Adam appeared … Different, somehow. Cassie couldn't seem to put her finger on it, but something was off. Cassie could feel the tension in the air as Adam regarded the group without saying anything. It was almost creepy, it gave her the shivers the way he seemed to look at them without seeing them. Adam stared at Faye, Cassie and then Melissa, who shuddered when his grey eyes peered at her. Cassie felt beside her for Melissa's hand and gave her a gentle squeeze. Melissa glanced at her, surprised for a moment and then smiled. She nodded her head in appreciation.
Cassie looked over at Jake the instant that Adam's eye's left his face. Jake gave her a brief smile and then started when Adam chuckled.
SWITCH
Before, he could sense their power, like every witch could. Now, now he could feel their power. They were so much weaker than him, even Cassie. Cassie was much stronger than the others, if she wanted to, she could probably do away with them all. But not him, not anymore.
He had tried to do away with the skull, but it was too strong, it had absorbed his power and then given him more. And so much wisdom had come with that power, deep secrets, dark spells. Adam was drawn in and bound to the skull. Even if he had wanted to, he couldn't back out now. He had a service to do, for the skull. And in the end, when the time was right, he to would die.
Cassie and Diana may have killed John, but they hadn't taken care of the skull. It was Adam's job now to get rid of the non-Balcoin witches. But the things, the voices, inside of the skull were telling him to wait. He had called the meeting today, but he was still unsure of what he was supposed to do or say. He knew one thing though, something was wrong with this circle.
Adam looked at each one of them, starting with Faye. Faye was on edge and she was never on edge. For as long as Adam could remember, Faye almost always had things under control. Or mostly in control, she at least acted as if she had everything under control. She reeked of anger and suspicion, it roiled off of her in waves. Cassie's mind seems to be somewhere else and try as he might, even with the power he now had, Adam could not get past the barriers built up around her to sense what she was feeling, or up to. Adam knew that Cassie wasn't that strong, someone or something was protecting her from him and Adam didn't like that one bit. He turned his glare to little Melissa, she seemed to be the same, but Adam was too in tune with the powers to miss the fact that she was trying not to say something to Faye. He could read it on her face, the secrets that would eventually ruin their friendship, he just wasn't quite sure what they were. In time he would know. Finally he turned to Jake. Jake was slightly confusing, or maybe he was just confused. He was flipping through emotions: Passion, frustration, acceptance, and curiosity tinged with fear, when he gazed back at Adam.
Adam's eyes flickered away from Jake and in that moment a sickeningly huge wave of love mixed with lust smacked into him. Adam watched the shared look between Cassie and Jake and understood it immediately. He roughly laughed and then grinned when the other jumped. This was too perfect, if Adam just laid in wait for a bit, the circle would tear itself apart and then he'd be the on on the top. 'As long as the Balcoins stay out of this, we'll be fine.'an annoying voice in his head reminded him.
He didn't realized that he had spoken out loud until he heard someone else say something.
"The Balcoin children are supposed to be on their way here. All of them, there's no way that they'll stay out of our hair." Faye said, "that is the 'this' that you were talking about wasn't it?" "Of course! Together, we're stronger. We need to stay together." Adam told them. "We are together. But this is boring and we all need to just take a breather." Melissa sighed, all eyes turned to her. She shrugged, "Diana left. Why can't we just be still until she comes back?" "If she comes back." Faye spitefully said. "She doesn't want to turn all dark magicy on us like Cassie did. No offense Cassie." Faye smiled a little too sweetly at her.
Cassie rolled her eyes, "It doesn't matter, I'm sure that the Balcoin's mean no harm to you all. They only want me and Diana. You literally mean nothing to them." Cassie said. "You would know, don't you have psychic witchy powers with your blood siblings?" Faye inquired. Adam watched their not so playful banter with amusement.
"Yes, no. I don't know. I won't know until I meet them, I guess." Cassie said, her eyes flickered around the room a little suspiciously and Adam wondered if she was telling the truth. "I mean, I feel something, but that could just be Diana. It's weird not having her here with me, you know?" Cassie sighed and wrapped her arms around her legs. Melissa nodded and then looked over at Faye, "I was just beginning to grow closer to her again." she whispered, barely loud enough for them to hear.
"No more pity party. We can't just be sitting ducks for the rest of the evil witches to get here. We need a plan." she said turning to Adam. "Don't look at me." he grumbled, "I'm with Cassie on this one. Let's sit it out." the longer they waited, the closer the witches got. But Adam was hoping that their many hidden secrets would soon burst out of them, before he had to take matters into his own hands.
All eyes now turned to Jake, who had been silently watching the others. "I'm sorry, I agree with Cassie too, Faye. We need to take a break. We can't just keep on running and moving for forever. They're more powerful than us, we just need to be clever. If it comes down to it, it won't be an easy match. We have no idea what they're capable of." he carefully chose his wording, "I don't want to hurt Cassie's family, but when-if it comes down to us or them. I'm sticking with us. Our circle, our family." he decided. "I don't think that it will. They're not going to be violent, crafty and definitely dark and powerful. But I really believe that they're just coming for what they need. They may not have the same ideas as my d- as John Blackwell. They may not want to kill all of the not true blooded witches." at this, Adam turned to her. How dare she think that they were naive and stupid, not wanting a pure world!
"You talk like you know them, which you just said that you didn't. I think that you're letting your heart get too involved in this Cassie." he practically spat out the last word. "They'll want to kill you all, except their two sister witches. You're all going to be sitting game! You will all die eventually. But not like this! Not. Like. This. It should be something more dramatic, don't you think? Something like what John had planned for us, burning alive from the inside out." Adam again chuckled to himself and then realized how creepy he must appear to the others. They were gaping at him. Those foolish, little witches. They deserved a good death. They needed it. Adam's head began to ache, the voice inside him was evil, and he was starting to sound just like it. He was weak, unworthy of Cassie's affections, not that they were aimed at him anymore anyway.
