Secret Circle - The Captive Part 3

Carefully, lungs burning because she was afraid to breathe too loud, she placed one foot inside the threshold and let her weight down on it.

Diana was a dim shape on the bed. Please don't let her eyes be open, Ca.s.sie thought. She had the horrible fantasy that Diana was just lying there staring at her. But as she took another slow, careful step inside, and another, she could see that Diana's eyes were shut.

Oh, G.o.d, Ca.s.sie thought. I have to breathe. She opened her mouth and exhaled and inhaled silently. Her heart was shaking her and she felt dizzy.

Take tiny steps, she thought. She crept farther into the room until she was standing directly beside Diana.

On the nightstand, just a few inches from Diana's sleeping face, was the key.

Feeling as if she was moving in slow motion, Ca.s.sie put her hand out, placed it flat on the key. She didn't want to make any noise, but as she slid the necklace toward her, the chain rattled. She closed her fingers over it and held it tightly.

Now to get away. She forced herself to creep, all the time looking over her shoulder at the bed-was Diana waking up?

She reached the cabinet, and the little bra.s.s keyhole.

Fit the key in. She was fumbling; her fingers felt clumsy as sausages. For a moment she panicked, thinking, what if it isn't the right key after all? But at last she got it in and turned it.

The lock clicked.

Hot relief swept over Ca.s.sie. She'd done it. Now she had to get the skull and call Faye- and what if

Faye didn't answer? What if Diana's father caught her phoning in the middle of the night, or if Diana woke up and found the skull missing . . . ?

But as she eased the cabinet door open the world blurred and went dark before her eyes.

The hall light was shining into the cabinet. It was dim, but it was clear enough to show that all Ca.s.sie's caution had been in vain, and all her fears about getting the skull to Faye were pointless.

The cabinet was empty.

Ca.s.sie never knew how long she stood there, unable to think or move. But at last she pushed the cabinetdoor shut with shaking hands and locked it.If it's not here, then where is it? Where? she demanded frantically of herself.Don't think about it now. Put the key back. Or do you want her to wake up while you're standing here holding it?

The journey back to Diana's nightstand seemed to take forever, and her stomach ached as if someone

were grinding a boot there. The key clinked as she replaced it on the nightstand and the chain stuck toher sweaty hand. But Diana's breathing remained soft and even.Now get out, she ordered herself. She needed to be alone, to try and think. In her hurry to get away she forgot to be careful about placing her feet. A board creaked.

Just keep going, never mind, she thought. Then she heard something that stopped her heart.

A rustling from the bed. And then Diana's voice.

"Ca.s.sie?"

FOUR.

"Ca.s.sie? Is that you?"

Sick dismay tingled down Ca.s.sie's nerves. Then she heard her own voice saying, as she turned, "I-I was scared ... I didn't want to bother you ..."

"Oh, don't be silly. Come lie down," Diana said sleepily, patting the bed beside her and shutting her eyes again.

It had worked. Ca.s.sie had gambled that Diana had just woken up that instant, and she'd been right. But Ca.s.sie felt as if she were reeling as she went over to the other side of the bed and got in, facing away from Diana.

"No more nightmares," Diana murmured: "No," Ca.s.sie whispered. She could never get up now and call Faye, but she didn't care. She was too tired of stress, of tension, of fear. And something deep inside her was glad that she hadn't been able to go through with it tonight. She shut her eyes and listened to the roaring in her own ears until she fell asleep.

In her dream she was on a ship. The deck was lifting and dropping beneath her, and waves rose up black over the sides. Lost, lost. . . What was lost? The ship? Yes, but something else, too. Lost forever . . .

never find it now . . .

Then the dream changed. She was sitting in a bright and sunny room. Her chair was low to the ground, its spindly wood back so uncomfortable that she had to sit up straight. Her clothes were uncomfortable too; a bonnet as close-fitting as a swimming cap, and something tight around her waist that scarcely let her breathe. On her lap was a book.

Why, it was Diana's Book of Shadows! But no, the cover was different, red leather instead of brown. As she leafed through it, she saw that the writing in the beginning was very similar, and the t.i.tles of some of the spells were the same as in Diana's.

