Melanie was quiet. They all were. Even Cassie had to admit Faye had a valid argument.
"Faye?" Diana said. "You're right." She took control of the floor. "I am partial. I do believe Max will truthfully lead us to the hunters, and in good faith I believe he should be spared from whatever negative effects the curse will have. But the rest of you are free to decide for yourselves."
Diana turned to Cassie. "I propose a vote to declare the Circle's decision, and I will abstain from that vote."
After a few more seconds of tense quiet, Cassie called on Melanie. "Will you do the honors, please?"
Melanie rose, cleared her throat, and said in her cool, authoritative tone: "All in favor of sparing Max if he leads us to the hunters, raise your hands."
To Cassie's surprise, enough hands shot immediately up to decide the vote without counting. Even at a time like this there still seemed to be an inclination among the group to align themselves with Diana.
Melanie beamed with satisfaction. "The majority of the Circle believes Max can be trusted. And we promise to spare him."
"Thank you," Diana said. Cassie wasn't sure she'd ever seen Diana more sincere, and that was saying something.
Faye shook her head and sneered at her. "Cry your tears of joy now. But if Max betrays us, neither of you will be spared. I'll see to that myself."
Cassie parted her lips to speak but instead found herself looking at Faye, whose eyes reflected a concentrated power. Then she quickly turned her attention to Diana and said, "I'm sure it won't come to that."
But Cassie wasn't really sure. Maybe Diana was being naive. Maybe she was, too.
Scarlett whispered something into Adam's ear and he nodded. It was getting more and more difficult to determine who was trustworthy anymore.
Chapter 28
Scarlett sat at Cassie's desk, poring over Black John's Book of Shadows while Cassie and Adam worked on their laptops - but Cassie was really keeping an eye on Scarlett. She watched Scarlett's eyes scan the book's text line by line, occasionally jotting down notes on her memo pad. Some of the time Scarlett just paged through the book, fully absorbed and too excited by what she was reading to slow down enough to copy it down. She was supposed to be looking specifically for the witch-hunter curse, but Cassie could see she kept getting sidetracked.
"Knock knock," Diana said, as she stepped inside. "How's the research coming?"
"Slowly." Adam shut his laptop.
"Well, I have some news that might cheer you up." Diana sat down on Cassie's bed. "I just talked to Max. He told me the witch hunters have their headquarters set up in the caves on the beach."
But Diana's news was overshadowed by Scarlett's shout of excitement.
"I found it!" Scarlett said. She stood up so fast her chair fell backward onto the floor. "This is it. The spell Black John used against the hunters."
Cassie, Adam, and Diana all rushed to the book to see it for themselves, forgetting everything that came before.
The page Scarlett held open looked much like the rest of the book. It was composed of a few short lines - inky black squiggles and glyphs.
"Are you sure this is the one?" Cassie asked.
"I'm positive." Scarlett ran her fingers over the page, scanning its contents again. "And it's not even that complicated. It'll be easy for the Circle to memorize."
"Are you sure? Any small mistake, and who knows what we could do to them, or even to ourselves," Diana said.
"You'll see," Scarlett said to Diana in a patronizing tone. "It'll be as simple as singing a song in a language you don't understand. All you have to do is hit the tones right. The deeper meaning is beside the point."
"How does the curse work?" Diana asked, staring down at the book's illegible text. "What will it do to the hunters?"
Scarlett grinned. "Don't worry. It'll happen so fast they'll hardly feel a thing."
"But what exactly will it do to them?" Diana persisted.
"It'll take away the power from their stone relics," Scarlett said. "And break the bond between the hunters and their marks."
"So we'll all be unmarked." Cassie looked the spell over with Adam. Based on her instincts and their limited research, everything Scarlett said seemed right.
"And anyway, Diana," Scarlett added, "Max is being spared. As long as he's nowhere near his relic when we cast this, he'll be fine. So what are you so nervous about?"
Cassie let the comment pass. "All right then," she said. "We're just about ready to do this."
Adam turned to Diana. "Those caves where the hunters have their headquarters are down by the rockier shores. We'll need rowboats to get to them."
Diana pulled out her phone. "Max can help with that. If it's all right with you, Cassie, I think he should be included in this discussion."
Cassie hesitated, but Adam didn't. "Are you planning to invite him over? Here?"
Diana squared herself to Adam. "Max is turning his back on hundreds of years of his own ancestry and is probably going to be disowned by his father for helping us. So yes, I'm planning to invite him over so he's clear on how all this will go down."
Adam took a breath that sounded like assent and Cassie told Diana to go ahead. Within the hour Max was standing in her bedroom with his muscular arms crossed over his chest, hovering over her father's book.
Scarlett showed him the spell and he squinted at it. He scratched the stubble on the side of his face and looked at Diana. "Can you ensure their safety?"
"The spell will deactivate the relics," Scarlett said. "That's what it's designed to do. Beyond that, none of us are in a position to ensure anything. This is a battle we're going into, after all. War doesn't come with guarantees for either side."
Max chewed on his thick lower lip, mulling things over in his mind. "Well, I want to be there to make sure both sides play fair." He rested his sharp eyes on Scarlett, understanding somehow that it was her spearheading this crusade. "Consider me the referee."
Scarlett grinned. "Then I guess the only question left is, how soon can we leave?"
They all looked to Max for the answer.
"Tonight," he said confidently, reaching for Diana's hand. "We'll go tonight. The sooner we get this over with, the better."
They had an hour till dusk, just the right amount of time to arrive at the caves in sunlight, and to depart shrouded beneath the cover of night. It took three boats to get them all there. Cassie, Adam, Diana, and Scarlett were at the front, under Max's guidance. As he rowed them closer and closer to the caves, Cassie's nerves started to get the best of her, and she suddenly wished they'd composed a backup plan. She hadn't wanted to appear doubtful at the time, but now that they were sitting out in the water with only Max's word to go on, Cassie wished the Circle had at least considered an escape strategy. What if Max was simply delivering them to the hunters' lair like cargo?