Disclaimer: I do not own anything under copyright of The Secret Circle. The places, characters, and other names belong to their original owners.


"What was it Cameron came back for?"

Diana was jolted from whatever pleasantries she'd been thinking of and looked at him with a sudden, and more serious expression.

"What?"

Jake's eyes narrowed at her. He might've been slow on this one, as well as suspecting anything to the extent of what John Blackwell had been cooking up for all of them, but he was smart otherwise. Or so he liked to think. Now, he felt himself questioning his every action more than ever.

Chapter Seven: When The Wind Blows

"What was it that Cameron came back for?"

And there it was. The smallest of actions to prove to him that she was lying. Slowly, she blinked. Breaking eye contact in attempt at coming up with something.

Jake forgot about his hurting knee and instantly set off for his grandfather. He couldn't stand the fact that she knew something he didn't, and he knew without a doubt that it would take a lot more than trying to intimidate her into telling him what it was that she knew; something her and Cameron had kept from the rest of them.

He stopped in the doorway, wincing as his hand hovered over his pained knee. It felt like razor blades were slicing around beneath bone, and he sighed, knowing he was caving at this point. He really didn't want to keep dealing with his knee like this. Especially with the way things were going lately. If he had to run, which they undoubtedly did a lot of, then it would be a problem. And since he didn't know enough about healing himself with magic...

"Grandpa?"

Royce turned around, eyes crinkling in the corners as he saw Jake glancing around his rather not-so-tidy room. The papers that had once been in the living room that he'd wondered about were right here, spread over the desk.

"Is that offer still up?" Jake hurridly asked, looking back to his grandfathers eyes. "For my knee?"

Pushing papers away from the edge of the bed, Royce offered the spot to Jake, choosing the chair at his desk to sit on.

He limped over, settling down and watching his grandpa rub his hands together, wrinkles forming between his eyes as he frowned down at his jean-covered leg. He hovered his hands there and let out a slow breath.

Jake could feel his skin warming, his grandpa keeping quiet until he seemed to have built up enough concentration. He guessed the old man was a bit rusty at this, but Jake wasn't in any hurry. And frankly, he didn't mind spending time with this man who'd once been incapable of just being.

"That girl out there has the mark of Balcoin."

Jake stilled a moment, wondering where the old man's thoughts were since his voice gave no clue. Instead of saying anything, he kept quiet.

"Did you know?"

Slowly, he nodded, but he still said nothing, focusing on the pain that began to grow in his knee. It was uncomfortable, but he wasn't about to make a fuss over it.

"I can feel it from her, but she's not meaning any harm."

The statement was something of a shock. The man couldn't remember Jake showing up with Diana yesterday, but he could feel her dark magic, and her intent?

Obviously, it wasn't his magic that was being messed with. Just his mind.

Either way, Jake felt a sense of protectiveness as well as hopelessness. If he stuck around, he might've ended up in way over his head with whomever showed. But if he stayed absent, he didn't know how far they'd go with Royce, or if Royce would come back at all. If he would wind-up the same way Cassie's grandma had.

Or maybe no one was messing with him at all? Maybe with what he went through, along with the rest of the circle, they were just so used to being attacked and blindsided at this point that the act of nature seemed more dark and suspicious than it was.

Alzheimer's was a real thing, after all.

"She's not as gentle as she seems, though. She's got some strength in her, huh?"

Jake shrugged in reply. What was he supposed to do here, have a full conversation about his thoughts on Diana and her magic?

He didn't know enough about either.

"You're interested in her."

And somehow, he'd known that one was coming. He actually chuckled, looking at the paper beneath his hand that he'd leaned on before straightening again, clapsing his hands together in his lap as he waited for his grandfather to finish.

But staying quiet wasn't going to help the situation, and he wanted so badly to protest against what his grandpa was getting at.

"Why?" He asked him curtly then. "Because she came up here with me?"

"I think you of all people know the actual reason, Jake."

His grandfather grinned up at him, but as always, that sadness in his eyes didn't fade.

