The Power Page 0,34

it out of the corner of her eye as she smoothed the sand over the buried box. There, now you'd never know anything was hidden here. The shadow was stretching closer, but that was just because the moon was rising . . .

Wrong, Cassie thought. She stopped in the middle of brushing sand off her hands and looked at it.

Shadows get shorter as the moon gets higher. Just like the sun, she thought. But this one was definitely closer to her.

The whispering of the ocean was suddenly loud.

I should have listened to Diana. I should have stayed near the group, Cassie thought. Slowly and casually, she glanced over her shoulder. The rocks she'd climbed over seemed far away, and there was no sign of the circle of candles behind them. No sound either, except the waves. Cassie felt exposed and very much alone.

Don't act scared. Get up and go, she told herself. Her heart was knocking against her ribs. As she stood, the shadow moved.

Oh God. There was no way to pretend that was normal. The shadow wasn't even attached to the rock anymore. It was just a blackness on the sand, flowing like water, moving toward her. It was alive.

Go, go! Cassie's mind screamed at her. But her legs wouldn't obey. They were locked, paralyzed. She wasn't going anywhere.

Cassssie. Her head jerked up; she looked for the person who had spoken. But it wasn't a person. It was the waves.

Cassssssie.

I want to get out of here, Cassie thought. Her legs still wouldn't move.

The blackness flowed like tar, rippling toward her. It divided, pouring itself on either side of her, encircling her.

Cassssssie.

The shadow was whispering to her with Black John's voice. It eddied around her, a formless darkness like smoke. As she looked down at it, Cassie seemed to see snakes in it, and black beetles, all crawling loathsome things. It was around her, but it didn't want to kill her. It wanted to get into her mind.

She could feel it trying. A pressure as it swirled around her feet. All she could think was, thank God I don't still have the hematite.

I should have listened; why didn't I listen? she thought then. The girls wouldn't miss her for a while. Too long. She wanted to scream, but her throat was as paralyzed as her legs. She could only stand there and watch the rippling blackness swirl around her feet.

Push with your mind, she thought, but she was too frightened. She couldn't scare away this darkness the way she had the doberman. She wasn't strong enough.

Please help me, she thought.

And then, in a rush, it was all she was thinking. Oh please somebody help me, somebody please come, I can't get out of this myself, oh please somebody -

Cassssssie, the whisper came. The waves and the darkness and the watching moon all seemed to be saying it.

Help me ...

"Cassie!" It was a shout, not a whisper, and behind it Cassie heard a dog barking. At the sound, Cassie's mind was flooded with images of safety, of comfort. She looked around frantically. Her legs still wouldn't move.

"I'm here!" she shouted back. Even as she called, she felt herself released. The black was edging away, retreating to the rock. Merging with the real shadow there.

"Cassie!" The voice was familiar, loved.

"I'm here," Cassie called again, stumbling toward it. The visions of comfort and safety and closeness were still whirling inside her, pulling her. She followed them. Just as she reached the rocks, strong arms caught her up, held her tightly. She felt the warmth of a human body against her.

Over Nick's shoulder, she met Adam's eyes.

The moon was shining full in his face, turning those eyes odd colors, blue-violet like the bottom of a flame. Like the sky before some strange storm. She thought she could see silver reflecting in his pupils. Raj bounded up beside him, still barking. The German shepherd's tail was waving frantically as he headed for Cassie. Adam caught him by the ruff and held him back.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Nick said in her ear.

"No. I'm all right," she whispered. She didn't know what she was saying.

"You shouldn't have gone off by yourself,"

Nick said angrily. "They shouldn't have let you do it."

"It's okay, Nick." She hung on to him with all her strength and buried her face in his shoulder just as Adam turned, leading the reluctant Raj away. Then she clung there, knowing he could feel her shaking.

"Cassie." He stroked her back soothingly.

Cassie pulled back