The morning sun struck them full on, reflecting tiny rainbows on the opposite side of the room. Bursts of multicolored light swayed back and forth upon the goddess prints above Diana's bed.
Cassie grinned. The goddess prints. She knew Diana, her sworn sister, so well; she didn't even need to resort to magic to realize exactly where the diadem was hidden.
There were six prints in all. Five of them were similar, black-and-white and slightly old-fashioned. They were the Greek goddesses Aphrodite, the goddess of love; Artemis, the huntress; Hera, the queen of the gods; Athena, the goddess of wisdom; and Persephone, the goddess of all growing things. But the last print was different from the others. It was in color, and was larger and more modern. It was a young woman beneath a starry sky, with a crescent moon shining down on her long, flowing hair. It was the goddess Diana. And she wore the same white garment Diana wore at Circle meetings as well as a garter on her thigh and a silver cuff-bracelet on her upper arm. And, most importantly, on her head was a thin circlet with a crescent moon, horns upward. The diadem.
Of course, Cassie thought. It was almost too obvious.
Cassie rested her hand against the print and then gently lifted it up off the wall. Just as she suspected, the wall behind the frame had been hollowed out, and there it was.
Resting within that secret cave of torn plaster and Sheetrock was a silver document box.
Cassie reached for it hungrily and unsealed its top. And there, quietly seated within the confines of that silver box, was the shimmering diadem in all its glory.
Quickly Cassie shoved the diadem deep into her bag and replaced the box snugly back into the wall. She rehung the print over the hole and straightened it to just the way she'd found it.
The entire terrible act took less than five minutes to complete. The antique furniture still sat in place, and the prisms still shot colorful rainbows around the room. All appeared just as she'd found it. But the diadem in her bag felt charged - it felt alive. She could sense its power quaking at her side.
Cassie returned to the group innocently, shoving her bag onto the seat of one of the kitchen chairs and then pushing it beneath the table. The group had relocated to the living room, where they were sprawled across the couch and the floor, surrounding the center table. Everyone was looking at Cassie now, and they were peculiarly silent.
Cassie held her breath. Perhaps she'd taken longer than she thought.
"What happened, did you fall in?" Doug Henderson called out, and everyone laughed.
"Sorry." Cassie exhaled with relief. "I was fixing my makeup."
Adam scolded Doug with his eyes and then invited Cassie to sit beside him on the couch. The meeting was about to begin.
Cassie smiled harmlessly and went to Adam. She took his warm strong hand in hers and waited for Diana to rise and begin speaking. She felt not a single ounce of guilt for what she'd just done. This was so unlike her, but she knew that if she were in danger, Scarlett would do the same for her. The group would understand once it was all over, once she single-handedly rescued Scarlett and defeated the hunters with the power of the Master Tools at her command. Then they would see that she was right all along, and that even her stealing the Master Tools from her fell ow leaders was a necessary evil. A necessary evil, that was a concept Cassie had never really thought about before, but that had to be what this was.
She glanced over at her bag in the kitchen and could swear there was an energy surrounding it, a force of white strength and vigor. She hoped no one else noticed. All she needed to do now was get the garter from Faye.
Chapter 25
Some would say sneaking around outside Faye Chamberlain's house in the middle of the night was a death wish, and they would be correct. But Cassie had come too far at this point to back down now; plus she'd come prepared. She'd spent the whole day studying her Book of Shadows, memorizing every spell her mind could hold that might help her get through this covert mission undetected.
Faye had way too much fun with spells, so there was no way the garter was going to be left unguarded. Traceable or not, magic was the only way Cassie would be able to get her hands on it. But first she had to find it.
Cassie was familiar with how to break into Faye's house through the basement. All she had to do was unhook the latch of the wooden cell ar door in the backyard and slip down to the cement floor below - the same way she knew Faye snuck in and out during all hours of the night.
Once inside, Cassie looked around. The basement was dark and moldy, crowded with dusty crates and damp cardboard boxes. It crossed Cassie's mind that if Faye had snuck out tonight and returned through the cell ar door behind her, she would be caught. And to be caught by Faye was as good as being destroyed by Faye. Cassie glanced behind her to the closed door and then cautiously around the musty room. She had to keep going; there was no turning back now, regardless of the risk. Before she turning back now, regardless of the risk. Before she allowed her fear to get the best of her, she decided to try a summoning spell for the garter.
Grasping the pendant of pink quartz around her neck, Cassie whispered the incantation she'd memorized from her Book of Shadows, modifying it for her current purpose.
Lost for now Soon to be found Ancient garter come unbound Nothing happened at first, but she waited patiently, circled the room, and repeated the words again.
No luck. And she felt nothing. So she decided to try something stronger. It was also a summoning spell, but her Book of Shadows said this spell could track down the energy of an object rather than simply the physical object itself.
For this spell Cassie had to focus extra hard. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply until she'd centered herself to a meditative state. It took a few minutes, but soon her breathing took on a rhythm like a heartbeat. She let herself become immersed in this rhythm until she was overcome with the feeling that she controlled it, as if the pulse of life itself were under her command. When the words came, they started from deep within her belly.
Guiding Spirits, I ask your charity Lend me your focus and your clarity Ancient garter, I summon thee Black to white, dark to light Show me your precious energy Cassie opened her eyes to find a glowing aquamarine light in front of her. It hovered, waiting for her to observe it, and then soared forward through the air, leaving a trail in its wake like a comet tail.
Now this was what Cassie always imagined magic to look and feel like. She followed the aquamarine trail around the basement until it led her to the storage space beneath the stairs.
Cassie was elated. This had to be the place.
And then she heard something - footsteps above her head. She lost her breath and felt her whole body stiffen while she listened for the footsteps again. She stood perfectly still, scoping the basement's corners for possible hiding spots. Then she heard the sound again and realized it was only the wind from outside blowing against the wooden door. It was just a false alarm, thank goodness, but it was enough to break her concentration. The aquamarine light flickered.