Plotline writers – Forcystus5, xleamalfoyx, Coralinas, thefallenloveoflife, flower gettin' lady
Writers – Coralinas, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, luisa Mendoza, thefallenloveoflife, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria
Editors – flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B, Your Sister. Duh
Graphic Designers – xleamalfoyx, Charlene F.
Twitter Account – ImaGleekBaby,
Tumblr Account – witch-witha-B,
The twitter account is TSC_Project and the tumblr account is The Secret Circle Project. We also have a facebook page, you can find it by searching The Secret Circle Project.
Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle
A/N: At the end of this chapter we've taken the time to answer reviews from anons, and we encourage everyone to get an account on so we can send you PMs in reply to reviews. We love feedback and criticism, so please keep the reviews coming!
Episode 10 – "Taken"
Melissa heaved her bag up from the kitchen table, sighing. Today was going to be another long, tedious day at school in classes and in the hallways with Faye and Adam. It had been nice to have Claire and Dylan come over, but Melissa feared that they wouldn't be allowed to see her anymore. There wasn't anyone else to talk to; not Diana, not Cassie, not Faye. All of them had been—or were with—Adam, and it was too awkward to even discuss
She was seriously considering ditching. What could possibly happen if she did? Sure, she might get detention, but it was better than watching Adam shove his tongue down Faye's throat. It was times like these that made Melissa wish she could have been the one to take that elixir, not Cassie.
She was jolted out of her thoughts by the doorbell. Opening it, she said, "Yeah?"
Claire and Dylan were both standing there, grinning widely.
"What? Is this some sort of joke I'm supposed to get?"
"We're free for the day!" Claire exclaimed, unable to contain her excitement.
"Free? How?" To Melissa it had seemed that Ryder and Lucas were furious at the two younger Balcoins.
Dylan said, "They think we're in the woods honing our dark magic, since they want us to be better witches. Well, better, evil witches."
"Are you going to go to school?" Melissa asked, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "I can drive you, if you want."
"Nah, Ryder and Lucas will probably go there to check that we're not lying to them." Claire said.
Already Melissa felt lonely, abandoned. She had hoped that maybe with Claire and Dylan at school she could use them as a buffer, a way to ignore everyone else. "Oh, okay."
She had started out the door when Claire grabbed her arm. "No, you don't understand." She said. "We want to take you somewhere. You know, to apologize for having to leave you yesterday."
"It wasn't your fault." Melissa said.
"But…. Will you come anyway?" Dylan asked. He looked so hopeful that Melissa could hardly say no.
"Sure. Where are we going?"
The two smiled mischievously. "There's this 'autumn festival'—" Claire's air quotes were exaggerated "—that is a town away, where Lucas and Ryder would never think to look. It'll be so fun!"
Melissa found their happiness infectious. "Anything is better than school. How about I drive and you tell me where to go?"
"Sounds great!"
Claire and Dylan ran for her car, Dylan fighting Claire playfully for the front seat and winning. As Melissa started the engine Dylan turned the radio on, some P!nk song blaring loudly.
"Girly music." Dylan complained, wrinkling his nose.
"I like it." said Claire.
Melissa laughed as she pulled away from the curb, Claire batting Dylan's hand from the radio. It was going to be a good day.
TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC
Faye and Adam were also ditching class, the night before at the Boathouse they had decided to skip school and head over to the Motel where the Balcoin's were living to try and find the Book of Shadows. Even though Faye knew she shouldn't have been skipping school because of what was going on with her mom at the moment, they both decided that it was the best time of day to scope out the room. Claire and Dylan would be at school so they only had to deal with Lucas and Ryder.
"Are we there yet?" Faye asked, her voice teasing, they had only been driving for about 10 minutes. Adam rolled his eyes as he heard the comment.
"If we were there I would tell you," he said. "We need to talk anyway."
"Wow, way to sound morbid," Faye said, looking over at him.
"I'm serious Faye."
"Ummm, no you're Adam," she joked before getting a look from Adam. "Fine, be grumpy," she muttered, and both were quiet for a few minutes. "Okay, you make this big deal about this serious discussion and then you don't say anything."
"Okay, I need to make sure we are clear on some things," Adam told her. "If anyone is in or around the room, we are not going in. We can only wait for a while because I need to get back to the Boathouse, so no 'five more minutes' like this morning," he said, a small smile on his face when he got to the end of the sentence.
"Yes Sir," Faye joked, saluting him and Adam sighed.
"Faye..."
"I know, I know," she told him. "We don't go in until the coast is clear."
"Even if it is even odds we are not going up against them. Jake and I got hurt last time, we are not doing that again."
"Okay," Faye answered, emphasizing the word to let him know that she heard him and understood.
"And if they show up when we are in there..." He faltered, hoping it wouldn't happen. "We do whatever we have to to get out of there."
