Cassie allowed herself to smile. “If we can stop whatever’s coming tonight, I’ll dance straight through till morning.”
“Is that a promise?” Nick said. “Because I’ll hold you to it.”
Sean, Chris, and Doug entered the doorway and caught sight of Nick and Cassie immediately. They made their way over, almost unrecognizably clean-cut in tailored suits and their hair combed back.
“Any action yet?” Chris asked.
Cassie gazed around the enormous room. The black-and-white tiled floor reminded her of dance scenes in old classic movies. It gave way to marble pillars and cloth-covered banquet tables. Since this was a benefit for the Historical Society, the walls and tables were adorned with New Salem history pieces on loan from the museum—statues of prominent figures, old maps in glass frames, photographs of the founding families.
The ancestors eyed it all like vultures preparing for a feast. Sally’s father was too busy shaking hands and smiling for cameras to notice. He and his board members had not a clue what was coming. Equally oblivious, the Outsiders drifted around them, enjoying appetizers off silver trays. Lambs to a slaughter, Cassie thought.
Cassie noticed Alice and Beatrix had broken off from the others. They whispered to one another, conspiring, in the corner.
Alice’s dress was black, long, and straight. It could have been very old, or just designed to look that way. Beatrix’s was similar, but she wore a red shawl over her shoulders.
Cassie approached them.
“So, you made it,” Alice said in her deep monotone.
“I told you they wouldn’t miss it,” Beatrix said.
Alice set her heartbreaking eyes on Cassie. “We’re going to seal this place like a tomb,” she said. “Then the fire will rage. Do you know what it feels like to be burned alive, Cassie?”
“I do,” Beatrix said. “The skin of your face melts first. Then your neck. Your hands, as if they could protect you from the relentless flames. You’ll be wide awake, more awake than you’ve ever been, and you can smell yourself cooking. Flesh bakes so slowly, Cassie. It seems to take forever.”
Cassie cringed. “No one here tonight is burning alive,” she said. “My Circle won’t allow it.”
Just then Adam appeared in the doorway, wearing his best blue-gray suit. He offered Cassie a quick apologetic glance as he headed toward Nick, Chris, and Doug, who were sloppily progressing through an hors d’oeuvre plate of sliders.
While he ate and laughed with the guys, Adam eyed Scarlett and the ancestors gathered in the back corner. Within a few minutes he casually got himself a drink and meandered toward them.
Feeling Alice’s and Beatrix’s eyes on her, Cassie did her best to look distressed by the idea of Adam going over to talk to Scarlett. It wasn’t hard to do as she made out the thin cord drawing them together.
Cassie watched Adam closely. His face had relaxed in Scarlett’s presence.
“Look at that smile,” Beatrix said, nodding toward Adam. “You can’t fake a smile that bright. It’s obvious he’s smitten.”
Adam led Scarlett onto the dance floor. Cassie tried to remind herself that he was playing a part, but his affection seemed so real.
Scarlett ran her fingers up and down the length of his suit-jacketed arm. Did he shudder? No, it was more of a quiver.
Adam’s flirting had to be convincing. It was the Circle’s only hope of getting Scarlett on their side. But within a few minutes of watching them, everyone else in the room dropped away, and Cassie began to sweat.
Scarlett had secured Adam’s rapt attention. She was speaking softly to him, her face up close to his, swaying to the music. And he was leaning in slightly, watching her mouth, those full red lips of hers getting perilously close to his own.
But when Scarlett went in for a kiss, Adam quickly backed away. That was where he drew the line. Scarlett had leaned in and kissed the air.
Cassie took a breath. Her tunnel vision ceased, the room came back to life, and all the other guests reappeared.
Adam, when he was really Adam, couldn’t betray her.
“You should seriously reconsider your previous decision to snub us, Cassandra,” Beatrix said. “Look around.”
She directed Cassie’s gaze around the room. “All of these innocent people are about to die.”
Alice placed her cold, bony hand on Cassie’s shoulder. “Wouldn’t you rather be on our side than theirs?”
“No,” Cassie said firmly. She shook herself from Alice’s grip.
“Our side is going to win.” Alice’s eyes were smoldering, but Cassie wouldn’t be intimidated.
“No!” she screamed out again, not caring who heard her over the jazz band.
Alice let out an exasperated breath and turned away. “Forget this,” she said to Beatrix. “Let’s bring this place down.”
Wasting no more time, Alice signaled to Absolom, ordering the ancestors into action.
Before Cassie could even raise a hand in protest, the centerpiece of the ballroom, a stone statue of New Salem’s first mayor, exploded to a million bits that scattered across the checkered floor like hardened raindrops.
People screamed and ducked, covering their heads. Cassie’s friends searched for one another through the pandemonium.
Mr. Waltman, Sally’s father, waved his arms. “Just a freak accident,” he called out. “Nobody panic. Is everyone okay?”
Then another statue burst, and another. The black-and-white floor rumbled. Plaques slid down the walls. Mr. Waltman covered his balding head and began running, along with the rest of the crowd, toward the exit.
“Earthquake!” people yelled.
Cassie and her friends had anticipated this. They huddled close to each other and bound their energy.
“Power of Earth,” Diana said, leading the defense spell. “We call upon you to protect us, to help us defend this room and the innocent people in it from harm.”
A momentary calm swept through the air, enough to trick the terrified Outsiders into believing the worst had passed.
But the ancestors countered the Circle’s defense with an even stronger attack, breaking down their protective barrier.
All the smashed stone and shattered glass upon the floor whirled into the air like a tornado. It spun through the room, a storm gone wild, destroying everything in its wake.
