"Helena told me I had to keep the wolf from talking," Sascha continues. "After I had the vision, I was afraid if I didn't do what she'd said it might come true."

"Is that what you saw, too, Margo?" I ask. "The demon?"

Margo stares into the fire and nods. "Yeah," she says quietly. "I saw the same scene on my birthday during the ceremony. I noticed my necklace was glowing while Helena was talking. I reached down, and when my fingers touched the stone I saw the same thing. It took every ounce of energy I had not to scream because for a second I thought it was really happening. I looked at Helena and my mom to see if maybe they'd seen something, too, but they were going on like nothing happened.

"I can't tell you how many times I've held that necklace hoping to get a better glimpse-but it all flashes by so fast. I finally had to stop wearing it because I was driving myself crazy."

Margo reaches out and holds Sascha's hand and gives it a squeeze. Dani and I exchange looks. I'm sure she's feeling as guilty as I am for what we'd said about Margo earlier.

Z clacks her tongue on her teeth. "So what does it mean?"

"Margo and Sascha's birthstones are supposed to enable the power of foresight," I say, "but I don't know if what they saw will definitely come true or not."

"We have to make sure it doesn't," Margo says. "We have to follow the rules."

"d.a.m.n," Z says. "Things are getting weirder and weirder, and now we have to worry about a demon s.n.a.t.c.hing one of us."

"I'm scared," Dani whispers.

No one says anything. We watch the fire and I wonder if everyone is thinking what I am.

Who will mess up and who will the demon take?

"What about you, Connor?" Z says, breaking the silence. "You still haven't told us why was the wolf coming up here to meet you?"

"Oh, well, she was trying to blackmail the coven," he says quickly, scratching his nose.

"She found out about us and threatened to spread around who the hunters are-which could affect your safety. She offered us a price for her silence and we agreed." He folds his arms across his chest, and looks at the ground, kicking a rock toward the fire pit. "We set up the drop-off and you took care of our blackmailer."

My heart starts to pound faster than it already was. Connor's lying. Dani starts asking something, but I don't hear it. All I can hear is the word liar in my head. I wish I had the Ouroboros to prove I'm wrong, but his body language is telling me I'm not.

But why would he lie about the wolf?

"What if a bunch of wolves decided to hunt you before you could hunt them? They could catch you totally unprepared." I hear Connor say.

"Wow," Dani says. "To think about someone hunting us-I can't even imagine." She takes the flask from Zahara, takes a gulp, and is about to pa.s.s it to Sascha, but draws her hand back.

"I'll take a little," Sascha says, "... just to take the edge off." Dani gives it to her and she takes a long drink. She wipes her mouth on her sleeve and hands it to Connor. "I think it's safe to say we all need to be careful. Keeping our noses clean is the smartest, and really the only thing we can do right now."

Z shakes her head. "But this is freaking nuts!"

"There has to be something more you can tell us!" I say. "Do you even know how crazy this is for the rest of us?"

"Yeah," Z says. "With the way you two are acting, I gotta say I'm no longer looking forward to my birthday. I've grilled my mom a million times about all this s.h.i.t, but she won't say a thing. I thought for sure we'd get some scoop from you guys."

Sascha sighs. "I wanted to tell you some stuff, but after that vision-I gotta side with Margo on this. I can't."

Margo scowls at her. " You of all people should have come to that conclusion at the initiation!"

Sascha hunches over and her long hair falls forward, hiding her face. "I know. I know," she says. "I was just so freaked out. And then I had a drink-or two." Her voice cracks and her shoulders shake. "It made it easier to pretend there was nothing to worry about-to pretend I didn't care."

"Well, look, it's only a couple more weeks until everyone's eighteen," Margo says, "and then we can decide as a group how we want to handle things. This coven has been living under a shadow for a long time, and it's about time someone did something about it."

"But my birthday isn't for another month!" I say.

"Be thankful," Sascha says.

"Just hang in there," Connor says, a little too cheerleader-y after what's just gone down.

"It'll all work out." He stands and fishes the keys from his pocket. "It's really late. Let's pack it in, okay?"

Dani looks at her watch. "Two fifty! G.o.d, I'm so gonna bomb my quiz." She picks up her broom and then glances back at the fire. "Oh, we'd better not leave it going-it could spread or something."

"Always the Girl Scout," Margo mutters.

Dani gives an exasperated sigh. "Well, it could!" She points toward the fire. "Out!"

The fire sizzles and dies away, and I draw my cape closer to my body to capture some of the fading warmth.

Everyone else mounts their sticks, but I walk over to Connor.

"I'll help you with the body if you want," I say, trying to keep my voice without emotion, so it sounds like a casual offer. I catch the looks darting between Zahara and Margo. "It's really a two-person job," I add.

I hear Z clack her tongue. "Later."

Dani gives me a quick smile. "Bye!"

They take off. We watch them fade from view, and then Connor reaches out for my hand.

My first impulse is to pull it away, but his hand is warm, and I so want to be wrong about him.

"Thanks for helping," he says. "I wish it weren't so late- we could have some fun in the van."

I give him a horrified look. "The van? The one you cart dead bodies around in? And after everything that just happened?"

Connor laughs nervously. "Well, when you say it like that it doesn't sound so romantic."

"This isn't funny!" I snap, yanking my hand from his. "There's nothing funny about anything that happened tonight."

My breath comes out in fast steaming plumes as I stare into his shocked face.

"Why did you lie about the wolf?"

His eyes grow wide and then he looks away. "I had to."

"Why?" I ask, surprised and relieved he admitted it.

