Cassie's face flamed and she had to struggle not to look at the cabinet. She would never have mentioned the skull herself: she couldn't have gotten the word out. "Okay," she said, trying to keep her voice normal. "Thanks. I'll call my mom and tell her I'm staying over."
"We can drive to your house so you can get dressed in the morning-I'll check on the guest room." As Diana left, the voices in Cassie's mind were rioting. You little sneak, they shouted at her. You nasty, weaselly, lying little traitor-
Shut up! Cassie shouted back at them, with such force that they actually did shut up.
She called her mother.
"The guest room's ready," Diana said, reappearing as Cassie hung up the phone. "But if you get scared in the night you can come in here."
"Thanks," Cassie said, genuinely grateful.
"What are big sisters for?"
They sat up and talked for a while, but neither of them had had much sleep the night before, and as the clock's hands edged closer to ten they were both yawning.
"I'll take my bath tonight so you can have one in the morning," Diana said. "The hot water doesn't last long around here."
"Isn't there a spell to take care of that?"
Diana laughed and tossed a book to her. "Here, see if you can find one."
It was the Book of Shadows Diana had brought to Cassie's initiation, the one that had been in Diana's family since the first witches came to New Salem. The brittle yellow pages had a mildewy smell that made Cassie wrinkle her nose, but she was glad to have this chance to look at it. Toward the beginning of the book the writing was small and almost illegible, but further on it became stylized and beautiful, like copperplate. Different authors, Cassie thought, different generations. The Post-it notes and plastic flags on almost every page were the work of the current generation.
It was full of spells, descriptions of coven meetings, rituals, and stories. Cassie pored over it, her eyes moving in fascination from one title to the next. Some of the spells seemed quaint and archaic; others were like something out of a modern pop-psychology book. Some were just timeless.
A Charm to Cure a Sickly Child, she read. To Make Hens Lay. For Protection Against Fire and Water. To Overcome a Bad Habit. To Cast Out Fear and Malignant Emotions. To Find Treasure. To Change Your Luck. To Turn Aside Evil.
A Talisman For Strength caught her eye.
Take a smooth and shapely rock, and upon one face carve the rising sun and a crescent moon, horns up. Upon the reverse, the words:
Strength of stone
Be in my bone
Power of light
Sustain my fight.
I could use that, Cassie thought. She continued flipping through the pages. A Spell Against Contagious Disease. To Hold Evil Harmless. To Cause Dreams.
And then, as if her guilty conscience had summoned it up, another spell appeared before her eyes. For an Untrue Lover.
Standing in the light of a full moon, take a strand of the lover's hair and tie knots in it, saying:
No peace find
No friend keep
No lover bind
No harvest reap
No repose take
No hunger feed
No thirst slake
No sorrow speed
No debt pay
No fear flee
Rue the day
You wronged me.
Cassie's pulse was fluttering in her wrists. Would anyone really put a curse like that on someone they loved, no matter how unfaithful?
She was still staring at the page when there was a movement at the door. She shut the book hastily as Diana came in, hair wrapped in a towel turban. But her eyes were drawn instantly to the gold chain Diana was dropping on the nightstand. It lay there next to a round stone with a spiral pattern in it, gray swirled with pale blue and sprinkled with quartz crystals. The chalcedony rose that Diana had given to Adam, and that Adam had given to Cassie. Now it was back where it belonged, Cassie thought, and something around her heart went numb.
"The bathroom's all yours," said Diana. "Here's a nightgown-or do you want a T-shirt?"
"A nightgown's fine," Cassie said. All the time she was washing up and changing she kept seeing the key. If only Diana would leave it there...
It was still on the nightstand when she popped her head back in Diana's room. Diana was already in bed.
"Want me to shut the door?"
"No," Diana said, reaching up to turn out the light. "Just leave it open a bit. Good night."
"Good night, Diana."
But once in the guest room next door Cassie propped herself up on two pillows and lay staring at the ceiling. Strangely, it was almost peaceful, lying there and knowing that for the moment there was nothing she could do but wait. She could hear the sound of the ocean behind Diana's house, now louder, now softer.
She waited a long time, listening to the quiet sounds. She felt relaxed, until she thought about getting up-then her heart started to pound.
At last she was sure Diana must be asleep. Now, she thought. If you don't move now, you never will.
Breath held, she shifted her weight in the bed and let her legs down. The hardwood floor creaked slightly as she crossed it, and she froze each time.
Outside Diana's door, she stood straining her ears. She could hear nothing. She put her hand on the door and slowly, by infinitesimal degrees, she pushed it open.
Carefully, lungs burning because she was afraid to breathe too loud, she placed one foot inside the threshold and let her weight down on it.
Diana was a dim shape on the bed. Please don't let her eyes be open, Cassie thought. She had the horrible fantasy that Diana was just lying there staring at her. But as she took another slow, careful step inside, and another, she could see that Diana's eyes were shut.