Faye, Deborah, and Suzan were the last to arrive on the bluff. They staggered toward the others, bleary-eyed and disheveled, and severely underdressed for the pre-dawn chill. "They were out having a good time," Adam said when he saw them coming. "Looks like they still are."
"So what's the big emergency?" Faye called out in a voice much too loud. "It better be good. Do you have any idea what time it is?"
"What's wrong with you?" Melanie asked.
Faye cracked up laughing and patted Melanie on the shoulder. "You and Laurel aren't the only ones interested in herbology." She pulled an eyedropper from her pocket.
"Care for a taste? It's all natural."
Melanie's face hardened. "This is no time for that," she said. "The hunters have Scarlett."
Faye returned the eyedropper to her pocket. "I guess that's a no, then."
Cassie chose to ignore Faye, Deborah, and Suzan and only address the others, who were capable of paying attention.
"Scarlett doesn't know where she is," Cassie said. "But she's terrified they're going to kill her." She went on to describe her dream in vivid detail, how the hunters were holding Scarlett captive, torturing her, and studying her powers, and how she begged Cassie to come save her.
"What should we do?" Adam directed the question to Diana, but it was Cassie who answered.
"We need to find out where the hunters are keeping her," she said. "We can use the locator spell Constance taught us."
"Yes!" Faye said, staring up at the moon as if it were speaking to her. "We're back to using magic!"
"Not so fast." Diana pursed her lips. "We have to navigate this very carefully."
"Buzz-killer," Faye said.
"What we did on the docks was an exception," Diana said firmly. "Using magic still puts us at risk. What if this is a trick to help the hunters figure out who we are?"
"I don't care about that," Cassie blurted out.
Everyone swung their head in her direction, awestruck by her outburst.
"My sister is in danger," Cassie continued, refusing to be dismayed. "It's worth the risk."
Deborah was the first to break the silence with cackling laughter. "That's not your call to make, princess." Cassie had the urge to scream out again, but she restrained herself and simply said, "As one of the leaders of this Circle, it is partially my call to make."
"When are you going to get it?" Faye shouted. "You don't get to put your own petty needs before the Circle."
"This is hardly a petty need, Faye," Cassie said. "Scarlett is being tortured. They're probably going to kill her."
"But it's fine with you if we all get killed trying to save her." Faye turned her back on Cassie dismissively, swatting her pitch-black hair in her direction. "You're just being selfish."
"You're one to talk about being selfish," Cassie shot back. "Who's more selfish than you?"
"Okay. That's enough." Diana raised her clear, overpowering voice and called for order.
Adam placed his hand on Cassie's back to calm her.
"There must be a way to perform the locator spell without the hunters tracing it."
Everyone got quiet for a moment to think, but Cassie couldn't understand all this deliberation. A feeling of heat overcame Cassie, not from outside - the bluff remained cool and breezy - but from deep inside her gut, where a boiling anger seethed.
There's just no way, she thought to herself. She'd have to find Scarlett on her own.
Then Adam shot up from the log he was sitting on. "We can do it in a crowded place," he said.
Nobody responded, but Adam had a look of delight across his face, and his breathing was heavy. "Don't you get it?" he said. "If we do it in a crowd, the hunters will have a harder time deciphering the source of the magic."
"That, my friend, is brilliant," Chris said, giving Adam a high five.
Melanie's gray eyes widened. "That totally could work.
We could do it during some school event."
"Under the bleachers," Laurel called out. "During the big track meet after school today."
Cassie threw herself at Adam and wrapped her arms Cassie threw herself at Adam and wrapped her arms tightly around him. "This is why I love you," she said. "You always have the best ideas."
Adam's eyes radiated an enchanting blue light. "Is that why?" He started laughing and then said, "Okay, so it's a plan. We do the locator spell this afternoon."
"We should still put it to a vote," Diana said brusquely.
Faye smirked. "Way to kill a moment, D."
"It's only fair to let everyone have their say on this," Diana insisted. "And we should all keep in mind that locating Scarlett is only half of it." She paused to look at Cassie.
"Deciding what we do from there should be another vote entirely."
Cassie lashed out, unable to stop herself. "Do you not understand that they're going to kill her? She's my family.
Does that mean nothing to you?"
Diana's lips parted, but no sound escaped. She searched Cassie's eyes as if she were looking for something in them she'd lost.
Cassie's anger wasn't intended solely for Diana, but it may as well have been. She had screamed almost directly into her face. It was no way to behave, but the way Cassie saw it, this wasn't a time for cool analytics and meticulous strategy. Not when Scarlett's life was at stake.
Diana looked at Cassie for another bewildered and speechless moment before turning away. "We're getting ahead of ourselves," she said. "There's no guarantee the locator spell will even work."
Adam went to Cassie's side and put his arm around her.
"But we're going to try it. Do we all agree?" There were nods all around.
Adam was so good to her, and it was something that the group was willing to try the spell, but it still wasn't enough to console Cassie. All this voting and planning was wasting too much time. At this rate, they'd never get to Scarlett in time.
