CHAPTER #57

John via Adam found out from Chris that none of them had done the magic the previous night. So that left Cassie. He was please that she was using the dark magic more, he could manipulate that. No one except Zane, knew that John was still alive and possessing Adam. He could control them all like puppets, to do as he had always wanted. Together they would kill the elders and then no one would ever be able to stop them. There was one thing that he had to determine; who was magically stronger, Cassie or Zane? Cassie was a month older than Zane, which gave her a slight advantage. Yet she had ancient good and evil blood in her, where as Zane was completely consumed by dark magic. His son had a lot of the same beliefs and goals. They were so much a like, they could be brothers, other than the obvious reasons why they were not. His son had no morals, had no boundaries. If he thought sleeping with one of his sisters gave him an advantage, he'd do it. In some ways, John believed that his son had a darker soul than he had.

Due to Diana's renewed interest in Adam, Melissa was hovering around Adam a lot more. That gave Adam very little time with the skull, which annoyed John in return. John's original plan had been to manipulate Diana through Adam, but that had changed. He needed her to redirect her attention to some other guy, so Melissa would stop being so territorial. Using Adam, he decided to find out if there were any other guys in town that Diana had interest in. Eventually John found out that Diana had kissed some pizza guy on Valentine's day. Turns out that all the girls in town thought the guy was super hot. All he had to do, was get the guy in Diana's radar. A longer meeting with Zane was his next priority.

"Adam? Geeze you're not even listening to me. What's wrong with you lately?" Melissa complained.

John realized he'd taken over Adam for too long and let go of the consciousness. Every time that John let go of Adam, it took longer for Adam to come back. Melissa had shoved him this time, due to the lack of response.

"It's like you're not even home in your own head," she said.

"Sorry, I guess I gapped out again. I don't even remember what it was that I had on my mind," Adam apologized.

Melissa grew concerned. "How often does that happen?"

He shrugged, "a lot lately I guess."

"Maybe you're too stressed out, because of your dad still being gone." Melissa tried to offer comfort.

"Ya that's probably it. I've been really tired lately too."

She decided to talk to Jake and see how bad the restaurant was doing. If things were okay, then she'd suggest to Adam to maybe close earlier or for a full day. If things weren't good, she'd have to see if one of the remaining parents could help out. Either Dawn or her dad might be able to assist.

"Do you want me to come by tonight and help you close up? Since I'm your girlfriend I can do it for free, I don't mind." Melissa said.

Adam shook his head, "no it's okay. Jake is working close with me, so he'll help out." He didn't want Melissa to stay the night. The skull was giving him the energy to get out of bed every morning, he needed a session with it. When he was with the skull nothing in the world seemed to matter. His attachment to it, had to stay secret. He saw Melissa pout and gave her a hug. "Thanks for worrying about me. I'm okay really. We'll go to the movies tomorrow night, I'll leave the restaurant early."

"Okay that's a deal. No cancelling on me either, I don't care if you have to sleep through the movie."

Adam laughed, "I promise I won't cancel." He kissed her deeply and then smacked her ass as she went to leave.

He went to the skull, needing that boost it always gave him. The sensation of the energy that passed through his hands into his body, was similar to smashing his funny-bone against something. It was a little painful and yet felt good too. Re-juvinated by the darkness, he put the skull away and re-cloaked it. Then he went back into the restaurant. Jake arrived shortly after and they began to prep for the evening customers. He noticed Chris was a little late for his shift and that he'd have to talk to him about that. Jake and Chris were paid well and both got great tips, so they shouldn't have any complaints about working for him. Just as he was about to call Chris on the phone, he walked in.

"Sorry I'm late, Zane was being an asshole and wouldn't let me take the bike, so I had to hitch hike here," Chris explained. "You'd think since I'm one of the few family members bringing in cash, he'd be nicer… nope not him."

Adam nodded, "just get to it then."

