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Chapter One

Fire, Cassie thought All around her she saw blazing autuar maple, the brilliant red of sassafras, the crimson of su with Faye's element

And I'm trapped in the middle of it

The sick feeling in the pit of Cassie's stoot worse with every step she took down Crowhaven Road

The yellow Victorian house at the botto rainbow sparks off a prisht-brown hair called out from the porch

"Hurry up, Cassie! You're late!"

"Sorry," Cassie called back, trying to hurry hat she really wanted to do was turn around and run the other way She had the sudden, inexplicable conviction that her private thoughts must show in her face Laurel would take one look at her and know all about what had happened with Adaain with Faye

But Laurel just grabbed her by the waist and hustled her inside and upstairs to Diana's bedrooe walnut cabinet; Melanie was sitting on the bed Sean was perched uneasily in theseat, rubbing his knees with his palms

Ada beside him

He looked up as Cassie came in

Cassieenough They were the color of the ocean at its most mysterious, sunlit on the surface but with incomprehensible depths underneath The rest of his face was the sah cheekbones and deter there too His face looked different only because last night Cassie had seen those eyes ht blue with passion, and had felt that mouth

Not by word or look or deed, she told herself fiercely, staring down at the ground because she didn't dare look up again But her heart was pounding so hard she expected to see the front of her sweater fluttering Oh, God, hoas she ever going to be able to carry this off and keep her vow? It took an incredible ay to sit down by Melanie and not look at him, to block the charismatic heat of his presence out of her mind

You'd better get used to it, she told herself Because you're going to be doing a lot of it from now on

"Good; we're all here," Diana said She went over and shut the door "This is a closed roup "The others weren't invited because I'm not sure they have the same interests at heart as we do"

"That's putting it mildly," Laurel said under her breath

"They're going to be upset if they find out," Sean said, his black eyes darting between Adam and Diana

"Then let theray eyes fixed on Sean and he flushed "This is much more important than any fit Faye can throw We have to find out what happened to that dark energy and now"

"I think I knoay," said Diana Out of a white velvet pouch she took a delicate green stone on a silver chain

"A pendulum," Melanie said at once

"Yes This is peridot," Diana said to Cassie "It's a visionary stone-right, Melanie? Usually we use clear quartz as a pendulum, but this time I think the peridot is better-y We'll take it down to the place where the dark energy escaped and it'll align itself in the direction the energy went and start swinging"

"We hope," Laurel murmured

"Well, that's the theory," Melanie said

Diana looked at Adam, who had been unusually quiet "What do you think?"

"I think it's worth a try It'll take a lot of h We'll all have to concentrate-especially since we're not a full Circle" His voice was calm and even, and Cassie admired hih as a matter of fact her eyes were fixed on the walnut cabinet

Diana turned to Cassie "What about you?" "Me?" Cassie said, startled, tearing her eyes away from the cabinet door She hadn't expected to be asked; she didn't know anything about pendulums or peridot To her horror, she felt her face redden

"Yes, you You ht be new to the s about things"

"Oh Well" Cassie tried to search her feelings, scrabbling to get beyond the guilt and terror that were upper how lame that sounded "It seems fine to me"

Melanie rolled her eyes, but Diana nodded as seriously as she had at Ada to do is try," she said, dropping the peridot and its silver chain into the palo" Cassie couldn't breathe; she was still reeling frohtly darker than the peridot, but with that sa behind them

I can't do it, she thought She was surprised at how stark and si was now that she had actually looked Diana in the eyes

I can't do it I'll have to tell Faye-no, I'll tell Diana That's it I'll tell Diana myself before Faye can, and I'll ood, she'll have to understand

Everyone had gotten up Cassie got up too, turning toward the door to hide her agitation- should I tell her right now? Ask her to stay back a minute?-when the door flew open in her face

Faye was standing in the doorway

Suzan and Deborah were behind her The strawberry-blonde looked mean, and the biker's habitual scoas even darker than usual Behind therinning in a ay that was disturbing

"Going so to Diana, but her eyes remained fixed on Cassie