15

Note: The show has really turned a corner, and negates most of what I've written. So I am branding this as AU from here on in.

[Faye]

Faye marched up to Karin and got right in her face. "How could you?" she said with thinly veiled fury. "You Balcoins just waltz into town and make up lies, and everyone believes you."

Karin's dark eyes held not a hint of guile. "You know it's true, Faye."

Adam's husky voice cut in. "What's true?"

Faye rounded on him. "What, she hasn't spilled her guts? I wonder why."

"Tell me," Adam pleaded, looking deep into Faye's eyes with an emphatic nod.

"My grandfather...was murdered."

"But I thought..."

Faye speared a finger at Karin. "Yeah, well, this bitch thinks my Mom and Charles killed him."

Karin said, "Actually, Dawn gets all the credit."

"Liar." Something inside Faye snapped and she launched herself at Karin, only to find herself pushed aside by an unseen force. With a hiss, she clawed the air but was held fast by a powerful hold. "Let me go," she shouted.

"Only if you settle down," Karin said with folded arms and a stony expression.

"You did this?" Faye was stunned, for the sassy librarian obviously was holding out on them. "You don't practice, so how is this even possible?"

Karin loosened her mental grip and fixed Faye with an arrogant stare. "I'm a Balcoin. We all have power."

Faye finally felt Karin release her completely, and she sagged against one of the tables. "So I've seen," she said with a raised eyebrow.

"I know you don't believe me, but Dawn and Charles are practicing again," Karin said. "I've not only seen it, I've felt it when they used the crystal."

"Crystal?" Faye already thought the woman was hopping mad, but this was beyond crazy. "No way. I would know if my Mom had one."

"Just like you feel the power of my crystal?" Karin reached into her satchel and fetched a Crown Royal bag. She opened its strings and dumped out a multi-faceted topaz into her palm. It started glowing as she stared down at it, and flared like a supernova as light shot all around them, whirling faster and faster as she spoke. "It focuses power like a lens. We all have them."

Adam asked, "Maybe that used to be true, but you and Jane are the only people I've seen with crystals."

The light dropped to a dull throbbing blue ember in Karin's palm. "That's because the elders in Chance Harbor destroyed the crystals they could find, and stripped your parents of their powers."

Faye and Adam looked at Ethan and he nodded. "It's true."

Cassie looked down and seemed like she could care less. Then she said, "But some obviously survived."

Karin put her crystal away. "I know of at least two, and possibly three."

"And how do you know this?" Faye asked , still smarting from her comeuppance.

"Because the elders have them. Last I knew, Jane, Henry, and Kate Meade had them."

Faye watched Adam's eyes swivel over to Cassie, who was acting a bit too cool for Faye's liking.

"Your grandmother used that crystal on Nick. Did she say anything more about how it works?" Adam asked.

Cassie shrugged, remembering her Gran's words about having to protect her circle. "Nope. She hid it away and hasn't brought it up since."

Faye could easily sniff out a lie. "If you say so," she said with a challenge in her voice. "So, Cassie, why didn't you tell us you and Karin were cousins?"

Cassie straightened with glacial blue eyes. "Where would you get such a crazy idea, Faye?"

"From Rissa. She actually had a lot to say on the subject. Like did you know John Blackwell had three brothers?"

Cassie frowned. "It's not on the family tree."

"So what? You're really going to believe some rotting old piece of paper over a bonafide psychic?" Faye smirked as Cassie looked over at Karin for confirmation. "Go ahead, Karin, spill."

"My father is Simon Balcoin, and yes, he's John's brother," Karin said in a quiet tone.

Cassie's eyes were bright with tears. "Oh my God, we're first cousins? How many more of you are there?"

"Myself, Rob, and Rissa. She's Will's daughter."

"So I have uncles and aunts?" Cassie was warming slightly to the subject.

Karin shook her head. "They're all dead. John slaughtered them."

Faye shuddered inwardly. "Is that all?"

"I'm afraid not." Karin opened her hands in supplication and looked at Cassie. "Your mother's death was no accident."

Cassie's mouth opened slightly. "No, that can't be. They ruled out arson."

"It wasn't arson, it was...Charles Meade murdered her."

"Oh my God." Cassie started to sway and would have fallen if Adam hadn't caught her.

Suddenly the door to the Boathouse slammed shut and they saw a figure fleeing into the night. Faye saw a white SUV peel out of the parking lot, and realized Diana had heard every word. "This night just gets better and better," Faye said to no one in particular. When she saw the grownups and Adam fussing over Cassie, she knew her job was done and it was time to move on and ruin someone else's night. Perhaps a visit to Diana was in order, for it seemed that both their parents were stone cold killers and it was possibly the only thing they had in common.