Captive
Book Jacket
Secret Circle [2]
**Can The Secret Circle Survive...**
Lured into the most popular in-crowd imaginable, Cassie is intoxicated by her newfound strength, a power as addictive as it is perilous.
Caught between two members' consuming desires to use the coven's mysterious force, Cassie turns to one of their boyfriends, Adam--and falls captive to her own dangerous love.
Bewitched by the promise of love through magic, Cassie captures Adam's heart and upsets the delicate balance of power, unleashing a storm of fury no one anticipates.
**...Or Will The Dark Struggle Of Good, Evil, And Tormented Love Consume Them All?**
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BOOKS BY L. J. SMITH
THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
Volume I: The Awakening
Volume II: The Struggle
Volume III: The Fury
Volume IV: Dark Reunion
THE SECRET CIRCLE TRILOGY
Volume I: The Initiation
Volume II: The Captive
Volume III: The Power
The Night of the Solstice
Heart of Valor
Published by HarperPrism
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Volume II
The Captive
L. J. Smith
HarperPrism
A Division of HarperCollinsPublishers
HarperPrism
A Division of HarperCollinsPublishers 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299
The herbal concoctions in this book are fictional and from the author's imagination. They should in no way be construed as recipes, medicine, advice, or recommendations for the reader.
If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book."
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1992 by Lisa Smith and Daniel Weiss Associates, Inc.
Cover art copyright © 1992 Daniel Weiss Associates, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
For information address Daniel Weiss Associates, Inc.,
33 West 17th Street, New York, NY 10011.
A mass market edition of this book was published in 1992 by HarperPaperbacks.
Produced by Daniel Weiss Associates, Inc., 33 West 17th Street, New York, NY 10011.
First HarperPrism printing: September 1999
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN 0-06-106715-6
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Fire, Cassie thought. All around her she saw blazing autumn colors. The yellow-orange of sugar maple, the brilliant red of sassafras, the crimson of sumac bushes. It was as if the entire world was flaming with Faye's element.
And I'm trapped in the middle of it.
The sick feeling in the pit of Cassie's stomach got worse with every step she took down Crowhaven Road.
The yellow Victorian house at the bottom of the road looked as pretty as ever. Sunlight was striking rainbow sparks off a prism that hung in the highest tower window. A girl with long, light-brown hair called out from the porch.
"Hurry up, Cassie! You're late!"
"Sorry," Cassie called back, trying to hurry when what she really wanted to do was turn around and run the other way. She had the sudden, inexplicable conviction that her private thoughts must show in her face. Laurel would take one look at her and know all about what had happened with Adam last night, and all about the bargain with Faye.
But Laurel just grabbed her by the waist and hustled her inside and upstairs to Diana's bedroom. Diana was standing in front of the large walnut cabinet; Melanie was sitting on the bed. Sean was perched uneasily in the window seat, rubbing his knees with his palms.
Adam was standing beside him.
He looked up as Cassie came in.
Cassie met those blue-gray eyes for only an instant, but it was long enough. They were the color of the ocean at its most mysterious, sunlit on the surface but with incomprehensible depths underneath. The rest of his face was the same as ever: arresting and intriguing, pride showing in the high cheekbones and determined mouth, but sensitivity and humor showing there too. His face looked different only because last night Cassie had seen those eyes midnight blue with passion, and had felt that mouth . . .
Not
by word or look or deed,
she told herself fiercely, staring down at the ground because she didn't dare look up again. But her heart was pounding so hard she expected to see the front of her sweater fluttering. Oh, God, how was she ever going to be able to carry this off and keep her vow? It took an incredible amount of energy to sit down by Melanie and not look at him, to block the charismatic heat of his presence out of her mind.
You'd better get used to it, she told herself. Because you're going to be doing a lot of it from now on.
"Good; we're all here," Diana said. She went over and shut the door. "This is a closed meeting," she went on, turning back to the group. "The others weren't invited because I'm not sure they have the same interests at heart as we do."
"That's putting it mildly," Laurel said under her breath.
"They're going to be upset if they find out," Sean said, his black eyes darting between Adam and Diana.
"Then let them be," Melanie said unemotionally. Her own cool gray eyes fixed on Sean and he flushed. "This is much more important than any fit Faye can throw. We have to find out what happened to that dark energy . . . and now."
"I think I know a way," said Diana. Out of a white velvet pouch she took a delicate green stone on a silver chain.
"A pendulum," Melanie said at once.
