“Oh, Adam-I'm so glad you're back.”
Cassie stood like a pillar of ice.
She hadn't seen Diana break down before, but Diana was breaking down now. She was crying. Cassie could see her shaking and could see how the tall boy-how Adam-held her to try and stop it.
Held her. He was holding Diana. And his name was Adam.
“You mean she hasn't told you about Adam yet? Diana, there's such a thing as carrying modesty too far…” “Who is he? Is he your boyfriend?…” “He's nice. I think youi'll like him…”
Cassie fell to her knees and buried her face in Raj's fur, clinging to the big dog. She couldn't bear for anyone to see her face right now, and she was grateful for Raj's warm solidity as she leaned against him. Oh, God; oh, God
Vaguely, she could hear Adam's voice. “What's wrong? I tried to get back for Kori's initiation, but where is she? What's going on?” He looked at Cassie. “And-“
“Her name is Cassie Blake,” Diana said. “She's Mrs. Howard's granddaughter, and she's just moved here.”
“Yes, I-“
But Diana, her voice distracted by grief, was still speaking. “And we just initiated her instead of Kori.”
“What?” Adam demanded. “Why?”
There was a silence. Finally, it was Melanie who spoke up, her voice as quiet and detached as a newscaster's making an announcement. “Because this morning-or yesterday morning, rather, since it's really Wednesday now-Kori's body was found at the bottom of the school hill. Her neck was broken.”
“Oh, God.” Cassie looked up to see Adam's grip on Diana tighten. He shut his eyes briefly as she leaned against him, shaking again. Then he looked at the Henderson brothers. “Chris… Doug…”
Doug's teeth were clenched. “Outsiders did it,” he said.
“Sally did it,” snarled Deborah.
“We don't know who did it,” Diana said. She spoke with passionate force. “And we're not going to do anything until we find out.”
Adam nodded. “And you,” he said, looking toward the back of the group. “What have you been doing to help while all this was going on?”
“Not a damn thing,” Nick said. He had been standing with his arms folded over his chest, watching impassively. Now his defiant gaze met Adam's and locked with it. It was clear there was no love lost between the two.
“He has been helping, Adam,” Diana said, forestalling whatever Adam was about to say next. “He's come to meetings, and he's here tonight. That's all we can ask.”
“It's not all I can ask,” Adam said.
“Ask away. You're not going to get anything more.” Nick turned around. “I'm out of here.”
“Oh, don't go…” Laurel began, but Nick was already leaving.
“I've been showing up because Diana asked, but I'm through now. I've had enough for tonight,” he said over his shoulder. Then he was gone.
Faye turned to Adam and smiled her slowest, most dazzling smile. She put her hands together and clapped. “Beautiful job, Adam. Here Diana has spent the last three weeks slaving to keep the troops together and you undo it all in the first three minutes. I couldn't have done better myself.”
“Oh, get stuffed, Faye,” said Laurel.
Cassie, meanwhile, was still kneeling. Although she was clinging to Raj, she could see, sense, think of only one thing. Adam's arm-his arm-around Diana's shoulders.
His name is Adam. And he's hers. Not mine; hers. He always has been.
It couldn't be. It was not possible. Beyond all hope, she had found him again; he had come to her. Without a love spell, as if drawn by the very intensity of her need for him, he had come-and she couldn't have him.
How could she have been so stupid? How could she not have realized? They'd all talked tonight about completing the Circle, about twelve members, always twelve. But if she'd stopped to count, she'd have seen that there were only eleven. Diana and Melanie and Laurel, that was three; and Faye and Suzan and Deborah, that was six. Plus the boys, the Henderson brothers and Nick and Sean-that was ten. And Cassie made eleven. All along something at the back of her mind had known that it didn't add up, and had been trying to tell her. But she hadn't listened.
And how could I have not known anyway? she thought. How could I have not realized the boy I'd met had to be one of them? The clues were all here, right in front of me. He has Powers-I saw that on the beach with Portia. He read my mind. He told me he was from somewhere else; he told me he was different. Portia even said the word.
Witch.
And tonight I found out that the Club is a coven of witches. The last generation of witches in the New World. I should have realized then that he must be one of them.
I even knew Diana had a boyfriend, a boyfriend who's been away “visiting.” The pieces of the puzzle were all there. I just didn't want to put it together.
Because I'm in love with him. I didn't know how much until I saw him again tonight. And he belongs to my best friend. My “sister.”
I hate her.
The thought was terrifying in its intensity, making her fists clench in the big dog's fur. It was a raw, primal wash of emotion, a feeling so strong that for a moment it even wiped out the pain. A murderous hatred, red as blood, rushing out from her toward the girl with the hair like moonlight…
Like moonlight and sunlight woven together. Staring at it now, with that acid violence still raging inside her, another picture flashed into Cassie's mind. That same impossibly shining hair falling across the emergency brake in Diana's car. After Diana had rescued her from Faye.
When she was taking you home to take care of you, a voice whispered. And then she cleaned you up and fed you, introduced you to her friends. Protected you, gave you a place to belong. Made you her sister.