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!
ATTENTION: This is our midseason finale, which means we wont' be updating for the next few weeks, as we have to plan out the second half of the season more extensively. Please check our tumblr, twitter, and facebook for more updates. Also, feel free to suggest ideas and ask questions.
Episode 11 – "Release"
The abandoned house was quiet and Circle-free when Adam and Faye finally reached it. Adam was going over the list of ingredients for the spell, saying one out loud every other minute. Faye had no idea what any of them were, so he'd told her to get some of the deep, red-black crystals that were somewhere with the other rocks. He'd said they were used as some sort of protection in case the spell went wrong.
"These?" Faye asked, holding up a few. He nodded, rooting through the various planters on the opposite side of the room. She pocketed the crystals, coming over to where he was. "Why won't you let me help you with the herbs?"
"Because you never bothered to learn their names."
"No, because I'm not boring." She reciprocated. There was tension between them, and it wasn't the good kind.
He ignored her last comment. "I have everything we need. We should leave it at the Boathouse."
"Why?"
He gave her that know-it-all look, one that she normally saw on Diana. "We should go to school so it's less suspicious. If we're absent one day—yesterday, that is—people will assume it was because of sex." Faye nodded. "If we're gone two days they'll start to wonder… well, the Circle will."
"So we go, come back home, and then do the spell?"
"Exactly."
They drove in silence to the Boathouse, where they dropped off the herbs and crystals. Then they were off to school without looking back.
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Diana was in the kitchen making French toast for breakfast. She was humming to herself as she cooked. "Hey," Diana heard and turned around to see Cassie standing at the doorway. Her sister was still in the clothes she wore yesterday, but they were a mess and her hair had the just crawled out of bed look. "Where's..." Cassie stopped herself, but Diana knew what she was about to ask.
"Jake woke up earlier then you and left. I offered him French toast for breakfast, but the boy said no." Diana said and then laughed. "Looks like you guys had nice night." Cassie didn't say anything as Diana put French toast on a plate for her. "So what did you guys do?"
Cassie sat down and poured her syrup on top. She started to eat and refused to answer Diana, but she was thinking of last night. She remembered once again falling asleep in Jake's arm and realized how great of asleep she got in his arms. A smile came on Cassie's face. "Come on. I need more than that." Diana said having seen Cassie's memories. "Tell me everything."
"No," Cassie said blocking Diana out of the thoughts from last night. For some reason last night seemed like something special to Cassie. Something she didn't want to share with Diana just yet.
"Come on," Diana said giving Cassie the puppy dogs eyes. "Please, I'm your best sister after all."
Cassie laughed. "There's not much competition there. It's only Claire and while the younger Balcoins aren't that bad she's nowhere near as good as you. You're the best sibling I have." Diana smiled. "But I'm not telling you what happened last night." Diana's smile fell. "Don't give me that look. It's not much anyway, but I just want to keep it to myself for now."
"Okay," Diana said, understanding but kind of sad her sister wouldn't tell her anything.
"I will tell you that I have a chance with Jake." Diana gave Cassie a look. "You might be seeing him around here a lot more if things go good."
"You mean more then I already do," Diana joked and Cassie laughed as she finished her breakfast.
"You might want to hurry up and finish. We've got to get to school," Cassie said.
"I'm working on it and you better go get changed. You don't want to go to school in your clothes from yesterday do you? People might get the wrong idea." Cassie looked down and then ran up the stairs to get changed while Diana laughed.
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The moment she woke up, Melissa just felt like it was going to be a wonderful day. At the fair with Dylan and Claire she'd decided that she was going to forget about Adam and try to worry more about herself. She deserved to be happy, didn't she? Sun was shining through her curtains in a very cliché way, and it made her feel like her idea had been a good one.
Throwing her covers haphazardly off the bed, she swung her legs over the edge and onto the ground. She wanted to find something pretty to wear, something that reflected her mood. Digging through her closet, she soon found a beige top with flower embroidery along the neck, sleeves, and hemline. It took her only a few minutes to find the perfect jewellery for it; large, chunky metal flowers that were attached to make a stylish necklace and a similar ring, except that it was made of little metal butterflies. She piled her hair, still curly from the day before, on the top of her head so that tiny curls framed her face.
"Wow." Her dad whistled as she skipped cheerily downstairs. "You look gorgeous today, Melissa."
"I feel gorgeous." She replied teasingly.
"I'm very glad to hear that."
"Did you ever just wake up and feel like everything was going to go exactly how you wanted it?" Melissa asked her. When he nodded, she said, "Well, I feel like that today. It's really nice."
He just laughed at her, planting a kiss on the top of her head as he walked out of the kitchen. Melissa grabbed an organic muffin from the counter, and then ran upstairs to get her bag. Moments later she was running past her dad with a quick, "Bye!"
As she jumped in the car she realized she still had some time before she had to leave. Smiling, she turned on the car and headed in the direction of the nearest coffee shop.
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'Remind me again why we're walking? Cassie thought grumpily as they trudged along down the sidewalk.
"Because we need exercise." Diana said out loud. "And you don't need to think, it's not there's anyone else here to hear us."
Cassie laughed. "Sorry, it's gotten to be such a habit that I can't really tell the difference."
"That could get confusing for the rest of the Circle." Diana said.
Before she could answer Cassie found herself being roughly stopped by Ryder, who nearly shoved her over in his attempts to make her cease walking. Similarly, Lucas jumped out from nowhere and grabbed Diana's arm.
