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"I guess this ht," Faye said

"Is that what that place was?" Doug asked

Melanie nodded "The New Sale to burn it to the ground"

So this was the great revenge the ancestors had been building up to Cassie realized it made perfect sense The benefit was the ideal place to take vengeance on New Saleive us this warning?" Chris asked

"Because they don’t want us to lasses back on "We have to try to stop them"

"How?" Melanie said, almost to herself "They’re so much more powerful than us The only e can stop theht," Diana said "All the more reason we need to coet Scarlett to cross over"

"Like that’ll ever happen," Fayethe benefit is one thing Getting Scarlett to coht back to Scarlett’s initiation After the hunters killed Suzan and Scarlett inherited her place in the Circle, it had felt like the worst thing in the world If only Cassie had known then just how incorrect that preotten much worse

"How could we possibly win Scarlett over?" Laurel’s voice cracked with frustration "What do we have to te all-powerful and having eternal life"

Cassie studied Adahts, totally unprepared for what Cassie was about to bring to the table

"We have Adam," Cassie said, and his head shot up

"Scarlett wants Adam," she said declaratively "He’s our best shot to win her over"

Adaht words He shook his head "No" Slowly, painfully, he said, "That can’t be our only option"

A cold deter this," she said

Diana placed a co hand on Cassie’s shoulder "That’s a brave sacrifice to ht Diana meant it was a brave sacrifice for Ada to her

Only after Cassie acknowledged Diana’s compliment did she turn her attention to Adam "You have to do it," Diana said to hiround as if he couldn’t face any of thehed out loud "I think you know exactly how, Adam You already have"

Adaaze with love She had to be calm now She couldn’t lose control

Bleary-eyed and nauseated, she said, "You have to use the benefit to get closer to Scarlett Convince her you’re in love with her, nother to cross over"

"We’ll all be there with you," Diana added

"You can’t say no, ht," Adah it’s what Cassie had insisted upon, so inside her shattered

Sally Walt squad Cassie watched froot tossed, flipped, and thrown about, all while , Cassie thought, an overachiever in the best way And she ca line of prominence Her father was the chairman of the board of the Historical Society--that’s why Cassie had come to watch her practice It was time to take Sally up on her offer to help the Circle

Sally had spotted Cassie h practice, so when the squad broke up, she headed straight in her direction Her face was flushed and shiny, and she dabbed it softly with a white towel "What’s up?"

"I need a favor," Cassie said "But that’s not the worst of it"

Sally flipped her towel back in a roll around her tiny shoulders and took a seat beside Cassie "Don’t leave anything out"

Cassie described how the ancestors planned to trap everyone inside the Historical Society benefit and then burn the place to the ground

Sally kept her eyes on her tea their way across the field to the locker room "After what they did to the auditoriu the horror of that event in herfro how I know"

"You shouldn’t," Cassie said "The Circle will stop theiven; I’ll put you all on the list But hoill you stop them, Cassie? All the people who’ll be at that benefitI can’t iine"

"We’ll do whatever we can," Cassie said, careful not to make any false promises "Armed with defense spells, we’ll counter theed to do at the auditorium"

It almost sounded like a plan But what Cassie didn’ther possessed friends The ancestors were er and more powerful now that they had their own bodies

Sally brushed back a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her eye, and Cassie noticed her hand treet hurt," Cassie said "You have nothing to worry about"

It was the false promise she probably shouldn’t make, but it seemed to calm Sally She rose and stepped down the bleachers toward the field

"I’ll see you there," she said

Cassie unzipped the gar dress Diana crossed her bedroom to admire it

"It’s beautiful," she said "Is it new?"

"Suzan picked it out for ," Cassie said "I told her I had no use for an evening dress, but she insisted I buy it She said it was too perfect to pass up"

Faye looked away, and all the girls got quiet

Suzan had always been the best when it ca for a fancy party, so it ith a little bit of a heavy heart that Cassie and the others continued the tradition in her absence

"I’ve been thinking about her all night," Deborah said