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stayed beside him, looking more like a wolf than a dog, and none of the chaperons said a word of

objection.

"You know what happens tonight," a voice murmured, breath warm on Cassie's neck.

Cassie said, "What, Faye?" without turning around.

"Well, the coven leaders who represent the goddess Diana and the horned god have to make an alliance.

They have to . . ." Faye paused delicately. ". . . merge, shall we say? To represent the union of male and

female principals."

"Well, the coven leaders who represent the goddess Diana and the horned god have to make an alliance.

They have to . . ." Faye paused delicately. ". . . merge, shall we say? To represent the union of male and

female principals."

"It can be done symbolically," Faye said blandly. "But somehow I don't think Adam and Diana will be

satisfied with symbolism, do you?"

TWELVE

Cassie stood petrified. Her heart was going like a trip-hammer, but that was the only part of her capable

of motion.

Adam and Diana . . . they couldn't. Only, of course, they could. Diana was laughing up at Adam now,

tossing her straight, shining hair back. And although Cassie couldn't see Adam's eyes behind the mask,

his lips were smiling.

Cassie turned, almost blundering into Nick, who was bringing her some punch, and rushed off into the

dimness.

She found a dark corner under a Chinese lantern that had gone out. Shielded by a curtain of black and

orange streamers, she stood there, trying to get hold of herself, trying not to see the pictures her mind

was showing her.

The next thing she knew, she could smell wood smoke and ocean breeze, along with a faint, indefinable

scent of animal and oak leaves. Adam.

"Cassie," he said. Just that, as if Herne were calling her in her dreams, inviting her to throw off the covers

in the middle of the night and come dancing in the autumn leaves.

And then, in a more ordinary voice, he said quietly, "Cassie, are you okay? Diana says-"

"What?" Cassie demanded, in a way that would have been fierce if her voice hadn't been trembling.

"She's just worried that you're not all right."

"I'm all right!" Cassie was struggling not to let the tears escape. "And anyway-I'm tired of people talking

about me behind my back. Faye says, Diana says-I'm tired of it."

He took both her cold hands in his. "I think," he said in a subdued voice, "that you're just tired, period."

I am, Cassie thought. I'm tired of having secrets. And I'm tired of fighting. If I'm already evil, what's the

point of fighting?

Just at the moment, to think was to act.

Before she knew what she was doing, her hands had turned inside Adam's, so that her fingers were

clasping his. Not by 'word or look or deed, what a laugh, she thought. We've already broken it a

thousand times. Why not really break it? That way at least she would have something concrete to feel

bad about. That way Diana wouldn't have him first.

That was the crux of it. Diana might have everything else, but she wouldn't have Adam first.

I could do it, Cassie thought. Suddenly, her mind was working coolly and rationally, far removed from all

the twisted pain in her chest. Adam was vulnerable to her because he was honorable, because he would

never dream of her scheming to get him.

I could do it, Cassie thought. Suddenly, her mind was working coolly and rationally, far removed from all

the twisted pain in her chest. Adam was vulnerable to her because he was honorable, because he would

never dream of her scheming to get him.

Cassie didn't think so.

There were places darker than this corner. Safe places in the school. The home-ec room with the lock

anyone could pick, the storage compartment where the gymnastics mats were kept. If Adam kissed her

and she kissed him back, could anything stop them from going there?

Cassie didn't think so.

And Diana, sweet stupid innocent Diana, would never know the difference. If Adam said he'd had to

take Cassie for a walk to calm her down, Diana would believe him.

No, there was nothing to stop Cassie and Adam . . . except the oath. How did it go again? Fire burn

me, air smother me, earth swallow me, water cover my grave. Cassie wasn't afraid of that. Fire was

burning her body already, and air was smothering her-she couldn't breathe. There was nothing to stop

her. She leaned in closer to Adam, head drooping like a flower on a slender stem, feeling the first easy

tears come. She heard the catch in her breath, and felt his fingers tighten on hers in concern, and

awareness.

"Cassie-God . . ." he whispered.

