“No…” Cassie whispered.
“And then the way you looked at him when he appeared after the initiation ceremony-well, Diana didn't see that, but I must admit that my suspicions were aroused. The little scene on the bluff only clinched it. When I tell Diana-“
“You can't,” Cassie said desperately. “You can't tell her. Please, Faye. She won't understand. It's not that way at all, but she won't understand.”
Faye clucked her tongue. “But Cassie, Diana is my cousin. My blood relation. I have to tell her.”
Cassie felt like a rat running frantically in a maze, searching for a way out that didn't exist. Panic was pounding in her ears. Faye couldn't tell Diana. It couldn't happen. The thought of how Diana would look –of how she would look at Cassie…
And at Adam. That was almost worse. She would think they had betrayed her, that Cassie and Adam had truly betrayed her. And how she would look then… how Adam would look…
Cassie could stand anything but that.
“You can't,” she whispered. “You can't.”
“Well, Cassie, I told you before. If we were friends, really good friends, I might be able to keep your secret. Diana and I may be cousins, but I'd do anything for my friends. And,” Faye said deliberately, her honey-colored eyes never leaving Cassie's face, “I expect them to do anything for me.”
It was then, at last, that Cassie realized what this was all about. Everything went still around her, too still. Her heart gave one great thump and seemed to sink like lead. Down and down and down.
From the bottom of a pit, she asked Faye emptily, “What kind of thing?”
Faye smiled. She leaned back against the bed, relaxed, the robe parting to reveal one bare shapely leg.
“Well, let me see,” she said slowly, drawing the moment out, relishing it. “I know there was something… oh, yes. I'd really like to have that crystal skull Adam found. I'm sure you know where Diana's keeping it. And if not, I'm sure you could find out.”
“No,” Cassie said, horrified.
“Yes,” Faye said, and smiled again. “That's what I want, Cassie. To show what a good friend you are. Nothing else will do.”
“Faye, you saw what happened last night. That skull is evil. There's already something aw-ful on the loose because of it-if you use it again, who knows what might happen?” And, Cassie's numbed mind suddenly suggested, who knew what Faye might be planning to use it for? “Why do you want it?” she blurted out.
Faye shook her head tolerantly. “That's my little secret. Maybe, if we become good enough friends, I'll show you later.”
“I won't do it. I can't. I can't, Faye.”
“Well, that's too bad.” Faye's eyebrows lifted, and she pursed her full lips. “Because that means I'm going to have to call Diana. I think my cousin has a right to know what her boyfriend is doing.”
She reached for the phone and pushed buttons with an elegant, scarlet-tipped finger.
“Hello, Diana? Is that you?”
“No!” Cassie cried, and grabbed Faye's arm. Faye pushed the mute button.
“Does this mean,” she said to Cassie, “that we have a deal?”
Cassie couldn't form a yes or no.
Faye reached out and caught Cassie's chin in her hand, as she had that first day on the school steps. Cassie could feel the hardness of long nails, the coolness and strength of Faye's fingers. Faye was staring at her with those eyes, those strange honey-colored eyes. Falcons have yellow eyes, Cassie thought suddenly, wildly. And Faye's fingers gripped her like talons. There was no escape. She was trapped… caught… like a white mouse caught by a bird of prey.
The golden eyes were still staring at her… into her. She was so lightheaded, so afraid. And this time there was no rock beneath her feet to steady her. She was in Faye's second-floor bedroom, trapped away from any help.
“Do we have a deal?” Faye said again.
No escape. No hope. Cassie's vision was blurring, going dim; she could barely hear Faye over the rushing in her ears.
She felt the last drops of resistance, of will, drain out of her.
“Well?” said Faye in her throaty, mocking voice.
Blindly, scarcely knowing what she was doing, Cassie nodded.
Faye released her.
Then she pushed the mute button again. “Sorry, Diana, I got the wrong number. I meant to call the Maytag repairman. 'Bye now!” And with that she hung up.
She stretched like a giant cat, replacing the phone on the nightstand as she lay back. Then she put her arms behind her head and looked at Cassie, smiling.
“All right,” she said. “The first thing is, you get me that skull. And after that… well, after that I'll think of what else I want. You realize that from now on I own you, Cassie.”
“I thought,” Cassie whispered, still unable to see for the gray mist, “that we were friends.”
“That was just a euphemism. The truth is that you're my captive from now on. I own you now, Cassie Blake. I own you body and soul.”