Disclaimer: These characters (Cassie and the Circle, etc.) were originally created by L.J. Smith. They all belong to her creative genius. However, the plot of this story and a few new characters are my own creations. I'm not making any money off of this, so please don't sue me.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I really love hearing what you all think!
Sorry this update took a little while, but it's a little bit longer than the other chapters. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Darkness was everywhere. It was surrounding her. Suffocating her. Making her weak.
Cassie was struggling to breathe. They had to find her. If they could just find her...
She was running hard, her long hair whipping behind her in every direction. The shadows were closing in around her. If she slowed for even a second, they would swallow her whole.
A faint glow loomed ahead in the distance. A sole spark of light in a world full of blackness. Cassie sprinted towards it with all of her might.
The golden haze grew bigger and brighter as she neared. She could see a tall figure inside the yellow mist. It was a boy with wine colored hair.
"Adam!" she called frantically, finally reaching the light.
He turned to look at her, his eyes a dark midnight blue. Then he gazed past her into the blackness with a solemn expression.
"Oh, Cassie," he sighed softly. His voice was full of sadness. "What did you do?"
His face was so full of disappointment that Cassie's insides began to ache. It was as if he was hurt or ashamed of her.
I didn't do anything! Cassie wanted to respond, but when she tried to open her mouth she found that her jaw wouldn't move.
Adam was shaking his head at her. Then he began to step forward into the everlasting darkness.
Suddenly Cassie's jaw could work and she found her voice at last. "No, Adam! Don't go out there! It's not safe!" She grabbed at his arms and tried desperately to hold him back.
He paused momentarily in his steps.
"I love you, Cassie," he said to her. "But this is my destiny." He reached down and unclasped her hands from him. Then he turned one hand over and kissed it, just the way he had when they first met on Cape Cod. He released it with a gentle squeeze and disappeared into the blackness.
Cassie stared after him. Hot tears were stinging her eyes.
Cruel laughter rang out. Cassie spun around to see Portia standing behind her in the golden light. The yellow haired girl was grinning with malicious glee.
"I warned you that you would pay," Portia smirked. "Should have known you couldn't handle the price." The she tossed her head back and laughed wickedly.
It sounded like glass breaking. It was painful. Cassie winced and covered her ears.
Suddenly, the mist around them began to dissipate. Cassie was starting to see grass under her feet and tall, barren trees in the distance.
As Portia's laughter faded, Cassie began to run again. She was outside now, in a small meadow or clearing, surrounded by thick woods. The sky above was gray and angry, filled with clouds that were threatening a downpour.
As Cassie crested a small hill, she realized where she was at last. She was in the old cemetery off of Crowhaven Road. The place where many parents of her fellow coven members were buried.
She raced through the barrage of graves, heading towards Crowhaven Road and her house. As she rounded the last row of headstones her toe clipped something hard and she stumbled to the ground.
Wincing in pain, Cassie hurriedly scrambled to her feet.
Then she froze.
She stared in horror at the smooth granite headstone in front of her. The name carved into the gray rock burned into her consciousness.
Nicholas Armstrong, Jr.
No, Cassie gasped, shaking her head. No. NO!
Prophecy or no prophecy, she wouldn't believe this. She simply couldn't.
"No!" she yelled up at the sky, to the Fates, to the Heavens, to whomever was listening. "No! It's not fair!"
A loud crack of thunder answered in response. Lightening tore through the sky next, followed by a torrential onslaught of rain.
Cassie fell to her knees in front of the stone. Heavy drops of rain pounded against her flesh, drenching her.
"No!" she screamed again.
Cassie trembled as tears began to fall. They blurred her vision and mixed with the cold rain on her cheeks. She could feel her knees sinking into the wet sod below, the mud seeping into her jeans. She collapsed into uncontrollable sobs, tormented by grief, anger, and disbelief.
Then everything faded to blackness.
Cassie awoke with a start. She blinked a few times, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the bright light.
A sigh of relief flowed through her. It had all been a nightmare. None of it had been real.
She was sitting in the backseat of Nick's car, exactly where she had fallen asleep a few hours ago. Only now, Chris wasn't sitting beside her anymore and the car was no longer in motion. In fact, no one was in the car besides her. She was alone.
Cassie leaned forward in her seat and frowned. The hood of the car was up, blocking the view from the windshield. Cassie glanced out of the side windows of the car. From the looks of things, she gathered that they were at a service station of some kind. There was snow on the ground outside.
She had no idea where they were. They had left Reseda yesterday afternoon intending to drive straight through to Massachusetts in shifts. Cassie last remembered being in Colorado.
Stifling a yawn, Cassie pulled on her coat and stepped out of the car. Nick and the Hendersons were standing in front of the vehicle peering under the hood. Nick had a hard look on his face, while Chris and Doug wore tight lipped frowns.