He wanted to ask what he'd meant, but just frowned at the man before him. So familiar and yet foreign in so many ways. Being here like this reminded him of a childhood that had long passed.

"Done."

And so he was. Through that small distraction, he'd forgotten all about the pain in his knee and whatever feelings had come with it healing. He groaned, standing up carefully before leaning on his left leg, testing it out. He wanted to forget all about Diana and the bullshit Cameron had filled their heads with, but it seemed it was going to take a lot of time before that happened.

"I've got a couple more photo albums to go through here. I'll be out in a few."

Jake walked towards the door replying, "I'll let her know," before walking out.

Diana was wrapped under the blanket that he'd tossed over her the night before, the clouds were getting darker outside with night growing closer. And something about the whole thing made his movements slow, watching as she moved her gaze from the fire to his face, and then down to his leg as she saw he was walking normally.

"You had him fix it?"

"Yeah."

A sly grin made its way over her features, and she lifted her cup to try and hide it by taking a drink.

The atmosphere was calming and warm, but it would have to end.

"What did Cameron come back for?"

Her eyes closed as she visibly swallowed the amount she'd taken before setting the cup down.

"Just leave it alone."

To say he was irritated was an understatement. She was acting annoyed with him. As if she had the right?

"I don't like being lied to."

"I can tell, but I'm not lying, Jake. I promised, and I intend to keep it."

He figured it would have to come to this. She was nearly as stubborn as he was, maybe more. An arguement was purely unavoidable at this point.

"Damn it, Diana!"

She jumped at the sound of his voice, the fire continued to crack and pop until he spoke again. He stomped over to her, but she unwrapped herself from the blanket and stood before he had the chance to really loom over her. Still, he was a good few inches above her.

"You're keeping a promise to someone you knew for what, an hour?!"

"He's my- my son, Jake! If he asked you to keep something to yourself, wouldn't you do it? I wasn't the only one who felt they were related to him, was I?"

Of course she wasn't, but saying anything more on that particular subject opened a whole lot of things he might not have been able to close again.

"Tell me what it was. Tell me or-"

"Or what, Jake?" She cut him off, her chin raising to show she wasn't going to back down.

He lowered his voice. "Tell me before I have to use my own means in finding out."

"Your own means?" She asked him, her eyes narrowing up at him in anger. He could hardly make out her pupils as the black took up most of the brown in her eyes. "Are you threatening me with magic?"

"If it's so important that he told you not to tell us, I don't trust it! I deserve to know-"

"No, you don't," she corrected. "It's not your business. You weren't in the room."

"Then maybe I should go back in time and listen outside the damn door," he mocked.

"You-"

A loud ringing sounded and Royce came around the corner from the hall then, grinning wildly at them. "Saved by the bell..."

Jake stepped back from Diana, watching his grandfather move across the room as Diana pulled out her phone to answer it.

He could feel a bubbling in his throat from wanting - needing - to yell out his frusteration.

"Slow down...what?"

Jake looked back at her, differing between finishing over the bruising on her neck to strangle her, or simply leaving her there at his grandfathers cabin, letting her figure out her own ride back to Chance Harbor.

"Cass-" She pulled the phone from her ear and sighed. "Well, my phone finally died, but I got the gist."

"And?" Jake responded rudely.

She didn't bother being rude back, she suddenly looked too tired to do so.

"What else? There's a problem and we need to go back."

So strangling her or leaving her up here was no longer an option?

Though simply tossing her from his truck on the side of the road along the way was pretty viable.

"Why're you all sullen now?"

Seemed the wrong question to ask at this point. She scoffed at him from the passenger seat of his truck on their way back, and when they were nearly to the welcome sign, he knew anyone seeing them like this was bound to raise questions. They had enough of them headed their way considering they'd left town without any notice. And since his phone had died at some point earlier that morning, he figured he'd have his own texts and messages to sift through when he finally had a moment to himself, in his own room, alone.

"Sullen? That's the least of what I am, Jake."

"Well, now's the time to purge. Go ahead and get it all out before we get to Cassie's."

"You don't want me to get it all out."

