Numbly, Cassie nodded.
“Now take one step forward. Turn to your left. Stop. Stay right there. Don't make a sound.”
Hands moved at the back of Cassie's neck. Then there was a glorious rush of cool air as the hood was lifted away. Light burst in on her, and Cassie stared in astonishment at the fantastic scene before her eyes.
Black and white, that was her first thought. Everything was stark black and white, like a scene from the surface of the moon.
But there was the moon in front of her. Pure white, just risen, it formed a perfect crescent over the ocean. The ocean was as black as the sky, except for the ghostly white foam on the waves. And in front of it stood a figure that seemed to shine with a pale light.
Diana?
She was wearing a thin white shift that left her arms bare. Clasped around one upper arm was a wide cuff of silver with strange engraving on it. On her forehead was a sort of diadem with a crescent moon, the horns pointing upward. Her long hair, hanging loose beneath it, seemed to be woven of moonlight.
In her hand was a dagger.
With terrifying sharpness Cassie now remembered the dream she'd had of her mother and grandmother in her room. Sacrifice, one of them had said. Was that what she was here for now? Sacrifice?
Mesmerized, she stared at the blade of the dagger, at the moonlight shimmering on it. Then she looked at Diana's face.
I would never have believed it-no, I wouldn't have believed that you would help Faye do this. But you're here, with a knife. I'm seeing it. How can I not believe my own eyes?
“Turn around,” a voice said.
Cassie felt her body turn.
A circle was drawn in the sand, a big one. Inside and outside were candles, stuck right into the beach. Wax was melting on the sand. The candles were all sizes, all colors. Some looked as if they had been burning a long time, from the amount of wax pooled beneath them and the way they had slumped. Every flame was dancing in the slight breeze.
Inside the circle were the members of the Club. Cassie's frightened mind registered glimpses of faces and no more, like flashes seen in lightning. The same faces she had seen gathered around the table in the back room that afternoon. Proud. Beautiful. Alien.
Faye was one of them. She was dressed all in black. And if Diana's hair seemed to be woven of moonlight, hers was woven of gloom,
Diana walked past Cassie and stepped into the circle. Suddenly Cassie realized that the ring drawn in the
sand was not complete. There was a gap in its northeast corner, directly in front of her feet.
She was standing just outside the threshold.
Startled, her eyes came up to seek Diana's. Diana's expression revealed nothing; her face was pale and distant. Cassie's heart, which had been thudding dully, now picked up speed.
Diana spoke, her voice clear and musical, but she was not speaking to Cassie.
“Who challenges her?”
Faye's throaty voice rose in answer. “I do.”
Cassie didn't see the dagger until Faye held it at her throat. It pricked, pressing slightly into the hollow, and she felt her eyes widen. She tried to hold completely still. Faye's hooded, enigmatic eyes were gazing straight into hers. There was a sort of fierce pleasure in their depths, and the same heat Cassie had seen in the science building when Faye had threatened her with fire.
Faye smiled her slow, scary smile, and the pressure of the blade against Cassie's throat increased. “I challenge you,” Faye said directly to Cassie. “If there is any fear in your heart, it would be better for you to throw yourself forward on this dagger than to continue. So what is it, Cassie?” she added, her voice dropping to a lazy, intimate murmur that could scarcely have been heard by the others. “Is there fear in your heart? Careful how you answer.”
Dumbfounded, Cassie only stared. Fear in her heart? How could there not be fear in her heart? They had done everything they could to terrify her-of course there was fear in her heart.
Then, moving only her eyes, she looked at Diana.
Cassie remembered Laurel in the back room today, after Faye had implied Diana might have had something to do with Kori's death. Laurel had looked confused for a moment, then her face had cleared and she'd said, “I don't care what you say; you're never going to make me believe Diana would hurt Kori.”
That was faith, Cassie thought. Believing no matter what. Did she have that kind of faith in Diana?
Yes, she thought, still looking into Diana's steady green eyes. I do.
Then can I trust her no matter what? Enough not to be afraid anymore?
The answer had to come from inside. Cassie searched through her mind, trying to find the truth. Everything that had happened tonight-them dragging her out of bed, carrying her down here without any explanation, the knife, the strangeness of this whole ceremony-it all looked bad. And someone had killed Kori…
I trust you, Diana.
That was the answer she found at the bottom of her mind. I trust you. Despite all this, no matter how it looks, I trust you.
She looked back at Faye, who was still wearing a little catlike smile. Gazing straight into those honey-colored eyes, Cassie said clearly, “Go on. There's no fear in my heart.”
Even as she said it, she felt the symptoms of terror drop away from her. The weakness, the giddiness, the thudding of her heart. She stood straight even though her hands were still tied behind her back and the
dagger point was still at her throat.
Something flared in Faye's eyes. Something like grim respect. Her smile changed, and she nodded almost imperceptibly. The next instant her black eyebrows were raised ironically as she spoke.
“Then step inside,” she invited.
Straight forward? Into the dagger blade? Cassie refused to let her eyes drop from the golden ones in front of her. She hesitated an instant, then stepped straight forward.