Later that evening, Adam saw Zane arrive and sit by the bar. John possessed Adam's consciousness and asked to speak to Zane privately. He saw Chris watching them and knew that he'd assume that Adam was discussing Chris's lateness. Zane understood that it was John requesting to talk to him and not Adam, just by the things said and the slight personality changes. He followed Adam outside and they stood on the deck away from everyone.

"You need to work on getting Diana and Cassie to become part of the Balcoin circle. It needs to be bound, to protect against the elders," John whispered.

"Hey man, I'm doing my best. Cassie's begun to trust me a little, Diana's a piece of work. She's so self righteous it pisses me off." Zane complained with a venomous tone.

"Listen son, if you get her to use her dark magic in front of everyone, then she will have to face what she is. But do it so you're trying to help her, not judge her."

"Alright, whatever." Zane looked at him, "can you go and possess another body. This body is creeping me out."

"I plan to, but I need someone with power already in them. The transfer is very difficult. I should do it soon though, as Melissa is getting suspicious of Adam's memory loss."

Zane thought about it a moment, "why not jump into my body. We could then just talk in my head, instead of these private little meetings."

"No. I'll handle things, you focus on getting the family together."

At that moment Zane realized that if John transferred to his body, he would have less power. He needed someone that he could completely take over and manipulate. Adam was weak, so that's why John possessed him. He wondered who John would possess next, if he had to abandon Adam's body. Maybe he'd force John's exit, but for now he would leave it alone. John was still hiding something, but Zane couldn't figure out what it was.

"I've got to go back. Be nicer to Chris, let him use the motorcycle for a few days to come to work."

Zane went back into the restaurant and was served his diner order. Adam returned to the bar, where John released his hold on the consciousness. The rest of the night, went smoothly. Adam told Jake that he would be closing the restaurant early tomorrow night so he could go out with Melissa. Jake agreed it was a good idea, as their evening crowd was very low in attendance.

"Have you talked to your dad at all?" Jake asked Adam.

"He called and left a voicemail that he'd be gone a little longer. But nothing else."

"Shitty. At least for now you can run this place, but do you have college plans?"

Adam shook his head no, "when the witch hunters were after us, I stopped planning for the future. It's not like I can leave here anyway. We need to stick together. They're still out there and who knows what else could hunt us down."

"True and don't forget Charles is possessed by Eben's demons. Even if his mother could contain them in Charles, that's a lot of evil power in a man." Jake added and then took the order that was up, to the waiting table. When he came back he said, "we should have a circle meeting. Maybe tomorrow night after your movie date."

"Sure, send a text to everyone."

Jake did so and got replies from all the girls, that they would meet at the abandoned house at 9pm tomorrow. The rest of the night was slow, but they stayed open, since tomorrow they'd be closing early. After his shift was done, he offered Chris a ride home, but Zane showed up again and they left on the motorcycle. He drove home and sent a text to Cassie, to see if she wanted to meet up. She said that Diana was coming over, but he was welcome to join them. He declined and said he'd see her tomorrow.

What was bugging Jake was that it had been too quiet lately. None of Cassie's Balcoin blood half siblings were causing trouble, no witch hunters or demons coming after them and no elders reaching out to them either. Something was brewing for sure, he could feel it. The elders definitely would know by now that their grandchildren had and used magic. Why would the elders strip the magic of their children and not the grandchildren. Was it because John Blackwell was now dead? Were the elders scared of the crystal skull? Why wouldn't their grandparents contact them now that they all knew the truth about the boat fire and Blackwell? He personally knew the witch hunters had a council. Eben hadn't killed the council, so what were they waiting for? Were they regrouping after the deaths of so many members? Too many unanswered questions. It seemed the more they learned about magic and it's players, the more questions there were.

CHAPTER #58

Throughout the night on her date with Adam, Melissa noticed he stared out into space, was slow to respond to her and often just seemed to act strange. She was getting a weird feeling around him, like there was something wrong, but she didn't know what. She put it out of her mind, until their circle meeting. Once they were at the abandoned house, she pulled Jake aside and asked him if he'd noticed anything strange about Adam.

"Ya, he's been a bit forgetful lately. Sometimes even more angry than usual I guess. Why how long have you noticed the change in him?" Jake probed.

"Since Diana left at the start of summer. He seems to prefer to be alone, we don't spend much time together. When we do, he doesn't talk much or even look like he's home in his own head." Melissa said sadly.

Jake had a bad feeling come over him. "Have you talked to him about it or anyone else?"

Melissa nodded confirmation. "I talked to him about it, he said he sometimes can't remember things or he has periods of time that he doesn't know what he was doing during them. He said it's just stress and that he's tired."

Warning bells went off in Jake's head. He went to go look at his book of shadows and then cross referenced it with the information on the internet about possession. The more he read, the more alarmed he became. "Melissa don't talk to him about it again, or mention anything. He'll just get defensive. I'll look into it with Cassie. Don't worry, he'll be okay."

Melissa sighed with relief, "thanks Jake."

He texted Cassie, who had yet to arrive. 'Don't reveal much at the circle meeting tonight. Adam might be possessed by someone or something. I'll explain later at my house.'

Cassie read the text carefully, since she was driving and knew how dangerous it was to do that. She sent a quick reply, 'ok. Be there soon.'

Great just what they needed, Adam possessed by demons or someone. Did the thing or person possessing Adam know about the skull? And could they help Adam regain control, without killing him? Melissa would be devastated if another of her boyfriend's died from possession. They'd have to be very careful when trying to find out who or what possessed Adam. Cassie texted Jake, that they should engage Adam in discussion more, see if they could figure out what was going on.

By the time Cassie arrived, everyone else was already there. She could see there was still tension between Melissa and Diana, as they sat on separate sides of the room. "Does anyone know who the elders are? I thought it was all of our grandparents."

Faye stepped forward to voice her opinion. "I think you've got it right the first time. But it's hard to believe Jake's grandfather Royce Armstrong as part of the elders. No offence Jake, but he's nuts."

Jake nodded, "he may have been part of the elders, but I think he left their circle when my parents died."

"I think my grandmother Jane, was part of the elders. She knew so much about magic," Cassie contributed. "What about Kate Meade? Diana do you think your grandmother is an elder?"

Faye supported her theory, "yes she is definitely an elder. She tried to kill you Cassie, not just strip your magic. And someone killed my grandfather, so he must have been an elder too. He was like your grandmother Jane."

Diana said nothing about her grandmother but said instead, "James Conant must've been an elder too. He cloaked the crystal and he was the one that Cassie's mother turned to for help."

"So that means my grandmother must be an elder too. But no word from her at all, not even when I left a voicemail message about dad taking off and not coming back." Adam offered. "It's possible her husband, my other grandfather, could be an elder too."

Melissa patted his arm and said, " what about my Grandmother? Remember she had a crystal hidden with a bunch of other crystals. She's still out of town too."

Faye asked, "do you think that of the remaining elders, that they are in hiding? I mean of the seven we have figured out, maybe eight if Adam's other grandfather is and elder too, three are dead and one is semi-crazy."

"Good point," Adam said.

Jake asked, "Cassie do you have that scroll that show's your family tree here?"

She nodded and looked through a stack of papers. Then she pulled it out and gave it to Jake. "Why what are you thinking?"

"Well John Blackwell wasn't really part of our parent's circle. He came in later. What if he's not the only adult with Balcoin blood. Here," Jake stabbed the paper with his finger. "Samuel Blackwell. He's Diana and Cassie's paternal grandfather. If he was part of the elders too, maybe he's part of the plan."

"What do you mean? You think John Blackwell's father is the master mind behind everything?" Diana asked.

Jake nodded. "We don't know if he's alive or dead. It would explain why the other elders may be in hiding. It also would explain how easily it was for Blackwell to infiltrate our parents' circle and know about the other two circles, that are the parents of Zane and company."

