The Secret Circle: The Temptation by Smith L. J

Author:Smith, L. J. [Smith, L. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance
ISBN: 9780062130464
Amazon: 0062130463
Goodreads: 15819414
Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: 2013-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

It was a well-known New Salem fact that the old warehouse where Scarlett was staying had one window in the back that was large enough to crawl through. For years it had served as the entrance to secret rendezvous and underage keg parties. Tonight it would be Cassie, Adam, and Diana’s way to the book.

Adam ran ahead of Cassie and Diana to make sure the window was still penetrable and unguarded. Cassie watched him fiddle with the half-rotten wooden board and slide it out of place. The gaping hole in the building’s facade reminded her of a missing tooth.

“You’re as good as in,” Adam said. “Just wait for the diversion to make your move.”

Adam and Diana left her there to sneak around to the front of the warehouse. Cassie wasn’t supposed to climb into the window until her cue, but she couldn’t help herself. She desperately wanted the few extra minutes to look around.

She silently lifted herself inside and eyed the surrounding space, mentally calling to the book, alerting it that she had arrived—that she’d come to take it back home. She knew the book would answer her call.

It only took a few seconds for Cassie to hear the voices coming from the warehouse’s makeshift dining room. She recognized Scarlett’s high shrill and Alice’s oppressive monotone, as well as an ambient collage of tapping forks upon plates, and water glasses shifting.

Cassie inched toward their sounds and ducked behind some old metal containers to watch them for a few seconds. She was surprised by the portrait that spread before her eyes. Scarlett and all the ancestors were gathered around a circular table that was covered with fine foods: roasted chicken, baked potatoes, salad greens, and vegetables. They were enjoying a meal together, smiling, laughing, debating. They looked like a family, a happy family.

Charlotte sliced a loaf of corn bread into thick squares while Samuel doled out crisp-looking cobs of yellow corn.

“Those hunters you killed,” Alice said, “were of the same bloodline as the ones who had me hanged at Salem. Just as your bloodline is the same as ours, Scarlett.” She raised her glass. “True justice.”

“That’s what family’s for,” Scarlett said, clinking her glass to Alice’s.

They all seemed so at ease with each other. Witnessing their interaction made Cassie wonder if this was what Scarlett had been longing for all along—the connection of a family. The thought made Cassie’s own heart begin to beat more heavily.

“It’s a shame about Cassie,” Beatrix said to Alice. “She’s a stubborn girl; I don’t think there’s any convincing her.”

“But we still need a twelfth,” Absolom said. “By the full moon. Otherwise we’ll have to wait another whole month to perform the spell.”

What spell? Cassie wondered.

Alice glumly set down her water glass. “I really wanted it to be Cassie,” she said.

Cassie felt a lump form in her throat, and she was overcome with a grief she couldn’t identify. From the Blak family album, she’d learned that Alice began her life trying to be good. It

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