"How many centuries?" Cassie said, too loudly. For some reason she found her fingers clenched around the piece of hematite in her pocket.
The members of the coven turned to her, looking at her with eyes that seemed to shine slightly in the moonlight.
"About three," Melanie said. "This was Black John's house. Nobody ever lived in it after he died in 1696."
The hematite burned against Cassie's palm with icy fire.
Chapter Eleven
"This is all too weird for me," Laurel said, shivering.
"But what does it tell us?" Deborah challenged.
"It's another link to Black John," Adam said. "Other than that, nothing."
"So it's a dead end, like the cemetery," Faye said, looking pleased.
Cassie had the feeling they were wrong, but she couldn't explain why, so she kept her mouth shut. Something else was worrying her, worrying her terribly. The piece of hematite that right now felt as heavy as a bit of neutron star in her pocket ... it had come from the ruins of Black John's house. It might even have belonged to him. Which meant that she had to tell Diana about it.
People were wandering around, breaking up into small groups. The meeting, for all intents and purposes, was over. Cassie took a deep breath and went to Diana.
"I didn't get a chance to talk to you earlier," she said. "But I wanted to tell you about something that happened yesterday."
"Cassie, you don't have to tell me. I know it wasn't like Faye said."
Cassie blinked, thrown off balance. "What did Faye say?"
"We don't even have to talk about it. I know it's not true."
"But what did she say?"
Diana looked uncomfortable. "She said- you were over at her house last night, playing- well, some kind of game."
"Pizza Man," Cassie said distinctly. When Diana stared at her, she explained, "Pizza Man He Delivers."
"I know what it's called," Diana said. She was scanning Cassie's face. "But I'm sure you would never ..."
"You're sure? You can't be sure," Cassie cried. It was too much-Diana's blind insistence on her innocence. Didn't Diana realize that Cassie was bad, evil?
"Cassie, I know; you. I know you wouldn't do anything like that."
Cassie was feeling more and more agitated. Something inside her was getting ready to snap. "Well, I was there. And I did do it. And"-she was getting close to the source of the anguish inside her-"you don't know what kind of things I would or wouldn't do. I've already done some things-"
"Cassie, calm down-"
Cassie reeled a step backward, stung. "I am calm. Don't tell me to calm down!"
"Cassie, what's wrong with you?"
"Nothing's wrong with me. I just want to be left alone!"
Diana's eyes sparked green. She was tired, Cassie knew, and anxious. And maybe she'd reached a snapping point, too. "All right," she said, with unaccustomed sharpness in her normally gentle voice. "I'll leave you alone, then."
"Fine," Cassie said, her throat swollen and her eyes stinging. She didn't want to fight with Diana-but all this anger and pain inside her had to go somewhere. She'd never known how awful it was to have people insist you were good, when you werern't.
Her fingers unclenched from the piece of hematite, and she left it in her pocket as she turned around and walked away. She stared down over the edge of the cliff at the swirling waves below.
Faye moved in beside her, bringing a scent of sweet, musky perfume. "Show it to me."
"Huh?"
"I want to see what's in your pocket that you've been holding on to like it might run away."
Cassie hesitated, then slowly drew the smooth, heavy stone out.
Still facing the ocean, Faye examined it. "A hematite crystal. That's rare." She held it up to the moonlight and chuckled. "Did Melanie ever tell you about some of hematite's more- unusual properties? No? Well, even though it looks black, if you cut it into thin slices, they're transparent and red. And the dust that comes off the stone turns the liquid that cools the cutting wheel as red as blood."
She gave the stone back to Cassie, who held it loosely, looking down at it. No matter where it came from, it was her crystal now. She'd known that from the moment she'd seen it. How could she give it up?
"I found it here, by the foundation of the house," she said dully.
Faye's eyebrows lifted. Then she collected herself. "Hm. Well-of course, anybody could have dropped it here in the past three hundred years."
A strange sense of excited relief filtered through Cassie. "Yes," she said. "Of course. Anybody could have." She put the crystal back in her pocket. Faye's hooded golden eyes were gleaming at her, and Cassie felt herself nod. She didn't have to give up the crystal after all.
Adam was calling people back into a group. "Just one thing before everybody leaves," he was saying. He seemed oblivious to the little drama that had been enacted between Cassie and Diana a few minutes earlier.
"I have an idea," he said, when the Club had gathered around again. "You know, I just realized that everything connected with the dark energy has led to death, to the dead. The cemetery; that ghost-shape Cassie and Deborah and Nick and I saw on the road; even this place-a ruined house built by a dead man. And-well, the weekend after next is Samhain."
There was a murmur from the group. Adam looked at Cassie and said, "You know, Halloween. All Saints' Eve, November Eve, whatever. But no matter what you call it, it's the night when the dead walk. And I know it might be dangerous, but I think we should do a ceremony, either here or at the cemetery, on Halloween. We'll see what we can call up." He turned to Diana. "What do you think?"