Calm down, patience little one. Adam slammed his palm against his forehead, "Shut up! Go away!" he exclaimed. "Just leave me alone, I need to think for a moment." You are alone, I'm only trying to help you. The pain began again as the voice inside him tried to make Adam's body do what it wanted from him. Adam whimpered and then caught himself, Let me take over now. You've left quite a mess for me to deal with here.
"A-Adam, are you okay?" Melissa asked him, Adam wiped a hand across his forehead. "I'm fine, I don't feel well is all. The heat is getting to me." Adam stood and left the room. His head had begun throbbing while Cassie was talking and he had a sudden urge to go caress the skull. He needed more power. It only let him have so much power at any given time. And the power always got used up so quickly.
SWITCH
"I think that he just effectively ended this conversation. And sitting ducks, game, whatever, we shall be, until further notice. Which just plain sucks if you ask me." Faye muttered. "Nobody asked you Faye." Jake shot back. Faye glowered at him. "Let's go." she told Melissa. Melissa hadn't realized that she was still grasping Cassie's hand until she pulled her up with her when she stood.
Cassie stared at her for a moment and then broke into a grin. Melissa smiled too and soon they collapsed onto the couch in a fit of giggles. Faye gaped over at them, "What are you on this time Melissa?" she inquired. Melissa started to answer her and then began laughing again. Faye turned to see Jake crack a smile, "It's not funny." she groused. "Oh lighten up a little Faye." he enjoined her. Faye turned on her heel and stopped out of the room.
Melissa sat up and after giving Cassie a hug, and thanking her for lightening up the mood, she trailed out after Faye.
"You and me, alone again. Who would've thought?" Cassie smiled up at him in utter adoration. Jake sank into the couch beside her and wrapped an arm around her, do you want to talk about what put you into such a mood earlier?" he asked her. A cloud passed over Cassie's face and it was a moment before she answered him.
"I was talking as if I knew them, because I do. I met them today after work. I have a brother Jake. He's three years older than me. Mom thought that he was stillborn, but John just hexed him and took him to be raised somewhere else. He looks just like me, it's eerie, but it's kind of cool. I can feel them, Jake. They're here somewhere. Aubrey, that's my brother, he's in charge. He told me that they'd give me a few days to adjust and let things settle before… Before… I can't remember. They just want to get to know me and bind me to their circle. They really don't mean anyone any harm." Cassie trailed off at Jake's expression.
"You talked to them? Cassie, you can't just go around and make deals with the Balcoins." he said, Cassie rolled her eyes. "I am a Balcoin, Jake. I feel like you guys sometimes forget that I am one of them. And I didn't exactly make a deal with them, I asked for more time and Aubrey gave it to me." Cassie elucidated. Jake moved away from her and faced her. "When are you going to see them again?" he asked, Cassie shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not sure. I think it's more of a 'they-pop-up-and-kidnap-me' kind of thing." she was hoping for a smile, but didn't even get a twitch of his lips.
Jake's eyes flickered to the door and then back to hers. "That's not funny." he grumbled, Cassie reached over and entwined her fingers with his. "They just caught me off guard. We're almost always together, so next time I see them, you'll probably be with me." Cassie told him. "I hope." she muttered under her breath. Jake sighed and rested his forehead against the top of her head. "Me too, love. Me too." Jake told her.
"I want to get on with life and forget this, but part of me… Part of me just wants to get to know them better. I mean, I have this HUGE house that I'm living in alone… Mostly. I wish that I could just ask them to live with me." Cassie's face brightened as the last part left her mouth, and Jake didn't need to see it to know. "No, Cassie. Cassie? I'm not sure if that's a such a good idea. Maybe I should meet them all first." He said.
Cassie sighed, "Okay, and then I can invite them to live with me." she stated. Jake rolled his eyes, once Cassie made up her mind, it was hard to argue with her. She could be rather stubborn at times… Well pretty much all of the time actually. "Okay, agreed. After I meet them at least once. You can maybe invite them to stay at your house with you. Although I'd prefer if you lived with me for awhile or still let me come spend the night." Jake informed her. "Yes." Cassie concurred.
She was so excited about inviting her half siblings to stay with her, that she totally forgot that Jake was leaning against her. And after he agreed that they could move in with her, she moved suddenly to jump up and as a result, whacked her head and into Jakes. "Urg." Jake fell backwards onto the couch and lifted his hand up to rub his head. Cassie massaged her own head and then sat back on the couch beside him.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry." she kept repeating. "It's okay, I'm fine." Jake said. He sat up and then, sank back into the couch. "My head really hurts." Jake mumbled, Cassie smiled, a slow, small smile. "Of course it does. I know how to make you feel better though." she looked down at him. Jake grinned, "I hope that I don't have to move much." he murmured, "So now that our serious conversation is over-" "For now." Jake cut in, "For now," Cassie agreed, "Mhmmm…" Jake nodded, as he pulled her body on top of his and they melted into the couch, Jake drew her head down to his, and gazed into her eyes. "I trust you, Cas. It's them that I don't trust. Not because they're Balcoins, or they're not trust worthy. It's because I don't know them yet. I after I meet them and, I don't know, get to know them. Then, I will be able to tell you if I trust them or not. Okay?" Jake asked her, "Okay." Cassie brought her lips the last inch or so down to his.