"What the hell?!" Cassie yelped, stepping away from Ryder.
"You stole the Balcoin Book of Shadows." Lucas hissed darkly.
"What?" Diana asked. "The Balcoin Book of Shadows?"
"Was it Blackwell's?" Cassie asked, unable to stop her curiosity.
"Yes, you idiot!" snarled Ryder. "It was, and you stole it!"
Cassie shook her head vehemently. "No, we didn't. I didn't even know there was one!"
"That's obviously a lie." Lucas said. It was like he'd gone from white-hot anger to calm, seething sort of rage. Diana couldn't decide which she found more frightening.
Lucas and Ryder both backed away for a second, and both girls thought that maybe they weren't in danger after all. Then both Ryder and Lucas said a single word and Cassie and Diana went flying.
Cassie groaned, sitting up and trying to regain her bearings. Lucas and Ryder were closing in on her and Diana was sprawled on the pavement a few feet away. 'Diana?'
'Yeah, I'm fine.' Diana thought, quickly getting to her feet. Cassie did the same.
'Should we run or fight?'
'I think we have to fight, I don't want them to follow us to school.' Diana told Cassie silently.
The two girls joined hands, hoping they could gain enough power through each other's strength and magic. Then they flung the strongest spell they could manage in the direction of Lucas and Ryder.
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Melissa stirred her coffee lazily with a straw, waiting for the woman at the cash register to give her change for her ten dollar bill. She still had plenty of time to spare before she had to be at school, and she thought she might even sit down for a while and just enjoy the alone time. As she accepted her money and turned she scanned the room for a free table. That was when her line of vision landed on a particular one, occupied by two familiar faces. "Hey, Claire! Dylan!"
The younger Balcoins faces' lit up at the sight of Melissa, and they motioned for her to come over. She slid into the booth next to Dylan, smiling bright at both of them. "Hey guys, you like this place too?"
"Yeah… we came here because we needed something to eat." Claire explained.
"We've been meaning to talk to you about that." Dylan added. "We would have called you, but we don't stay in the motel anymore and that's the only place we had access to a phone."
"You don't?" Melissa asked incredulously. "That's great! …. that is great, right?"
Claire giggled. "Yes, it's great. The thing is, we were kind of afraid of what Lucas and Ryder might do to us. That's technically bad, but we did get out in time."
"Why, what happened?"
Dylan grimaced, as though the memory was painful to even recall. "Lucas and Ryder found the Balcoin Book of Shadows—" Melissa was surprised, but said nothing, "—and then the next day it was gone. They blamed us, saying we stole it. We didn't, of course." He added quickly.
"They didn't hurt us, but they were so angry," said Claire. "I think if we'd stayed they might have done something bad. They wouldn't have killed us, but it wouldn't have been good."
Melissa nodded. "It's good that you got out. Where are you staying now?" when both siblings lowered their heads and glanced at each other, she added, "I won't tell anyone, I promise."
"We spent our last money on food." Dylan admitted. "It wouldn't have been enough for a place to stay, so we figured we might as well eat."
"That's awful!" Melissa said, sympathetic at once. "I don't want you guys to be homeless."
"We'll be fine." Said Claire. "Really, we can use magic to construct some sort of hut in the woods or something. I bet we could even forge money with magic."
Melissa shook her head, smiling at a past memory. "Nope, you can't. Trust me, Faye tried it once and it did not go well for her at all."
"Oh." Dylan said. "Well, we'll still figure something out."
"Wait…" Melissa trailed off, thinking. "What if you guys stayed at my house? My dad won't mind."
"Really?" Both seemed happy at the prospective of not having to sleep in the woods.
"Really." She turned and dug through her purse, pulling out a key. "Here, you can head there after you eat. I Have a feeling school isn't' safe, since Lucas and Ryder know you like going there."
She bid them goodbye, since she still had to go to school, and left them chattering happily over their food. She'd been right to think it was going to be a good day; she had two new roommates that were some of her best friends, and they'd finally decided that they didn't want to be involved with dark magic.
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Diana was stumbling backwards, having been hit by another one of Lucas' blows. Even though she had Cassie, they couldn't quite beat Lucas and Ryder. It was like the four were so evenly matched there was no way to win. Of course, with the mind link she and Cassie had a tiny advantage.
'WATCH OUT!' Diana thought. She saw Cassie cringe at the loudness of the thought as she ducked. 'Sorry.'
'Yeah, no problem. Ryder's headed your way, just so you know.'
Diana rose up her arms to send another surge of magic at him when out of nowhere a blurred shape tackled him. She blinked, thinking she had imagined it. But no, Ryder was lying on the ground struggling underneath what appeared to be Jake.
"Try fighting the normal way, will you?!" Jake snapped, shielding his face from magical blows as he punched Ryder.
Diana stood there for a moment longer before running to Cassie side. With two against one they managed to gain ground on him, and soon he called to Ryder, who threw off Jake and dashed down the street after his brother. "Don't think we're not coming back for the book!" Lucas called threateningly over his shoulder.
Jake was at Cassie's side the minute he got up, pulling her to her feet and dusting bits of dirt from her jacket. Diana refrained from teasing.
"Are you alright?" Jake asked, glancing at Diana as well. Both girls nodded. "What book were they talking about?"
"The Balcoin Book of Shadows." Cassie told him. "Apparently we stole it even though we have no idea what it is."
