"Of course they needed a witch to do their dirty work for them," Sean called out. "Wimps."
Laurel pursed her lips at the interruption. "Soon the Inquisition led to a wave of witch-hunting," she continued, "during which the relics were sighted throughout France, Italy, and Germany. But many of them were destroyed during the peak of the hunts, which occurred in the late 1500s till around 1630. And by the time the hunt reached Salem in the 1690s, only a dozen or so relics - and even fewer hunter families - had survived."
Laurel focused her eyes on Diana specifically. "It's now believed there are only six relics still active."
Diana was looking straight down at the floor. In almost a whisper she said, "That's all?"
Laurel glanced at Faye. "So it may be worth it for Diana to search Max's bedroom if it means we can bring that number down to five."
"Five, six, seven hundred, what difference does it make?" Nick called out. "We still don't have a way to beat them. Can we talk for a moment about Scarlett? She wants to kill Cassie, to get her spot in the Circle, and she has our Master Tools. She almost got the best of us last night, and she'll come back again. If we can't use magic on her, then we need to be ready to destroy her with our bare hands."
Deborah patted Nick on the shoulder. "Well, it goes without saying that my cousin can use some anger management right about now."
Until this point, everyone had been so engrossed in the discussion that no one had noticed Chris trying to squeeze his six-foot-tall body into the tiny confines of the dumbwaiter carved into the kitchen wall. But the racket he was creating finally captured the group's attention.
"I can do it," he said. "Doug, push my feet in for me. And then launch me upstairs."
Doug did as he was told, laughing. He shoved Chris's feet deeper into the box with one hand. His other hand hovered over the wooden lever that would send the dumbwaiter flying up the chute that led to the kitchen above them.
"Chris," Cassie yelled. "That'll never hold you. It's not an elevator. Get out before you break it."
"Don't mess with that thing," Faye called out to him. "It's our favorite way to have Cassie wait on us from upstairs."
"But I can do it," Chris said again. "I'm not as big as I look."
Cassie's patience had worn thin and a peculiar anger surged through her. Her face and hands grew hot with rage. "I said, get out of there!"
Before she could get control of herself, she marched over to Doug and forcefully shoved him away from the lever. Her strength caught him by surprise, causing him to stumble backward.
Chris, in his struggle to climb out of the dumbwaiter before Cassie could reach him, slipped out headfirst and hit the floor with a thump.
A few silent seconds passed before he screamed out in pain, clutching his left arm.
"Now you've done it," Doug said. "You broke my brother."
"Seriously, Cassie," Sean said. "You didn't have to humiliate him like that."
"I barely touched him," Cassie screamed out.
"He's in pain," Diana said.
"Duh." Doug helped Chris to his feet. "I think his arm is broken."
"I guess Nick isn't the only one with anger issues." Deborah glanced at Cassie and then went to Chris's other side for support.
"He's in pain," Diana shouted out again. "Do you understand what this means?"
Cassie thought back to her car accident a few weeks ago, when she walked away unscathed, and she suddenly comprehended Diana's shock. "The protective spell is broken," Cassie said.
A spine-chilling quiet fell over the room as everyone realized what this meant for their safety.
"Scarlett in the gym last night," Diana said. "She wasn't there to ruin our dance. She was destroying the only thing keeping us alive."
Chapter 10
"I figured out a way to open my father's book," Cassie said to Adam, pulling the gunmetal chest out from under her bed and the key from its hidden compartment in her jewelry box.
She had asked Adam to stay while the others accompanied Chris to the hospital. Now that the protection spell had been broken, they didn't have a moment to waste. They needed to end these hunters, once and for all.
"How?" he asked.
Cassie showed him the obsidian crystal and explained how it worked as a buffer to the book's dark energy. Cassie and Adam settled down on her bedroom floor, the book in front of them. Cassie opened it, knowing it would singe her fingers a bit before she could get the crystal in place, and it did. But once the rock had been set down, weighing upon the book's spine and clearing its energy, the book's first two pages were visible.
"This is incredible." Adam leaned over the book on his hands and knees, closely examining each brushstroke before him. "I recognize a few familiar symbols here. From my hunt for the Master Tools a while ago. Some of these same inscriptions were on Black John's map."
Cassie couldn't keep herself from smiling. "I was hoping you'd say something like that."
"I'll look back through my old research and see what I can find. Do you think we can take the book to my house?"
The idea of the book leaving her bedroom rattled Cassie and she faltered. "I don't think so," she stuttered. "You're better off bringing your research here."
"You know, Cassie," Adam said. "Now that the protection spell is broken, and Scarlett is getting closer, I think it's time we looped in the rest of the Circle."
Cassie shook her head before he could say anything more. "We've already discussed this. I told you, I need some time before I tell the Circle I have the book. I'm not going to say it again."
"This is some really dark stuff, Cassie." Adam pointed at the text's ominous squiggly lines. "Look at it. Decoding this is going to require as many of us working on it as possible. I think it's worth a shot."
"Oh, is that what you think? You think it's worth a shot?" Cassie realized she was shouting, but she couldn't stop herself. "Well, here's what I think," she said. "I think it's my book, not yours. And it's my issue to deal with, not the Circle's."
"You don't have to yell at me," Adam said calmly.
"Sometimes it's the only way to get you to listen!"
Adam leaned backward. "We're dealing with dark magic here, Cassie. A curse of Black John's that can save the lives of our friends who are marked, not to mention our Circle - but only if we translate it properly."