Daughters of the Moon, Books 1 - 3 by Lynne Ewing
A picture of Stanton flashed across her mind with such startling clarity that she froze for a moment. He had visited her in her bedroom. Had that been a dream?
She put on mascara, pasted a bindi on her forehead, then pushed her hair back with a jeweled tiara. She liked the look with her new extensions.
She walked back to her room, looking for comfortable shoes. She could wear thick socks with her new Doc Martens. She found the shoebox under her bed and pulled it out. What she saw inside made her hands start shaking.
The Doc Martens had been worn. When had she worn them before? She clutched them close to her chest and stared out the window, trying to focus on the memories from the back of her mind.
The full moon started to rise and with it came another memory of Stanton. She was finding it impossible to concentrate on anything. Had he warned her about something?
Normally the milky light from the moon made her feel strong. But tonight the moon seemed an omen. Maybe she shouldn’t go.
But there was something else. If she didn’t go, she would always wonder what might have happened. Maybe it was better to follow Collin’s philosophy. Why not try it? If you feel yourself falling, dive. No fear. Take it to the end. She’d go with Zahi.
She jumped off the bed, hurriedly pulled on sweats, then wrapped bright pink and purple boas around her neck. She was going to have fun. She was sick of all the baby games at Planet Bang and the La Brea High dances. This was going to be the big time.
As she spread glitter on her neck and face and her spirits soared, but when she accidentally touched her moon amulet, a prayer tumbled from her lips, “O Mater Luna, Regina nocis, adiuvo me nunc.”
She sat back on her bed. What was happening to her? That prayer only came out during times of great danger.
She looked behind her as if she expected to see someone standing in the corner of her room.
Then the doorbell rang.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ZAHI LEANED AGAINST the doorjamb. He looked sexy and handsome, dressed in khakis and a sweatshirt. His presence had a calming effect on her. “You look wonderful.” He admired her.
She hurriedly locked and closed the door, then and followed him out to the car.
“You have the directions?” she asked.
He smiled and opened the car door. “On the seat.” She picked up the directions, sat down, and snapped her seat belt into place.
They drove up the Antelope Valley Freeway at breakneck speed, then took the Pearblossom Highway through a forest of spiny Joshua trees and cactus scrub. Moonlight illuminated the desert, giving it a strange underwater glow. She rolled down her window and the sweet smell of desert sage filled the car.
“Look.” Zahi pointed to the blue and pink laser lights piercing the night sky. Latticework towers on the horizon looked like a strange spaceship.
“Cool,” she breathed softly.
As they drove closer the traffic became more congested. Then it stopped. Guys wearing walkietalkie headsets waved flashlights and directed kids to a parking area. Some impatiently drove off the road into deep sand and got stuck half on, half off the road, adding to the traffic jam.
The wind shrieked in and out of the car, but when it stopped, the music was loud enough to carry across the desert.
“Let’s turn back and walk,” Serena said with mounting excitement.
“You don’t mind the walk?” Zahi asked.
“I’m too wound up. The walk will give me time to calm down.”
He leaned over and kissed her. “No calming down tonight,” he whispered, then he spun the car, gunned the motor, and left a track of rubber on the two-lane highway.
He found a place at the edge of the highway that looked good and parked. They got out and started walking. The desert wind blasted around them, thrashing their hair and slapping their clothes against their bodies. Her boa followed after her like a flying snake.
Soon they were walking with other kids dressed like techno hippies in bright neon colors, carrying light sticks and Day-Glo flowers. Throbbing brass and machinelike sounds drowned out the howling wind. They passed a girl selling T-shirts with the rave culture’s neo-hippie motto, PLUR, written on the front and underneath, in small letters, PEACE, LOVE, UNDERSTANDING, RESPECT.
Kids sold water, glow sticks, flares, smiley faces, Day-Glo plastic jewelry, and pacifiers from their cars.
They had gone about a mile when they stopped and Zahi gave their tickets to a man wearing a floppy purple hat.
Serena stepped into the mix. The huge size of the gathering made her feel as if she was going to the county fair. The music beat faster than machine-gun fire, hitting 160 beats a minute. The energy pulsed through her as rapidly as the beat.
She held her arms out and started twirling. Zahi grabbed her around the waist and they twirled wildly together until they were both out of breath.
He kissed her lightly and then they started walking again.
The vibrations grew stronger as they pushed toward the towering speakers. The sound quaked through her chest, rocking ribs, heart, and bone. It felt excitingly weird and good. She tried to soak in as much of the delicious energy as she could.
Some of the kids leaned against the speakers, bathing in the throbbing beat.
Zahi took her hand and they walked through another group of kids, who were sucking on plastic baby pacifiers while they danced.
