairs Cassie stopped feeling guilty.
She didn't know exactly how it happened. But it was necessary, if she was going to survive this. She was doing everything she could to protect Diana-and Adam, too, in a way. Adam must never know about Faye's blackmail. So Cassie would do whatever it took to protect them both, but by God, she wasn't going to feel guilty on top of it.
And she had to handle Faye somehow as well, she thought, marching behind the tall girl, past Diana's father's study. She had to keep Faye from doing anything too radical with the skull. She didn't know how; she'd have to think about that later. But somehow she would do it.