"There's really such a thing as the Balcoin Book of Shadows?" Jake asked. "As in—"
"—John Blackwell's Book of Shadows? Yeah, it's probably his." Diana finished. "Which means if they get it back, we're probably screwed. Who knows what kind of spells are in it?"
"Yes, true, but from the looks of it they might kill you before they ever find it." Jake pointed out. "And before you start to argue, you should know that I won't take no for an answer."
"An answer to what?"
He said, "I'm walking you to school in case you get attacked again."
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Faye and Adam walk into school hand in hand and almost immediately get bombarded by the rest of the Circle about their disappearing act the day before.
"We were looking for you for ages yesterday where were you?" Diana had asked.
"You weren't at school so we checked the Boathouse and no one had heard from you," Cassie had also said at the same time.
Melissa was simply leant back against her locker looking a little bored, she was the only one who hadn't been looking for Faye and Adam yesterday, and honestly, was it anyone else's business where and what Faye and Adam were doing? It wasn't as if a demon had attacked or there were witch hunters about. From what she heard it was usual day to day drama.
As Cassie and Diana kept firing questions at Faye and Adam, Faye got a little sick of their questions and raised a hand distracting Cassie and Diana and shutting them up.
"Finally," Adam muttered, getting a few strange looks from everyone, including Faye.
"Okay stop with the questions," Faye told them. "As far as I can see no one got hurt or killed, so what is with the drama?" she asked, causing Cassie to roll her eyes.
"You would know what was going on if you were around," She told Faye and everyone saw the makings of a Faye and Cassie showdown appearing.
"Oh I'm sorry Princess," she told Cassie in a sickeningly sweet tone, putting her hand over her heart. "I didn't know you would miss us so much. We were doing other, more important things that are none of your business. But I'm sure your new bodyguard made things better," she said, sending a small glare at Jake.
It was the first time the two had seen each other since the break up and Faye would not let anyone know how difficult it was for her to have him stood there in school with Cassie. So as was the normal Faye hid behind her bitchy attitude and no one knew the difference.
Cassie was about to open her mouth to retort when Diana spoke.
"Look guys, we really need to talk after school," she said, having a quick look around the halls. "We had a run in with Lucas and Ryder this morning, and it looks like they are looking for a fight."
"Sorry, can't," Faye said quickly, and Diana gave her a disbelieving look. "Sorry Lady Di, but we have some important business to attend to after school, tonight is a very important night."
Melissa let out a small sigh, un-noticed by any of the others, and stood up walking over to some guys the other side of the hall. One of the guys was cute and she was pretty sure he was in their folklore class and possibly some others.
Diana was the first one to notice Melissa's absence. "Wait, where did Melissa go?" she asked, and everyone started looking around. Cassie was the one to spot her and point her out.
"She's over there talking to a bunch of guys," Cassie told them a slight crease in her forehead.
"Wow..." Diana said simply. "I think that day off yesterday did her good."
"Wait, so Melissa wasn't in yesterday either," Faye said. "But you decide to grill us and not her? She hangs round with the evil twins, not us."
"They aren't evil," Diana told her pulled her attention from Melissa, who was flirting with one of the guys.
"Oh and you would know that because...?" Faye said
"Because we met up with them the other week," Cassie told her, causing Faye, Adam and Jake to focus on Cassie.
"Wait you met up with the twins?" Jake asked but before Cassie could answer Faye butted in,
"Chill out action man," she told Jake, causing Adam to smirk a little. "They want to meet up with their evil siblings let them, it's not as if they tried to kill any of us or anything," Faye told them sarcastically, and Cassie rolled her eyes again.
Jake had a small frown on his face as he thought what Faye said through.
"They honestly are nice," Diana told them all. "Just because Lucas and Ryder are evil and hot-headed doesn't mean that Claire and Dylan are, they're just kids and they have been pulled away from their home and their Mother because of Lucas and Ryder. They were younger than we were when we found out about our magic, so cut them some slack okay?"
"Whatever, I'm hungry," Faye said. "See you losers in class," she said as she and Adam headed off to the Cafeteria.
"Are those two joined at the hip or something?" Jake asked, not meaning for it to come out loud.
"Jealous?" Cassie asked, trying not to sound worried that Jake may still have feelings for Faye.
"Pensive," Jake said quietly. Cassie tilted her head in question. "Thoughtful," he clarified.
"You know you really didn't have to come into school," Cassie told him. "If anything happens with Lucas and Ryder, we have the rest of the Circle here and Mrs. Chamberlain if things got too messy."
Jake simply shrugged still looking a little thoughtful "Nothing else to do," he said. "Want me to stick around and walk you two home in case they attack again?" he asked as Cassie looked over to Diana who shrugged.
"I don't think so," Cassie said. "It would look weird having you hang about and I don't want to worry Mrs. Chamberlain. I'm sure we'll be fine," she told him and Jake nodded.
"Alright, I'll leave you to it," he said, heading towards the entrance of the school.
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The library was getting pretty loud. Mr. Sanders had brought them there to give them the period to work on their essays, but then went to his office to work on paperwork. The Circle was sitting at one of the tables. Diana had a book on the Salem Witch Trials open and was looking through it, but besides that no one else was working. Faye was basically on top of Adam's lap and the two had been kissing for a while.
"Melissa, how long do you think they can go like that before having to come up for air," Cassie asked. She had a smile on her face because she was really happy she could look at Adam kissing someone and not care at all. The 'written in the stars" romance was over and Cassie felt like celebrating.