"Adam, I'm not stupid," She told him. "You need to relax and stop being so paranoid," she said, resting her hand on his knee as he continued to drive.
"I'm not paranoid Faye," he said. "I am just being cautious, even if it is just Lucas and Ryder there we're out magiced by them by a long way. They are powerful and they won't hesitate to kill us."
"Fine they're powerful and probably killers, can we worry about that if they find us and not before?" she asked. "We could get in and out without them ever knowing."
"Or we could almost get killed" he pointed out.
"Always the optimist aren't you?" she asked sarcastically before Adam sighed, not saying anything more.
TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC
Diana and Cassie were taking their notebooks out of their backpacks. Diana was looking around. 'Where is everyone?' Diana mentally asked her sister. Usually the Circle met outside this classroom before walking in to prepare for Mr. Sanders, but the other three hadn't shown up. Cassie and Diana had just decided to take their seats. 'I mean I guess Faye and Adam could be skipping to... Sorry.' Diana knew it was too late to stop the mental picture of Faye and Adam from going to Cassie
'No, I don't care,' Cassie told her sister making Diana look at her. Cassie had a small smile on her face. 'That's probably what they are doing, but I couldn't care less.' Cassie smile got bigger and Diana had to smile too. Cassie's happiness was going through their link making Diana feel happy too.
'You seem really happy,' Diana commented.
'The potion finally finished working. I have no feelings for Adam anymore. I couldn't care less who he's sleeping with or who he is dating. There's nothing left. I haven't felt this good and this happy since before the Elixir stuff.' Diana smile grew bigger as she heard the news. She was happy for her sister.
'That's great, how do you...' Diana got distracted by Mr. Sanders calling both hers and Cassie's name. Both turned to look at the teacher. They had been so engrossed in their privet conversation that they hadn't realized class had started until Mr. Sanders called their names.
"You two sleeping in class or something?" Mr. Sanders asked.
Before Diana could say anything Cassie said, "Well you make it so easy." Then she laughed out loud. "Just joking with you Mr. S. We got distracted. Did you ask us something?" Mr. Sanders seemed taken aback by the joke and Diana herself was shocked at Cassie's level of easiness when addressing their teacher they nicknamed The Creeper
"I was just asking you where Mr. Conant, Ms. Chamberlain, and Ms. Glaser were," Mr. Sanders said.
"How am I supposed to know? What am I their keeper? Are they supposed to check in with me or something?" Cassie asked and Sanders just looked at her. "I'm their friend. I don't keep tabs on them, but if I had to guess Adam and Faye are probably in his bed after an interesting night and Melissa is... I don't know. Diana?"
Cassie turned to Diana who had been trying not to laugh at Cassie's directness with their teacher. "Um... She might have overslept," Diana said.
"Okay," Mr. Sanders said and then paused for a minute. "Well like I was saying, I graded your papers..."
"Seriously? Didn't we just hand them in yesterday?" Cassie asked.
"Well I had some time on my hands yesterday in the library so I spent the day grading. I was very impressed by a lot of you, but one group stood out." He held up a paper and then put it on Cassie's desk. "Your group Ms. Blake did a fantastic group on a very unusual topic. The pros and cons of binding a Circle?" Mr. Sanders clearly wanted to see how far Cassie's new attitude would go and it was at that time Cassie decided it might be best not to answer. "Some parts seemed really personal. Like the part of about not being able to unlock your locker with magic by yourself."
"Well you know we just decided to talk about how we think witches would feel about not having solo magic." Cassie said. "I'm very happy you enjoyed our paper. We'll make sure the next is just as great." Cassie held up her hands a Vulcan salute "Live long and prosper." Diana couldn't take it anymore and she started laughing followed by Cassie.
Mr. Sanders didn't know what to say, so he walked over to the next group. 'Okay, you need to calm down. You know how dangerous that could have been.' Diana thought to her sister.
'Yeah, I know. Sorry, I feel so good right now. I guess I just wasn't thinking. I'll be more careful,' Cassie thought back. 'But did you see his face?' A mental image of Sanders face showed through the link and the two girls started giggling again. 'That was worth it.'
"If you two are done. I have a class to teach," Mr. Sanders said to them and Cassie and Diana nodded and tried to pay attention as The Creeper talked.
Cassie found it impossible though. She felt so great and just a little bit hyper now that all her feelings for Adam were gone. The last thing she wanted to do was sit in class. She wished she had gotten whatever memo the other three had that said to skip. She and Diana could have spent the day watching TV or doing something fun. Maybe even doing something fun with Jake. As she thought of the boy Cassie couldn't help but smile and couldn't help but remember waking up in his arms. Cassie knew nothing had happened that time, but now she wanted something to happen. She wanted to kiss Jake and couldn't help but imagine how it would feel.
