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It was the size and shape of a human skull, but it seeht reflected through it, inside it It had grinning crystal teeth, and its hollow eye sockets see directly at Cassie
There was a frozen instant, and then Faye grabbed for it
"Uh-uh," Ada it away froet that?" said Faye Her voice was no longer lazy, but full of barely contained exciteh her nue of apprehension at her tone, and she saw the swift glance Adaed with Diana Then he turned to Faye "On an island"
"Which island?"
"I didn’t know you were so interested You never seelared "One way or another I’ll find out, Ada else where I found it Believe me, this was the only one of the Master Tools hidden there"
Faye took a breath and then relaxed and sive us all a chance to look at it"
"No," said Diana "Nobody even touches it yet We don’t know anything about this except that it was used by the old coven - by Black John hierous"
"Do we know for sure this is the crystal skull Black John wrote about?" Melanie asked, her voice quiet and rational
"Yes," Adam said "At least, it fits the description in the old records exactly And I found it in a place just like the place Black John described I think it’s the real thing"
"Then it needs to be cleared and purified and studied before any of us ith it," Diana said She turned to Cassie "Black John was one of the leaders of the original coven," she said "He died not long after New Salem was founded, but before that he took the coven’s , he said - but really because he wanted thee," she said, looking at Fayehe touched is going to be full of negative influences We’re not going to use it until we’re sure it’s safe"
If Black John had had anything to do with this skull, he ht In some way she couldn’t explain, she could feel darkness e from it If she hadn’t been so heartsick and dizzy, she would have said so - but surely everyone else could see for themselves
"The old coven never found the lost Master Tools," Laurel was saying "They searched, because Black John had left soht have hidden them, but they didn’t have any luck They inals"
"And noe’ve found one," Adaray eyes
Diana lightly touched the back of his hand as it held the skull She se between them was clearer than words: pride and triu they’d been working on for years, and now they had succeeded at last
Cassie clenched her teeth against the pain in her breastbone They deserve a chance to be alone and enjoy it, she thought With brittle, forced cheerfulness she said, "You know, I’ tired I think maybe it’s time"
"Of course," Diana said, instantly concerned "You must be exhausted We all are We can talktomorrow"
Cassie nodded, and nobody else made any objections Not even Faye But as Diana was instructing Melanie and Laurel to walk Cassie up the beach to her house, Cassie accidentallyexpression in those golden eyes that would have bothered her if she hadn’t been beyond caring by now
At hoh the first streaks of dawn hadn’t yet appeared over the ocean Melanie and Laurel walked Cassie inside, and they found herup in the parlor - a stiff old-fashioned rooowns and robes Cassie’s mother’s hair was loose down her back
Cassie saw at once by their faces that they knew
Is this what I was brought here for? she thought To join the Circle? There was no longer any doubt in her ht here, deliberately, and for a very specific reason
She got no answer from the voices inside her, not even fro
But she didn’t have time to worry about it Not now She looked at her mother’s face, drawn and anxious, but also full of a kind of half-concealed pride and hope Like a h-dive in the Olyrandmother looked the sa pain in her chest, Cassie was filled with a surge of protective love for theed a smile as she and Melanie and Laurel stood in the doorway
"So, Grandma," she said, "does our family have a Book of Shadows?"
The tension broke into laughter as the torandmother said "But anytih the attic"
The e And Faye clearly had a hidden agenda
All she wanted to talk about was the skull They should use it, she said, and iht, then, if not use it, at least check it out
Try to activate it, see what i no No checking it out No activating it They needed to purify it first Ground it Clear it Which Faye kneould take weeks, if done properly As long as Diana was in charge -
Faye said that at this rate DianaIn fact, if Diana kept refusing to test out the skull, Faye justuntil November Was that what Diana wanted?