"I don't know," Melissa said. She too couldn't care about Adam and Faye showing off their relationship. She had been talking to a cute boy before and was thinking her crush on Adam was over. "Maybe Faye used some spell to make it that they didn't need air." The girl whispered causing Cassie to laugh.
"I can totally see that," Cassie said. "By the way I saw you talking to a boy before. What's going on there?"
"Nothing," Melissa said with a smile.
"I know that look. Melissa and..." Cassie stopped realizing she didn't know the boys name "cute boy sitting in a tree, K I S-"
"Oh, what are we, five?" Melissa said throwing a piece of paper at Cassie. The blonde witch ducked it and it hit a guy at the next table. The guy turned around and Cassie pointed at Melissa barely able to hold back a laugh. The guy took a piece of paper and threw it at the witch, but Melissa was able to duck. Suddenly a couple of people were throwing paper balls at each other.
"How did we start a paper fight?" Cassie asked with a laugh sitting back down. Melissa herself was laughing and shook her head.
"Does anyone care about this essay at all?" Diana asked looking around at her friends. Faye and Adam were still making out and Melissa and Cassie were just about to continue to joke around with each other some more. "I mean seriously."
"We have a while to work on it." Melissa said, but Diana gave her a look. Melissa knew that look from having grown up to Diana. "Fine, what did you find out?"
"Well did you know that the accused witches had to pay for nice cells and stuff while in jail. If they didn't or couldn't pay they were put in standing room only cells." Diana said looking at Cassie and Melissa not even bothering with Faye and Adam.
"So the witch feet got really tired," Cassie joked causing Melissa to laugh and Diana to look at her. "Fine that was horrible. Learn anything about our families or the other Circles?" Cassie whispered the last part so only Melissa and Diana could hear
"No, a lot of people left Salem during the witch trials to get away, but so far no luck learning anything about our families." Diana answered.
"STUDENTS," they heard and turned around to find Mr. Sanders had just walked back in. "I leave you alone for a while expecting you to act like adults and this is what I come back to."
'Looks like creeper is back. I wonder if he brought British girl with him,' Cassie thought to Diana making her sister look at her. 'Fine, I'll shut up.' Cassie understood her sister didn't want to think about that right here in front of Mr. Sanders. Truthfully they had no idea what was going on with him at all.
"Mr. Conant, Ms. Chamberlain, please stop that." Mr. Sanders finally said seeing the two. Faye pulled apart looked at their teachers and then sat down at a chair. Mr. Sanders walked away.
"So what did we miss?" Faye asked.
Cassie, Diana, and Melissa looked at each other. "Well we decided to run an experiment to see how long you could go without air," Cassie said, making Melissa and Diana laugh and Adam and Faye just stare at her, confused.
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Cassie and Diana were walking back to Cassie's house. They were only a few houses away and were chatting with each other through their link. 'Damn, you know Mr. Sanders is a real creeper. What's with him?' Cassie asked her sisters. They had been talking about classes and somehow whenever they talked about school the subject of Sanders being a creeper comes up.
'I don't know, but since I found out he made that British girl I've been totally freaked' Diana said. 'Can we not talk about this? How about we talk about something else? Like the way Jake is super protective of you.' Diana had a smile on her face as she thought of this morning.
'Jake has always been super protective. Ever since he left the witch hunters. It doesn't mean anything.' Cassie told her sister going up to her front door while looking through her bag for the keys.
'He walked us to school. I don't think he did that just because of Lucas and Ryder. They were gone by then. He likes you and you..." Diana stopped as she felt panic come from Cassie through their bond. 'What's wrong?'
'The door is unlocked. I didn't leave it that way,' Cassie answered and neither of them had to say or even think it to each other. The first thing that came to their minds was Lucas and Ryder. Diana was by Cassie's side and took hold of her sisters hand. If their older brothers wanted a fight they would be ready this time. They would pull their magic together.
Opening up the door the two looked around, but they didn't see anyone. Then someone came out of the kitchen and Diana was very nearly ready to throw the person against the wall on sight but Cassie stopped her. 'Wait, it's Jake,' Cassie yelled in her head and Diana stopped right away. After a second she realized it was in fact Jake.
"Hey. Good you two are back and are safe." Jake said taking a bite out of the sandwich he had apparently made in the kitchen. "Hope you don't mind. I got hungry waiting for you two."
Diana was just staring at Jake. "Why are you here? I mean you just let yourself in with magic. We thought you were Lucas and Ryder. You freaked us out. We could have hurt you. You know why does everyone just let themselves in," Diana complained and Cassie laughed. Diana looked at her.
"Welcome to my world," Cassie said and Diana was confused for a minute before she realized she had just complained about the same exact thing Cassie had been complained about for a while. Diana laughed. 'Guess we're starting to sound alike huh.' Cassie added to Diana in her mind and the two girls continued to giggle.
"Sorry about breaking in, but it was either I wait for you here or I pick you up at school. I seriously thought about picking you up at school." Jake was looking at Cassie as he said this.
'See he likes you.' Diana thought to her sister with a smile.
'I never said he didn't. I told you this morning. If things go right we might be seeing more of him.' Cassie said taking a seat at the kitchen table.
'Well remember when you two start dating we're going on a double date when Grant gets back.' Cassie stuck out her tongue at Diana, but Diana could tell Cassie didn't mind the idea. The two smiled at each other.
