Enchanted threshold -
door untold -
reveal to me what you conceal.
The edges of the bookshelf gradually began to glow, like the sun had just broken through a wall of clouds, and then a doorway appeared. Cassie couldn't believe her eyes. It was an enchanted opening - a rippling portal made visible in the center of the shelves, just large enough to step through.
Cassie's mother was pleased with her success. "I guess after all these years I've still got it," she said. "Go on, step inside."
Cassie cautiously crossed the threshold to look around. It was a large room, fully furnished like a studio apartment. There was a cast-iron bed, handmade lamps, and a tufted sofa. It was all so old-fashioned it looked antique, giving the space an unexpected elegance, like a nineteenth-century sitting room.
"It needs a good dusting, that's for sure," her mother said. "But it'll do the job. Should I start preparing it for your friends?"
Cassie nodded. The room had its own kitchen nook and bathroom, and in the living room area there was even an old television set. "It's perfect," Cassie said. "Thank you."
They wasted no time getting started. Her mother dug out every cleaning appliance and disinfectant they owned. They stripped the beds and vacuumed the carpet, scrubbed the bathroom and scoured the kitchen countertops. Cassie brought down fresh linens and some food for the refrigerator. Faye and Laurel will be pleased, Cassie thought. As far as overnight hiding places went, this was a best-case scenario.
When they were finished, Cassie's mother gave her an affectionate squeeze and headed back upstairs. Cassie's mind turned to her father's book. She had to figure out where it was.
She eyed the mysterious room. Her mother was so good at keeping secrets - too good. How would Cassie ever discover where she'd hidden the book? It could be anywhere.
And then the answer unwrapped itself like a gift. The room was spelled for protection, which meant Cassie could safely perform a summoning spell to locate the book without fear of being caught by her mother - or the hunters.
She listened for a moment to be sure there was no movement coming from upstairs and then tightly closed her eyes. She concentrated and whispered a simple incantation:
Book of Shadows, I summon thee.
Be released, appear to me.
Nothing happened at first, but then Cassie felt a peculiar tugging at her throat, a pull from the necklace around her neck. She grasped its silver chain, quickly released its clasp, and held it out in front of her. The quivering pendant was clear quartz. Of course - it was a visionary stone. It must have begun picking up traces of the book's energy.
Cassie let the pendant hang from its silver chain and watched the delicate crystal spin until it aligned itself in a definite direction. Soon it started swinging in broad sweeping strokes, like a pendulum.
Cassie took careful steps in the direction it led, keeping her hand steady as best she could. She followed the curve of its path, which was guiding her nowhere near the room's exit but toward the couch in the sitting area. Was it possible her mother had hidden the book down here in the basement? A strange excitement filled Cassie's chest as the silver chain straightened to a thin vertical line. The crystal stopped moving. It pointed and quaked at the floor directly below Cassie's feet.
Excitedly, Cassie lifted the throw rug to reveal the pale wooden slabs of flooring beneath it. There was a slight crack in one of the panels, barely visible to the eye but just large enough to dig out with her fingernail. It took a few tries to lift the board out of place, but once it was removed, the others were simple. And there was the book, nestled within a carefully carved divot like a tomb.
Cassie eyed the dark book like a dormant enemy. She leaned in close to it and poked it with her pointer finger. Then, deciding it was safe to pick up, she held it in her hands.
She couldn't have Faye and Laurel lounging around so close to something so private and powerful. She wasn't so concerned about Laurel using it, but Faye. She had to make sure Faye didn't discover this book under any circumstances. The secret room was definitely no place for it.
Cassie replaced the floorboards and the rug, then stood up to make her way to the stairs. She held the book close to her chest, trying to decide if she could sneak it past her mother by hiding it beneath her shirt. And then out of nowhere a foreign and mysterious feeling passed over her. She looked down at the book in her hands and had the overwhelming urge to open it, right then and there. She couldn't say why. She was sure it would burn her again, but her desire for even that brutal punishment was so strong, it was like a craving. The need came from somewhere deep inside her.
She looked around the room and listened for her mother's footsteps upstairs. No one would know. Not her mother, not the Circle. It would be her own secret - all her own.
The book seemed to be calling her, beckoning her.
But Cassie thought back to her mother's warnings, and shook her head to resist the urge. She quickly shoved the book under her shirt and ran upstairs to her bedroom before she had the chance to change her mind.
She would wait until Adam was with her to open it - that was the smart thing to do. Until then she would conceal the book out of sight. She knew just the place: Beneath her bed was a gunmetal chest that locked with a key. Cassie kneeled down, pulled it out into the light, and stuffed the book inside. It pained her to let go of the book when she so badly wanted it near her, but she forced herself to slam the chest closed, lock it, and shove it back underneath her bed.
The golden key to the chest felt warm in the palm of Cassie's hand. She squeezed it tightly in her fist, realizing she would have to hide it in a separate place. She decided on her old wooden jewelry box, which had a hidden pullout bottom nobody knew about. Cassie gently placed the key inside, just beside the chalcedony rose Adam had given her. The two of them can keep an eye on each other, she thought, and then realized how ridiculous that was. Inanimate objects didn't live and breathe. Right?
Chapter 5
It was the middle of the night, dark and quiet, when Cassie unlocked the gunmetal chest and reached inside for her father's Book of Shadows. She held the book close to her face, and took a deep breath in. It smelled musty and old. She ran her palm over its soft, faded cover and traced its inscription with her finger. She wanted to absorb every detail. Finally, she pressed her thumb onto the worn oval on its corner - Black John's fingerprint - and found it was a perfect fit.
Cassie knew what she was doing was wrong. She'd promised herself she wouldn't open the book without Adam. But she couldn't control her own hands. They shook with excitement as she flipped through the book's yellowed pages. The words printed there still appeared as wavy lines and ancient symbols, but they were somehow more familiar to her. She could sense their meaning; she could almost taste it. And as she continued scanning each page, from top to bottom, left to right, she could feel herself getting sucked into the book itself, like she was becoming a part of it and it a part of her. That dark feeling she was beginning to know so well filled her stomach, and then her heart. Soon it was shivering provocatively through her whole body.