"Oh, c'mon. Some entertainment might be good for once. We don't get a lot of that."

He could feel the hint of a smile, but he didn't let on that he actually found this funny. Of course, at the time and start of their arguement, he'd been ready to quite literally toss her to the wolves.

"I think what you find entertaining is pretty sick, actually."

"Thanks for the admonitory there, Diana."

She jerked towards him in the seat, and he could see her mouth nearly hanging open in the corner of his vision.

"You are such a jackass. You know, right when I think there might be a chance to actually get to the real you, to actually see you and maybe form...oh, I don't know, some sort of friendship, you screw up any chance there was!"

"Why? Because I want to know some deep dark secret you're holding against all of us?"

"It has nothing to do with them, so stop it!"

He paused on that bit of information and the air around them suddenly felt heavy.

"Them?! Nothing to do with them?"

"Jake..." Her voice trailed with nothing to say, but her voice was soft. Sorry almost.

And he couldn't stand it.

He pulled his truck over with a tight squeal of his tires against the wet pavement causing her to scramble for something to hold onto. He yanked the keys out, letting his truck settle as he ripped off his seatbelt and faced her.

"Are you out of your mind?!" She screamed at him with wild eyes, but he ignored the question altogether.

"I need you to tell me what he said."

She huffed in annoyance at him, shaking her head and crossing her arms over her stomach before looking at him again.

"Holding anything against me, especially at this point, is dangerous! Don't you get that?"

"I'm not stupid. I hear where you're coming from, and I get that things are dangerous right now, but it's not anything to worry over! At least not for a few more years."

He blinked at her.

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing," she yelled back, facing forward again.

She was pouting like a child now?

He was about ready to rip his own hair out.

Throwing his hands up, he turned back and let them smack onto the steering wheel, staring straight forward onto the dark, lonely road before them.

"How does anyone put up with you?" He asked mostly to himself in a quiet voice. Still, she was of course able to hear it.

"They don't. You see anyone sticking around, Jake?"

Words hung on the tip of his tongue and fell right out when he opened his mouth to take a short breath.

"I've been with you since yesterday..."

"I didn't give you a choice."

He gave up with a groan, sticking his keys back in the ignition to start his truck again. He looked beyond his shoulder at the road, making sure not to pull back onto the street into another car, a person, a witch flying on a broomstick, whatever...

He could have easily kicked her out of his truck yesterday. Avoided her completely. Avoided this situation entirely. But even as he thought about it, he knew he would have ended up dead had she not been with him.

"There's always a choice."

He told her when he stopped in front of Cassie's house.

It was quiet.

The only sound was a thumping of the thick rope against the dock that kept the boat from floating away.

"It's not my business what he does in his spare time," Diana had told him, rushing around him to place drinks down on one of the tables she was waiting on.

Jake stared at her, trying to gage if this newly turned passion for this profession was real or not, or if she was trying desperately hard to ignore him.

After Adam had suddenly dropped his job at The Boathouse, disappearing pretty much altogether, Diana had begged Ethan to pick up where Adam left off. Apparently it had worked.

"It doesn't seem the least bit strange to you? Him hanging out with the low-lives of the school?" Faye had argued, but Diana only shrugged.

"Sure it's strange, but I'm not gonna to tell him who he can and can't hang out with. I never did that to him when we were dating, and I'm not doing it now. So long as he got rid of the...skull." She said the last bit quietly, her eyes darting around them to make sure no one was within hearing range.

"That's the thing though, he won't mention it," Cassie said quickly, still standing beside the bar where she'd been when they'd first walked in. According to Cassie, Diana had been distant since getting back. Still, it had been Jake who'd actually gone up to Diana, asking her for five mintues. And by the time they were all done arguing and had enough room to speak without being heard, Diana had claimed their five minutes was up, and Jake forgot why he thought going to Diana would have made any sort of a difference.

So now, two days later, here he was looking for Adam who wasn't even staying in his usual places. Faye had said her and Melissa had been doing some spying and he'd been hanging out at the cliffs a lot. The cliffs, where the stoners and self-proclaimed badasses of the town hung out.