'That's a nice thought to share,' Diana thought, but Cassie could tell she wasn't upset she saw Cassie's daydreams. While they had gotten good at blocking each other blocking something that wasn't an absolute secret was just a pain. They had to physically think they didn't want the other person to hear it and for something like daydreaming that's not something you do first. 'So you like Jake now?'
'Well I liked Jake before everything happened with Adam. I really did I had just been drawn to Adam. Now that I'm over Adam I like Jake again. Now that he's not with Faye it could happen, but I know I need to give him some time. I do want to be with Jake though,' Cassie told her sister.
'Well that's great. You and Jake would be cute together, but be careful. I don't know how Faye would take the two of you being together,' Diana warned.
'Weren't you the one who said Faye said she would be fine with it?' Cassie asked.
'That's what she keeps saying, but you know Faye.' Cassie nodded as she thought of all the times Faye called her a boyfriend stealer and at that time the two hadn't been together for two years. How would Faye take a relationship between Jake and Cassie now?
'Whatever, I'll be careful. But I'm not going to let Faye rule my life. The two have broken up and Faye already is dating someone else. If she gets jealous well sucks for her. She can't own every boy in Chance Harbor. It's either Jake or Adam and she chose Adam.'
'That's the spirit.' Diana said trying not to laugh again. 'I think Jake would be good for you. It would be a healthy non written in the stars relationship.'
'Yeah you know thinking that over that was kind of creepy. I mean we were supposed to be destined to be with each other for ever? We're 16! How many people stay with the person they dated in high school? I mean come on.' Cassie thought and Diana had to agree. Thinking it over the two being 'written in the stars' was a little creepy.
'We should really try to pay attention to the creeper before he realizes we're not,' Diana said looking up at the board. Mr. Sanders was writing something down and was talking nonstop about some topic Diana didn't even know what. Diana had spent most of the class looking down at her notebook making it look like she was taking notes. In reality she had been doodling little hearts in her notebook and then had written hers and Grants name in one and Jake's and Cassie's in the other. She had been also thinking that if Jake and Cassie did get together maybe they could go on a double date when Grant came back.
'It's not like we're passing notes, using our cell phone, or talking. We're just thinking and he can't control our thoughts.' Cassie looked up at Mr. Sanders. 'At least I hope not. We really got to figure out more about this guy.'
'Agreed, did you ever figure out how to pick the lock to his office?' Diana thought going back to her doodling.
'I don't think that's happening. Called my old friend but the way he explained it was way too complicated. Didn't understand any part of it. I think we're going to have to figure something else out.'
'Well that sucks, but we'll figure something out. We always do even last minute.' Diana continued to doodle in her notebook.
'Yeah you're right,' Cassie agreed. 'By the way planning a double date is a little early considering Jake and I aren't even dating yet.' Diana shocked looked at her sister. She had realized Cassie had heard that thought. 'I know all your secrets Diana. I am like A.'
Diana had to stop herself from laughing getting the reference Cassie was making right away. 'I didn't know you liked Pretty Little Liars. What books are you up to?'
'I watched the TV Show, but have planned to read the books.'
'Well I have them, so you can borrow them if you want,' Diana said.
"Great and you'll have to watch the TV Show one day.' Cassie said.
"Deal,' Diana thought back and the two continued to chat happily through their bond ignoring the creeper until class was over.
TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC
Melissa smiled as she got out of her car and could already smell the festival food in the air, she always found festivals to have a certain magical feel to them, and since discovering real magic, she would have thought that it would have changed, but nothing did, it still felt as magical as always.
Dylan smiled as he saw the look on Melissa's face, she looked just about as excited as the younger children running around.
"Let's go in!" she said, as if it were the door to Narnia. As they walked through the fairgrounds Melissa couldn't help but admire the band that was playing a little off in the distance and just barely in view, it was a small country band, the lead vocalist a girl whose voice sounded bigger than she could possibly hold inside of her small body, and a cute guy with only a slight twang as the second lead. Though the two had such contrasting voices, they mixed together so well, it created something far more beautiful than could have been if they were apart.
The festival was set up in a horse shoe around the stage, with about 4 rows of merchants circling giving the perfect chance for the group to be heard.
Dylan stepped up to a ring toss for their first carnival activity. His first try failed a little, and as a participation prize he got a small stuffed green monkey.
"Nah, I can do better." He said rolling his sleeves up.
"He's such a macho man isn't he?" Claire said rolling her eyes.
"It's fun though. I love this atmosphere. It's so small town, so friendly, inviting. I dunno it's nice to get away from home. It's like the drama hangs in a cloud, and the further away from chance harbor, the better I felt. Does that sound silly for this just being one town over?"
"Not at all," Claire smiled at her
"Ladies, I come baring gifts," Dylan said, both hands behind his back. First he presented the Green monkey to Claire, who immediately loved it.
