I do NOT OWN the rights for the books, characters, settings, etc. They are all owned by LJ Smith and The CW. Any typos and other mistakes are mine.

Warning: This story deals with depression and other triggers. Read at your own risk, but stop reading if it bothers you.

Trigger warning: anxiety attack.

Cassie Blake walked away from the fireplace, thinking how much more powerful she could really be. Smirking at the possibilities, she looked through her book of shadows. She teleported to one of the places she once lived at and walked around, feeling nostalgic when she actually first learned about magic. It wasn't from Diana and the circle, but from a certain vampire/werewolf hybrid who was in Mystic Falls. Klaus and Greta taught her everything she knew after she accidentally killed someone and found Greta nearby. She helped her and introduced her to Klaus who also taught her more about her magic. The two of them made sure Cassie was able to use her powers easily and not have unanswered questions. The blond witch was amazed, but also worried and a little terrified since her mom never found out about it. Cassie eventually moved away from Mystic falls over the next couple of years, but stayed in touch with both of them. No one knew that Klaus had mentored the blond witch and he preferred for it to stay that way since he and his family had a lot of enemies.

Cassie sighed at the memories when everything was still easy due to still having her mother around at the time. Now she didn't have anyone. Her circle was split, she didn't have a boyfriend, her parents and grandmother were all dead and she was all alone with no one in Chance Harbor, which is why she went back to Mystic Falls. She walked around town and noticed nothing had changed in the years she's been gone. She didn't think being forced to move around, for what her mom believed Cassie didn't know about when Greta and Klaus told Cassie about her witch heritage before Amelia could, and into a circle she didn't want to be a part of was fair at all. She blamed Diana for most of it. Now that she didn't have the circle, she was able to perform even more powerful magic than before without the others knowing about it.

She teleported back home and got something to eat before she went to bed. Luckily, she was off for two days and had some time to herself. She went to her room, looking through her book of shadows for anything that could help her. After she didn't find anything, Cassie smirked as she used magic to change her clothes. Now wearing a black low cut shirt, black mini skirt and high heeled boots, she felt better and even dyed her hair.

She was tired of people who visited or lived in the house dying on her-Nick, Amelia and her grandmother-so she was full of anger for the death of her mom and grandmother along with her sister's choice to who leave town to chase a fucking fairytale that didn't exist almost right after Jane died and left Cassie to deal with that all on her own. She missed her mom and Jane, but they were both dead; her father was dead and that was confusing for her since he was evil, but still her dad; she was furious with almost everyone except Nick-who is also dead-and Melissa. Why did Diana get to chase a fairytale and ignore her responsibilities as a circle member when her life is falling apart and she has to stay in town? It wasn't fair. If anyone deserves to chase a fairytale and flee town because of their problems, it was her. She's lost the most out of all of them. Jake and Nick lost their parents. She did too. Jake and the circle lost Nick. She did too even though she never really know him. Faye lost a grandparent. She did as well. Cassie lost her normal life while it took Diana and the others a year to get used to it and Jake two years. It was all too much for her.

She read her book of shadows while she laid down on her bed. Sighing, she couldn't stop thinking about what happened since she moved here. She rolled over in her bed and started crying, not knowing how she could fix everything. She felt helpless and alone. She couldn't sleep, so she stayed up and wondered who would be able to replace Diana.

The circle leader went downstairs and smirked before she teleported a notebook to her and a pen. Sitting down at the kitchen table, she opened it up to the first blank page. "Find a 6th circle member, figure out everything regarding the Balcoins-who they are, if they are like Diana or Blackwell, etc-and try keeping the circle together." She said to herself as she wrote it down before she erased the last part. Instead, she wrote over it. "Have FUN this summer."

Smirking, she put the pen down and the notebook up before going to the abandoned house and practicing magic for hours before she decided to study to keep her mind off things by trying to learn as much as she could, looking through her books, class notebooks filled with notes and reviews packets for each subject she had to do. It was so boring, but a smirk appeared on her face as she got an idea.

Lost for now, soon to be found, review answers come unbound, she thought. The answers appeared instantly and she copied the answers exactly the same way as she moved her hand to make it look legitimate as possible. Smirking to herself, she finished quickly and decided to used magic on herself to remember everything on the exams so she'd definitely pass without trouble.

She also decided to keep the test answers hidden underneath her pop quiz when it was time to take it. She put everything back into her bag and felt extremely confident, so she practiced her magic some more.

The Secret Circle

Everyone studied whenever they could until the day of the pop quiz rolled around. The four of them were in chemistry together and were handed their tests.

Cassie had her test review underneath hers with the answers revealed only to her. She wrote them down as if she was really doing it on her own, but what everyone didn't know is that she was using magic to fly through it and pretended to take her time.

By the time she was done, a little over half the class was still doing theirs. She was able to do whatever she wanted without disturbing the others who were still working on theirs, so she took out her journal and wrote her experiences down about being in the circle.

