I do not own The Secret Circle, blah blah blah. Sorry about the lateness, but school and extracurriculars have been really time consuming lately! Also, I don't really know where the members of the Circle live, so I'm just going to go with the Crowhaven Road detail from the books.. so they all live extremely near each other.
Faye could literally feel the power under her skin. She hadn't felt this alive since the night of the dance… until she'd been scolded like a misbehaving dog, of course. Cassie Blake didn't know who she was messing with. Who had the dark magic, now?
And she loved it.
"And unlike Miss Princess, I'm not afraid to use it." She smiled to herself. Lee really had been reliable, more so than her so-called friends, though she was still wary of him. Even if they all ganged up on her, Lee had promised that the spell would be the perfect way to deal with them. A spell of protection so that other members of the circle couldn't even step near her.
Now she just had to sit and wait for them to come to her.
.
Cassie felt terrible about the whole thing. Faye hadn't deserved to be ostracized as she had, she'd been the friend of every member of the circle for years… yet they'd only known Cassie for a few short months, and they trusted her and protected her far more. They were much more lenient and forgiving.
With a horrible double-standard, they stopped giving Faye chances, even though she hadn't meant to hurt she or Melissa any more than Cassie had tried to suffocate Adam. Cassie's actions were even darker, and more deliberate than Faye's impulsive actions, yet Faye was the one being punished.
She was the one who was truly dark. It was in her blood.
It wasn't fair, and Cassie knew what it was like to be dangerous, to have powers beyond her control, yet enjoy how it felt to wield it. She was sure that Faye had felt the same way, felt the same power itching beneath her skin, before setting the school on fire. But the Circle believed that Cassie was inherently good, while Faye was turning as evil as they came. Cassie knew that the plan to strip Faye of her extra power, maybe even all of it, was already in motion. There was nothing she could do about it—but at the least, she wanted to make Faye understand that she didn't want any part of it.
Her mind was made up, and she stalked out of school, set on going to Faye's house to apologize. The caliginous brunette hadn't been at school in two days. She was crossing the parking lot, determination and apprehension clear on her face. That was what tipped Adam off to her unease.
He cut her off, stopping soundly in her path. "What are you doing, Cassie?"
Cassie bristled at the accusation in his voice, still defensive after the incident with him stealing her Medallion. "I don't think it's really any of your business. You're not my keeper, Adam!"
"I just want to make sure you don't do anything stupid. You've got to admit, you've been irrational lately."
Cassie flinched, but covered it with a biting, "Yeah, well, I'm just trying to keep us all alive."
"We have to stick together, Cassie. You can't keep doing things on your own; we want to help you. This concerns all of us, so don't shut your friends out."
"I don't know what we are anymore, but I don't think "friends" really covers it." Cassie said ambiguously. Then she sighed with resignation. "I'm going to talk to Faye."
At Adam's mutinous expression, she continued, "She deserves to know. You can't stab her in the back, that's not what friends do."
"Let's not get started on what Faye deserves." Adam said darkly.
"She's not a bad person—you know that."
"She's put us all in danger too many times—and involving innocent people? That crossed the line, Cassie. Magic isn't for fun, or for her own sick amusement. If she doesn't understand that… then she has no right to keep them."
"How is that even our decision to make?" She took a breath, "You know what really scares me Adam? That you're abandoning Faye without even talking to her, without trying to make her understand. And I'm scared that you'll do the same to me."
"Can't you just trust us?" Adam said with exasperation. All he ever asked for these days was trust—obviously something Cassie was only willing to give to Jake of all people.
"Like Faye trusted you?" She said, blue eyes wide, "This whole thing is out of my hands, and I know that. But you can't make me like what we're about to do."
Cassie brushed past Adam, and he knew he couldn't stop her this time. He watched her hurry around the corner, to where her car was parked.
Her eyes were prickling after her confrontation with Adam. She hated fighting with him, she felt like a part of her heart was being squeezed. She hated seeing the concern in his face, and the disapproving pinch of his eyebrows that she'd seen more and more often. She would give anything to go back to the day they'd first met, when he'd taken her hands in his and the tingle had spread between them, and she'd had her first taste of magic. Before the innocence had been tainted by danger and her dark blood.
She steeled herself for seeing Faye again, and started the drive onto Crowhaven Road. She nervously smoothed her clothes, than nearly laughed at herself. As if Faye cared what she looked like.
But the truth was, Cassie was scared of the volatile girl. Faye was powerful, vengeful, and very pissed off. Witch Hunters, voodoo magic, and near death experiences, she could handle… but guilt was a whole another story.
She walked towards the steps, chilled with trepidation. For some reason, Faye's house felt foreboding, like something was suspended over it.
I'm just imagining things. She told herself. Three steps up, and she knocked on the door. It opened after about twenty seconds, and Faye came out onto the red porch in her pajamas.
"Cassie," Faye said in a singsongy voice, "I was waiting for you to show up. The others aren't with you?"
Cassie instantly felt on edge at her calculating, cat-like expression. "No, I came by myself. I wanted to talk to you about something."
"It's about the dance, isn't it? You know I'm really sorry about that."
"Yeah… it's sort of about that. I've got something to tell you, can I come in?"
"Poor Cassie… you know what they say about shooting the messenger? Well, vengeance is far sweeter. And I know why you're here… which is why I can't let you do it."
Cassie stepped back, realizing that Faye was about to use magic on her. Her hands raised to placate her, but Faye was already nearly through. Her dark eyes were blazing with passion and narrowing with concentration.
"Free from evil, Protego Phoca. Free from evil, Protego Phoca!" She chanted it the last time with as much force as she could muster, and a burst of wind suddenly raced from behind her, right into Cassie. Her body was carried like it weighed no more than a feather, out the door that had already been pushed open by the rush of air.
Cassie let out a scream as she was lifted, and Faye rushed out the front and down the steps, expecting to see the blonde crippled with a few broken bones… but she was gone. Poof. Like smoke.
She wasn't sure how to react, but a disbelieving laugh bubbled up from inside her. Even if the entire Circle came at her, with the kind of power the spell held, know one could stop her again.
