I stared at them in shock. Kay, Billy, and...Jeff all stood flanked around Ethan. Fear twisted through me at their expressions. Gone was the warmth and concern from their eyes. They all looked ready to pounce.

It was Ethan's eyes that caught and held my attention. Those beautiful gray eyes that had gazed down at me last night with such love and passion were now cold and hard. Their icy depths burned through me worse than the remembered heat of the fire from my dream. He watched me like a predator, ready to pounce and eat me alive the moment I moved. Eyes the color of a gathering storm shattered my heart. There was no love there. Only my death.

"Ethan?" I whispered, desperate to find some hint of his former self in those eyes.

He smiled and crushed any hope I harbored. Pain lanced me, a physical hurt that caused the air to leave my lungs. I wanted to throw up. I knew he was lying about something, but not this. Damn you, I wanted to scream. I couldn't get it out past the knot of agony that had lodged in my throat. How could I have been so wrong?

"Why can you just never stay put, Cassie?" he sighed. "I told you'd I'd come fetch you when it was time. Now you've gone and made this more difficult."

"You don't have to do this, boy," Mr. Warren spoke up. "She don't deserve it."

"You're wrong, old man," he said softly. "I do have to do this." Before I could blink, he'd moved and grabbed hold of my arm. Fingers that had caressed my skin with such gentleness the night before now bit into it with bruising force. "Come along, Cassie Jayne."

I hurt. Everywhere. Even with my mind reeling from shock and pain, I knew I couldn't leave with them. I had to find a way to escape, but how? I needed time to think and to do that I had to stall.

"Was it all lies then?" I asked him. I forced the panic aside. "Do I mean nothing to you?"

"You said it yourself, Cassie. You were never more than a means to an end." He smiled that beautiful smile I loved, but it twisted with a cruel curve. "It was so easy to fool you. Such a gullible girl. A few kisses, some sweet words and you fell right into my lap. I had no idea you'd be so easy."

I hit him as hard as I could. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and he wiped it away. "Still have a bit of a temper, don't you?" he laughed. "I always did like that about you."

Bit of a temper? I'd show him just how much of a temper I had. "Air..."

"Oh no you don't." He grinned and slapped a hand over my mouth. "No spells this time, Cassie. Do you think we're stupid enough to come here without the proverbial ace in the hole?"

Ace in the hole?

"Your parents," he explained. "Jonas collected them earlier. Either you come with us now, or they die. It's that simple."

My eyes widened in horror. They wouldn't hurt my parents. Mom and Dad were Coven members. But the Coven had killed Emily, I reminded myself, just to keep their precious little secret safe. Mr. Martin would murder my parents in an instant if he needed to.

"Are you going to behave, love?" Ethan asked.

I nodded. What else could I do? They had my parents.

"Good girl." His hand came away from my mouth and he tweaked my nose.

I hated him in that moment. The blind fury must have shown on my face because he smiled at me with the smile of a fox. Cagey and wicked. I wanted to hit him again.

Mr. Warren put a restraining hand on Ethan. "No boy, I won't let you do this."

Ethan's eyebrows shot up and he laughed. He shoved the old man. He fell, his head hitting the hallway table. When he didn't move, I cried out. He was so old. The fall might have broken bones if it hadn't killed him. He could have a head injury...

"Let's go," Ethan shoved me at Billy. "Don't touch the dress," he warned.

"Why?" Billy asked and latched onto my arm. Jeff grabbed the other. I looked up at him, my eyes full of hurt and betrayal. He stared back with cold, indifferent eyes and pushed me out the door.

"No one can touch it except Cassie," Kay told him as we walked. "It'll burn you."

"Why?" I demanded and twisted my head so I could look her in the eyes. "Why are you doing this, Kay? You're my best friend. No, you're more than that, you're like my sister. How can you do this to me?"

"Because you're the thirteenth daughter, CJ," she told me, her voice as cold as her father's. "You will do what you were born to do."

"How do you know it's not you?" I asked. Surely her father had told her about not knowing which of us it was.

"My father tested my blood on the ashes this morning. There was no reaction. That's how we know it's you."

"Did they tell you I have to die, Makayla?" I asked her softly. "Did they?"

Her steps faltered. "Die? No, CJ, you're wrong. We just need the blood of the thirteenth daughter to invoke the curse."

"No, I'm not wrong. I have to die. It's part of the payment for the assistance of the gods."

She stopped walking. "You have to be wrong, CJ. Dad would have told me. He tested my blood this morning. He wouldn't let them..."

"I don't just have to die, Kay," I interrupted her. "I have to burn just as our ancestors did. They're going to bleed me to invoke the curse and then burn me alive to serve as a beacon to our ancestors' spirits so they can find their way back. They're going to burn me alive, MJ. Please..."

"Shut up!" Billy snarled and twisted my arm.

"You knew?" Kay whispered. "You knew they were going to kill her?"

"Better her than you," he said.

"No, Billy, not better her than me. I didn't know they were going to kill her!"

"Makayla Joyce Martin," he bit the words out. "This is what we have worked for centuries to achieve. It is our duty to see justice done. You know that. We have to do what must be done."

She closed her eyes and I watched a single tear escape, but she nodded.

"Kay, please..."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, straightened her shoulders, and started walking.

"I could have left days ago," I told her softly. "Do you know why I didn't, Kay?"

She didn't say anything.

"I didn't leave because of you. I was afraid that you might be the thirteenth daughter. I was trying to find a way to save one or the other of us. I wasn't about to let you die."

She flinched. "We have to do what must be done. It is our duty."