"Okay, I have a feeling I'm being left out of the conversation." Jake said looking at the two. "You do realize how rude that is since I'm standing right here."
"Sorry, it's gotten too easy to talk to each other like that. Sometimes we don't even realize we're using the link and not talking out loud." Cassie told Jake and then turned to Diana. There was no way any of that conversation was going to be told to Jake. "You realize all the way home we used the link when we could have just talked to each other."
"Oh yeah," Diana said. "Oh well. Whatever. You hungry Cassie?"
"Yeah," Cassie said as Diana went to the fridge to get back out the cold cuts Jake had put away. "Diana, do we have any..."
"So you are Diana." The voice made Cassie pause. She knew that voice all too well. She could also see Diana had frozen by her spot at the refrigerator. Jake had a death glare on his face as he looked at the kitchen door. The two sisters turned around to find their older brothers standing there. "I figured you might be Diana and not Stephanie after this morning. Thank you for confirming that." Ryder said with a smirk.
"What are you doing here?" Cassie asked standing up and getting next to Jake. Diana closed the refrigerator and joined the two. "We don't have this Balcoin Book of Shadows. We didn't even know it existed before this morning, so if you want to fight with us you need a better excuse then that."
Ryder held up his hands. "We don't want to fight. We just want to talk." Ryder looked at Lucas who nodded his agreement. 'I swear we won't hurt you. We couldn't find Claire and Dylan."
"They're probably with the kind witch," Lucas mumbled. Diana, Cassie, and Jake looked at each other knowing he meant Melissa and that they were probably right. While Diana and Cassie didn't mind the younger two Balcoins they weren't jumping to hang out with them all the time. It seemed like Melissa had somehow become like a surrogate big sister to the two and the three had choose not to comment on the relationship no matter how weird they found it.
"Yeah well, after thinking it over we decided it was unlikely they had the book and after your reaction we decided you didn't have it," Ryder said.
"So why are you here?" Diana asked.
"The fact is the Balcoin Book of Shadow's was stolen from us. We want to know if you'll help us find it," Ryder said.
Jake, Cassie and Diana looked at each other. "Why would we do that? So you can have a book full of dangerous spells?" Diana asked.
"There's nothing dangerous in it. We want it because its rightfully ours." Ryder said.
"The Balcoin Book of Shadow's belongs to the Balcoins and you're not the only Balcoins here," Jake told Ryder looking at Diana and Cassie. "But I think we should help them find it." Diana and Cassie looked at Jake surprised. "Someone did make a point of stealing it and I think I know who."
"Who?" Lucas and Ryder said together looking ready to kill whoever it was.
"It's just a theory, but Faye and Adam have been acting weird lately. They're always sneaking off together a lot. Maybe they have it." Jake said.
"He's got a point. I mean they were absent from school yesterday. Do you really think they spent the whole day in bed," Cassie said. "Although I guess Faye could go all day. I don't know about Adam though. That one time we were together it didn't seem like he could go on much longer."
"Cassie, shut up," Diana said with a laugh. 'By the way Adam can go on for a while." She then decided to add.
"I think I'm the one that's going to say shut up now. I don't want to hear about how good or bad Adam is in bed," Jake said and then looked at Cassie.
"Yeah, Jake's right. Why were we talking about Adam anyway?" Cassie said. "Oh yeah, possibility of Adam and Faye stealing the Balcoin Book of Shadows. I think it's possible. We should go to the Boathouse and see."
"Wait, can I get something straight here first," Ryder said making the three look at him. "This Adam guy either dated or just had sex with both of you." Diana and Cassie nodded. "Now he's dating this Faye girl who he might have stolen our Book of Shadows with?" They nodded again. "And I believe he's also the one that girl Claire and Dylan are always with was crying over." Cassie and Diana looked at each other not knowing that.
"Do you have a point in this?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, why wouldn't you two want to ditch your Circle and join ours? Yours seemed to have way too much drama in it." Ryder said.
"Maybe a little, but I don't love Adam anymore. Got rid of that." Cassie smiled at Diana as she said this telling the girl a quick thank you in her head again. "Diana has a new boyfriend and as for Melissa well... I don't know why she would cry over Adam. So do you want to go find this Book of Shadows or not."
Lucas and Ryder nodded and walked out. "By the way, Cassie, we're looking into a spell to keep uninvited guest out of this house later," Diana said.
"Good idea,' Cassie said.
"I'll help," Jake added and the three went to follow the two oldest Balcoins.
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"Claire, Dylan, what's up?" Melissa asked after waking into her room. Taking her bag off her shoulder she set it down and sat down looking at the two.
"Lucas and Ryder. They got super violent." Dylan replied
"I honestly was scared their threats were serious this time." Claire sobbed a little.
"What happened?!"
"After the Book went missing, they blamed us."
"Are you two alright?"
"Yeah, we're fine, we just needed to get out of there. Sorry, I hope it's alright we came." Claire replied
"Of course guys, you can come here anytime, Stay as long as you want. I promise you'll be safe."
"Thanks Melissa."
"Hey, wanna have a Movie marathon?" Melissa asked
"Sure!" Claire said laughing
"ONLY, if it's a classic horror movie marathon!" Dylan chimed in
"We could compromise, Maybe a Supernatural Marathon?" Claire asked
"Maybe."
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"Is this far enough?" Faye asked, frustrated. She and Adam had been walking for nearly an hour. "What are the chances someone will ever find us and interrupt the spell?"