Jake made his boots clunk hard against the wood as he stepped up and inside.

It didn't take long for Adam's scowling face to emerge. He was actually kind of surprised to find Adam back, until he saw the bag in his hands stuffed with clothes and other random crap.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Just came by to see what's up. You know, neighbor to neighbor..."

"We're not neighbors," Adam told him flatly, watching as Jake sat on the edge of the boat, grinning up at Adam as if they were pals.

"Ok, guess that means I'm cutting the bull then, right?"

Adam kept filling his backpack with miscellaneous items, ignoring Jake in the meantime.

"Where's the skull, Adam?"

"It's gone. I got rid of it."

Jake watched Adam's eyes moving around, looking for something that wasn't as important as this conversation. Something felt off, and he'd felt it even before he'd actually gotten there. And hearing his tiny explanation now; it practically reeked with lies.

"And you couldn't have told the girls that? A text even? 'Hey, remember that crystal skull you and Cassie killed your dad with? It's taken care of', might've been nice to hear. You don't know how-"

"So then go tell them!"

This amount of anger was coming from Adam wasn't unexpected, especially when concerning Jake. It was often to this extent when they dealt with eachother. But even so, all of it was fishy and none of it made sense.

"They've been worried about you for days. They don't want to hear it from me," Jake snapped back, staring at Adam incredulously. Who was this guy? It sure as hell wasn't Adam Conant. The one he'd grown up unfortunetly knowing, and unfortunetly prefering right about now.

"What the hell is with you? You don't all of a sudden stop talking to everyone. Even when you're in one of your woe-is-me moods."

"This coming from the brood-master himself?" Adam scoffed disgustedly at Jake, shaking his head as he started zipping up his back pack. "I don't have time for this," Adam quickly stated, shutting the door beside him before trying to easily pass Jake.

Easily being the operative word.

Jake's hand went out, grabbing Adam's arm to make him stop.

"The least you could do is call Diana. She just lost two parents..."

Adam's eyes turned on him, narrowing at Jake as if he had the gull to even bring Diana up to him. But he knew if he was going to get any emotion out of this guy, he was going to have to push Cassie or Diana into his thoughts. Diana being the first he'd chosen to try out.

Practically snarling, Adam spoke through gritted teeth. "She broke up with me-"

"Because you wouldn't grow up or man up, so I suggest you start now."

Without suspecting Adam would actually pull anything physical, Jake missed his quick movement. Adam was able to slam his fist into Jake's shoulder, causing him to lift off of his feet until hitting the other side of the boat where he hit the backs of both legs, flipping straight into the water.

Jake didn't even get the chance to think about what was happening.

He was imobile, and sinking further and further down until he felt the ground underneath the water as his shoulders first touched, and the rest of him followed. His whole body stuck to the dirt and rocks, his ears popping with the pressure. He was close to shore, but it was still a good fifteen feet or so of height he'd sunk down to.

His mouth and nose gave out bubbles as he blew air, not having any source for gaining anything. And any spells he might've had to help his situation was lost on him as his heart began beating harder against his chest with his lack of oxygen. His thoughts started becoming crazed, thinking that this was how he was going to die, just like his brother had. That's when it felt like something around him released and his mobility came back to him. He immediately pushed his arms out, kicking his feet against the ocean floor and racing upward until the light from the sky hit his face. He gasped in air greedily, kicking against the water to keep himself above it, all the while looking around to see where Adam was.

But he was already gone.

And Jake was pissed off.

The doors closest to the back were his best bet, considering he was dripping wet, and with his facial expression lacking any sort of ease he figured avoiding people's confused and bewildered stares was the better idea.

She wasn't at the bar and she wasn't around the floor, and at this point he just really wanted to plop down and demand someone bring her to him.

He forced himself to look in one last place, stomping down the shadowed hallway and thankfully she was there in the storage room.

"I'm gonna kill him."

She let out a small gasp, dropping the small box filled with sugar packets as she turned to see who's creepy voice had said the awful words. Too bad at that moment he really didn't care if she was scared or not, or of how he sounded.