A ruined brass picture frame boomeranged toward the back of Sally’s head. Max dove, knocking her out of harm’s way just in time.
The Circle cast another spell. This time Cassie took the lead. “Guardians of the defenseless,” she called. “We entreat you! Combatants of right causes, join us against this malevolent attack. Let the innocent rise up against this evil.”
But the ancestors were too powerful. A dark shadow descended upon the room, like night. The Outsiders banged on every exit door to no avail. There was no way out. They were sealed in, just like Alice had said.
Smoke clouded the air. Max and Sally tried breaking down one of the doors, using a table as a battering ram, while the Circle’s defense spells continued to falter.
Cassie exchanged a look with Adam. He had joined the Circle in their attempts to block the ancestors’ destruction, forgetting his feigned allegiance to Scarlett.
“They’re so strong,” he said. “You have to do something, Cassie. You’re the only one.”
Deep down Cassie had known it would come to this. Her black magic was their solitary chance. She went inward to her darkest place and stirred around for the right words. A heat flooded her veins just as the ballroom caught fire.
Cassie felt her eyes harden like calluses. She raised her arms and stretched her fingers taut.
Malignis vis intra me, perdere hoc malum.
Purgare eam. Purgare.
Haec entia non gerunt nequam auctoritas!Cassie’s whole body trembled. The flames crawling up the ballroom walls settled, as if in sudden fear.
Absolom shouted out new instructions in a language Cassie couldn’t understand. The ancestors lifted their hands, and the fire roared twice as high as before.
It was at that moment that Cassie realized the Circle was going to lose. All along the ancestors had been holding back, merely toying with them—with her.
This was their show.
Outsiders began collapsing left and right from smoke inhalation. Many fell unconscious. Max and Sally lay on the ground among them. Those who were still awake were hysterical, tumbling over one another. They shrieked and cried for help, banging senselessly on the locked doors. It sounded to Cassie like hell on earth.
She wanted to run, but she couldn’t. Yet she couldn’t fight either. She had nothing left. This room would be their shared, ovenlike tomb. Hers and her Circle’s, and the town’s. It was over, at last.
Then Absolom clapped his hands three times, and the room fell silent. All movement ceased. Only the ancestors and the Circle remained cognizant.
“You’ve already lost,” Alice said. “But we’re willing to make you an offer.”
Cassie exchanged a cautious look with Adam.
“These people can still go home tonight, safely,” Alice said. “If one of you is willing to cross over right now.”
“These Outsiders won’t remember a thing,” Beatrix added. “It’s in your hands.”
Cassie turned to her friends. They were exhausted, defeated. All the historical relics had been destroyed, reduced to charcoal and ash.
It wasn’t in their hands, Cassie thought. Because suffering would still be the end result, it was only a question of when. Either way, she’d failed to protect New Salem as she’d promised Sally she would—as she’d promised herself she would.
“I’ll do it!” Faye shouted out.
Cassie felt a writhe of panic in her stomach.
“Call off the fire,” Faye said to the ancestors. “And I’m yours.”
With a nod from Absolom, Alice waved her hand and the flames died, the smoke dissipated.
“Come,” Alice said.
Faye stepped across the black-and-white ballroom floor with a confident stride.
Alice rested her heartbroken eyes on Cassie while Samuel, Charlotte, and Thomas gathered around Faye, drawing her in, murmuring their approval.
“We should do something,” Nick said.
Melanie agreed. “We can’t let this happen.”
But no one made a move to cut in. There was really nothing to be done. The Circle, and Cassie alone, had expended all of their energy, and it wasn’t nearly enough.
“Faye’s only going with them to save all these people,” Deborah whispered. “She’s doing the right thing.”
Diana looked to Cassie. “But we can’t just let them have her, right?”
Beatrix wrapped her arm around Faye.
“You were my first choice all along,” she said, leading her to the door. She opened it with a silent spell. “Let’s go home.”
Adam rushed to catch up with Cassie as she made a beeline for the door, trying to get away before anyone could see her cry. It was all just too much. At a certain point a girl had to break.
Adam caught her by the wrist. “Can I at least walk you home?” he asked.
Cassie agreed, but as they trudged down the road neither of them said much. Cassie watched the ground, feeling silly now in her fancy clothes and makeup in the midst of so much defeat.
“It’s going to be okay,” Adam said. “We’ll figure out how to get Faye back.”
He put his arm around Cassie’s bare shoulders.
“I’m not so sure,” Cassie said. “Defeating the ancestors feels so impossible.”
Adam came to a standstill and made Cassie face him. His hands trembled slightly on her arms.
“This is not over yet. And you’re not giving up,” he said. “I won’t let you.”
It amazed Cassie how Adam never lost his hope, how he never surrendered to defeat or despair. He truly was one of a kind.
“And did I mention how beautiful you look tonight?” he added.
“Well,” Cassie said, “in spite of the great failure of the night, at least you aren’t going home with Scarlett.”
“Were you worried about that?” he asked, sounding honestly surprised. “I only did all of that because you told me to.”
“I wasn’t worried,” Cassie lied. She rested her head on Adam’s chest and breathed him in. “But I’ll take whatever small victory I can get right now.”
Then she lifted her head and kissed him softly on the lips.
Chapter 22
Gathered in the secret room, everyone’s body language spoke for them. Melanie, Laurel, and Deborah hunched in their chairs. Diana and Max slumped on the bed. The guys were sprawled across the sofa, slouching as if holding up their own heads took too much effort. The words no one said aloud were that the next full moon was only three nights away. It wasn’t much time before the ancestors would be a threat forever.