A Charm to Cure a Sickly Child. To Make Hens Lay. For Protection Against Fire and Water. To Hold Evil Harmless.

To Hold Evil Harmless!

Her eyes moved swiftly across the words after it.

Bury the evil object in good moist loam or sand, well covered. The healing power of the Earth will battle with the poison, and if the object be not too corrupt, it will be purified.

Of course, Ca.s.sie thought. Of course.

The dream was ebbing. She could feel Diana's bed beneath her. But she could also hear a fading voice, calling a name. "Jacinth! Are you in there? Jacinth!"

Ca.s.sie was awake.

Diana's blue curtains were incandescent with the sunlight they held back. There were cheerful pottering noises in the room. But all Ca.s.sie could think about was the dream.

She must have read that spell in Diana's Book of Shadows last night, absorbed it unconsciously as she

was flipping through. But why remember it in such a weird way?

It didn't matter. The problem was solved, and Ca.s.sie was so happy that she felt like hugging her pillow.

Of course, of course!

Before the skull ceremony Diana had said the skull should be buried for purification-in moist sand. Adam

had found it on the island buried in sand. Right below Diana's back door was a whole beach of sand.Ca.s.sie could hear the ocean breaking on it this minute.The question was, could she find the exact place in the sand the skull was buried?Faye was in writing cla.s.s. And she was furious."I waited up all night," she hissed, grabbing Ca.s.sie by the arm. "What happened?""I couldn't get it. It wasn't there."

Faye's golden eyes narrowed and the long red-tipped fingers on Ca.s.sie's arm tightened. "You're lying."

"No," Ca.s.sie said. She cast an agonized glance around and then whispered, "I think I know where it is, but you have to give me time."

Faye was staring at her, those strange eyes raking hers. Then she relaxed slightly and smiled. "Of course,

Ca.s.sie. All the time you need. Until Sat.u.r.day."

"That may not be long enough-"

"It'll just have to be, won't it?" Faye drawled.

"Because after that I tell Diana." She let go and Ca.s.sie walked to her own desk. There was nothing else

to do.

They had a minute of silence at the beginning of cla.s.s for Mr. Fogle. Ca.s.sie spent the minute staring at

her entwined fingers, thinking alternately of the dark rushing thing inside the skull and Doug Henderson'stip-tilted blue-green eyes.At lunch there was a note taped on the gla.s.s door of the back room in the cafeteria. Outside in front, it said. Ca.s.sie turned from it and almost ran into Adam.

He was approaching with a loaded tray, and he lifted it to stop her from knocking it all over him.

"Whoa," he said.

Ca.s.sie flushed. But then, as they stood facing each other, she discovered a more serious problem.

Adam's smile had faded, she couldn't stop flushing, and neither of them seemed to be going anywhere.

Eyes in the cafeteria were on them. Talk about deja vu, Ca.s.sie thought. Every time I'm in here I'm the center of attention.

Finally, Adam made an abortive attempt to catch her elbow, stopped himself, and gestured her forward

courteously. Ca.s.sie didn't know how he did it, but Adam managed to carry off courtesy like no guy she

had ever known. It seemed to come naturally to him.

Girls looked up as they went by, some of them casting sideways glances at Adam. But these were different than the sideways glances Ca.s.sie had seen on the beach at Cape Cod. There, he'd been dressed in his scruffy fishing-boat clothes, and Portia's girlfriends had averted their eyes in disdain. These glances were shy, or inviting, or hopeful. Adam just tossed an unruly strand of red hair off his forehead and smiled at them.

Outside, the members of the Club were gathered on the steps. Even Nick was there. Ca.s.sie started toward them, and then a large shape bounded up and planted its front feet on her shoulders.

"Raj, get down! What are you doing?" Adam yelled.

A wet, warm tongue was lapping Ca.s.sie's face. She tried to fend the dog off, grabbing for the fur at the back of his neck, and ended it by hugging him.

"I think he's just saying 'hi,' " she gasped.