Cassie didn’t understand any of it How do you check out a skull? Or ground it or clear it? But this tiument was too heated for anyone to remember to explain to her
She spent the entireAdam, who had tried to speak to her beforehand, but whoriy it took to ignore him exhausted her She rown a little longer since she’d seen him, or at his mouth, which was as handsome and humorous as ever She refused to let herself think about his body as she’d seen it on the beach in Cape Cod, with its flat, sinewy s And most of all, she forced herself not to look into his eyes
The one thing Cassie did glean fro was that Diana was in a precarious position "Temporary" leader meant that the coven could call a vote at any tih the official vote was in Nove for support so that she could take over
She’d gotten the Henderson brothers on her side by saying they should use the skull right away to find Kori’s killer And she’d gotten Sean on her side si him, it looked like Deborah and Suzan, of course, had supported her fro
That was six It would have been six on Diana’s side too, but Nick refused to voice an opinion He showed up at theas if he were somewhere else When asked, he said it didn’t matter to him whether they used the skull or not
"So you see, you’re overruled," Faye told Diana, her honey-colored eyes hot with triumph "Either you let us use the skull - or I call for a vote right now and we see if you still coht," she said flatly, at last "We’ll try to activate it - just activate it and no h for you?"
Faye nodded graciously She’d won, and she knew it
"Saturday night," she said, and smiled
Kori’s funeral was on Friday Cassie stood with the otherthe service Afterward, at the ce Henderson and Jione with that suet them apart The adults seemed scared to touch them
Saturday dawned clear and cool Cassie went over to Diana’s in the evening after spendingto read it She orried about the skull ceremony, but she was even more worried about Adam No matter what happens, she told herself, no matter what, I won’t let anyone kno I feel I’ll keep it a secret forever if it kills me
Diana looked tired, as if she hadn’t been getting enough sleep It was the first tiether since the initiation - since Ada at the prism in the , Cassie could almost pretend that Adas had been so simple then; she’d been happy just to be with Diana
She noticed, for the first time, another wall of art prints like the ones she’d seen the first day
"Are these goddesses too?" she asked
"Yes That’s Persephone, daughter of the goddess of growing things" Diana’s voice was soft with tiredness, but she s as she picked an arti and alive
"And who’s that?"
"Athena She was the goddess of wisdooddess of the hunt All the other gods used to go to her for advice"
It was a tall goddess with a wide brow and clear, calray; it’s a black-and-white print, Cassie told herself But soray anyway, and full of cool, thoughtful intelligence
Cassie turned to the next print "And who’s - "
Just then there was the sound of voices downstairs "Hello? Anybody up there? The front door was unlocked"
"Come on up," Diana called "My dad’s at work - as usual"
"Here," Laurel said, appearing in the doorway "I thought youthe way" She held out an ar Bet! They’re such a pretty pink, and I can dry theon and sweet et a vase"
"I would have brought so the skull"
Melanie smiled at Cassie "So how’s our neitch?" she said, her cool gray eyes not unsympathetic "Totally confused?"
"Well a little confused I s she didn’t understand - "how do you purify a skull with roses?"
"You’d better ask Laurel that; she’s the expert on plants"
"And Melanie," said Laurel, "is the expert on stones and crystals, and this is a crystal skull"
"But just what is a crystal, exactly?" Cassie said "I don’t think I even know that"
"Well" Melanie sat down at Diana’s desk as Diana cae the flowers Laurel and Cassie sat on the bed Cassie really did want to know about the things the Circle used to do ic Even if she could never do the one spell she wanted to, she was still a witch
"Well, some people call crystals ’fossilized water,’ " Melanie said, her voice taking on atone "Water corow But I like to think of them as a beach"
Laurel snorted and Cassie blinked "A beach?"
Melanie sht? And sand is silicon When you put silicon ater, under the right conditions, it forms silicon dioxide - quartz crystal So water plus sand plus heat plus pressure equals a crystal The remains of an ancient beach"
Cassie was fascinated "And that’s what the skull is made of?"
"Yes It’s clear quartz There are other kinds of quartz too; other colors A any?"
"What a question Especially with a cereht-brown hair back to show Cassie her ears In each she earing a dangling crystal of a deep violet color "I like a If you wear the with rose quartz, it helps draw love to you"