A fierce rush of triumph swept through Cassie. He couldn't help himself. It was going to happen. Oak

and holly, leaf and briar/ Touch him with the secret fire . . .

What was she doing?

Using magic on Adam? Snaring him with words that had come from some deep well of knowledge within

herself? It was wrong, dishonorable, and not just because members of the Club didn't work spells on

each other unasked.

It was wrong because of Diana.

Diana, who'd been Cassie's friend when no one else would speak to her. Who'd championed her against

Faye and the whole school. Even if Cassie couldn't deal with being close to Diana right now, the memory

of Diana was like a star shining in her mind. If she betrayed that, she betrayed everything that meant

anything.

Evil or not, Cassie couldn't do it.

She extracted her hands from Adam's strong fingers.

"I'm all right," she said, her voice soft and weak, all its bones crushed.

He was trying to get hold of her hands again. That was the problem with magic, you couldn't always stop

what you'd started. "Adam, really," she said. Then, desperately, she added, "Diana's waiting."

Saying Diana's name helped. He stood for a moment, then escorted her back, Herne bringing a wayward

nymph home to the Circle. Cassie went over to Laurel for safety; Nick was nowhere in sight. Well, she

didn't blame him.

nymph home to the Circle. Cassie went over to Laurel for safety; Nick was nowhere in sight. Well, she

didn't blame him.

A slow dance was starting. The group of outsiders broke up, moving onto the dance floor. All except

one.

That one remained standing there, isolated, on the fringe of the Club. She was a junior Cassie vaguely

recognized from French class, a shy girl, not beautiful, but not ugly, either. Right now she was trying to

pretend that she didn't mind being abandoned, that she didn't care.

Cassie's heart went out to her. Poor girl. Once, Cassie had been just like her.

"Want to dance?" It was Adam's voice, warm and friendly- but he wasn't talking to Cassie, he was

talking to the outsider girl. Her face lit up, and she went happily with him out onto the floor, the scales of

her mermaid costume flashing and twinkling. Cassie watched them go with a pang.

But not of jealousy. Of love-and respect.

"The parfit gentil knight," Melanie said.

"What?" said Cassie.

"It's from Chaucer. We learned it in British lit class. That's what Adam is, the perfect gentle knight,"

Melanie explained.

Cassie thought about this for a while. Then she turned to Sean. "Hey, skinny, want to shake your bones?"

she said.

Sean's face lit up.

Well, Cassie thought as she and Sean began swaying to the music, one thing was for sure: This dance

wasn't anything like the last one. With Adam, the gym had seemed a place of beauty and enchantment.

Now all she saw were paper cutouts and naked pipes overhead. At least Sean-the-Day-Glo-skeleton

didn't try to pull her in too close.

Afterward, other guys approached her, but Cassie made a beeline for Nick, who'd rematerialized, and

hid behind him. At least this part of her plan worked-the other guys retreated. It was strange to be

something everybody wanted and couldn't have. Nick didn't ask her why she'd rushed off, and she didn't

ask him where he'd disappeared to.

They danced a few times. Nick didn't try to kiss her.

And then it was time to leave. After saying good-bye to their bewildered, slightly indignant dates, the

members of the Club gathered at the exit, and not even the strawberry-blond goddess Aphrodite was

late. Even the two identical Zaxes, their slanted blue-green eyes sparkling, were waiting outside the door.

Then they all started off into the darkness. The moon had set, but the stars seemed to be on fire.

It was cold on the point of the headland. They sat on bits of the foundation of the razed house, while

Deborah and Faye built a bonfire in the center. Other people were bringing provisions out of the cars.

Cassie had expected everyone to be solemn, but the Circle was in a party mood, excited by the night,

laughing and joking, defying the danger of what they were going to do in an hour or so. Cassie found

laughing and joking, defying the danger of what they were going to do in an hour or so. Cassie found

"Nuts! Yeah! For virility!" Doug yelled to the other guys, with an uncouth gesture.