Melissa frowned, "so now we have another Blackwell after us, one that is potentially even more dangerous than Cassie's father. He's going to be pissed that his son is dead. But if that's true, why hasn't he made himself known to Cassie or Diana?"

Adam nodded, "good question. But if he's trying to kill off the other members of his circle, that could explain why."

Diana brought everyone back to the start, "Cassie why did you ask about the elders?"

"Well something has been bothering me for a while. These all powerful elders, stripped our parents' powers, left them vulnerable to witch hunters. But we still have ours. They know we are practicing, they know Blackwell was in town and I bet they know he's dead. They must know about the skull. So is that why they've stayed away? If I was one of them, I would be in town trying to get things in control with my grandchildren." Cassie blurted.

Jake added, "and the witch hunters are still out there. They have a council too, I'm sure Eben and demon possessed Nick, didn't kill them all. They're too smart for that to happen. Is it just the skull keeping them at bay?"

"God my head hurts from all these questions. Why do we have to pursue it? Can't we just deal with it when it comes to us?" Diana complained.

Faye snorted, "like that has work so well for us in the past. Wake up Diana! We're witches! You, Cassie, Zane, Chris, Ben and Kate have bad blood in you. Those are the facts. Elders, demons and other witches want to either have your power or take it away. Hiding from what we are, what you are, is not the answer!"

Diana opened her mouth to say something, then shut it. She knew Faye was right and had nothing more to say.

Melissa suddenly said, "wait a minute. Your Balcoin blood. John Blackwell didn't loose his power when the elders stripped the power from the remaining parents. So that means maybe the Balcoin blood is too powerful. If that's the case, maybe that's why they haven't messed with the rest of us. That and the skull."

"I don't know about anyone else, but I have lists of questions I want answers to. I know this sounds like homework, but let's make a list of all our questions. If we can answer some of them, I know it would make me relax a little," Cassie suggested.

"Okay, why not." Adam got up and stretched. "I'm done and tomorrow is stock day. Melissa I'll give you a ride home. Faye are you going with Diana or coming with us?"

"I'll come with you two. Melissa and I will do some brain storming tonight," Faye winked.

"Fine then I'm leaving," Diana said.

"Jake, can you wait a minute before going?" Cassie asked.

Faye rolled her eyes and made smooching noises.

Jake shoved her towards the door, "get going you."

They heard Faye's laughter all the way outside. Once alone, Jake waited for Cassie to come to him. She pulled his face down to hers and gave him a long kiss. "We need to talk a little more about Adam." He said pulling away.

"You think something or someone is possessing him?"

"Yes. He seemed himself tonight, but lately I agree with Melissa, he's not normal." Jake looked down at her.

Cassie sighed, "do you think he's using the skull? Maybe it's influencing him. I mean I felt like it was alive when I touched it. We've let him keep it, because he's the only one who can cloak it."

"This isn't Lord of the Rings Cassie. No I think it's real possession. Maybe Zane or one of your half siblings, trying to get information from our private meetings?"

"Or demons," Cassie frowned.

"No I don't think so. Eben had all the demons in him and Charles took them into him."

"Shit. How much do you think they now know?" Cassie swore.

"I don't know. If any of them knew about the skull, they would have taken it away from Adam by now," Jake deducted.

Cassie nodded, "Zane would've used it on us by now. So then who is possessing him? And what do we do about it?"

"I wish I could answer you. Maybe if we have you try and go into Adam's mind, you might be able to find out. I'll work on a spell, do you have anything of Adam's?"

She thought a moment, "I think so, if not I will have Melissa get us something."

"I know we have to keep this quiet. But we'll help Adam, don't worry, he's not Nick."

Cassie went into Jake's arms. "We just can't seem to get a break. But when I'm with you, I feel safe."

"Together we are stronger than all this shit. Don't give up Cassie."

"I won't. It's always going to be us against them."