The Divide Page 0,63

our father scream for mercy when you killed him, Cassie? I bet not." Scarlett had his eyes, Cassie realized. Those pitch-black marbles that were cold as death, just like Black John's. She was more his daughter than Cassie was. How could Cassie have been so fooled by her before?

And then Cassie remembered her mother's words about Black John. He wasn't all bad, she'd said.

"You don't have to do this," Cassie cried, trying to soften Scarlett's cold hard stare with her own. "There's good inside you, even now. You can choose to not be like him."

"I know." Scarlett kicked Cassie away with the heel of her black boot. "But where's the fun in that?"

Chapter 28

The flames roared and crackled with evil intent, as if the fire had a will of its own. Its scorching heat brought Cassie, blistering, to her knees. She was coughing and couldn't catch her breath, soon to completely lose herself to its all- consuming power. Scarlett looked her over one last time.

"Good-bye, Cassie," she said. "It was nice knowing you." Cassie's face burned from the sweltering heat. This must be what hell would feel like, she thought, this never-ending torture by fire. Cut off from her mother, and her friends, and Adam, Cassie was dying alone. And here was Scarlett, the stronger daughter, the wicked sister, and the last living face Cassie would look upon before her death.

But she couldn't give up. She forced herself to her feet and got as close to Scarlett as the flames would allow. The Tools had darkened to a sinister sheen on Scarlett's body.

Black John is in her, Cassie thought.

But he is also in me.

Scarlett seemed to notice a change in Cassie's eyes. It was enough to cause her to back away.

"He is in me," Cassie said, aloud this time, and it powered up some secret recess within her, like an emergency generator that kicks on in a blackout.

Scarlett continued backing away, through the flames, toward the exit. The fire protection spell was still working for her, but she was suddenly afraid.

The power of fire, Cassie thought. The power of fire is in me.

And then something cracked open somewhere deep inside Cassie's chest, that dark space she'd never accessed before. It frightened her, the burst of energy she felt as the word left her lips. "Burn!" she commanded.

And Scarlett did. Midway through the flames on her way to the door, she screamed as brutally as Cassie had heard in her nightmare. No longer was she protected from the fire, no longer could she step safely from the burning house to the cool air outside.

Scarlett jumped back from the door, furiously batting out the flames from her clothes. Then she turned to Cassie. "I thought you were good," she said.

Cassie stood tall, newly energized. "Likewise." Cassie could feel something churning deep within her gut. It rose up her throat like black bile and escaped her mouth as a scream that caused the kitchen faucet to rupture into a geyser. Then the walls shook, and every pipe within them burst, spurting cold water across the room in diagonal torrents. The fire was extinguished within seconds.

Scarlett drew away, shocked by this turn of events, but she had her own commands at her disposal as well as the Master Tools to enhance her power. "Fragilis!" she shouted, thrusting her open palms at Cassie.

It was a Latin spell Cassie didn't understand, but it made her drop to the floor like all the energy had been drained out her drop to the floor like all the energy had been drained out of her. Her body felt heavy, and the room began to spin.

She couldn't even lift her head.

"Sentis infirma." Scarlett directed her charged fingers to Cassie's head and then her heart.

Cassie became so feeble and tired, woozy to the point of faintness, she was sure she was dying.

This is it, Cassie thought. Scarlett is just too strong.

She'd lost.

She wished that she could see Adam at that moment, to have his be the last face she looked upon before going to her death. She remembered the chalcedony rose in her pocket and limply felt for it. It took all the energy she had left to work it into her hand. She squeezed it as tightly as her fingers would allow and imagined Adam's strong, loving face with such concentration that she swore he actually appeared. The smoke cleared, and Adam's dark red hair seemed to her so close and real, she believed she could see its every