The Initiation Page 0,62

it's good for physical activity. Energy. Fitness. That sort of thing."

"Deborah needs a little less energy," Laurel muttered.

"I like to wear jade," Melanie went on, twisting her left wrist to show Cassie a beautiful bracelet. It was set with a pale green, translucent oval stone. "Jade is peaceful, calming. And it sharpens mental clarity."

Cassie spoke hesitantly. "But... do these things really work? I mean, I know all the New Agers are into crystals, but - "

"Crystals are not New Age," Melanie said with a quelling glance at Laurel, who seemed about to argue the point. "Gemstones have been used since the beginning by ancient peoples - and sometimes even for the right things. The problem is that they're only as good as the person using them. They can store energy and help you call on the Powers, but only if you have the talent for it in the first place. So for most people they're pretty useless."

"But not for us," said Laurel. "Although they don't always work the way you'd expect. Things can get out of control. Remember when Suzan simply covered herself in carnelians and almost got mobbed at the football game? I thought there was going to be a riot."

Melanie laughed. "Carnelians are orange and very - stimulating," she said to Cassie. "You can get people overexcited if you use them wrong. Suzan was trying to attract the quarterback, but she nearly wound up with the entire team. I'll never forget her in the bathroom, pulling all those carnelians out of her clothes." Cassie burst into laughter at the picture.

"You're not supposed to wear orange or red stones all the time," Laurel added, grinning. "But of course Suzan won't listen. Neither will Faye."

"That's right," Cassie said, remembering. "Faye does wear a red stone on her necklace."

"It's a star ruby," Melanie said. "They're rare, and that one's very powerful. It can amplify passion - or anger - very quickly."

There was something else Cassie wanted to ask. Or rather, that she had to ask, whether she wanted to or not. "What about a stone like - chalcedony?" she said casually. "Is that good for anything?"

"Oh, yes. It has a protective influence - it can guard you against the harshness of the world. In fact, Diana, didn't you give... ?"

"Yes," said Diana, who had been sitting quietly on the window seat, listening. Now she smiled faintly in reminiscence. "I gave Adam a chalcedony rose when he left this summer. That's a special kind of chalcedony piece," she explained to Cassie. "It's flat and round and it has a sort of swirling spiral pattern in it, like a rose's petals. It has little quartz crystals sprinkled over it."

And tiny black shell things on the back, Cassie thought. She felt sick. Even the present he had given her was Diana's.

"Cassie?" They were all looking at her.

"Sorry," she said, opening her eyes and faking a smile. "I'm okay. I - I guess I'm a little wound up about this thing tonight. Whatever it is."

They were immediately sympathetic. Diana nodded grimly, showing more animation than she had since Cassie had arrived that evening. "I'm worried myself," she said. "It's way too soon. We shouldn't be doing this yet - but we don't have any choice."

Melanie said to Cassie, "You see, the skull absorbed energies from whoever used it last. Like an imprint of what was done, and who did it. We want to see what those are. So we'll all concentrate on it, and see what it will show us. Of course, we might not be able to activate it at all. Sometimes only a certain person can do that, or a certain code of sounds or lights or movements. But if we can, and if it's safe, we can eventually use its energy to show us things - like maybe who killed Kori."

"The larger the crystal, the more energy in it," Diana said bleakly. "And this is a big crystal."

"But why did the old coven carve it into a skull?" Cassie asked.

"They didn't," Melanie said. "We don't know who did, but it's much older than three hundred years. There are other crystal skulls out there in the world - nobody really knows how many. Most of them are in museums and things - there's one, the British Skull, that's in the Museum of Mankind in England. And the Templar Skull belongs to some secret society in France. Our old coven just got hold of this one somehow and used it."

"Black John used it," Diana