"Big head and a pot belly. It's adorable!" She sang hugging her brother.
"And for you," Dylan said pulling out a slightly larger second place prize and presenting it to Melissa. It was a stuffed owl, with many colored feathers and a round face, much like a great grey's. It was a gorgeous plush.
"Oh it's gorgeous!" She said taking the doll and looking it over, before giving him a hug.
Claire raised an eyebrow at Dylan, shook her head and laughed.
TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC
We're here." Adam said, pulling into the parking lot of a rickety-looking motel. Faye's eyebrows scrunched together at the sight. "I know, it's pretty run-down."
"So are they in there?"
"Faye, I'm not psychic."
Faye glared at him balefully. "Shut up."
They sat in the parking lot for several minutes, watching the building. Faye's leg was jiggling up and down nervously, and she kept tugging at her hair or trying to fix it. After a minute she looked over at Adam to see he was smiling at her. "What?"
"It's cute, how you're so jittery." Adam said. When she gave him a dirty look, he added, "Never mind."
Faye wasn't sure if she should have been offended by Adam saying she was cute, so instead she settled for the evil eye before returning to watching the motel. Soon she couldn't take it anymore. "Can we do a spell or something? Maybe we could enhance our hearing and see if anyone is in there."
"Sure, why not?"
They joined hands. Lately, it was easier to do magic without words. Adam suspected the skull, but he didn't tell Faye. He was afraid of what she might do. Magic coursed through both of them, and Adam jumped when he heard a fly buzzing on the car's windshield, sounding like it was right next to his head. "I think it worked."
Faye nodded. She pinched her eyes shut, imagining that she was walking towards the room where the Balcoins stayed. It was hard, and a few times she was listening to random people that weren't Lucas or Ryder, and sometimes she'd hear bugs or cars driving down the street. "Anything?" she asked Adam.
"Not yet." He had his eyes open, staring at the door of the Balcoin's room. Unfortunately it wasn't working, and it was obvious that Faye had the right idea.
Still keeping her eyes shut, Faye gasped when she found Ryder's voice. "I hear him." She whispered. "They're both there, but I don't hear Claire or Dylan."
"What are they saying?" it had just then occurred to Adam that they could use the enhanced hearing to find out what Lucas and Ryder were doing.
She shrugged. "No…. just vague voices and a few random words. It's not enough to understand what's going on."
"Oh."
"So… can we go knock them out or something?" Faye asked. At Adam's shocked look, she said, "What?"
"They're definitely stronger than us." He told her. "We're not going to go attack them. Even if we got away they would probably come after the whole Circle."
"We'll be fine!" Faye insisted.
"No, Faye. No."
She stuck her lip out in an attempt to pout, but he ignored her. "Whatever, but if Claire and Dylan get back when Lucas and Ryder leave, I am so going to kill you!"
TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC
"You really think they're at the Boathouse?" Cassie asked. "Adam spends all his time there, and doesn't he have to work whenever he's there?"
"Yeah, he does." Diana said. "You never know, maybe they're hanging out in the back room—" she flinched at the insensitivity of the statement. "Sorry."
"I don't love him, remember?" Cassie reminded her. "You're right, too, I bet they're not working at all." She wiggled her eyebrows, making Diana laugh.
As soon as they entered they noticed that Jake was sitting at the bar, presumably looking for Faye. Aside from him, no one else in the Circle was at the Boathouse.
"Hey, Jake!" Cassie said.
"Hey, Cassie. Hey, Diana." He said. "Have you guys seen Faye anywhere? I thought she might be here, but…"
Cassie's face fell when he mentioned Faye. "Ummm… no."
"She and Adam were both absent from school." Diana added.
Why would you tell him that? Cassie asked. Now he's just going to get angry, and he'll want to go after Adam and kill him.
Maybe he'll realize that Faye doesn't seem to want him back… Diana thought back suggestively.
Cassie refused to answer Diana. "I don't think Faye or Adam will be back anytime soon." She said.
Jake nodded. "I know. Why are you girls here?"
"We were seeing if Faye, Adam, or Melissa were here. All three of them were absent today." Diana said. "Apparently they're all elsewhere."
"How was school?" Jake asked. "It's weird, seeing all of you go every morning while I stay at home."
"Mr. Sanders was being a creeper again." Cassie said. "Hey, I have an idea!"
"What?"
She grinned, saying, "Well, I'm sure you want to get your mind off Faye, right?"
"Of course." He said, eyes darkening at the mention of her name.
"Why don't we go back to school? Mr. Sanders might still be there, and we could follow him home. There might be more things in his house that will tell us what he is."
"Perfect." He said. "I'm an expert at following people."
As they left Cassie couldn't help but smile, gently brushing her arm against his. This is going to be fun…
Why is that, then?
Diana!
