Daughters of the Moon, Books 1 - 3 by Lynne Ewing
Someone bumped into them and the two moon amulets hanging around Vanessa’s neck slid against each other. Silver sparks flew from the metals, and Cassandra’s eyes flashed with white fire as bright sparks burned into her skin. Vanessa blinked. The spell was broken. Her fear returned. She yanked away, lost her balance, and sprawled on top of Catty. She tried to protect Catty from the hammering feet.
A heavy metal guy in a black T-shirt and silver chains saw their trouble and attempted to help them up, but Karyl appeared from nowhere and head-butted him. The boy staggered back, clutching his forehead.
The music became louder and sent the audience into renewed frenzy. Girls unbuttoned their blouses and flashed the band.
Vanessa reached for Catty’s hand. Maybe she could make them both invisible. She tried to concentrate but each kick sent new pain racking through her.
So much for the warrior, she thought and gave in to the hurricane of trampling feet.
Kids surfed the crowd and slammed about.
No one noticed Vanessa and Catty being trampled on the mosh pit floor.
Vanessa felt herself melting into the pain that tore through her body when a hand grabbed her and pulled her up.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
KARYL DRAGGED VANESSA away from the crowd.
“Failed goddess,” he smirked. “Look in my eyes to save your friend.”
She knew it was another lie, but she was too weak to pull away. His eyes held hers. She felt herself falling again. Another memory? It was different this time. She could feel hope ebbing from her. Was this what Morgan felt? An inhospitable cold swirled deep inside her and still she could not look away.
“Stop,” she begged. She doubted Karyl could hear her over the maelstrom of music. She continued to fall. Her lungs burned for oxygen. Her heart was on fire. She felt dizzy. The dizziness brought up tears and unhappy dreams from some hidden place behind her heart where she had tucked so many disappointments. Tears pushed into her eyes.
Then she heard someone calling, the voice barely audible, like a whisper on the wind. Impossible. It had to be her imagination. A voice in her mind was telling her not to look. It was Stanton.
If you look too long in his eyes, Stanton’s voice whispered across her mind, you’ll be lost. He’s stealing your life force, your hope.
She closed her eyes.
“Look at me,” Karyl ordered, shaking her.
She felt Karyl push away, and then Stanton took her in his arms.
“Come to my world,” Stanton ordered. “It’s the only way I can save you.”
“Save me?”
“They will destroy you.”
“But I’m the key. Don’t they need me?”
“No, Vanessa, you’re not the key,” Stanton said. “It’s a special night for the Atrox. If two Daughters of the Moon are destroyed during the night of the Nefardus moon, the power balance shifts in favor of the dark. The only way I can save you now is to make you one of us. Of your own free will, join me to save yourself.”
At that moment, she wanted him and his world. Why not give up the struggle? It would be so easy. She shook her head. “What about the people I’m supposed to protect?”
“Save yourself,” he repeated.
“I don’t want a life like yours.”
“I can’t harm you, because you performed an act of kindness to save me when I was a boy,” he said. “But I can’t protect you from the others.”
Karyl ripped her away from Stanton and he let her go without a struggle. She could feel Karyl in her mind like an electrical current and already part of her wanted to turn and gaze in his eyes and fall into that sweet dangerous peace.
With renewed energy and determination she fought the images Karl was pushing into her mind and pictured the full moon instead. She wasn’t going to die like this. Power filled her body. She closed her eyes and let her mind expand to the ends of the universe. Her molecules loosened. She floated through his grasping hands.
She found Catty and became visible again. She didn’t care who might see. She tore Catty’s amulet from her own neck and pressed it into Catty’s hand. It had been a long time since she had tried to make anyone invisible with her, and her powers were weak.
She held Catty’s hand as the Followers pushed through the crowd toward them. She could feel Cassandra’s thoughts clasp hold. And then Tymmie’s. She was determined not to let them overpower her this time. Her amulet began to glow. Energy seared through her like a burst of flame. She pulled Catty up and stood as Karyl attacked.
“Vanessa,” Catty warned weakly.
A strange light from the amulet struck Karyl’s face and he instantly stepped back, surprised. What had stopped him? The amulet? Did it have powers?
Cassandra and Tymmie circled, a strange grin of torment on their faces.
“Why aren’t they attacking?” Catty said.
Vanessa didn’t answer. She couldn’t. The power inside her felt too strong. It pulsed through every cell. Then an unearthly glow shimmered protectively around them and they rose like silver smoke into the air.
They floated over the crowd. As they neared the exit, something drew her eyes back to Stanton. He was charming and handsome in a threatening and seductive way. He stared up at her even though she was sure he couldn’t see her. He had betrayed her, then saved her, only to betray her again. But looking at him now and seeing how sad he looked, she felt sorry for him. She thought of his offer. Did he love her? Too late she realized she shouldn’t have looked back. She had lost her concentration. Her molecules clustered.
Catty became dense and slipped from her grasp. Her molecules reformed rapidly and she dropped toward the crowd. Vanessa tumbled close behind her.
They hit the crowd. Hands grabbed their arms, legs, and stomachs and carried them over the bobbing heads.
Vanessa prayed the swell of hands would carry them to the barricades and drop them into the arms of the waiting security guards. Then they could run backstage and out to safety.
But the hands carried them the wrong way, back to the Followers.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
THE HANDS DROPPED Vanessa in front of Cassandra.
“Goddess.” Cassandra said the word like a curse.
“Nice to have you back.” Tymmie grinned, his eyes blank and deep.
They crowded around her, their thoughts pushing into her mind. She tried to escape through the mangle of pounding arms and feet, but when she saw Karyl clutching Catty, something sparked inside her. She flung herself at him. He stumbled backward, stunned. Too late she remembered Maggie’s warning about using the tools of the Atrox. He turned and snickered. His thin face fired with a horrible rage, and his pupils dilated.
Vanessa steadied herself for his assault, but it never came. She opened her eyes.
Karyl stood still, staring at the entrance. The throng in the mosh pit stopped jumping and pushing. Faces turned. The singer in the band lost his words and stared at something in the audience.
The crowd stood still. Something bigger than the full-speed rock hysteria had taken hold.
“What’s going on?” Catty asked.
“I don’t know yet.” And then Vanessa knew. “It’s Serena and Jimena.”
Serena and Jimena walked into the crowd, strides long and seductive. Jimena wore a silver bustier and capris with matching sandals. Her hair was rolled on top of her head with glitter and jewels. Curls bounced with each step. Her face gleamed; her full lips sparkled. The tattoos on her arms seemed iridescent. She whooped and squealed and gave Serena a high five.
Serena had moussed her hair so it stood on end. Streaks of orange glitter shot from her temples into her hair. She wore a yellow tulle skirt over a sheer, clingy red dress and looked like a walking flame.
The strobe light flickered, making the entire room surreal.
“Non aliquis incipit convivium sine nobis,” Jimena yelled.
“Nos sumus convivium!” Serena joined in.
Vanessa wondered if it was a curse o
Their silver moon amulets caught the flashing strobe light and threw magic rainbows across the faces of the Followers. Cassandra squealed and put her hands in front of her eyes. Tymmie and Karyl glared.
“Hey, boys,” Jimena said to the band and stood with her hand on a hip thrust to the side. “Where’s the music? We came here to party.”
The bass player smiled. The drummer nodded, and music crashed through the room. The velocity gained with each beat of the drum. The guitars sent metallic notes into the air like machine-gun fire. The corrugated walls of the warehouse vibrated. The mosh pit spun into slam dancing.
Vanessa felt a strange thrum against her chest. She looked down. The light from her own amulet was so strong she had to look away.
Serena gestured to Karyl and Tymmie, wiggling her fingers in an enticing way “Come on, bad boys, we’re here to play. That’s what you wanted.”
Tymmie and Karyl smiled dangerously. Their power came like an invisible wave pushing against her. Vanessa took an involuntary step backward. The force of their thoughts didn’t seem to affect Jimena or Serena.
“Well?” Jimena was expectant, head cocked to one side.
Cassandra joined Tymmie and Karyl. Her thoughts came like hellish screams. Vanessa grabbed her ears, even though she knew the piercing noise was inside her head.
Jimena and Serena stood perfectly still, as if the screams didn’t bother them.
Frustrated, Cassandra lunged and swung. Jimena ducked. The nails missed Jimena’s cheek by inches. Jimena shined the light from her amulet into Cassandra’s eyes.
Cassandra grabbed her eyes and tumbled away. But it was something more than the amulet that had stopped Cassandra. Vanessa could feel it now, a dangerously benevolent power that billowed from Jimena and Serena.
Tymmie grabbed Serena and Karyl stared into her eyes. The pupils in Serena’s eyes expanded. Vanessa could feel the force of their struggle. Her head pounded with the energy.
Finally, Karyl stumbled backward. Then Serena swung around and shined her amulet in Tymmie’s eyes, but again Vanessa knew it was something more than the power of the amulet that made Tymmie look confused and stagger before he turned and ran.
Serena turned to face Karyl again. The skin tightened against his skull as if anger and hatred burned inside him. His power vibrated through Vanessa in an ominously exciting way, his thoughts sweetly seductive and irresistible. Her eyes drifted to him. She wondered if Serena was also drowning in his eyes.
Then Jimena touched her. She snapped back with a wrench of her neck.
“Take Catty and go outside to the car.” She stood protectively in front of them.
Vanessa concentrated until she and Catty were as weightless as moonbeams. Then they drifted up and over the crowd. She glanced down at Stanton. She could feel his eyes saying their battle wasn’t done. She looked away.
Outside fog had settled on the ground. She pulled her molecules together and slowly drifted back to earth next to Jimena’s car.
Catty hugged her fiercely. She almost lost her balance. “Thank you, Vanessa.”
“How did they catch you?” Vanessa squeezed Catty tightly.
“I was doing my leapfrog back to Saturday night. It worked,” she said with excitement. “But Karyl, Tymmie, and Cassandra were following you that night at the Bowl. I got too close, and they grabbed me. I was so drained from all the time-twisting that I couldn’t get away. They kept me prisoner. You can’t imagine what it was like reliving time with them. I still can’t figure out why they were following you. ”
“There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you,” Vanessa began. “You’re not a space alien.”
“No?” Catty’s voice seemed disappointed. “What am I, then?”
“A goddess.”
“Yeah, right, would a goddess have trouble pulling a comb through her hair? Or get so many bruises?” She held out her arms.
“For real, not a space person, you’re a goddess.”
“A goddess,” Catty repeated, as if she were tasting the word. “Yeah, I always knew.”
“You did not.” Vanessa laughed.
“Sure I did,” Catty said, and then she was crying in Vanessa’s arms.
Serena and Jimena ran out to the car, exhilarated and glowing.
“¡Ándale! Hurry,” Jimena urged, “before they get to changing their minds and decide they want to fight some more.”
They climbed in the car. Jimena turned the key in the ignition. The mufflers thundered.
As the car pulled away, a new worry filled Vanessa. She had promised Maggie she wouldn’t meet Stanton, and now she had defied her. She was sure there was going to be a punishment. Would she take away her power? She didn’t want to lose it now. Her stomach churned with apprehension.
Jimena stopped the car in front of Maggie’s apartment and got out. She turned to Vanessa. “Maggie said we had to bring you back here after.
They walked up to the front door and pushed the security button. There was no answer.
“Push it again,” Serena said.
Suddenly Maggie appeared, breathless, behind them. “Sorry I’m late. I had to take Vanessa’s friend Morgan home.”
“She’s all right?” Vanessa asked.
“Of course.”
Then Vanessa took a deep breath. She didn’t know if she should try to apologize now, or wait until after Maggie told her what her punishment would be.
“Vanessa . . .” Maggie started.
“I know I failed,” Vanessa cut in, and felt hot tears press into her eyes.
“Failed? No, not at all.”
“I didn’t fail? But you made me promise to do nothing. You said I had no choice.”
“I had to test you, Vanessa,” Maggie said. “Yes, I needed to make sure you were willing to risk everything to do what was right. Saving Catty was the right choice.” She placed her soft hand on Vanessa’s cheek. “You are one of those daughters upon whom Selene has bestowed great gifts. She has given you magnanimity of spirit, physical energy, and courage.”
Vanessa felt a strange glow tremble through her. She glanced at Serena and Jimena and saw relief on their faces as well, and then she looked at Catty, who looked totally confused.
“Welcome, my last daughter.”
Catty smiled. “You’re the lady from my dreams. You’re real! How cool!”
They went upstairs to the apartment. The room smelled of ginger and cinnamon and glowed from candles placed around the room. The table was set for tea. They sat down and Maggie poured tea as Serena and Jimena told her what had happened.
“You all did well tonight,” Maggie praised them. “And to think this is the Nefandus Moon, a dark moon special to the Atrox. Very good, my dears.”
“They’re not defeated,” Jimena said.
“But they’re been stopped on a very momentous night, and my daughters are still together.”
Maggie talked quickly as she wrapped Catty’s arms in bandages and applied a slippery goo to the cut on her forehead. She told Catty everything that she had explained to Vanessa about the Atrox and its followers. When she finished, she added something Vanessa hadn’t heard before: “Your gift only lasts until you are seventeen, and then there’s a metamorphosis. You have to make the most important choice of your life. Either you can choose to lose your powers and your memory of what you once were, or you disappear. The ones who disappear become something else, guardian spirits perhaps. No one really knows.”
The girls sat silently, taking it all in.
Then Vanessa remembered the strange words that Serena and Jimena had spoken. “What were the incantations you yelled when you came in to rescue Catty and me?”
“Non aliquis incipit convivium sine nobis,” Jimena said.
“Nos sumus convivium,” Serena finished.
Maggie looked at them sternly. “That’s what you said?”
Jimena nodded. “It means ‘No one starts the party without us.’”
“Yeah, ’ca
“But wait.” Catty put her hand up and touched the poultice that Maggie had put over the bruise on her forehead. “How did you know where to find us?”
“That’s easy.” Serena looked at Jimena. “She had a premonition.”
“Yeah, I saw you all dolled up in blue.” Jimena smiled at Vanessa.
“But I didn’t even know where I was going.” Vanessa leaned back in her chair, bewildered.
“It’s not like reading minds,” Serena explained.
“I saw the warehouse.” Jimena tapped the side of her head with her finger. “I used to be one of the girls who hung out there, so I knew where to go.”
“So how did you fight them?” Vanessa asked.
“The amulets.” Serena cupped her hand around hers. “They give us power.”
“Now, I’ve told you that’s not it,” Maggie warned. “The amulets are only symbols. They mean nothing without your faith. It is your faith in yourselves to turn their evil away that makes you stronger than they are.”
“But the amulets glowed,” Catty pointed out.
“That was your power, my dear.” Maggie spoke softly. “The amulet is only a reminder of the power inside you. Each of you has a special power to fight the Atrox. Jimena’s premonitions will tell us when someone needs our help. Serena with her mind-reading will know when someone is being tempted by the Atrox. Vanessa’s invisibility will enable her to go among the Followers unseen and tell us what they are planning. And Catty can travel into the past or future to confirm our suspicions so that the Followers cannot deceive us. Together you are an unstoppable force.”
The girls looked at each other and smiled.
“Why does the dark of the moon give me the creeps?” Vanessa sipped the tea.
“Evil forces are stronger in darkness. I suppose some would blame Selene for the dark moon.” Maggie turned her face away. “There wasn’t always a dark of the moon, you know.”
“What happened?” Catty asked.