The Divide Page 0,21

fetch the newspaper. She assumed there would be a write-up on Constance in the obituary section.

There was no paper on the front porch, but Cassie did find Adam, curled up beneath his jacket, asleep on the porch swing. She watched him for a moment. How peaceful he looked, but he couldn't be comfortable. His long legs and arms were pretzeled into the swing, hanging halfway off. He'd probably been there all night.

This boy really loves me, Cassie thought to herself, looking down on his beautifully sculpted body, crunched as it was within the confines of the swing. He probably loves me way too much.

She reached out and grazed his cheekbone with her fingertips.

He smiled sleepily at her, stretching.

"What in the world are you doing out here?" she asked.

Adam quickly took inventory of his surroundings and rubbed the back of his sore neck. "Protecting you."

"From the witch hunters?" Cassie blurted out. "But who was protecting you while you were out here all night protecting me?"

"I was," Adam said, and then laughed. "But I guess I dozed off."

Cassie took his face into her hands. "What am I going to do with you?" She kissed his chapped lips slowly and warmly. "Promise me next time you'll at least come inside and sleep on the couch."

Adam kissed her back passionately. He wrapped his strong arms around her and pulled her in close. She could smell the ocean on his clothes and in the creases of his neck. She kissed him there and expected to taste salt, but instead it tasted fresh and cold like ice.

"I promise," he said, with a shiver.

"Will you come inside now and let me warm you up?" she asked flirtatiously.

He blinked his long dark lashes at her and eagerly followed her through the door.

"Where's Faye?" Diana asked, but nobody seemed to know.

Diana had found a protective spell in her Book of Shadows, and she wanted to cast it upon the group as soon as possible. But they'd been waiting at the beach for over an hour.

"Faye's been late to every meeting this week," Diana said. "This is unacceptable. Suzan, will you call her again?"

"She's not answering," Suzan said. "She's been totally sketchy lately."

Sean nodded. "We had plans with her last night, and she blew us off."

If it were anyone other than Faye they were talking about, Cassie would have been worried. But she knew Faye would show up eventually. In the meantime, Cassie was glad to be at the beach rather than the lighthouse. She felt safe there among the long stretch of sand, the steady repetition of crashing waves, and the vast, limitless sky.

She wanted to enjoy every last second they had before tourist season littered the sand with strangers. She imagined it now like a nightmare: foldout chairs as far as the eye could see, bratty sunbathers, and self-righteous surfers; toppled-over soda cans and screaming, orange-fingered, Dorito-munching children. She much preferred a cold, abandoned beach to a hot, crowded one.

She thought of Scarlett then, how it would be nice to invite her out to the beach one night this week. Maybe they could build a bonfire and make s'mores. It would be a fun way to offset all this stressful Circle business.

Then Faye appeared, waking Cassie from her daydream. "Am I late?" she said. "Sorry."

"Where have you been?" Diana asked.

"Trust me, you couldn't handle it."

Diana ignored her comment. "We need to begin the protection spell before the sun starts to set." Cassie tried to assume the role of a leader as the group arranged themselves into a wide circle formation. Diana kneeled in front of a stone kettle, mixing together a dark, oily concoction.

"In this cauldron is salt water from the ocean mixed with blueberry oill and eucalyptus," she said. Then she looked up at Faye and Cassie. "Will the two of you, together, use the dagger to draw our circle around me?"

Faye unsheathed the silver dagger, which had been concealed beneath her flowing black skirt, strapped to the inside of her thigh. Her eyes narrowed, as they always did when she had a sharp object in her grasp.

"Give me your hand," she said to Cassie. She guided Cassie's thin fingers around the dagger's pearl handle and enveloped them with her own. Together, as one, they drew the circle in the sand.

Each member of the group stepped inside as Melanie placed two candles on either end of the cauldron Diana was mixing.

"Here I place two candles," Melanie announced according to ceremony. "One blue, for physical protection, and one