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"Hey, watch out, Cassie," Chris said, running into her as she stopped in her tracks "What’s wrong?"

"I just saw someone" Cassie could feel hoide her eyes were as she stared into the crowd Portia had disappeared in a sea of bobbing heads "A girl I knew this suled at the task of explaining Portia to the Circle

But Adariun They’re seriously into it - not just as a hobby, but as an obsession"

"And they’ve come here?" Deborah scoffed Cassie looked back and forth between the dark-haired girl and Ada these people had encountered before "They ought to know better"

"Maybe it was a mistake - or an accident Maybe her parents ," Laurel said, ever the optimist

Cassie shook her head "Portia doesn’t make mistakes," she murmured "And I pity the accident that tries to happen to her Ada to do?" She was ale that Black John was loose so, too much to deal with rationally Fear of Portia wassucked toward an old pattern of helplessness She’d never been able to deal with Portia; she caue-tied and humiliated, defeated Cassie shut her eyes

I aht But dread churned in her stoinning bleakly when Doug leaned in, his tilted blue-green eyes sparkling

"Hey, she’s an eneht? Black John the Witch Dude said he wanted to help us destroy our eneht? So - "

"Don’t even think about it," Melanie cut in swiftly "Don’t, Doug Ihunched his shoulders, but he looked at his twin sideways under his lashes

"Badinto the distance

Cassie looked at Adaly "Don’t worry, Cassie Never"

Cassie was living with Diana now "Obviously you can’t stay in that house alone," Diana had said, and that afternoon she and Laurel and Melanie helped Cassie s Ada around the house restlessly, and most of the other Club members stopped by for one reason or another Only Faye was conspicuously absent No one had seen her since she’d disappeared from school

The house itself wasn’t too badly dae burned places on the floor and some of the doors The official story, as decided on by the adults who’d corandmother’s body aas that there had been a fire and Mrs Howard had been frightened into a heart attack The Club hadn’t mentioned an intruder, and the police hadn’t even cordoned the house off How the police thought a hardwood floor had caught fire in such a strange pattern, Cassie didn’t know Nobody had asked her and she certainly wasn’t going down to the station to volunteer anything

The house see around it There was an eht she would randray hair and a mole on her cheek But those old eyes had seen a lot, and those knotted hands had been deft and kind Her grands, and she had always made Cassie feel better

"I wish I had a picture of her," Cassie said softly "My grandraphed, so she didn’t even have that

"She was a pretty cool old broad," Deborah said, slinging a tote bag over one shoulder and picking up a cardboard box full of books and CDs "You want anything else?"

Cassie looked around the rooht She wanted her four-poster bed with the dusty-rose canopy and hangings, and her daany chest that was just the color of Nick’s eyes

"That’s bombe, that chest of drawers there," she told Deborah "It was made here in Massachusetts, the only place in the colonies that produced that style"

"Yeah, I know," Deborah said, unihs a ton and you can’t take it You want the stereo, or what?"

"No, I can use Diana’s," Cassie said sadly She felt as if she were leaving her life behind I’ down the road, she reminded herself as Deborah left

"Cassie, if you want to stop by and see your mom this afternoon, it’s okay with Great-aunt Constance," Melanie said, appearing in the doorway "Any ti so twist in her chest Her ht; Melanie’s great-aunt illing to take care of her, and it would be better for her to stay at Melanie’s house than to be taken - somewhere else Say what you mean: an institution, she told herself fiercely If the doctors saw her they’d want to put her in an institution or a hospital But she doesn’t belong there, and she’s going to be just fine She needs to rest a little, that’s all

"Thanks, Melanie," she said "I’ll co It’s nice of your aunt to take care of her"

"With Great-aunt Constance it’s not so o "Great-aunt Constance believes in doing your duty"

So do I, Cassie thought, pausing as she picked up a bundle of clothes fro - I’ll be down in a second," she said

What she’d thought of was the hematite One-handed, she opened the jewelry box on the dresser - and then stiffened She stirred through the contents of the box with her fingers, but it was no use

The piece of heone

Panic swelled in Cassie’s throat She’d keptabout the stone, but now that it was out of her hands she realized how dangerous she thought it really was

This ti to keep it a secret and worry and stew about it all by yourself This tiinning, which is tell Diana

Cassie went downstairs Diana and Laurel were in the herb garden, salvaging things Laurel thought ht be useful Cassie squared her shoulders

"Diana," she said, "I’ve got soreen eyes widened when Cassie explained about the hematite, how she’d found it, how she’d kept it a secret No one had known about it except Deborah - and Faye

"And now it’s gone," Cassie said "I don’t think that ood"

"No," Diana said slowly "I’m sure it doesn’t Cassie, don’t you see, when you were carrying the heswere you wearing it at the Halloween dance when you tried to make Adam kiss you?"

"Iyes" Cassie could feel the blood rising to her cheeks "But, Diana - I wish I could say the hematite made me do that, but it didn’t It was just me I wanted to"

"Maybe, but I’ll bet you’d wanted to before and you didn’t actually do it Heainst your will, but it s you normally wouldn’t"

"Like onyx Surrender to your shadow-self," Cassie whispered

"Yes," said Diana

"It must be one of us who has it; one of the Circle," Cassie said "Because I put it in the box thisand nobody else has been by the house today But which one of us?"

Diana shook her head Laurel grimaced "I stick to plants," she said "They’re safer, as long as you respect the They don’t influence you"

At Diana’s suggestion, the three of theain But the hematite was nowhere to be found

Cassie went to school on Thursday It was strange to sit in her writing class and see life going on around her as usual All these people - students counting the days until Thanksgiving vacation, teachers giving their lectures, the vice-principal walking through the halls and looking harried - had no idea as loose in their coain Of course, Cassie didn’t know exactly, either What for to take now? What would he look like when she saw hier

Faye didn’t show up for English Cassie had to stay after class to explain to Mr Humphries why she’d been absent for two days He was synet away froebra when she hurried into the third-floor bathroom But once in a stall, she heard voices outside that et the ti on a conversation that had obviously been going for a while

"And then she was supposed to go back to California," the first voice was saying Cassie had heard it too nize it Portia "But that was obviously a lie too, if it’s the same Cassie I knew"

"What did you say she looked like?" asked the other voice A strident, contentious voice Cassie recognized Sally Waltman

"Oh, she’s just a little nonentity She’s coht, a little taller than you "

A throat-clearing sound from Sally

"Not that you’re short, of course You’re - petite Anyway, she’s got a fairly sli about her is just ordinary: ordinary brownish hair, ordinary little face, ordinary clothes - not anything to write home about Overall, she’s unutterably dreary - "

"It’s not the sauy at Ho out Including 11151 boyfriend - and look where it got him She looks ordinary at first, es depending on the light I’m serious And I’m sure it’s just an act, but she’s the kind that looks all fragile and sweet, the kind guys are just dying to take care of - and then she starts ordering theets aith it, probably because she opens those great big eyes and pretends she thinks she’s inadequate The ’Oh, I’irl next door, but I’ll do my best’ routine - they lap it up"

Cassie opened her ain