The Captive Page 0,7

had ever been there. And there was something strange about it. ... I'd been to the place before, but I'd never seen it. It was as if my eyes had suddenly been opened after-" He stopped.

Cassie, looking at the lamp's reflection on Diana's gleaming pine-board floor, felt as if she were smothering. She didn't dare breathe until Adam went on, "-after working on the fishing boats all summer. But when I tried to head for the island, the tiller bucked, trying to keep me away or run me aground on the rocks. I had to wrestle with it to bring the boat in-and I had to call on Earth and Water or I'd never have made it. When I was finally safe I looked at the rocks and saw the wreckage of other boats. Anybody that had made it there before didn't make it away again alive." He took a deep, slow breath.

"As soon as I stepped on the sand I could feel that the whole island was electric. I knew it was the place even before I saw the circle of stones in the middle. It was just the way Black John described it. Sea heather had grown up around the rocks, but the center was clear and that's where I dug. About a minute later my shovel hit something hard."

"And then?" said Diana.

"And then I pulled it out. I felt-I don't know, dizzy, when I saw it. The sun was glittering on the sand and it sort of blinded me. Then I wrapped the skull up in my shirt and left. The island didn't fight when I went; it was like a trap that had been sprung. That was- let's see, September twenty-first. As soon as I got back to the Bay, I wanted to start up to New Salem, but I had some things to take care of. I couldn't get started until the next day, and I knew I was going to be late for Kori's initiation." He paused and threw an apologetic glance toward Doug and Chris.

They said nothing, but Cassie felt eyes flicker toward her. Kori's initiation had become Cassie's initiation, because on that morning Kori had been found dead at the bottom of the high-school steps.

"Just what is the point of all this storytelling?" Faye asked, her husky voice bored. "Unless"-she straightened up, looking more interested-"you think the rest of the Master Tools may be on that island."

"I told you before," Adam said. "There was nothing else there, Faye. Just the skull."

"And the point is that we need to know more about the skull," Diana put in. "For better or worse, we're stuck with it now. I don't think we should put it back on the island-"

"Put it back!" Faye exclaimed.

"-where anybody might find it, now that the protective spell is broken. It's not safe there. I don't know if it will be safe anywhere."

"Well, now," Faye murmured, looking sleepy. "If it's too much trouble for you, I'll be glad to take care of it."

Diana just shot her a look that said Faye was the last person she'd ask to take care of the skull. But, Cassie noticed with a sinking feeling, Faye's heavy-lidded amber eyes were not fixed on Diana's face. They were trained on the little gold key at Diana's throat.

There was a knock at the door.

Cassie started, hard enough that Laurel turned around and looked at her in surprise. But it was only Diana's father, who'd come home with a bulging briefcase in his hand.

Mr. Meade looked around the crowded room in mild surprise, as if he didn't quite know who all these people were. Cassie wondered suddenly how much he knew about the Circle.

"Is everyone staying for dinner?" he asked Diana.

"Oh-no," Diana said, looking at a dainty white and gold clock on the nightstand. "I didn't realize it was after seven, Dad. I'll fix something quick."

He nodded, and after one more quick, uncertain glance around the room, left.

Bedsprings creaked and clothing rustled as everyone else got up.

"Tomorrow we can meet at school," Melanie said. "But I've got to study tonight; this whole last week has been shot and I've got a biology test."

"Me too," said Laurel.

"I've got algebra homework," Suzan offered, and Deborah muttered, "Meaning you've got a week's worth of soap tapes in the VCR."

"All right, we'll meet tomorrow," Diana said. She walked downstairs with them. Faye managed to catch Cassie's arm as the others were leaving, and she breathed in her ear, "Get it tonight. Call me