"Hazelnuts symbolize wisdom," Melanie said patiently, but the Henderson brothers just sneered.

And there were apples: winesaps, greenings, macintoshes. "Apples for love and death," Diana said.

"Especially at Halloween. Did you know they were sacred to the goddess Hera?"

"Did you know the seeds contain cyanide?" Faye added, smiling oddly. She'd been smiling oddly at

Cassie ever since Cassie had emerged from behind the streamer curtain with Adam at the dance. Now,

leaning over to take a piece of gingerbread, she murmured in Cassie's ear, "What happened back there

when he followed you? Did you blow your chance?"

"It isn't nice to fool around with guys who're taken," Cassie whispered tiredly, as if explaining to a

five-year-old.

Faye chuckled. "Nice? Is that what you want for your epitaph? 'Here lies Cassie. She was . . . nice'?"

Cassie turned her head away.

"I know an apple spell," Laurel was saying to the group. "You peel an apple in one long spiral, then throw

the peel over your shoulder, and if it doesn't break, it forms the initial of your true love."

They tried this, without much success. The peelings kept breaking, Suzan cut herself on Deborah's knife,

and when Diana did manage to throw a peeling over her shoulder, it only formed a spiral.

"Well, that's sacred to the goddess at least," Laurel said, frowning. "Or to the Horned One," she added

mischievously, looking at Adam.

Cassie had been deliberately breaking her apple peels; the whole fortune-telling thing made her uneasy.

And not just because Melanie mentioned cheerfully, "They used to execute witches for this kind of

divination on Halloween."

"I've got another one," Laurel said. "You throw a nut in the fire, say a pair of names, and see what

happens. Like Suzan and David Downey," she added impishly. "If the nut pops, they're meant for each

other. If it doesn't, they're doomed."

"If he loves me, pop and fly; if he hates me, burn and die!" Suzan quoted dramatically as Laurel tossed a

hazelnut in. The round little nut just sizzled.

"Laurel and Doug," Chris snickered, throwing in another.

"Chris and Sally Waltman!" Doug countered.

"Cassie and Nick!"

Deborah tossed that one in, grinning, but Faye was noticeably unsmiling.

"Adam . . ." she said, holding a nut up high between long red nails and waiting until she had everyone's

attention. Cassie stared at her, poised on the edge of her brick. ". . . and Diana," Faye said finally, and

flicked the hazelnut into the flames.

"Adam . . ." she said, holding a nut up high between long red nails and waiting until she had everyone's

attention. Cassie stared at her, poised on the edge of her brick. ". . . and Diana," Faye said finally, and

flicked the hazelnut into the flames.

"There are lots of other Halloween traditions," Laurel was going on. "It's time to remember old people,

people who're coming to the winter of their lives-or that's what my Granny Quincey says."

Cassie was still staring at that one hazelnut. It seemed to be jiggling-but was it going to pop?

"It's getting late," Adam said. "Don't you think we should get started?"

Diana brushed pumpkin-bread crumbs off her hands and stood. "Yes."

Cassie only took her eyes off the fire for an instant, but in that instant, there was a sound like gunfire.

Two or three nuts had exploded at once, and when Cassie looked back she couldn't see the one Faye

had thrown. It had popped-or she'd lost track of it. She couldn't tell which.

A heartbeat later it flashed through her mind to wonder about Deborah's nut-for Cassie and Nick. But

she couldn't tell what had become of that one, either.

"All right, now," Diana said. "This is going to be a different kind of Circle. It's going to be more powerful

than anything we've ever used before, because we need more protection than we've ever needed before.

And it's going to take everybody's help." She followed this with an earnest glance at Faye, who replied

with a look of utmost innocence.

Cassie watched Diana draw a circle inside the ruined foundation with her black-handled knife. The

bonfire was at the center. Everyone was serious now, their eyes following the path of the knife as it cut

through the soil, making an almost perfect ring with a single gap at the northeast corner.

"Everyone get inside, and then I'll close it," Diana said. They all filed inside and sat along the inner