"What's going on, guys?" Cassie asked.
"Problem with the fuel pump," sighed Nick, looking frustrated.
"Oh," muttered Cassie. Is that bad? she thought, but didn't want to ask. From the looks on the boys' faces, there was a serious problem.
"I'll be back in a minute," Nick said, as he headed inside the service station. Cassie could see him through the large plate glass windows, talking to two guys inside.
"Where are we?" Cassie glanced around again, taking note of the quaint small town setting. It looked like Mayberry. Or something from Little House on the Prairie. Small buildings dotted the landscape, which was mostly flat. A two lane road ran through the middle of the tiny downtown area.
"Nebraska," answered Doug, as he strummed his fingers along the roof of the car. He looked tired. "We were just cruisin' along when the car started stallin' out. We had to pull over."
Cassie nodded, continuing to observe their surroundings.
"Yeah, now we're stuck here in the middle of nowhere," groaned Chris loudly. He rolled his blue-green eyes. "What do they do for fun around here anyway? Tip cows?"
Cassie felt her face flush as a customer filling up his gas tank looked over at them sharply. She had the feeling they already stood out around here. They didn't need to insult anybody.
"Can Nick fix it?" Cassie changed the subject, nodding towards the car.
Doug shook his head. "It's a pretty big job. Even if we had the time, all of his tools are back home. The guys here aren't gonna let him use their stuff."
Great, thought Cassie sarcastically.
Nick returned a few minutes later. "Well, the good news is that they do have the right parts. The bad news is that they won't be able to get to it until tomorrow morning," he informed them.
"So I guess we're gonna be stayin' here tonight," Chris muttered. He sounded less than thrilled.
Nick nodded. "They said there's a small motel up the street. It's the only one in town."
"Well, let's get movin'," suggested Doug. "No sense standin' around."
The Sherwood Inn was a small brick motel with a bright neon sign that said vacancy. It looked a little outdated, but wasn't quite run down. The sign advertised free cable and clean rooms for forty-nine dollars a night.
The entire place didn't look that appealing to Cassie, but like Nick said it was the only motel nearby. They really didn't have any other choice.
They also didn't have a lot of money. They were looking at least six hundred dollars worth of car repairs, plus the cost of gas and food until they got back home. There hadn't been enough cash to spare for two rooms.
"Sorry, Cassie. It looks like you're one of the guys tonight," chuckled Doug as they walked down the sidewalk toward their assigned room.
Cassie shrugged like she didn't care, but inside she was a little miffed. After being cramped in a car with three boys for almost twenty-four hours, she had been hoping to get just a little bit of privacy. Oh, well, she thought with a sigh.
"Maybe it's like The Bates Motel," joked Chris. "And Norman's just waitin' to get us when we're in the shower."
"Sounds pleasant, Chris. Thanks for that idea," Cassie remarked sarcastically. "I'm sure that thoughts of a psycho killer will be really comforting when I'm trying to sleep tonight."
"Well, that's alright, Cassie," Doug said as they reached the door. He leaned against the brick wall and grinned at her wickedly. "You can sleep in my bed. I'll comfort you."
Cassie rolled her eyes at him, stifling a groan.
Nick paused with the room key in the lock. He shot Doug a look that said he was not amused.
"Cassie gets her own bed," he said flatly.
"It was a joke, Nick," Doug scowled, following the dark haired boy into the motel room.
"Not funny," Nick replied. He tossed his bag down on the carpet.
The room contained two full-sized beds, a small table with two chairs, and a television. While it didn't contain the newest or the most stylish furnishings, it was cleaner than Cassie had hoped. She sighed a breath of relief. Then she stared at the two beds thoughtfully.
"But if I have a bed to myself, that means someone is going to have to sleep on the floor," Cassie noted, feeling a little bad. Wasn't that kind of unfair?
"I'll sleep on the floor." Nick shrugged casually.
"Nick, you can't do that," exclaimed Cassie. "You drove for hours today."
"It's no big deal," he told her. "Besides, there's no way in hell I'm sleeping with Doug or Chris."
Neither Doug nor Chris looked offended by this at all. Cassie supposed that it was a guy thing. Apparently, it was acceptable to share a bed with your brother, but not with any other guy.
Cassie resisted the urge to sigh. Men could be so petty sometimes.
"Well, you take the bed and I'll take the floor," Cassie suggested. "I don't mind, really." The guys had driven all that way for her. The least she could do was let them have the beds.
"No," Nick said, his dark eyes locking on hers. His expression was firm. "You're sleeping in a bed and that's it."
"Fine," Cassie groaned. While she did appreciate his concern for her, Nick could be so stubborn sometimes.
She flopped onto one of the beds and picked up the phone on the nightstand. "I'm going to call home and let them know we're going to be a little late."
"Full house, suckers," gloated Chris as he smashed his cards down on the table.