"You really are your father's daughter, aren't you?"

"I'm nothing like him!"

"No? You're willing to let them kill me, aren't you?"

"You don't understand, CJ. You're not a part of the Coven. We don't have a choice!"

"There's always a choice, Makayla. Your choice is simple. Become your father and kill me or be my best friend, the girl I love like a sister, and help me."

"I said shut up!" Billy yanked me so hard, I pitched forward. Jeff yanked me back before I hit the ground. Billy's arm connected with my dress and the distinct smell of charred skin mingled with the sound of his curse. He hissed.

"Enough!" Ethan barked. "Pleading with us isn't going to help, Cassie. Makayla is right. None of us have a choice in this. You, me, Kay, we're all stuck in the role we have to play tonight. I wish it could be different, but it is what it is. So, let's just get this done."

My shoulders sagged as we started moving again. For just a moment, I let myself feel the defeat pressing in on me. Pain raged through me and my stomach rolled unpleasantly. It had been queasy all day, but now it was in full out puke mode. I took deep, shallow breaths to try and get it under control. I didn't have time for this.

"How did you know I was at your gra...Mr. Warren's?" Just breathe, Cassie, I told myself. You'll get through this.

"You can thank Billy and Jeff for that. They saw you go over to his house and called me."

"Jeff?" I turned startled eyes to him. Jeff had ratted me out? "Were you lying to me too?"

He shrugged. "Not really. I just made sure you were kept out of everyone's hair while they made plans."

"You..."

"Now, now, love," Ethan cut in. "He was only doing as he was told. Just as you will."

"The hell I will!" I shouted in his general direction. He was walking behind me and I couldn't see him.

"Parents, Cassie Jayne. Are you forgetting them?"

Dammit!

We bypassed the meeting hall and went into the park. The clearing. Of course they'd perform their ritual in the clearing. Couldn't burn a person alive inside, now could you?

This time when we entered the circle, the Elements were more subdued in their greeting, but I felt them each in turn. The heat of a summer's day was driven away by fall's cool breeze. The smell of freshly mown grass tickled my nose and dew coated my fingertips. A gentle calm settled over me. At least I might have some help.

The entire town was gathered. The robes I'd always imagined were out in full force. Midnight blue and made of some kind of heavy wool adorned the men. Dresses that looked more like lingerie draped the women. They all looked to be freezing their asses off, however. I took a simple pleasure from that fact.

At least until I saw the pyre. A long pole had been driven into the ground and kindling built up around it. A fire blazed a few feet away. I stared at the faces around me, they were excited, insane. My friends and family. They were all waiting for me to die.

Shit. They really were going to burn me.

Panic rose up. I tramped it down. I needed to make sure my parents were safe.

"Ah, Matthew, I see you got her here with no problems." Mr. Martin stepped forward, a smile of pleasure on his face. "Good, good."

"Where are my parents?" I demanded. So Ethan was Matthew.

"Roger is tied up nice and tight. We couldn't have him interfering tonight any more than we could the night of Emily's...accident. He's there by that log. See, perfectly safe and your mother is standing right next to Joanne," he waved to his left.

Sure enough my mother stood just a few feet away. I could see her clearly in the firelight. Her eyes glowed with excitement. Another stab of pain struck me. My mother? She was in on it? How much more could I take?

"Yes, your mother is very proud to have given birth to the thirteenth bearer of life," Mr. Martin smiled at her from across the fire. She smiled back. It was the same smile she used to give my dad. Nausea almost doubled me over as the truth of it struck. She and Mr. Martin had hooked up. Why hadn't I realized it sooner? They were so chummy at Meg's induction. How had I missed so many details? I wasn't even surprised. It's not like she cared about her family. She was willing to let them kill me and had probably known what they were going to do to Emily. Anger gave me courage. I knew something they didn't.

"How does this make you any better than those who betrayed us? You'd betray one of your own just as our people were betrayed?"

"This is different," Mr. Martin told me. "We knew going into it what the price would be and we agreed. All of us. No one has been betrayed."

"I didn't agree to it!" I shouted. "Hell no, I didn't agree to any of this!"

"Had you not been so stubborn about joining, you'd have been taught the same as everyone else, CJ. You'd consider it your duty and a great honor."

"Honor? You're planning on burning me alive!"

"The souls of our ancestors need a beacon to find their path back to us in the here and now. The last memory their souls will have will be of being burned alive. You will be their guide, CJ." He walked over to an old urn and began pouring the ashes it contained into a circle around the pyre and fire. "These ashes were brought with us to New Salem. They are the remains of our fallen brethren. Your blood will give them a corporeal shape and a way to seek their vengeance."

I laughed. It was either laugh or cry and I couldn't afford to lose it.

"You think this is funny?" Mr. Martin paused.

"Hilarious, laugh your ass off funny," I grinned.

"Why?"

"Because I found my Book."

"Your book?" he frowned.

"The Book that was stolen. It's mine. There was a spell cast upon it so that only the next true Coven leader would be able to learn all its secrets. It showed me what it didn't show anyone else. You're screwed. Nothing you do will work. You can spill my blood, even burn me at the stake, and it still won't work. My death will not invoke your curse. You don't know what Sara Bishop did with her dying words. I do."

Rage flooded his face. Ohh, must have struck a nerve. "What did she do?" he snarled.

"I'll never tell you."

"Oh, yes, you will little girl."

There was a loud explosion and fog enveloped us, then a velvety blackness coated the night. I couldn't see.

Hands grabbed mine.

"Run."