She sighed and got lost in her thoughts after she was done writing. It felt weird being in school without Nick around. She wished she could take it all back, but she couldn't. Tears came to her eyes as she had flashbacks of Melissa being possessed before the demon took hold of Nick and it got him killed which reminded her of everything that happened after than and the memories reminded her that she was now more alone than ever. She tried to control the tears, but couldn't. She sniffled as tears threatened to spill and her breathing got all shaky.

"Cassie, are you okay?" Her teacher asked.

Not able to speak, she ran out the door and left everything behind, using her magic to cloak the pages of her journal so no one could read it if anyone tried.

She ran into the bathroom and wiped her tears away while laying her hands on the edge of the sink and leaning her head down with her eyes closed.

"Cassie, are you okay?" Melissa asked, walking in. The former blond didn't get any sleep the past two days, let alone the past couple of months, and would cover the dark circles-no pun intended-under her eyes with makeup. She's been so busy dealing with circle business and working, that she's barely been able to sleep, let alone think straight.

"Yeah. I'm fine." She replied, raising her head up and going back to class which ended a few minutes later and she was the first out the door. "Cassie, wait." Melissa said, going after her, but the Blake girl didn't care. She just wanted to be left alone and went to her next class, doing the same thing with her review hidden under the test with the answers visible only to her.

Cassie felt confident she passed the 2 pop quizzes. Melissa caught up with her and Diana looked at them.

"Cassie." Melissa said as the former blond walked to her car later that day, not wanting to stay at school the next day or near her circle anymore than she had to. The youngest member of the circle grabbed the coven leader by the arm.

"Let me go!" Cassie yelled, glaring at her, pulling away from Melissa who stared back with an sympathetic expression on her face. At first, the last Balcoin in town tried to control her anger towards anyone and everyone, but now it was more difficult since she started using her power, especially her dark magic, for almost anything and everything. She wore the same outfit she did right after Diana left. Cassie wanted to go home and back to sleep, forgetting everything for awhile. Diana pissed her off because of the binding ceremony, not wanting to be her sister and putting Grant above the circle when they have the Balcoins to deal with. Jake pissed her off because he acted like he was interested at first and then acted like it was nothing the next, Adam because he keeps going through every girl in the circle as if they are his own little toys to play with until he got bored or found something else. She was also pissed at herself for not being with her mom the night Amelia died, not being able to save Nick nor her grandmother. Blackwell would have shown up with or without her and he would have probably forced his way into the circle if she didn't invite him in regardless of how good an actor he was.

The Secret Circle

Jake woke up later that day and sighed, wondering what was in that vial his grandfather left for him. Sighing, he heard Cassie on her cell phone since they were across from each other.

"Yeah, sure. I'll meet you there." She replied before going downstairs and driving off.

The oldest member of the circle wondered if Cassie was okay since the only times she really spoke to any of her fellow witches were during circle meetings. What happened to staying together even if we aren't bound?

He texted her and waited for a reply, but none came. Sighing, Jake put his phone down and shook his head before continuing to try and figure out the vial.

Secret Circle

Adam was at the boathouse in the back room, holding the crystal skull and feeling it's power flow through him as it made him stronger. Shaking his head, he got back to work and walked back to the front room of the boathouse. He took orders and sighed, wishing he could get back to the skull so he could bury it, but it would have to wait.

He wondered if Cassie would be okay by herself in that house, hoping Diana was alright since she left town with a guy they barely knew and worried about Melissa after Nick died a second time.

The Secret Circle

Cassie was practicing magic and learned a few tricks before she was asleep in her bed, tossing and turning as the same nightmares of Amelia, Nick and Jane dying flashed through her mind once again. She never had a chance to grieve for any of them since she had to move almost right after her mom died and that was before the circle took over her life almost since she moved to Chance Harbor; dealing with witch hunters, more demons and everything else, like ghost covens, her dad coming back and Kate trying to kill her, she didn't have time to grieve for Nick or Jane either. Sure, she may not have known them for very long, Nick the least between the two, but that didn't mean that she didn't care about someone she hardly knew after spending some time together since Amelia never talked about her life in this town and Nick was a loner even though he had the circle around. Losing both of his parents when he was a baby and then his brother leaving town when Jake was 17 and Nick was 15 was messed up, so it's understandable why he preferred to be alone when it wasn't related to circle business or him being involved with Melissa later on.

The circle leader tried to get comfortable, but she couldn't. It seemed almost impossible for her now that she felt more alone than before. No longer having the circle around and with almost all of her family members gone with the exception of Diana, since she didn't know Blackwell's other children, she didn't know what she would do for the rest of the summer.

Cassie woke up and got out of bed, going downstairs, and headed to the kitchen for a drink. Once she was done, she went to the abandoned house and practiced the spells she learned all day until she got tired just before dark.

The Secret Circle

Someone was watching from the shadows with an unreadable expression before walking away.