With sure steps, he walked down the few stairs there, stopping only inches away from her where she looked him up and down. Her mouth was moving, but he could hardly hear her through his muffled ears made by pressure and water. That and the rapid beating of his own heart because he was pissed as hell.

She shuffled around then, coming back to him with a few folded dish towels which she'd pulled from a box. His teeth were sure to crack with how hard he was clenching his jaw.

She wrapped a towel around his neck, and asked what had happened.

"I'm gonna kill him," he repeated, this time through gritted teeth. There wasn't anything else more important than the matter of killing Adam to him right then.

"Who're you talking about? Jesus, what happened?" Her eyes flew around his face, around where her own hands were gathering the towel against his sopping hair to soak up some of the cold water. He appriciated the gesture, even if at the moment he was staring through red lenses.

He could feel his nails digging into his own palms. The tips of his ears felt hot, even though he could feel himself shaking because he'd been submerged in freezing cold ocean water. Though he wasn't sure if the shaking was coming from the cold as much as his consuming rage.

"You need to get these wet clothes off."

But he didn't have time to argue over his well-being.

"Adam."

"Adam?"

She paused, looking towards the couch before trying to get him to move over to it and sit down, but he wasn't having it.

"He tried to kill me." His voice was low, but it didn't mean it sounded calm.

Her eyes widened and she stilled, staring up at him as if trying to get an image of it for herself, but she blinked rapidly and ran past him.

He thought for a moment that she'd leave him where he stood, dripping water all over the floor, but he heard the door shut and she swiftly walked back to him, tugging hard at his arm to get him to sit down. She wasn't going to give him the choice to stand so he sighed in comply, sitting beside her, forgetting that the couch would be soaked by the time he stood again.

"Tell me," she asked him calmly.

He told her the whole thing, not leaving out curse words or any other thoughts he was having out of all the rage he felt. All the while she tried bits of him, making him take off his leather jacket, which wasn't an easy task. Especially with the way he was explaining the story. By the end of it, he almost felt out of breath.

"But he didn't," she argued.

And he grinned cruelly to himself. He'd known that had been coming.

"Of course you'd defend him. Is it so impossible for the both of you to believe that your perfect boy could actually be up to something dark?"

"Both?"

"You and Cassie," he snapped, choosing not to look at her and instead staring down at the floor where he had left water traces in shoe prints.

"That's not fair."

"You're right though. He didn't kill me. He had better places to be. He didn't stick around for his magic to get the job done!" He yanked the towel from around his neck and snapped it off to the side where it hit the floor and stayed there.

She grabbed his arm, and he couldn't tell if she was trying to settle him or if she was trying to get his attention. Maybe both.

"That magic-"

"Is dark," he not-so-nicely interupted her with. "He said he got rid of the skull, but he failed to mention how, or when. And he didn't even bother trying to hide the fact that he's acting differently. Pretty sure the old Adam wanted to beat the living hell out of me, not actually murder me."

"I think he wouldn't mind either option, actually."

They both sat there, him breathing hard, her not making any sort of noises at all until she broke the silence.

"You need to get out of your wet clothes..."

Bringing it up again brought some humor to mind, making him turn his head and look at her.

"Are you coming onto me?"

Diana's mouth popped open, her eyebrows lifting. Instead of it looking comical though, she just looked completely shocked at him saying such a thing.

He sighed and looked down at his clasped hands. His hair hung in front of his eyes, reminding him yet again in a rather pointless moment that he needed a cut.

Some sort of an apology for making a joke at the wrong time hung on the edge of his tongue, but he chose to swallow it down.

He stood, looking around the place before picking up the single towel he'd thrown. He opted for something else that had mistakingly been on his mind.

"I know you skipped Monday, but have you been going to school?" Without looking at her, he handed the towel back, hating the fact that he sounded like some concerned father-figure. He didn't want to be that to her, or anyone else for that matter.

"How'd you know I skipped Monday?"

"Cassie," he replied easily.

"You ask her about everyone in the circle?"

