26

Cassie told her grandmother she wasn't feeling well, and Jane called the school without blinking. She seemed to be in automatic mode as she prepared coffee and read her paper. Shortly after 10, Karin and Rob arrived, along with news about their cousin Rissa.

"I'm sorry." What else could she say? She didn't even know her now dead cousin.

"Thanks." Karin looked around as if to sniff the air. "You've had unwelcome visitors."

"Plural?"

Karin touched the banister. "Rissa was here. And so was Dawn Chamberlain."

At this rate, everyone in town would be accused of B&E. Cassie sighed and pulled out her sketch. "Do you know what this is?"

"It helps channel dark magic. Which tells me John Blackwell was involved."

This was getting better by the moment. "My crystal and Book of Shadows were taken."

"Dawn took the crystal."

"That explains a lot."

"How so?"

"Faye was flashing it around last night."

Karin rolled her eyes. "To what end?"

"Oh, she felt like it would help the circle fight the witch hunters."

"Really? So it has nothing to do with solo magic?"

That was all Faye cared about. "I think she was just showing off."

Karin nodded. "As to your Book of Shadows, they found it with Rissa's body. And I'm afraid the police have it right now."

Cassie couldn't be hearing that right. "Oh my God, this is bad."

"This wasn't supposed to happen, but it can't be helped. They'll release it to us as soon as they rule her death a suicide."

Things were never that simple. "Wasit...a suicide?"

"It looks that way," Karin said with a shrug that spoke volumes.

"I know this sounds crazy, but maybe my...John Blackwell was responsible."

"That's entirely possible, but nothing we can prove."

And there would be no point in bringing it up when the cops came around, as they inevitably would. "Right. So, do you have everything?"

Rob dug into his satchel and brought out a huge red crystal. It glowed like Sauron's eye, and Cassie felt instantly creeped out. "What is that?"

"The Balcoin crystal. And soon it will be yours."

Karin watched Cassie shrink into herself, hands dug deep into her pockets. She wanted nothing to do with the crystal, and who could blame her? It was a throbbing mass of Big Bad in a pretty wrapper, but even that was marred. When you looked into it, you'd almost swear someone was leering back at you.

Her theory was that Balcoin's power wasn't the only thing trapped in there, but she wasn't about to mind meld with a crystal to figure this out. If the old bastard was fossilized in stone, then he deserved to stay there. And that was fine with Karin, for she had more than enough power at her disposal.

Unfortunately, the spell required to help Jane was a dark one, and they needed to tap the crystal to pull it off. It was either that, or major blood sacrifice, and Karin was having none of that. She'd cut herself enough over the years in the name of helping Rob, and the most she'd do today was cut her hand for a few drops. Jane and Rob also needed to add to the blood store, and then they'd close things off. Karin instructed Cassie to draw the circle and leave enough space for everyone to come through before she completed it. Cassie watched as Karin cleansed the air with sage, offering it to all four directions before dousing it in sea water. She started lighting colored candles at different points on the circle, leaving the final dark purple sconce for last.

"Please get Jane," she said softly.

Jane followed Cassie without argument and stepped into the circle. "Why are we doing this?" she asked, her eyes bright with confusion.

"To repair things," Karin said gently.

"Who did this to me?"

"Some very bad people," Rob answered, beckoning for them to enter the circle.

Cassie stepped in and closed up the circle and happened to look up. On the ceiling was a faint after image of the symbol carved in her door. She raised questioning eyes to Karin, who shook her head. "Let's do this," Karin said, taking the stone from her brother and nearly fainting as its energy pulsed through her and out to Jane.

Rob started chanting in Latin, Gaelic, and Old Norse, calling on benevolent deities that could aid them. Cassie's eyes widened when a white shape materialized and dove into Karin. When Karin turned, her obsidian eyes were the starless black of the darkest night. She placed one hand in the blood and swirled it around, then traced a pattern on Jane's forehead. Placing one hand on the crystal, she cupped Jane's face with the other.

Joining her brother, she chanted along, then veered into harsh, dark words that burned the air as she uttered them. Cassie recognized it as a form of German, and her mouth opened when fire flamed into life over Jane's head. It started as orange before morphing into green, and ending with blue, which Cassie realized was Karin's essence. It was the same light she'd seen the other night from Karin's fake crystal, which made her wonder what she could believe anymore.

The torrent of words went on, droning on so long that Cassie started to feel sleepy. But Karin had warned her to be on her guard, for any entity that passed through could take her over if she wasn't careful. After an interminable time, there was a loud pop and the dark purple candle flared up, its flames shooting up a good six feet before subsiding back to a normal burn.

Karin's head came up and she looked at Cassie with a nod. "It's done."

Rob scuffed out the circle as Cassie asked, "Did it work?" She looked over at her grandmother, who looked ready to rock.

"Only time will tell, but I think so. Jane showed me a lot of things, and I was able to clean out the cobwebs."

Jane stopped suddenly and looked around her with a clarity that Cassie hadn't seen in almost a month. "What's going on here, Cassie? Why aren't you in school?"

"I wanted to spend time with you today, Grandma," Cassie said, a tiny smile blooming on her face as she watched Jane stretch.

"That's sweet," Jane said, ruffling Cassie's hair slightly. "I feel like I've been asleep for a thousand years."

She exchanged glances with Karin and Rob and looked over at Cassie. "Were these folks responsible for restoring my mind?"

Cassie was amazed that her grandmother seemed to know exactly what had gone down. "Yes, Grandma. They were a big help."

Jane smiled at Karin. "Thank you. I know this was hard for you."

A thin trail of blood flowed from Karin's hand as she finished cleaning up. "Yes, but it was worth it. You saw who did this to you, didn't you?"

"It was Charles Meade and Dawn Chamberlain. They didn't like the questions I was asking, and I obviously got too close to something. I think they killed Henry Chamberlain too."

Karin nodded. "That is correct. I shared my visions with you."

Cassie wasn't sure she believed what she was hearing. "Do I have these abilities too?"

Rob interjected. "All the Balcoins do. Karin has the most, but with your heritage, you'll surpass us all someday."

Cassie was sure the O of her mouth was a perfect flytrap. "And what if I don't want to?"

Karin came forward and touched her shoulder. "It has chosen you, Cassie. You can't turn away from it."

That was pretty much what Adam had told her after chem class on that day when she'd shattered beakers, so it must be true. With a feigned smile, she thanked the Balcoins and breathed a sigh of relief when they left her and her grandmother at peace.