The Captive Page 0,42

all the minds around her. She waited for it to spin in circles.

It did-in the beginning. The chain twisted first one way and then the other, like a woundup swing on a playground. But then, to Cassie's horror, it began to seesaw, pointing up and down Crowhaven Road. Down, the way they'd traveled the first time, the way that had eventually led to the cemetery, and up, toward the headland.

Toward Faye's.

Cassie's legs felt as if they were sinking into cotton as she followed the group. Faye had no trouble holding her back now. "I told you," she said vehemently out of the side of her mouth. "Now what, Cassie? If that trail leads to my house, I'm not going down alone."

Cassie clenched her teeth and choked out, "I thought we couldn't trace it at ground level. That energy came out through your bedroom ceiling on the second floor, and it was going straight up. I thought it would be too high to track."

"You obviously thought wrong," Faye hissed.

They were passing the vacant house at Number Three. They were passing Melanie's house. Laurel's house was in front of them; they were passing it. Faye's house was just ahead.

Cassie thought she actually might faint. She was almost unaware that she was clutching Faye's arm as hard as Faye was clutching hers. She waited for the peridot to turn aside and lead them all to Faye's doorstep.

But Diana was walking on.

Cassie felt a violent surge of relief-and of bewilderment. Where were they going? They were passing Number Seven, another vacant house. Passing the Hendersons', passing Adam's, passing Suzan's. They were passing Sean's-oh, my God, Cassie thought, we're not going to my house?

But they were passing Number Twelve as well. Diana was following the pendulum's swing, leading them out onto the point of the headland.

And there the crystal began to spin in circles again.

"What's going on?" Laurel said, looking around in astonishment. "What are we doing here?"

Adam and Diana were looking at each other. Then they both looked at Cassie, who came slowly forward from the rear of the group. Cassie shrugged at them.

"This is the place where Number Thirteen used to be," Diana said. "Right, Adam? The house that was torn down."

"I heard it burned down," Adam said. "Before we were born."

"No, it wasn't that long ago," said Melanie. "It was only about sixteen or seventeen years ago-that's what I heard. But before that it was vacant for centuries. Literally."

"How many centuries?" Cassie said, too loudly. For some reason she found her fingers clenched around the piece of hematite in her pocket.

The members of the coven turned to her, looking at her with eyes that seemed to shine slightly in the moonlight.

"About three," Melanie said. "This was Black John's house. Nobody ever lived in it after he died in 1696."

The hematite burned against Cassie's palm with icy fire.

Chapter Eleven

"This is all too weird for me," Laurel said, shivering.

"But what does it tell us?" Deborah challenged.

"It's another link to Black John," Adam said. "Other than that, nothing."

"So it's a dead end, like the cemetery," Faye said, looking pleased.

Cassie had the feeling they were wrong, but she couldn't explain why, so she kept her mouth shut. Something else was worrying her, worrying her terribly. The piece of hematite that right now felt as heavy as a bit of neutron star in her pocket ... it had come from the ruins of Black John's house. It might even have belonged to him. Which meant that she had to tell Diana about it.

People were wandering around, breaking up into small groups. The meeting, for all intents and purposes, was over. Cassie took a deep breath and went to Diana.

"I didn't get a chance to talk to you earlier," she said. "But I wanted to tell you about something that happened yesterday."

"Cassie, you don't have to tell me. I know it wasn't like Faye said."

Cassie blinked, thrown off balance. "What did Faye say?"

"We don't even have to talk about it. I know it's not true."

"But what did she say?"

Diana looked uncomfortable. "She said- you were over at her house last night, playing- well, some kind of game."

"Pizza Man," Cassie said distinctly. When Diana stared at her, she explained, "Pizza Man He Delivers."

"I know what it's called," Diana said. She was scanning Cassie's face. "But I'm sure you would never ..."

"You're sure? You can't be sure," Cassie cried. It was too much-Diana's blind insistence on her innocence. Didn't Diana realize that Cassie was bad, evil?

"Cassie, I know; you.