Sorry. You know, I think that maybe Jake likes you…
Cassie blushed furiously, hiding her face for a moment. You never know.
TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC
The band on stage continued to play wonderfully amazing songs, they had just finished a slow number, and now were moving on to a faster paced good timey song.
"Come on guys!" Melissa said grabbing their hands and hurrying down one of the rows towards the stage, as they reached the area in front of the stage Melissa tucked her owl in her purse and then grabbed the twins hands, beginning a sort of country like jig along with the music, making it up as she went and having the twins follow her lead. Soon the three of them had on lookers joining them, until they had started a full on line dance. As the song finally came to a close the little lady on stage spoke into her microphone
"Well that's probably the best reaction to one of our songs we've ever gotten. How about we do another fast paced song, because I love watching yall dance!" The crowd cheered in response as the next song picked up and they all began dancing again. The trio danced together laughing and having so much more fun as they tried to add more steps to the dance.
After a while it was time for the band's set to be done, and the next band to come up, Claire decided that she'd like to go back to looking around the booths, so they set off again.
Soon though Melissa couldn't help but follow her nose as it picked up on the distinct smell of Rosemary and Juniper. The scent led her to a small booth called Nature's Backyard
"Dylan, Claire! Come here" she waved them in.
"Welcome! Is there anything I can help you find?"
"Oh we're just browsing. I also want to test these two on what I've been teaching them." Melissa said with a smile before turning to a rack with many different herbs and spices in the slots.
"Alright, what is this one?" Melissa asked covering the sticker that held its name.
"Lovage." Dylan responded after a second
"And its usage?"
"As an antiseptic or digestive aid."
"Alright and this one?" She asked again covering its label. Claire smiled
"It's Barberry, very good for detoxification, and has good disease fighting properties."
"Pretty good, but what about," Melissa began searching for a hard one, when she found it she quickly covered it "What about this one?"
"Skullcap." The twins said in unison.
"I'm very impressed by these two." The shop keeper finally said after a few more rounds of guess the herb.
"Thanks, I've been teaching them everything I know."
"I can tell you are very talented as well." Melissa smiled at the woman then told Claire and Dylan to pick out anything they wanted, promising to show them new tinctures when they got home.
TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC
"Faye, come on we've been here ages. There's no point, we might as well just leave," Adam moaned, trying to make Faye give up and go home.
"No Adam I want this book of shadows; it will come in very useful. If we leave now then we won't get it to will we? Just be patient" she told him bossily.
"But Faye-
"Shhh!" Faye whispered to shut Adam up, she pointed to the door of the motel room Lucas and Ryder had just come out of. They quickly drove away in Lucas's car, not noticing Faye and Adam.
Faye and Adam waited a minute to make sure they had left before Faye jumped up and ran over.
"Come on, quick before they come back" Faye shouted to Adam. She ran up to the door of the room and tried to open it using her magic, which didn't work.
"What's wrong?" Adam asked when he saw her angry face.
"It's locked and my magic won't open, it must be spelled shut specially somehow," Faye explained annoyed. "Can you figure out how to open it?" she asked hopeful.
"Give me a minute," Adam murmured. He started whispering words and trying to figure out what kind of spell the Balcoin's had used to keep the door locked. It took Adam a couple of minutes to work it out.
"Got it!" he exclaimed turning to Faye, who started smiling.
"Repeat after me," he told Faye. The two of them quietly started to chant the spell and after about a minute the door suddenly swung open.
"Yes!" Shouts Faye, she then reached up and gives kissed Adam.
"Well done" she whispered in his ear, before hurrying into the room. Adam followed her after checking for a sign of any of the Balcoin's, he shut the door behind them so no one could see what was going on. Faye stood in the middle of the room, which was a complete mess. They didn't have much chance of finding the book of shadows in here.
"Ok then, let's get to work before anyone comes back" Faye ordered
"Ok then" Adam agreed before starting to look around. Faye riffled through draws, searched every nook and cranny of the room, desperate to the Balcoin's book of shadows.
Adam went to work searching through a big desk to see if the book was hidden in a draw, he also checked the bookcase to see if someone had hidden it there; while Faye searched all the places people would hide things (Sock Draws, on top of the wardrobe.) She found nothing. Adam didn't either which only made Faye even more frustrated and annoyed.
"For god's sake it has to be here somewhere," Faye exclaimed frustrated. "We should use magic to help us find it." Faye told Adam.
"No Faye, let's just go we've used enough magic here today as it is, I don't want us using lots of magic which Lucas or Ryder might be able to pick up and trace back to us. Who knows what they might do to us if they knew we'd been in their room, rooting through their things. We've done a lot of magic already, we can't do more." Adam told Faye, hoping she would take the hint. He didn't want to put Faye in danger, he didn't want Lucas or Ryder to discover what they had done and come after Faye. He knew Lucas had a bad temper; he didn't want any harm to come to Faye.
TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC
"This is so boring," Cassie groaned as the second hour passed and Mr. Sanders still refused to leave the local Library. "What could be taking him so long?"
Jake looked through his binoculars toward the window from his car. "I'm not sure but I think he is trying to get some books he does not have in the library.
"We will just have to be patient," Diana said.
"Yeah I know, I am just getting restless," Cassie pouted. "I mean, it's a beautiful day to hang out and we are stalking a creeper. Wait; doesn't that make us the true creepers?"
Diana and Jake looked at each other for a moment.
"Maybe but he is a professional creeper so he still outrank us," Diana said.
"That's a comforting thought, thanks," Cassie said chuckling.
"He is leaving," Jake said interrupting them.
Cassie and Diana looked at the entrance and saw Mr. Sanders walking down the stars and then getting on his own car before driving off. The friends looked at each other before following.
TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC
As the three walked out of Natures Backyard, a jewelry stand caught Melissa's eye, and she immediately walked over to it, admiring the handmade pieces. Dylan began to walk after her when Claire grabbed his shoulder.
"Hey I need to talk to you."
"Okay?"
"I'm not so sure we should be blindly following Lucas and Ryder anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I don't want Melissa dead, but those two do. We shouldn't trust them as much anymore. Keep them at a distance."
"I'm already ahead of you on that one."
"I love our brothers, but this mission they're on? Whatever daddy Blackwell was doing, whatever this is, it's bad business. We really need to try and stay out of it."
"But how? Lucas and Ryder won't take no for an answer."
"We can find ways around them."
"Alright sis, if you think you know what you're doing, I'm in."
"Good. Now one more thing?"
"Yeah?"
"She's so out of your league." Claire said gesturing to Melissa who was walking back towards them.
"Claire, hold out your hand and close your eyes."
"Uhm... Okay?" Claire asked hesitantly, but doing as Melissa said.
The older girl then placed a hemp necklace in the younger girls hand, the pendant dangling from the center was a hand blown glass tear drop, and inside was a pink star shape with drops of blue surrounding it.
"Oh gosh it's so pretty!" Claire said excitedly fingers already working at the clasp to put it on.
"I thought you'd like it." Melissa said back
"Thanks Melissa, really." Claire beamed up at her.
TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC
"Where else could they hide a damn book in this crappy little motel room?" Faye asked as she looked around the small messy room. Adam stood up looking over to Faye from the other side of the room,
"Help me lift the mattress," he told her, getting a face in response.
"Gross, you do not know how many people have had sex on that," she said and Adam rolled his eyes.
"Do you want to find the book or not?" He asked and Faye moved over to the bed.
"Hurry up then," she said as she leant down, together they lifted the mattresses one by one until they were at the last bed.
Leaning down they lifted it up and Faye groaned as they saw nothing there.
"This is so annoying," she said turning around to look around the room. "We have looked everywhere in this stinking room and there is no book. What if they took it with them?" she asked and waited for a response from Adam. When she didn't get one she turned to look at him.
Adam was knelt on the floor next to the bed they had just turned over, there was a floorboard pulled up and Adam was staring into the hole in the floor. Faye walked over leaning down beside Adam and smiled.
"Bingo," she muttered as Adam slipped his hand in to grab the book. He checked it over quickly before moving the floorboard back into place.
"Lets get out of here," He said, grabbing Faye's hand and pulling her towards the door. Once they got there Adam opened the door slowly and looked around before he and Faye rushed to the car.
Just as they got into the car, they saw two figures heading towards the car park and Faye hit Adam on the arm. Seeing the two Adam froze hoping they wouldn't look in Faye and Adam's direction, but of course they did.
"Quick, go," Faye told Adam as Lucas and Ryder started running over to the truck. Adam quickly set the car in motion and they sped out of the car park leaving Lucas and Ryder stood there angrily watching them drive away. Once they had been driving for a few minutes, Faye looked over to Adam. They had both panicked a little when they had seen Lucas and Ryder coming towards them but they were both fine now, although Adam had an almost death grip on the steering wheel. Leaning over Faye kissed his cheek and she saw his hands relax a little causing her to smile. Faye started to kiss along his jaw and back to his ear before trailing kisses down his neck.
"Faye I'm trying to drive here," he told her keeping his eyes on the road.
"So...?" she said in between kisses,
"So... you're distracting and I don't want to crash."
"Then pull over," she told him simply before going back to her kisses as Adam pulled the truck over.
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"Nice house," Cassie muttered.
They looked through the car's window toward Mr. Sanders house as he closed his front porch door. It was around the same width as Cassie's house but it just had one floor. Also, the walls were dark green. It also had fewer windows than her house but Cassie could see Mr. Sanders through one of them right now. He was pulling something from its backpack she couldn't see well. Cassie frowned and took out her I Phone and clicked on zoom to get a better at the object and then take a picture. As if on cue Mr. Sander closed the windows afterwards.