"Yes, it's far enough." He relented after a moment. He dropped his armload of herbs. "Okay, I'll set the skull on the ground and put the herbs that we need near it. You start with those crystals.
Faye nodded. She took the blackish-red crystals they'd gotten from the abandoned house and began to string them together. According to the spell to get what the skull wanted, the black-red crystals would protect the wearers from any strong magical surges. She hoped that nothing bad would happen. The crystals were just in case, that was all.
Adam finished arranging the various herbs he'd gotten around the skull. It looked almost like a demented wreath-like necklace around the thing's non-existent neck. Faye shuddered.
"Ready?" Adam asked.
Faye wanted to say no, but she didn't. "Yes."
TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC
Cassie, Diana, Jake, Lucas, and Ryder walked into the Boathouse and looked around. There were the normal guest there eating, but Adam and Faye were nowhere to be found. Behind the counter was Ethan Conant looking a bit drunk. "Who's talking to the alcoholic?" Jake asked.
"I will. Ethan seemed to like me for some reason," Cassie said.
'It's because you look like your mom. Remember lost love of his life. Ethan spent our whole childhood talking about how he lost Amelia,' Diana thought to Cassie.
"Thank Di," Cassie said out loud not realizing Diana had said that in her head.
"Diana didn't say anything," Ryder said looking at the two. Cassie had a horrified look on her face when she realized what she had just done.
"Didn't you hear," Diana said confusing Ryder and Lucas. "I guess not. I just whispered to Cassie telling her she could do it and I would go with her if she wanted. Maybe you guys should get your ears checked."
"Okay,' Ryder said not exactly buying the excuse, but decided not to ask. It was their business and right now Ryder didn't feel like prying. "Well someone better go talk to him or I will."
"I got it," Cassie said walking up to the counter. "Mr. Conant."
"Cassie, what would you like?" Ethan said getting close up and Cassie could smell the bit of alcohol on his breath. "Of course anything for you is free."
"That's nice," Cassie said. "But actually I was looking for Adam and Faye. Are they in the back?"
Ethan laughed. "I don't know where Adam is. That's a million dollar question. He was supposed to come home after school to run this place, but never showed. Now I'm stuck running it when I could be in the back with this." Ethan held up a bottle of wine.
Cassie took the bottle and broke it on the table causing Ethan to look at her. "Get your life straightened out and stop putting everything on top of Adam. You're his father. You're supposed to take care of him. Not the other way around. You think my mom would have wanted you to do this." Cassie walked away leaving Ethan standing there shocked.
The blonde witch stormed out of the Boathouse followed by her sister, her older brothers, and Jake. "Cassie, you just said what everyone has wanted to say to Ethan for years. Congratulations," Diana said with a smile.
"So, where is player boy?" Lucas asked.
"Ethan doesn't know. Makes me think we're all right. Adam and Faye have the book. " Cassie said. "Adam wouldn't just abandon the Boathouse for no reason. They're up to something."
"Let's use a spell to find them," Ryder suggested.
"NO," Jake, Cassie and Diana said at the same time shocking the boys.
"That would take up to much time. The two are up to something," Diana said. "They probably went back to the abandoned house if they're doing a spell. All the herbs and stuff they would need would be there." Cassie and Jake agreed and the five of them started to walk away, but Jake held Cassie back.
"By the way Cassie. You were amazing in there," Jake whispered to her.
Cassie smiled at the compliment. "Um... Thanks. It was nothing." Jake smiled at Cassie and then walked ahead to catch up with the other three. Cassie stared for a minute and then ran after them.
TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC
Faye was chanting, the endless latin-esque words falling from her lips. She felt like she was in a trance. She couldn't even really tell what she was saying anymore, just that they were full of power.
She wanted to stop. They'd been at it for nearly thirty minutes and her whole body felt drained. She knew it was from the amount of magical energy the spell needed.
She continued anyway, until she saw the tiny black tendrils in the skull, whirling about ominously. "Adam…?"
"What?" he stopped his chanting to glare at her. "Faye, I don't think we should be stopping right now, what if the spell fails?"
"Look."
He glanced at the skull and nodded. "It means the spell is working, I'll bet." As if to prove his point the little black tendrils began to fade, folding in on themselves. He shot her an annoyed look and picked up his chanting where he'd left off.
TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC
When they arrived at the abandoned house, the five split up to search the house fast. There were calls of not here and no and empty. "There's no one here," Diana finally said. "Where could they have gone?"
Everyone looked around, but no one had an answer and no one knew what to do. Cassie took out her cell phone. "Who are you calling? I don't think Adam or Faye will answer." Jake said.
"I'm not calling them. We need help." Cassie said as she pushed send and waited for the only person she trusted to help to answer.
"Cassie," Dawn said when she answered. "What's going on?"
"I need your help. We need your help," Cassie said. "We got way too far over our heads and we need you now."
"Okay," Dawn said a little confused. "Tell me what's wrong." So Cassie explained about the other four Balcoins siblings coming to town, about Mr. Sanders being a creeper, about Adam and Faye's strange new relationship, and finally about the Balcoin Book of Shadows going missing and about believing Faye and Adam took it. It felt good to finally tell Dawn everything that was going on and Cassie realized she should have done it sooner.
"I wished you'd come to me sooner, but am glad you finally told me." Dawn said. "But Faye's not here. I haven't seen her since this morning. We haven't been really talking lately."