"Well, Faye's hardly speaking to me, especially now that she has it set in her mind that we did something overnight up at my grandfather's. And Melissa and I never seem to see eye-to-eye."

"No offense, but you don't see eye-to-eye with most people, Jake."

He shrugged, agreeing with her.

"Uh, yeah." She cleared her throat. "Mr. Conant's deal was that I could have the job, so long as I actually went to school for the rest of the time we have left."

"Which isn't long," he reminded her without real purpose.

"Why'd you come here?"

His gaze moved to her, seeing her squinting up at him as if she had to force herself out of pain.

"What do you mean?"

Her eyes glanced down to the towel she held, picking at the small bunches of cotton on the cloth. Her eyebrows lifted as she spoke, but she didn't look at him again.

"I mean, why'd you come here? Why didn't you go to Cassie or something?"

"I was at the docks. The Boathouse is closest."

He slammed his truck door hard, not yet making any move to actually start the car and leave the damn parking lot. He was still damp, though he wasn't dripping anymore at least. The little oh and duh that she gave replayed in his mind like some broken record and he pressed his palms against his eyes, trying to shield it out somehow.

He didn't know why he'd instantly gone to her if he was honest with himself. Maybe because she'd been closest with Adam over the years and he'd been hoping she'd have some sort of answer? Or that for nearly two whole days he'd been around her and though he'd only seen her a bit for the past three days since then, he was used to her somehow, knowing he hadn't ever spent as little as two days time with a woman in his adult life. Maybe the whole thing concerning Cameron had gotten into his psyche?

Either way, he knew it wasn't that The Boathouse had been closest, but that Diana happened to be working at The Boathouse and he'd known it.


His arms stretched out to lay along the back of the booth as he leaned against it, lifting one leg to bend up on the seat in front of him. He could see the frown form in the corner of his eye, but he chose to ignore it, instead resting his eyes on the girl who had been pointed out to him. At first glance, he would have argued over if it were her or not. He could hardly sense what had been so effortless to feel in his other four half-siblings.

She was in some dark blue jeans that clung straight down to her ankles, showcasing just how lovely those limbs were. Her black top was cut just low enough to graze over the curve of the tops of her breasts, her collarbones delicate and very womanly. The whole of her spoke of definate femininity, and he practically licked his lips.

"So, can you sense it's her?"

He grinned at the sound of the boy's voice. He sounded nervous and he guessed it might've been because he could see him practically devouring her with his eyes which he knew was taboo to people. People who weren't of such a powerful, important, and ancient bloodline.

A bloodline his father was most passionate, proud and protective of.

His father who'd mysteriously disappeared.

All these years when his father had left only to eventually come back again was never completely gone. From the moment he'd come into his life, there was always some sort of secret message sent by magic that would show in his dreams, or written in dirt on the path he took from school and home through the woods near his home. Something that let him know he was around, that he never left his son alone.

He never fully disappeared, and something this time just felt completely wrong.

He watched her smile to a customer, saying something back to him in the pitched tone that females used when flirting. With a job as a waitress, she was more than likely using it as a means to getting a pretty little tip. He could have laughed at her small way of getting what she wanted instead of just using her magic.

Besides the dark hair, she really didn't resemble anything Blackwell.

She might've been flirting to get a nice tip, but when she smiled, she smiled from her heart. The girl really held no air of mystery, as he knew the rest of his half-siblings did. Even the little blonde one he'd been shown the day before, who other than the color of her eyes looked nothing like the four of them, had something hidden hanging around her. Despite such a light appearence, he could see the darkness lingering.

But this one - this one - held nothing secret with her emotions. As much as instinct told him she'd be easy to bend, he had to be smarter. A Blackwell didn't oblige and they surely didn't comply well.

He found that he desperately wanted to know if this one would break before she'd bend.


Note: I'm being careful not to offend anyone with this character, don't worry too much, but at least one of the Blackwell children had to be a little out there, right? Ps, I really miss TSC. Everytime Beauty and The Beast is mentioned during commercial break for TVD I die a little inside because that's my spot for TSC and I just... Pointless information, but it's true, guys. It's true.