"Well, what did you took a picture of?" Diana asked.
Cassie frowned puzzled and bewildered. "I'm not sure."
She then showed them a green circular pendant not wider than tennis ball with the engraving of a bear in its dead center.
"What could that be?" Diana asked blinking.
"I may have an idea," Jake said looking interested.
Cassie raised an eyebrow as not many things give Jake that interested look.
"Do share," She urged.
"Back when I was a witch hunter I studied a bit of Native American magic," He began. "Apparently it is very different from our own. Most tribe members could use their branch of magic called Shamanism if they learned to focus enough on the forces of nature to drawn external energy toward their bodies. It didn't have much to do with magical bloodlines," He claimed. "However, if you want an analogy I guess you might say that the regular magic users were like Voodoo practitioners in the sense they lack a magical core but can still use magic to a degree while true shamans are like true witches in the sense they can do both but still like to use the elements more."
Jake looked at the pendant again. "That design is clearly Native American, of some northern tribe but not sure which," He murmured. "For a long time, the bear has been associated with the awakening of the consciousness in shamanist magic and since the pendant is made of jade, which is associated with love, I guess it is one of those rare magical artifacts that are design to produce a physically personification of the consciousness of someone so that it may convince the person to be nicer to the people said person loves," He explained.
Cassie looked even more confused after that information. "Why would he have something like that?"
She then turned to Diana and both saw and felt her sudden shock.
"What is it?" She asked getting worried.
Diana looked at Cassie for a long moment before sending her the memories of her encounter with that strange British girl the day she was mean to her. 'And then she was just gone,' Diana thought.
Cassie sat there dumbfounded.
"Hello?" Jake asked somewhat annoyed. "Non-telepathic people here."
Diana the turned to Jake and explained to him.
"Wait, so Sanders created that girl so you would be a better sister to Cassie?" Jake asked blinking.
"Pretty much," Diana nodded. "At least that is my best theory."
"But if that's true then he really knows for sure we are witches and that we have Dark magic," Cassie said suddenly getting worried. "Seriously what does king creeper wants?"
"No idea but I think we should be more careful around him and keep a closer eye to him," Jake said.
The sisters nodded and Jake drove off.
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"Bye" Melissa says leaning to give Claire a hug; Claire gave her a big squeeze, whispering goodbye in Melissa's ear.
"I had a great day" Claire told her smiling as Melissa walked over to give Dylan a quick hug, which was a bit awkward for Dylan.
"See you soon," Dylan said to Melissa who smiled in return.
"Yeah today was great thanks you guys, you really cheered me up today," Melissa told them before turning around and heading towards her house. She walked up her drive turned round and quickly waved to Claire and Dylan before going inside, into the warm.
"Bye" Claire and Dylan shouted as she shut the door.
Melissa went to put her coat and bag away, slowly humming to herself as she went, she could hardly keep the smile off her face. She'd had an amazing day with Claire and Dylan, they were both great friends. One of the best things was it had sort of shown her that she didn't need Adam or a boyfriend to be happy. She just needed great friends; which she had. Not just in Claire and Dylan but she also had Diana, Cassie and her circle.
Today had made such an improvement on Melissa's mood, she was happier then she had been in ages. All thanks to Claire and Dylan. She knew they were always there for her. As she walked up to her room she tried to think of things to do with them, places they could visit. She was sick of moping around after Adam, she decided that she was going to get out more and enjoy life! After all she was still young, there's no point getting all upset over boys at this age, she should just be enjoying her life and not taking things so seriously.
Melissa went and sat down, thinking about the things they had gotten up to today. She'd had so much fun and so had Claire and Dylan. She wasn't going to forget this day, ever. These happy memories would stay with here forever.
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Jake was looking through Cassie's boxes of movies as Cassie and Diana made popcorn. "Okay, you really need to organize these things," Jake said and Cassie laughed.
"I said the same thing. Want to help one of these days?' Cassie asked walking into the living room with the popcorn followed by Diana.
"Sure, so what movie do you girls want to watch?" Jake asked.
"Actually, it's getting late and I'm tired. I'm going to head to bed, but you two have fun." Diana said then thought to Cassie 'I'll let the two of you be alone.'
'Thanks,' Cassie thought back as Diana ran up the stairs. "What do you want to watch?" Cassie decided it was better to let Jake choose the movie. Jake held up a movie from the box. "Catch me if you can? Seriously?'
"Yeah, it was a good movie. I like the way the guy in the movie was able to trick everyone into thinking he was a doctor and pilot and stuff. That guy was good. Is there something else you would want to watch?"