"Since you told her you'd prefer me as a daughter?" Cassie asked.
"What? Did Faye tell you that?" Dawn asked.
"Yes."
"That's not what I said. I love you Cassie and would be happy if you were my daughter, but all I said was you were more well behaved then Faye." There was a paused for a moment. "I've got to force that girl to listen to me when we find her."
"What should we do?" Cassie asked.
"You, Diana, Jake, and your older brothers continue looking for Faye and Adam. I'm going to call an old friend and then start looking myself."
"Okay," Cassie said. "And Dawn." Cassie added before Dawn could hang up. "Thank you."
"For what?" Dawn asked.
"For everything. For being there for me. For being like a mother to me. You're the closest thing I have to a parent right now and just... Well thank you."
There was no respond for a while. "Cassie, it's the least I can do. Amelia was a good friend. I should have been there for you sooner." The two were silent. "Now go find Adam and Faye."
The two hung up and then Cassie looked at the other. "We're going to continue looking. Dawn is going to call an old friend and then look too."
"So where do we look?" Lucas said angry.
"The woods," Diana said and everyone looked at her. "They're not here, so the only other place I can think that they would cast a spell is in the woods. Surrounded by nature and all that stuff you know." Everyone nodded and walked out of the abandoned house.
"When we find those two I don't care about any truce. I'm going to kill them," Lucas said to Ryder but, everyone heard him. Cassie used her magic to knock Lucas on his butt. The boy gave Cassie a look.
"They're part of our Circle. We'll take care of them when we find them and you'll help if we need it. You will not be killing them." Cassie said clearly getting angry. Lucas looked ready to attack Cassie, but Ryder put a hand on his shoulder. Cassie was standing facing them with Diana and Jake by her side. They were outnumbered and out powered. This was not worth a fight and all they could get from this encounter was probably nothing.
"Of course," Ryder said deciding to defuse the situation. "Lucas just loses his temper at times. I'm sure you can understand that." Cassie choose not to respond to that. She did sometimes lose her temper. "We'll let you handle you're Circle members and help in any way you need. Of course we get what was stolen from us. That is rightfully ours."
"The Balcoin Book of Shadows rightfully belongs to all of us, so we'll see about returning it to you." Cassie said and Ryder nodded deciding it was best not to argue. He would get what he wanted after all. He was sure of it.
Cassie started to walk into the wood followed by Jake and Diana. Ryder and Lucas paused for a minute and then followed the others into the woods.
TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC
When they finished the spell, the two were quiet for a moment. Neither of them knew what to expect but they knew that this was the thing they had to do. As soon as they had finished chanting the black smoke had disappeared.
"Do you think we stopped too soon?" Faye asked, but started coughing as black smoke filled the air. The smoke seemed to be coming from the eye sockets, nose, mouth and bottom of the skull. But because of the amount that was coming out they could barely see what was happening.
"It's working," Adam coughed and Faye was slightly confused, this wasn't the outcome she was expecting from the spell.
The smoke had started to die down and Faye gasped when she saw flesh starting to form on the skull, looking over to Adam she saw his look of shock. Once the head formed it seemed to rise into the air, a body forming underneath it. Arms and legs formed out of the smoke escaping the torso and Faye and Adam backed off a little.
This was most definitely not what they had been expecting, the skull wasn't alive. Well it hadn't been but now it seemed it was and it had a body. They watched in shock and slight awe as the skull continued to form into what looked like a normal human being.
As soon as the body was completely formed the 'skull' opened its eyes which automatically locked on Adam and Faye. Adam quickly moved in front of Faye. He didn't trust this thing, it must have been the skull and it was up to something again. But this time it wasn't going to hurt them.
The smirk that the 'skull' sent their way scared Adam and Faye. Every step it took towards them they took back until Faye's back was up against a tree and Adam's back was pressed against Faye's front. It then watched them still with the smirk on its face before raising a hand slightly then moving it back down causing both Adam and Faye to crumple to the ground.
"Thanks," It said before walking through the trees towards the town.
Around ten minutes later, Adam started stirring, feeling a dull pain in her left shoulder. Opening his eyes he looked around at the floor of the forest before he saw all the herbs and the Balcoin book open on the floor. Sitting up he looked around seeing Faye lying next to him still out of it. He leant down beside her and shook her slightly,
"Faye," he said quietly. "Faye come on, wake up."
After a minute or so, Faye groaned slightly finding it hard to wake up, she felt like she had no energy at all. Finally getting the motivation she opened her eyes and frowned slightly as Adam's face hovering above her.
"What happened?" she asked quietly, not remembering what had happened at all.
"I'm not sure," he told her. "Last thing I remember is the skull moving towards us."
"Not much of a skull anymore," she said to him with a small laugh as she tried to sit up with Adam's help. "I feel drained," she told him, and Adam nodded.
"I know what you mean," he told her as they both leant up against trees.
"What do you think it did to us?" She asked him.
"Well, all I know is it tricked us."
"Yeah but tricked us into what?" Faye asked. "The skull now has a body and it can move and do whatever it wants, including knocking us out and making us feel like crap."
"I don't know Faye!" Adam almost shouted. He was getting irritated and he was so angry that they had let the skull trick them "Maybe we should tell the others..."
"No way," Faye said, shocked. "Can you imagine what they would say to us? We would never live it down."
"Then what do we do?"
"I don't know, okay?"
TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC
"Okay, your turn, truth or dare?" A girl on the screen said
"Truth." Dylan predicted
"Truth"
"Told ya." Dylan smiled
"Do you want to make out with Benji Swartz?" Two of the girls laughed
"Dare." She changes her pick
"Okay, lame. You have to...say "Bloody Mary" in the bathroom."
"Is that the best you can come up with?" The dared girl asked.
"This episode is going to be lame!" Claire whined.
"It's not that bad." Melissa assured.
"Anyone want popcorn?" Dylan asked.
"Yes!" the girls said in unison.
"No turning on the lights, and remember...three times." the voice of the first girl came back as Dylan went into the kitchen. The Dared girl walked into the bathroom with the candle setting it down in front of the mirror.
"Bloody Mary. This is so stupid. Bloody Mary."
"I agree, this is stupid." Claire complained again.
"Oh come on! You're the one who wanted this show."
"But not this episode!" Claire laughed
"Fine fine, we can skip the episode once Dylan gets back."
"Good! Because the shape shifter episode is next!"
"I coming with the popcorn!" Dylan said walking into the room, but he suddenly stopped, and looked as if he were in pain a bit. Both Claire and Melissa jumped up, but as Dylan fell, so did Claire. Popcorn flew everywhere as Melissa leant down next to the kids and tried to rouse them.
TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC
"So why did you lie about your name?" Ryder asked Diana as they continued to walk. Diana gave Ryder a look.
"Seriously, you don't know?" Diana said and Ryder appeared clueless. "How about the fact that you attacked my sister? Or kidnapped and tried to kill one of my best friends because you thought she was me? Is any of this ringing a bell?"
Ryder thought it over and then nodded. "Okay, you have a good point. We didn't exactly come off as brotherly." Ryder then laughed. "Changing your name and lying to us. It was very sneaky on the part of you two. I think I'm really starting to like my two little sisters." Ryder put an arm around Diana and messed up her hair.
"Hey," Diana yelled and pushed Ryder away with her magic and into a tree.
"Oh I'm going to get you," Ryder yelled but it seemed more playful then angry.
"You're going to have to catch me first and I know these woods better then you do." Diana ran into the wood with Ryder chasing her and Lucas not far behind them. Cassie and Jake just looked on and laughed.
"We still have to find Adam and Faye," Jake yelled after them and then turned to Cassie. "Is it me or are we getting a little too close to the evil older brothers."
"Hey enemy of my enemy is my friend and right now Faye and Adam are the enemy." Cassie said. "I don't think they're going to hurt Diana right now. They need us and Diana can take care of herself. Besides we're not far behind them if Diana needs help."
"I guess. This just feels wrong somehow." Jake said and then looked at Cassie. The wind had blown Cassie's hair into her face and the girl was trying her hardest to keep it out of her eyes. It wasn't working that well because every time she moved it the wind kept blowing it back. Jake laughed at the sight and thought of how cute Cassie was. "You should put your hair up in a ponytail. It would keep it out of your eyes."
Cassie gave Jake a look. "Yeah, but I don't think I would look good with a ponytail."
Jake had to disagree. He could just picture Cassie with her hair up and thought she would look great. "I think you would look good." Jake said and Cassie turned around. Jake noticed that Cassie blushed. Why would she blush at that comment? Then Jake remembered Diana talking to him the other night. Diana had said he might have a chance with Cassie. Did the blush mean Cassie liked him? Jake had to find out.
He put his hand on Cassie's shoulder and turned the girl around to look at him. He didn't give Cassie a chance to speak as Jake bent down and kissed Cassie right on the lips. Cassie was shocked at first, but quickly got into it and kissed Jake back. The two kissed until they needed to part for air.
"Jake I..." Cassie never finished what she was about to say. For a second her face looked like she was in pain and then she fell to the floor. At the same time Jake heard three other thuds ahead of them.
"Cassie," Jake said shocked and turned Cassie over. "Cassie." Jake shook the girl, but she wasn't waking up. Jake picked Cassie up and then went to find the other three. "Diana, something is wrong with..." Jake stopped when he got to the little clearing in the wood where Diana, Lucas, and Ryder had been goofing around a bit during their hunt for Adam and Faye. All three of them were on the floor unconscious. Ryder was halfway on top of Diana and Lucas wasn't far from the both of them.
Jake put Cassie down on a grassy part of the clearing and kissed her on top of the head. Then he went to check on the other three. Jake moved Ryder off of Diana and pushed the boy away not caring if he hurt him. Jake was very sure Ryder hit something hard, but the boy didn't wake up and try to kill Jake.
"Diana," Jake said shaking the girl, but got the same responded as Cassie, which was nothing. The girl didn't wake up. Jake looked around at the two boys. He doubted he would be able to get them up either and then Jake remembered the three thuds he had heard the same time Cassie had fainted. All four Balcoins had fainted at the same time! "What the hell is going on?" Jake said out loud to himself, but the only thing that responded to him was the birds in the trees.
Anon review replies:
Guest: They might get hurt, you never know. As for the couples, those are possibly going to change.
Olivia: We have plans and plotlines for a season three, so most likely we'll write it. Glad you like what we've done so far :)
CAKE: haha well I'm glad you like them together :) yeah, they are the Delena of TSC (another good couple, by the way. TVD is such an amazing show, and apparently Phoebe Tonkin, who played Faye Chamberlain, is joining the TVD cast!)
Guest: here's the next chapter :) sorry it's a day late
