"No need for sarcasm." Her mother descended the stairs. "I've been concerned about you since last night. Since the incident."
"Incident," Cassie said, as she dropped her bag on the kitchen table. "That's one way of putting it."
Her mother followed her into the kitchen. "Lift up your sleeves. Let me see your hands."
"They don't even hurt anymore," Cassie said, lying. She pulled her sleeves back to reveal the aching burns. "They'll probably be gone in a few days."
But her mother persisted and carefully examined the marks. "I prepared an ointment for you from some herbs in the garden. It's cooling in the fridge."
Cassie sighed at her mother's safeguarding, but the truth was, she was grateful. She'd felt strange since she'd woken up that morning, and her burns had been throbbing all day.
Her mother fetched the stone mortar and pestle full of ointment from the fridge and took a seat at the kitchen table across from Cassie.
The ointment was pea green and smelled like skunk. Her mother mixed it with her fingers and reached for Cassie's hand. "The way that book heated up on you - I've never seen anything like it," she said. "I can't stop thinking about it."
She focused on applying the medicine gently and evenly. "I want you to be honest with me and tell me if you feel any other effects from what happened."
"Effects like wincing every time I opened one of my schoolbooks today?"
Her mother frowned. "This is serious, Cassie. I don't want you going near it again, at least not until we figure out how to disable the guarding spell. It's too dangerous."
Getting the book back from her mother was going to be more of a challenge than Cassie had anticipated. "But how else are we supposed to learn how to break the spell?" she asked. "It's not like there's anyone around here to ask."
Her mother was quiet for a few seconds. "Times like these, I wish your grandmother were still here. She knew a lot more about these things than I do."
Cassie had been thinking the same thing but hadn't had the heart to say it aloud. When her grandmother died, she took all her years of knowledge and wisdom with her. She was irreplaceable.
"At least I have you," Cassie said, and she meant it. She and her mother had come a long way over the past few months, and Cassie believed she could tell her almost anything.
As her mother wrapped Cassie's medicine-covered skin in fresh gauze, Cassie explained everything that had happened that morning with the principal. She didn't leave out a single detail; she was hoping to convince her mother how necessary it was to give the book another try.
"I wish there was some way we could keep Faye and Laurel safe," she said. "Actually, that reminds me. Is there anything else you can remember about Black John saving your friend from the hunters when you were younger?"
Her mother thought for a moment. "It was some kind of spell. A curse, actually. I imagine it would be in his Book of Shadows."
The book. Cassie knew her question would lead right back to it.
"I remember your father once saying," her mother continued, "that the hunters themselves don't have power. They don't have magic. But they carry stone relics that have been passed down for centuries, and the relics are incredibly powerful. If the bond between hunter and relic can be broken, so can the marks on witches."
Cassie's eyes lit up - there was a way! But her mother paused and her voice took on a serious tone. "Now, Cassie, I know what you're thinking. You want to find that curse to save your friends, but you have to believe me when I tell you that you can't use magic from a book you don't understand. No dark magic can be used without grave consequences. Those burns on your hands were just the beginning."
Cassie agreed for the sake of her mother's peace of mind.
"But until we can figure out a way to use the book safely," her mother said, "I think I have another way to help. I know the perfect place to keep Faye and Laurel safe."
This was a turn Cassie hadn't anticipated. "Where?"
"Right here. There's a secret room in the house."
Cassie looked at her mother in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me."
Her mother laughed. "Your grandmother built it when tensions between the townspeople and witches started rising sixteen years ago, just before the storm that claimed so many lives." She paused solemnly. "So many of your friends' parents' lives. She had it spelled for special protection. Come on, I'll show it to you."
Cassie followed her mother to the stairs that led to the basement. "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?" she asked.
"You didn't need it then." Her mother led Cassie through the shadowy basement, which smelled of mold and mildew, and stopped in front of an old bookcase. "But you do now."
She raised her arms and rested her hands upon one of the dusty shelves. "I'm a little rusty," her mother said. "But I think I can do it." She closed her eyes and then focused her energy on the wall of books. She recited a wary chant in a tone of voice Cassie had never heard from her before: