Secret Circle I: The Initiation
Characters
Diana Meade is pegged the “Princess of Purity” for her undying kindness and understanding; she befriended Cassie from the day they met. Tall and thin Diana has long, natural light blonde hair, often described as the color of moonlight and sunlight woven together, and deep, caring green eyes.
Cassie Blake has just moved from California to New Salem, MA, just before her junior year in high school. Cassie has light brown hair and cornflower-blue eyes, although she holds little confidence in her looks, other’s see her beauty.
Faye Chamberlain is amoung the group of three who terrorize the new girl Cassie. Cassie doesn’t understand why Faye hates her, or why her status as a Crowhaven Road resident mean anything to the school. Tall and voluptuous, Cassie describes Faye as “stunning but scary,” she has mesmerizing honey-golden eyes, pale skin, and long, jet black hair.
Nick Armstrong, the “iguana,” seems cold and uncaring. Coolly handsome, with mahogany hair and eyes, Nick looks the rebel without a cause.
Adam Conant has been with Diana Meade since childhood, they always seemed destined for each other. Adam was sent searching for the coven’s master tools off the coast and uncovered a powerful crystal skull. Adam is tall and strong, with hair the color of wine, and deep blue-grey eyes.
Melanie Glaser is the coven’s crystal expert. Melanie is as intelligent as she is beautiful. She has short, auburn hair, and clear, intelligent grey eyes.
Laurel Quincey is the resident herb expert. She is a vegetarian and keeps very healthy. Laurel has long brown hair and an "elfin" face.
Suzan Whittier is one of Faye’s closest friends, and seems as friendly as that would imply. Her cloud of strawberry-golden hair and well developed chest make her one of the most beautiful women Cassie had ever seen.
Deborah Armstrong is strong and brave, honoring courage above all. Deborah is one of Faye's best friends, and, along with Suzan, took place in Faye’s harrasing of Cassie. With a crescent moon tattoo, wild dark hair and clear blue eyes, Deborah's look fit's her strong, honorable personality.
Chris Henderson's wild blue eyes and crazy blonde hair give a clue to his personality. With his twin brother, Doug, Chris loves heavy metal music and taking risks.
Doug Henderson's wild blue eyes and crazy blonde hair give a clue to his personality. With his twin brother, Chris, Doug loves heavy metal music and taking risks.
Sean Dulany is a quiet, somewhat nervous member of the Coven. With his small stature, Sean's birthright membership in the Coven is the only thing that allows him to be a member of the most popular clique New Salem has ever seen.
Kori Henderson is Chris and Doug’s younger sister. Only a sophmore, Kori is the youngest in the club, and is nice to Cassie. Kori resembles her brothers with turquoise eyes and blonde hair.
Synopsis
Cassie Blake, from California, was vacationing on Cape Cod with her mother in the summer before her junior year in high school. Cassie was miserable there, with only one friend (if you could call her that), Portia Bainbridge. On the beach, a tall boy with dark red hair, blue gray eyes, and a playful dog walked by, to Portia’s disgust. Cassie couldn’t see where Portia’s instant hatred stemmed from, but she though she heard Portia call the boy a witch.
Later, on the beach alone, Cassie felt herself connect to the ocean and the land; she felt “part of the vastness of sky and earth and sea.” Cassie bumped into the handsome boy again that day. He was being hunted by Portia’s brothers, Jordan and Logan, and needed help. Cassie helped the boy, along with his dog, Raj, and sent the brothers looking the wrong way. The boy kissed Cassie’s hand, making her feel different, more alive, than she’d ever felt before; she felt a strange connection to him she could only describe as a "silver cord." He left full of questions. Before being sent to his freedom, the boy gave Cassie a beautiful stone, a chalcedony rose that would help her out if she were ever in trouble.
Cassie's mother explained that they wouldn’t be going home, they would be going to live with Cassie’s estranged grandmother in an island town called New Salem. Cassie hated her new home on Crowhaven Road, she thought the house was ugly and her grandma was scary. She came to realize that her grandmother was full of wisdom, and she began to explore the place that would become her home.
At the end of Crowhaven Road, was a pretty house, the house Cassie had hoped would be her new one when first driving through New Salem. In one of the house’s windows, Cassie could see a beautiful girl with long blonde hair. Cassie had an urge to get the girl’s attention and introduce herself, but she thought better of it and went home.
The first day of school came, and Cassie made her way to New Salem High only to be almost ran over by Deborah, a beautiful biker with long, curly, dark hair and a cresent moon tattoo. In her first class, Cassie met Jeffrey Lovejoy, captain of the basketball team. They discussed basketball, and Cassie was thankful for a friendly face. Faye Chamberlain stalked into the room, tall, volumptious and remnicent of a jungle cat, Cassie had never seen anyone like her. Faye flirted shamelessly with Jeffrey. As she was leaving, Faye nonchalantly mentioned to him that Cassie, too, was from Crowhaven Road. Jeffrey Lovejoy’s jaw dropped and Cassie had no idea why that mattered. The teacher instructed them to each write a poem, Cassie wrote about Fire, her dreams, and the boy she had met on the beach. Faye read her poem, also about Fire, aloud to the class, when finished, she somehow burned the paper without ever lighting a match.
In the hall on the way to another class, Cassie saw twin blond boys with tilted blue-green eyes rollerblading past, destruction in their path; Cassie overheard that they were Chris and Doug Henderson, and their involvment in a club seemed to be the reason they were allowed to behaive this way.
Still friendless, Cassie decided to eat lunch outside. She began to feel the buzz of life in the rock behind her, when she heard the voice of Faye behind the rock. With Faye was Deborah and a girl they called Suzan, with strawberry-blonde hair and a beautiful body. A group of Juniors tried to sit near them, but the girls made them leave, but allowed one girl to stay behind: Kori Henderson was the sister of the twins Cassie had seen, she seemed to be a member of this club as well; Kori soon embarresed listining to Faye, Deborah and Suzan, and left. As the three got up to leave, Sally , Jeffery Lovejoy’s girlfriend, confronted Faye. Faye, without touching Sally, somehow pushed her toward the huge rolling hill that would surely mean her death. Cassie jumped from her safe hiding place to push Sally to safety. Although Cassie had probally saved her life, Sally yelled at Cassie and stormed off. Cassie was left alone with the three; Faye predicted Cassie would be dead meat, and the three left Cassie.
The next morning, Cassie saw group at the entrance to school including Faye, Deborah, Suzan, the boy she would later learn was Sean, the Henderson twins, and Nick, who Cassie had heard Suzan reffer to as a reptile because of the way he kisses. Cassie successfully avoided the scene. All day, the other students avoided Cassie, leaving her to sit alone in class and at lunch. Cassie was harrassed by annonymous parties, and missed her old friends; Cassie received an anonamous note to meet someone in the school’s old science building. When she went to the dark, dirty wing, she found Faye, Suzan and Deborah there waiting for her. They had stolen her poem from the first day of school; Faye lit it on fire and held it dangerously close to Cassie’s face, held immobile by Deborah.
Diana, the beautiful blonde girl from the window on Crowhaven Road appeared and stopped Faye, but Cassie was already crying uncontrollably. Diana took Cassie home and cleaned her up; in Diana’s room, Cassie saw prints of the goddesses Aphrodite, who reminded her of Suzan, Artemis, who reminded her of Deborah, and Hera, who reminded her of Faye. Cassie confided in Diana everything that had happened to her since the first day of school, Diana empathised with her and promised it would be better now. Diana invited Melanie, a beautiful intellegent girl, and Laurel, a bubbly young girl over, for pizza. Diana drove Cassie home and explained that the kids who had grown up on Crowhaven Road, Diana, Laurel, Melanie, Sean, the Hendersons, Nick, and Faye, had a club. Cassie was astonished to hear that Diana was in the club with Faye. Diana explained that Faye was her cousin, and that there was a lot of good in her.
The next day, Cassie and Diana carpooled to school, and Cassie seemed to belong. She was no longer treated like an outcast by the students. Cassie and Diana decided to be foster sisters to each other, each filling a void in the other. Cassie overheard the club disscussing Diana’s boyfriend Adam, who Diana explained had been away visiting people.
Cassie and Diana find young Kori's body at the bottom of a cliff, her neck broken. As the Club argues about who could have killed thier potential initiate, they initiate Cassie to the Club in her place, somewhat reluctantly.
The Club members then reveal their secrets to Cassie, they are members of a heretitary coven, who has controlled New Salem since the witch trials when. "We're not the Girl Scouts..." explained Deborah.
Surprizingly, & to the protest of Deborah & Suzan, Faye admits that Cassie seems to have a fair amount of power.
To Cassie's shock, & initial elation, the boy from the beach in Cape Cod shows up at the initiation. He doesn't yet know about Kori's death and is shocked to see Cassie again. Cassie soon realizes that this boy she fell in love with on the beach is Diana, her new sister's, boyfriend, Adam. Cassie silently pleads with Adam to keep thier previous meeting a secret, as to not give trouble-maker Faye any ammunition.
Adam was in Cape Cod to search for relics of the old covens, powerfull "Master Tools" they had used in ceremony. He found one; a strong crystal skull that was a possession of Black John, an evil, power-hungry original coven member; the original coven hid the other master tools to keep him from their power. The skull seemed so powerfull that, with protests from Faye's contingency, the coven decided to purify it as best they could before attempting to use it.
By popular demand, temporary leader Diana decided she had no choise but to allow the Coven to study the skull, & remove it from it's necissary purifications. Cassie seemed to glean the most contact with the skull, and some power seemed to escape from it, through the protective measures.
Adam walked Cassie home, at Diana's insistance, and alone on a cliff, Cassie admitted that she loved him & they shared one kiss. Adam realized that he loved her back, but the ill-fated lovers remembered their adoration of Diana and made a blood oath to never betray Diana's trust again, not by word, look or deed.
Somehow, Faye finds out about the encounter. In true Faye fashion, she devises a plan to blackmail Cassie into bringing the crystal skull to her, for her own personal use. Cassie finds herself with no viable choise but to become Faye's Captive.
Compiled by Melanie Glaser for the use of Circle Unity,
© February 2000.