He takes my hand again and pulls me gently so I'm facing him. "Jules, there is so much going on, so much stuff you couldn't have imagined in your wildest dreams. I came up with an idea to try to fix things-fix things so we can make those changes we've talked about." He smiles a huge beaming smile. "And my mom's on board. Well, she doesn't know everything." He leans in and kisses me quickly.

I study his face-he looks excited and happy.

"But you're right about the wolf; she wasn't blackmailing the coven. She did know about us, though, and you know how dangerous that could be. That's all I can say right now. Can you trust me? For a little bit longer?"

"Connor, my head is absolutely spinning with all the secrets. I don't know what to think anymore."

Of course, I'm keeping secrets, too. Why haven't I told Connor about Evan and Finn? I look up at him and he gives me a lopsided grin.

"Just a little bit longer," he says again. He tilts my chin up and kisses me hard.

I push out all my worries and kiss him back hungrily.

"You're still coming over tomorrow after school, right?"

"Yeah," I say.

"Don't forget to bring the ring. I have to make sure it's back before it's missed."

"Where's your mom going to be anyway?"

"She's talking to some people about my idea-they wanted a face-to-face meeting." He smiles. "Cross your fingers, this could be what we're waiting for." He wraps me in his arms and spins me around.

"Don't make me wait too long," I laugh, breathless.

"Soon! I promise," he says.

We walk over to the woman's body. The cold breeze whips past me, and the lightness I just felt is carried off with it. I wonder if there's someone waiting for her at home. Did she tell a boyfriend or a husband she'd be back soon? I look down at her body-the torn clothes, the bullet hole leaking blood.

I did that to her.

I close my eyes and try to think back-past Kelsey-to the last time I'd felt more than a pa.s.sing inkling of guilt after taking someone's life.

My mind is blank.

How many years have I have been immune from truly caring?

Wolves kill, I hear my mother say as we sat curled up on the couch when I was five. She held a witch ball in her hand. The bottom of the clear ball was covered with blue and purple spots of melted gla.s.s- my favorite colors. Inside the ball, the colored spots rose into thin gla.s.s threads where they connected with the top, ready to catch a spell.

Mom raised her hand and whispered, enchanting the ball. Yellow light swirled up and down the gla.s.s threads and finally a round moon appeared within the gla.s.s. And if the wolf's victim should survive, the cycle of killing continues with each tortured full moon.

I snuggled up closer to her, wondering what she meant by "tortured full moon. " I reached out for the ball- holding it in my own small hand. The moon dissolved into a twinkle of stars.

Each star stretched out tiny black wings and took the form of a bat. The bats flapped their wings, dipping and diving around the threads. Vampires turn their victims into hollow, hungry creatures that prey on the living with an insatiable thirst.

The bats disappeared as the ball filled with gray smoke. Two black eyes with pupils flickering fire appeared in the middle. I caught a glimpse of a piglike snout with long, curled teeth jutting out. My mother took the ball from my hand just as I was about to drop it.

Demons covet the human soul more then all the riches in the world. They'll stop at nothing to bargain, trick, or deceive to get what we hold most precious. And that is why Mommy has to go out again tonight.

I looked past her toward the doorway where Cady Tompkins, who'd be watching me that night, stood.

And why someday, you will, too- She paused and whispered a spell. The ball emptied and only my reflection- wide and distorted on the gla.s.s- shown. To keep the world safe.

I jump at the sound of Connor unzipping the bag.

He's kneeling on the ground making the opening wider. "The easiest way to do it is to flip her onto the opening, and then work the limbs in."

"Right," I say, thinking this is the first time I've actually touched a dead body. I wonder if we have a cleanup crew so the hunters can remove ourselves from what we've just done.

"I'll take the top, you take the bottom. Ready?"

"I suppose." I kneel down, and the wet mud soaks into the knees of my jeans. I reach my hands under her hips. A shiver racks through me as I feel her cooling skin.

"You don't have to do this," he says. "You can go home and I'll take care of everything."

"No, I want to."

"Okay, then. One, two, three!"

I flip her over onto the bag and jump away as she lands with a soft thud. A bigger, more violent shudder hits me, and I struggle to catch my breath. I watch Connor work her into the bag and then zip it up.

He looks up at me with sympathetic eyes. "If it makes you feel any better, I think this part is easier than what you have to do."

I look at the bag-blood smearing the inside.

"No. That doesn't make me feel any better."

11.

Dani shuts her science book, and reaches across my kitchen table for a handful of popcorn from the bowl. "I can't concentrate on this. All I can think about is how I'm gonna wet my pants when they bring me into the back room of the meetinghouse in a few days!"

"Well, given what's been going down, I don't think even Margo could fault you for that," I say.

"Yeah, but I don't know if I can pretend I'm all excited going to the initiation knowing I'm about to learn some scary, a.s.s-kicking, life-altering stuff. I always thought the initiation would be more like 'decide what you want to do for a coven job, so you can get trained before you retire from hunting.' Now I'm expecting Helena to say 'Screw up and you're demon chow!' Not exactly the happy birthday I was envisioning."

"We still don't know if that vision will come true, but I can pretty much guarantee we go on a hunt afterward. They seem to be testing the birthday girls directly after the initiations."

"Yeah," Dani says. "I was wondering about that. It's like they knock the c.r.a.p out of you and then see if you're still up for the hunt. Can't wait to see what they have in store for me."

"You won't be alone. We'll be with you."

"Well, I'm glad we recharged our necklaces today-it makes me feel safer." Dani runs her fingers along the rim of Mom's spell bowl. "Oh! I told Evan I couldn't go out to dinner on my birthday, and he was totally okay with doing lunch instead. Of course, I'd much rather go out for a romantic dinner with him than get the 'your life will now suck' speech from Helena."

"Did you tell Evan why you couldn't go out to dinner?"