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at the red satin until she broke through its surface and tore it wide open. And there it was, resting in a bed of supple red satin - the green leather garter. Cassie was about to reach into the material to pluck it free when she remembered the sparks that burned her fingers earlier.

She retrieved the obsidian crystal from her pocket once more and glided it over and around the garter to disable any spell Faye had on it. Then she was free to reach out and grab it. At last.

The garter felt heavy and triumphant in her hand. She gripped it tightly, admiring its shiny buckles, hardly believing she'd done it. She'd really done it! But there was no time to celebrate. Cassie could hear the orange cat scratching outside Faye's bedroom door, and she had to escape before Faye woke up again.

Soundlessly, she tried to patch the lining back into place, but without a needle and thread or the proper spell, it would be impossible. Faye would discover it missing in the morning - that was unavoidable. But it didn't matter. Cassie would be in Cape Cod by then, with the power of all the Master Tools along with her.

She left the jacket hanging like a looted grave, slipped out of the closet, and across the bedroom floor. The moment she opened the door, the orange cat leaped in, but Cassie was down the stairs and out the way she came within seconds.

It was only then, finally, that she let the reality settle over her. She now possessed all of the Master Tools, and the power she needed to save Scarlett, even without the help of the Circle.

Chapter 26

Cassie woke up at five the next morning, on the dot, without her alarm. It was like her body was so attuned to the day's mission that manmade technologies of convenience, like clocks, were deemed unnecessary. She felt one with the elements today, no longer at their mercy.

She got up from bed and dressed ceremonially, like a Spartan warrior preparing for battle. She wrapped herself in the white shift Diana had given her and proudly snapped the silver cuff-bracelet onto her upper arm, the leather garter around her thigh, and the sparkling diadem upon her head. She was ready to go save her sister.

Cassie made her way downstairs to the kitchen. She had to borrow her mother's car, but she couldn't exactly tell her mother she needed it so she could battle the witch hunters and save the sister she was never told about. So she'd have to take it without asking. That seemed to be the theme of this entire mission: Take what you need to get the job done and explain later. And she would. All would be revealed later, to her mother, to Diana, Faye, Adam, everyone. For now, Cassie couldn't allow any guilt to creep up and distract her - she had to focus solely on getting to Cape Cod.

But as Cassie drove farther away from Crowhaven Road and then farther away from New Salem, a sickness inside her began to form. Nerves, she figured, and she told herself her began to form. Nerves, she figured, and she told herself she had every right to feel nervous; this was a dangerous act. The hunters had black magic on their side.

The Master Tools will not let me down in my moment of need, Cassie thought. And that reminded her of the chalcedony rose she had hidden within her pocket.

It was the good-luck piece Adam gave her long ago in case she was in trouble - she'd brought it with her just in case. After everything they'd been through and disagreed over these past few weeks, Cassie still believed in Adam and had faith in their bond. Did they need a rare crystal to connect them at this point in their relationship? No, of course not. Maybe Cassie only brought the chalcedony piece out of superstition, but even so, it calmed her to stroke its rugged surface. The stone felt alive in her grasp the way it did when Adam had first given it to her. Hold on to it tight, he'd told her, and think of me. She did that now and felt her courage grow.

But crossing over the county line into the town of Sandwich, Cassie's fear heightened to a new level. The decaying sign alerting that she'd arrived read: INCORPORATED 1639, reminding Cassie of the deep-rooted history of the place as the oldest town