"Aw, man," sighed Doug. "I don't have shit." He tossed his cards on the table angrily.
"Pair of eights. You got me," Nick said, revealing his hand.
With a laugh Chris swept the pile of cigarettes from the middle of the table, adding them to his own stash.
Out of the corner of his eye, Nick saw Cassie hang up the phone. She sat there on the bed for a moment, lost in thought, twisting a strand of her shoulder-length hair. There was a worried look in her eyes.
Something was wrong.
"Everything alright back home?" Nick called over to her.
"No," Cassie answered, shaking her head. She looked up at him, her beautiful blue eyes were wide. "Adam's sick."
"What?" asked Chris. The Henderson brothers exchanged glances.
"I just got off of the phone with Melanie. She thinks Adam caught whatever Diana has." Cassie's voice broke off. She sounded pretty upset.
"How? Is anyone else sick?" Doug questioned.
"No one else is sick," Cassie replied. "So far, anyway. Melanie thinks Adam caught whatever Diana has because he was around her the most." She paused. "Mel said it's not life-threatening, but it's pretty bad."
Leave it to Conant to complicate things, thought Nick dryly. While Nick truly didn't wish the other boy to suffer, Adam certainly had a knack for making Cassie's life more difficult.
It pissed Nick off just to think about it.
If it hadn't been for Conant and his stupid 'competing destiny' bullshit, Cassie wouldn't have run off in the first place.
He could feel the dark anger rising inside of him. That destiny crap wasn't fair, anyway. But then again, Nick was used to getting the short end of the stick, especially compared to Conant.
Adam was told that he was not only destined to be with Cassie, the one girl Nick was crazy about, but also with beautiful and flawless Diana. What type of guy had that kind of luck?
Apparently not Nick Armstrong. According to the Oracle, he had a date with death to look forward to and the clock was ticking. His future was so bright, wasn't it?
On the other hand, who knew? There was the possibility that all the Oracle stuff was bullshit. But if the past was any indication of the future, things were looking grim.
The good stuff was never in Nick's cards. And somehow Adam always seemed to walk around with aces up his sleeve.
It was enough to make you puke.
Suddenly Nick found that he just didn't have any sympathy for Adam and his illness. Not this time.
Nick looked over at Cassie and shrugged. "He'll get over it."
Cassie had never seen so many wannabe cowboys in her entire life. They were dressed complete with leather boots, shiny belt buckles, and Stetson hats. The only things that were missing were spurs and six-shooters.
Growing up in California, Cassie really hadn't been exposed to this type of lifestyle. She forced herself to look away from the men standing at the bar and tried to focus on whatever Doug was saying. They were at a place called "Melinda's", which was situated just a few blocks down from their motel.
Originally after hearing how sick Adam was, Cassie really hadn't been in the mood to go anywhere. She had spent most of the evening worrying silently about both him and Diana.
Chris and Doug, however, were like two caged animals after a few hours. They weren't content with sitting around in the motel room the whole night. They wanted to get out and do something and their mounting frustration had put Cassie even more on edge. Eventually she decided it would be a good idea to get out for a bit.
The problem was that there wasn't anything to do. Out of lack of a better option, they ended up here--sitting in a vinyl booth in the dimly lit honky-tonk.
The wannabe cowboys and other patrons of the bar had stared at them when they first arrived. It was like a scene from a movie: a stranger walks into a crowded place and the music screeches to a halt, everyone turning to look. Except this time, the loud country melody continued to emanate from the jukebox as people gawked at them.
Cassie couldn't really blame them for their curious glances. She and the guys were definitely out of their element here.
As it turned out, none of the guys were carded, so they each ordered a beer and tried to relax. Cassie, on the other hand, ordered a soda and tried not to gag with all the cigarette smoke in the air.
At the moment, Doug was talking about the new album of some rock band she had never heard of. Cassie tried to listen, but her thoughts kept returning to Adam. She hoped he was alright. Diana, too. She never should have left New Salem.
She hadn't realized that she was frowning until Chris said, "Don't be sad, Cassie."
She looked up at him, her eyes meeting his blue-green ones. She forced a faint smile. "I'm trying not to be," she answered.
"You alright?" Nick asked from beside her.
Cassie nodded. "Perfectly fine," she lied.
His mahogany eyes didn't look convinced, but he let it go.
"We could show you how to play pool," Doug suggested.
"Yeah, let's do that," Chris agreed eagerly.
Cassie shook her head at them. "You guys go ahead and play. I just want to sit for a while, if that's alright."
The twins looked a little disappointed, but they headed off to the other side of the bar in search of an open billiards table.
"So..." sighed Cassie, looking over at Nick. Since they had broken up the month before, they really hadn't spent much time alone together. Cassie felt a little awkward.
"So..." he said, gazing down at his drink.
"You didn't want to play pool with Chris and Doug?" she asked, trying to make conversation.
"Not really," he shrugged. His handsome face looked indifferent.
"Oh," she replied. Her eyes flicked about the room, noting several people who were watching them. "Do you see all the people staring over here? We stick out like sore thumbs." She laughed.
Nick looked up at her, his dark eyes amused. Then he slowly shook his head. "That's not why they're looking over here," he said. "They're staring at you."
"Don't be silly," Cassie responded, rolling her eyes at him. But as she took another glance around the room, she noticed he was right. There were several men openly checking her out. Most of them were middle-aged, but a few were younger. Some were gaping at her like they'd never seen a woman before.
Note to self: tone down on Suzan's beauty advice, she thought. As flattering as it was at first, all of this attention was really getting old.
"I'm not being silly. It's the truth and you know it." Nick's voice carried a hint of humor. "If I wasn't sitting right next to you, they'd all be over here hounding you for a dance."
"Oh, is that right?" Cassie asked playfully.
He nodded at her. "Yep," he answered, trying his best to sound serious.
"Well, then I guess it was a good thing you didn't run off with Chris and Doug," Cassie teased. "I mean, because if one of those guys decided to bother me, who on earth would beat him up?"
"Hey, it's a tough job," he teased in return. "But someone's got to do it."
"Do they?" Cassie raised an eyebrow at him. This question was a serious one.
"Don't worry," Nick said, lifting his hands in a surrender. "I know you can take care of yourself. You're tougher than you look."
"So you just sit here as a deterrent because...?" Cassie's voice trailed off.
"Maybe I don't like to see you get hassled," he replied.
Somewhere inside Cassie wondered if there was more to it than just that.
Nick's blank expression was unreadable.
Cassie was about to ask Nick something else, when she heard raised voices coming from the back end of the bar. From their location they couldn't see what was going on, but the crack of glass breaking rang out over the music, followed by several large thuds. It sounded like a fight.
Nick and Cassie exchanged knowing glances.
"Chris and Doug," she groaned.
"We should have known better," Nick sighed.
"Can't we go anywhere without one of you guys getting into a fight?" Cassie murmured to Nick. The Henderson brothers had just been tossed out onto the sidewalk by a three-hundred pound bartender and five or six guys that looked like they belonged in that old Patrick Swayze movie, Roadhouse.
She and Nick were making their way through the crowd, trying to get to an exit.
"Aw, c'mon, Cass, what's a night out on the town without a couple of black eyes and a busted lip?" Nick joked.
"Sounds romantic," Cassie replied in turn, "but I'm more of a 'dinner and a movie' type of girl."
Nick grinned in response, and as usual, Cassie couldn't resist smiling back. He always had that effect on her. She didn't know why. She supposed it was because he didn't smile that often.
They met up with the Henderson brothers outside of Melinda's a few seconds later. Luckily, neither boy was injured badly. Chris barely had a scratch on him, while Doug only had a split lip.
As they walked down Main Street towards their motel, the twins started to bicker loudly over the cause of the fight.
"Well, you were the one who called that guy's girlfriend a fat freakin' cow!" Chris exclaimed, shoving Doug in the side.
"And you're the one who stole his beer!" Doug punched at Chris' shoulder.
Cassie sighed. Here we go again...
"Shut up," Nick said. "Both of you."
"You shut up," Doug growled.
Nick gave him a sharp look, as if saying 'you want to make me?'
Cassie was about to say 'please, no more fighting, guys' when the toe of her shoe clipped an uneven break in the sidewalk. She sprawled to the ground, catching herself on her hands and knees.
The boys immediately turned to see if she was alright, their quarrel forgotten.
"I'm fine," she answered, dusting off her clothes. "I just tripped, that's all."
"The signs are all around you," muttered Chris.
"What?" Cassie looked up at him, confused.
He pointed to the two-story brick building that was standing behind her. In a well-lit first floor window there was a hand-painted sign. It read 'the signs are all around you' in a fancy, old English script.
Cassie stared. Something flickered in the back of her mind.
A shock of blond spiky hair. Eyes as black as midnight. The face of an angel.
Bastian.
"Just follow the signs." The punk's smooth voice floated through her head. "They're all around you."
She had practically forgotten about the handsome stranger and their odd conversation until just now. Cassie had simply written him off as a weirdo. But as she stared at the sign in the window, she wasn't so sure anymore.
There was a tingling sensation on the back of her neck.
Was it just a coincidence? Or was there actual meaning to Bastian's words?
"Is something wrong, Cass?" Nick was eying her with concern.
Cassie tore her gaze away from the sign. "No, of course not. Everything's just fine," she replied, trying to sound casual.
"Well, let's go then," Doug said with a shrug.
Throughout the entire walk to the motel, a nagging thought plagued Cassie's mind.
Were they stuck in Nebraska for a reason?