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Cassie was thinking No wonder her mother had run away from New Sale at the back of her mother’s eyes How could you not be terrified when the hto away to have his baby, someplace where no one would ever know?

But she’d been brave enough to co Cassie And now Cassie had to be brave

There’s nothing frightening in the dark if you just face it Cassie didn’t kno she was going to face this, but she had to, somehow

"I’m okay now," she whispered "And I want to see s over her head

"We’re going with you," Diana said "We won’t go in the roo to take you there"

Cassie looked at them: at Diana’s eyes, dark as e; and at Adam, his fine-boned face calm and steady She squeezed their hands

"Thank you," she said "Thank you both"

Great-aunt Constance answered the door She looked surprised to see them and a little flustered, which surprised Cassie in turn She wouldn’t have thought Melanie’s aunt ever got flustered

But as Cassie was going into the guest roo out Cassie looked at Laurel’s frail great-grandrandmother, and then at Aunt Constance

"We were - trying one or two things to see if we could help your htly uncohed "Old reood in the" She shut the door

Cassie turned to look at the figure lying between Aunt Constance’s starched white sheets She went and knelt by the bedside

Herabout her hite and black: white face, black hair, Hack lashes for crescents on her cheeks Cassie took her cold hand and only then realized she didn’t have the first idea what to say

"Mother?" she said, and then: "Mom? Can you hear me?"

No answer Not a twitch

"Mom," Cassie said with difficulty, "I know you’re sick, and I know you’re scared, but there’s one thing you don’t have to be scared of anymore I know the truth I know about ht she saw the sheets over her mother’s chest rise and fall a little ," she said "Andif you’re afraid I’ll be , you don’t have to be I understand I’ve seen what he does to people I sahat he did to Faye, and she’s stronger than you" Cassie was holding the cold hand so tightly she was afraid she was hurting it She paused and sed

"Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I know And it’ll all be over soon, and I’ain I’ to stop him somehow I don’t kno, but I will I pro the soft, limp hand in hers and whispered, "If you’re just scared, Mo away; it is, really If you face things they’re not as bad"

Cassie waited again She hadn’t thought she was hoping for anything, but shehappened her heart sank in disappointn, that wasn’t n For what seemed like the hundredth time that day, warmth filled Cassie’s eyes

"Okay, Mom," she whispered, and stooped to kiss her mother’s cheek

As she did, she noticed a thin string of some kind of fiber around her mother’s neck She pulled, and froed three s on the twine

Cassie tucked the necklace back in, waited one more second, and then left

Can I face it if randma? she wondered as she shut the bedroo to realize that she ht have to

In the parlor, Ada tea with the women

"Who put the crystals around my mother’s neck? And what are they?"

The old women looked at each other It was Great-aunt Constance who answered

"I did," she said She cleared her throat "They’re tiger’s eyes For keeping away bad drearanded a small smile for her "Oh Thank you" Maybe Melanie’s affinity for minerals ran in the family She didn’t bother to tell Aunt Constance what Black John could do to those stones if he tried

"Bad dreaot up to leave "Of course, good dreaain"

Cassie looked at Ada uncoiled as she happily crunched cookie after cookie Cassie had never known anybody who liked to eat so much, except Suzan But there was ht

"Drearandood dreaht about that all the way home

She and Diana had dinner quietly, just the two of them, since Diana’s father was still at his law office Adaone to talk to the rest of the Circle

"I can’t tell theht - tomorrow, maybe"

"There’s no reason you should have to," Adah enough I’ll tell them - and I’ll make them understand Don’t worry, Cassie They’ll stick by you"

Cassie couldn’t help but worry But she put it aside, because she had other things to think about She’d made a prorandmother’s Book of Shadows Her book of shadows She was looking for anything about crystals and dreams

And there it was: To Cause Dreaht you will have fair and pleasant dreae about crystals in general Big crystals were better than little crystals; well, she knew that already Melanie had said so, and Black John had demonstrated it today beyond question

She put the book down and went to Diana’s desk

There was a white velvet pouch there, lined with sky-blue silk Diana had long ago given Cassie permission to open it Cassie took the pouch to the bed and poured the contents out on a folded-over section of the top sheet The stones forround

Blue lace agate - Cassie picked up the triangular piece and rubbed its sht yellow citrine - Deborah’s stone, good for raising energy And here was cloudy orange carnelian, which Suzan had once used for raising the passions of the entire football teareen jade, which Melanie used for calht, and royal purple amethyst - Laurel’s stone, a stone of the heart, Black John had said There were dozens of others, too: warreen bloodstone speckled with red; a wine-colored garnet; the pale green peridot Diana had used to trace the dark energy

Cassie’s fingers sorted through the clinking treasure until she found a moonstone It was translucent, with a silvery-blue shihtstand by her side of the bed

Diana ca the stones back into the pouch

"Find anything in your Book of Shadows?" she asked

"Nothing specific," Cassie said She didn’t want to explain what she was doing, even to Diana Later, if it worked "I’rand specific in the book about Black John," she added "Maybe she just wanted eable witch Maybe she’d thought that way I’d be sot in bed and turned off the light There was no moon; the bayremained dark It was peaceful, so in bed - like a sleepover It made Cassie think of the old days, when she and Diana had first decided to be adopted sisters

"We need to find a way to kill hirim and bloodthirsty purpose Diana was silent for a s that can’t kill him - Water and Fire He drowned the first time when his ship went down, and he burned the second time, when our parents burned the house at Number Thirteen But he didn’t stay dead either time"

Cassie appreciated the "our parents" Herto burn anybody, she’d bet

"He said his spirit didn’t need to stay in his body," she said "I think he can o different places Maybe when he died, he just sent his spirit somewhere else"

"Like into the crystal skull," Diana said "And it stayed there until we brought it and his body together Yes But what can we use against hih I don’t see how Air could kill anybody"

"I don’t either Earth could h to use against him"

"No," Cassie said "It sounds like it’s the Master Tools or nothing We’ve got to find the in the darkness "But how?"

Cassie reached over and felt for the moonstone She put it under her pillow

Maybe it’s not the size, but how you use theht, Diana," she said, and shut her eyes