"No, put the movie in." Cassie sat down on the couch as Jake got the movie into the DVD player and then sat next to her.
The two were silent as the movie started and just watched completely absorbed by the movie. Then their hands touched as they both reached for the popcorn. They both pulled away really fast and then looked at each other. The two realized how extremely close they were on the couch. At that point Cassie shivered.
"Are you cold?" Jake asked.
"A little," Cassie said. "I'll be fine."
"Come here." Jake didn't give Cassie a choice as he pulled Cassie close to him. Jake lay down across the couch and held Cassie on top of him. Then he used his magic to move the blanket that was on the chair not too far away so it was on top of them. "Is that better?"
"Yeah," Cassie whispered as she lay her head on Jake's chest and looked at the TV. She found herself unable to watch the movie though. She liked this movie she did, but all she could think about was how close the two were. That she could hear Jake's heart beating in his chest if she listened closely. That she felt his chest go up and down each time he took a breath. The feeling of wanting to kiss Jake returned and it took all her will power not too. He probably wasn't ready yet. Not so soon after he broke up with Faye.
"How did the potion thing go anyway?" Jake asked. He too was way too distracted to watch the movie that he chose. All she kept thinking about was the girl he held in his arms and he really wanted to know if that potion had worked.
"Great," Cassie answered. "I'm over Adam finally. I don't love him anymore."
"That's good," Jake said and tried to hid the small smile on his face.
"What about you and Faye? Are you going to fight for her?" Cassie asked wanting to know about her chances.
"I don't think so. She made her choice and I don't feel like fighting for her." Jake said. Cassie hid her smile by hiding her face in Jake's shirt.
"That's good. You don't need her."
"I know," Jake whispered so low Cassie didn't even hear him.
Cassie didn't know what else to say so she looked back at the movie. The movie was about half done, but she still couldn't find herself getting into it. She buried her head into Jake's shirt again and took a breath. She loved the way he smelled and she closed her eyes letting herself enjoy the smell. Soon she found herself getting sleepily and it wasn't long later before she was asleep and dreamed of Jake.
Jake realized when Cassie fell asleep and looked down at the girl. She was so cute when she slept. Jake knew he should just take her up to her room and then leave, but Jake found himself unwilling to do that. Cassie fit perfectly in his arms and it felt right just laying here. The couch was comfortable and he was getting pretty tired. Jake held Cassie closer to him and bent down to kiss her on the cheek. Jake swears he saw Cassie smile when he did that and a smile appeared on his face too. Jake closed his eyes. It wasn't long later Jake himself fell asleep dreaming of Cassie.
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Faye sat flicking through the book of shadows whilst Adam made her a cup of coffee.
"Thanks" Faye muttered when Adam put her cup down in front of her.
"You found anything yet?" he asked hopeful, he knew how much Faye wanted this.
"No" she sighed unhappy, there must be something in the Balcoin's book of shadows to help them, and she just knew it was the key to them succeeding.
Adam sat down next to her and started to scan the pages as well, trying to help. They were looking for anything to do with the crystal skull. They read through a lot of the book before they found anything about it Faye was getting more and more frustrated as they went on. She was desperate to find the answer and wasn't being very patient. There were a couple of pages explaining about what the skull did and how much power it possessed. Some passages told horrible stories of what the skull had done to people, Faye and Adam did their best to ignore these though.
Faye was just about to give up when Adam finally found what they had been looking for, a spell which would help them.
"I've got it!" he told Faye excited,
"Read this," he ordered passing her the book and pointing to the page. Faye quickly read the page which contained a spell which would enable someone to extract magic from the skull. It told them that this simple spell would enable them to take nearly all the power from the skull; it would be absorbed by their own magic. This would make both Adam and Faye incredibly strong witches.
"I can't believe we've finally found a way to get more magic" Faye told Adam excited. "I couldn't off done this without you," she whispered before leaning up to passionately kiss Adam. Overjoyed by what he had discovered in the book of shadows.
"This spell is perfect," Faye told them after re-reading it again for about the 30th time, she still couldn't believe they'd finally found a way to do it.
"Yeah it is" Adam agreed "It explains exactly how to extract the magic from the skull." He told her excited. "Yeah, we have to do this soon; I don't think I can wait long. I'm finally going to have the power I deserve" Faye said excitedly, "You are too of course," She added on as an afterthought.
Faye spent the rest of the day bubbling with excitement. Adam had agreed that they would perform the spell together soon, as long as they were careful. Faye had assured him they would both be fine. How wrong she was!
Anon review replies:
Guest: thank you!
Olivia: You never know... I mean, Cassie was unaffected by the elixir because of dark magic, and now that Adam has similar magic coursing through his veins... things could happen. Just sayin'
Also, this is mostly a filler chapter, but I can assure you that the next chapter will be full of action and excitement. It is the midseason finale, after all!