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"Aunt Constance!" Melanie gasped

"You heard me," the dark-haired woroup "Get out of here, all of you! I don’t like that kind of joke, especially now Haven’t you ? Poor Alexandra in the guest rooroundMelanie, I want them out of the house!"

Laurel and Granny Quincey were both fluttering "Oh dear, oh dear," Granny Quincey was saying, raising hands that looked like little bird claws, and "Oh, please, Miss Burke," Laurel was beseeching, almost in tears

"You have no respect at all," Aunt Constance said, breathing hard Her eyes were as bright as if she had a fever

"Young people never do, Constance," Ada "Why, I reet up tooh, randmother popped another cookie in her mouth

"Grandan helplessly, but it was no use There was tooat once Over it all Great-aunt Constance continued to order theet about theand nored Old Mrs Franklin was s with Melanie’s aunt to listen, but to no avail

"For the last ti a hand as if to shoo Diana and the Club out the door

"Miss Burke!" Cassie yelled She felt close to tears herself, although Nick had been quietly trying to escort her out since the shouting had started Cassie didn’t want to go; she thought she understood what Great-aunt Constance was talking about when she"Miss Burke," she repeated, forcing her way forward again She found herself directly in front of Great-aunt Constance

"I’h that she could hear the unsteadiness in her own voice "It’s rateful I arandround But who do you think did that to therand to coe to do it It’s true that it’s partly the Circle’s fault he’s back - it’s partly my fault And we’re sorry, more sorry than you can know But he really is here" She paused a moment, then added in almost a whisper, "Really"

Aunt Constance was breathing very quickly through her nose She drew herself up ally than ever, her lips a thin red slash across her face

"I’ It is sied, twisting in pain She gave a gasp and clutched at her chest

"Aunt Constance," Melanie cried, rushing to her It took both her and Adaid woman to a chair

"Should I call a doctor?" Diana asked

"No!" Aunt Constance said, lifting her head "It’s nothing I’, Constance," a quavery voice said, and Cassie saw Granny Quincey getting off the sofa to co you the truth I think we’d better listen to these children"

There was a silence while Melanie’s aunt looked at Melanie, then at Adam, then at Cassie Cassie forced herself to return the piercing gaze

Aunt Constance’s eyes shut and she slowly leaned back in the chair

"You’re right," she said, without looking at anyone "Come in, all of you, and find somewhere to sit down Then you can tell your story"

"So finally we decided we’d better talk to you three, since you were the ones who ht of asking our parents, too - "

"Don’t go to your parents," Aunt Constance said flatly She had sat and listened to the whole tale, her expression getting gri in the rooaze settled on Cassie e Cassie think of her mother’s blank eyes "They won’t reet too "

"What’s past is past," Granny Quincey said

"Yes," said Great-aunt Constance She straightened "But I don’t kno you think three old woainst hi about hiht him," Adam said

Aunt Constance slowly shook her head Granny Quincey was frowning, her face pursed into hundreds of wrinkles Old Mrs Franklin wore a very pleasant expression; Cassie couldn’t tell if she’d been following the story or not

"If he can come back from the dead, he can’t have many weaknesses," Aunt Constance whispered harshly "And he was always clever atYou say that Faye Chamberlain is on his side?"

"We’re afraid so," Adaet at you, at your weaknesses Lure her away from him if you can But how?" Aunt Constance’s brow lined in concentration "The heerous; he can use it to influence her lanced at Cassie, as if to say, I told you Aunt Constance was going on "And you say the skull is gone now? Are you sure?"

"It’s gone," Adam said

"It looked like it exploded when Faye was holding it, just before ere all knocked out," Cassie said "So exploded out of it, anyway And we couldn’t find a trace of it afterward"

"Wellthere’s no way to use that against hi in your grandmother’s Book to help you?"

"Not yet I haven’t gotten all the way through it, though," Cassie ad her head "Power, you need power to use against hiht hi but fools There’s no power strong enough around here "

"There was once," Granny Quincey said in her reedy voice

Aunt Constance looked at her, and her expression changed "Onceyes, of course" She turned to the Circle "If the old stories are true, there once was a power strong enough to destroy Black John"

"What power?" Laurel asked

Aunt Constance countered with a question "How did Adam happen to find the skull, exactly?"

"It wasn’t an accident," Diana said "He was out looking for the Master Tools" She stopped "The Master Tools," she whispered

"Yes The ones that belonged to the original coven, the real Salem witches Our ancestors who founded New Salee"

Cassie was speaking out loud before she" thought "But just ere the Master Tools, exactly?"

It was Granny Quincey who answered "The symbols of the witch leader, of course The diadearter"

"The ones we use are just iinal coven’s were very powerful; real tools to be used

But, Aunt Constance" - she turned back to her aunt - "it was Black John who hid the Master Tools Ada for them for years, from here to Cape Cod How can we find them now?"

"I don’t know," the wo there Black John didn’t hide theinal coven did They hid the tools from him, so he wouldn’t be able to use them They knew that with the power of the skull and the tools together, he would be invincible That’s what randmother told me, anyway"

"They wouldn’t have taken the tools far to hide," Granny Quincey added "That’s just sense Black John was a traveler, but our ancestors weren’t They were peaceable, ho people"

"You came for our advice - well, that’s mine," Aunt Constance said "Find the Master Tools If you all stand together, using those, you ain

"All right," Adam said slowly "We understand"

Cassie let her breath out, trying not to feel disappointed It was good advice, but she’d hoped - for what? For her own grandrandmother, who had been so wise, and had soer than she’d thought

"And keep reading that book your grandht at Cassie Cassie nodded and the old woave her a wrinkled but oddly intense s her knees and looking around as if she’d forgotten so

"What’s tomorrow?" she said

There was a pause Cassie wasn’t sure if Ada to them or to herself But then she repeated, "What’s toly

"Uh - our birthday," Chris offered

But Diana looked startled "I think - I think it’s the night of Hecate," she said "Is that what you ht," old Mrs Franklin said co, ould have done a ceremony I remember ceremonies under the moon, when there were Indians in the shadows "

Glances were exchanged Mrs Franklin couldn’t possibly remember that; there hadn’t been Indians around here for centuries

But Diana was getting excited "You think we should have a cereirls’ cereirls always had our secrets, didn’t we, Connie? And we stuck together"

Diana looked a little puzzled, then nodded slowly, deterether - all the girls And I think I knohat kind of cereht time of year, but that doesn’t matter"

"I know you’ll enjoy it, dear," Mrs Franklin said "Now let me see - Cassie!"

Cassie looked at her, startled