“Why are they doing that?” Serena asked.
“The pacifiers ease the teeth-grinding effect from the Ecstasy,” he explained. “Don’t worry. We don’t need drugs for thrills.” He leaned down and kissed the side of her head. “We’ll enjoy a greater energy. I promise.”
Up on the stage a deejay wearing thick gold chains over a black T ran back and forth between four turntables. Everyone was into the dancing.
Serena snapped her light stick and started moving, the beat too fast to catch. She waved her arms and head.
“Wait,” Zahi mouthed.
She didn’t want to wait.
“Dance,” she yelled over the music, and hopped over to him. He pressed his body next to hers, his hand curling tightly around her waist.
She looked into his eyes, so dark and reflecting the moon’s silver light. He almost looked supernatural, like a creature of the night. Why hadn’t she noticed how compelling his eyes were before?
She felt his breath on her lips. The desert wind rushed around them as if it were trying to separate them.
“Wait for what?” she asked even though she was sure he couldn’t hear her. She didn’t want an answer; she wanted his kiss. His lips were inches from hers now.
“Promise yourself to me?” he said.
A deep blush rose inside her.
“Maybe.” She wanted love, respect, and trust first. She wasn’t in a hurry. She glanced up at him and boldly put her arms around his neck. She did want a kiss.
He smiled and looked down at her, taking his time and making her hungry with anticipation. He looked darkly beautiful, his eyes lustrous. Then he pressed his lips on hers. A jolt of pleasure rushed through her body. His hands traced up her back.
“Let’s go over there.” He pointed to a smaller group of kids on the steep rocky slopes of a nearby butte. The jagged rocks and sheer sandstone outcroppings were silhouetted against the indigo sky. The kids danced around a fire in some antic neotribal way. It looked like fun.
“Okay.” She closed her eyes and lifted her face for another kiss, but he was already pulling away.
They shoved through dancers waving Christmas tinsel, boas, flags, flowers, beads, and light sticks.
When they reached the fire, Serena climbed on a bolder and started dancing again.
She whooped, glad she had decided to come. Then from the corner of her eye she noticed something strange. One by one the kids around her had stopped dancing and were staring up at her.
Their eyes glowed phosphorescent.
She stood motionless.
Punkers. Pierced lips. In the fire’s
She jumped off the bolder. Why would Followers be at a rave? Even these newer aggressive ones? They feared the full moon, when their eyes turned phosphorescent and ordinary people could feel their evil.
Their eyes flashed with anticipation.
She stood in front of Zahi, ready to protect him.
The fire raged upward when she did.
“We’ve got a problem,” she said to Zahi, hoping he could hear her. “We have to leave now. I can’t explain why. Just trust me.”
Suddenly, she was doubtful that she could fight so many of them by herself.
She turned to push Zahi farther away. When she did, he smiled and lifted his left hand. A glossy impression of her moon amulet glimmered on his palm.
She now understood why the devil, the moon, and the high priestess had shown up in the spread. The cards had been trying to warn her. Even as she reproached herself for being so incredibly stupid, she knew there was still part of her that wanted Zahi.
“You would not be the first goddess to join the Atrox,” he said. Or was he speaking inside her mind? His words felt seductive and compelling. “You’re smarter than the other goddesses. Even Maggie sees it. She’s been trying to tell you.”
He touched her and she backed away from him.
“The dark of the moon was sacred to the witch goddess, Hekate,” he said. “It could be sacred to you as well. All you have to do is step into the fire and become immortal. Why do you need the Daughters of the Moon when you can become even more powerful and have eternal life?”
The flames twisted, the tips radiating a strange whiteness that seemed almost pure. Sparks burst into the air and continued to glow as they twirled up and up.
“Lecta,” Zahi said softly.
The fire responded and flames shot toward them like searching arms eager to embrace her.
“Lecta.” Another Follower joined in, and soon they were all chanting, “Lecta! Lecta!”
She could no longer hear the music from the mammoth speakers, only the cold fire calling to her.
The blaze reached higher.
“Make me proud,” Zahi coaxed. “Live with me for eternity.”
The flames roared with impatience.
“I won’t,” she finally spoke. “I won’t go in the fire.”
“No matter.” Zahi smiled malevolently. “I will take you to it.”
He grabbed her wrists and began to pull her toward the flames. The dark anger made his face even more perfect than it had been before, a purely evil beauty.
She tried to fight him with mental force, but his power was stronger and her head pulsed with the rhythm of his thoughts. Her temples throbbed as the pain inside her head became unbearable. Her vision clouded as his power cut through hers like shards of broken glass.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
SERENA SAW THE FULL MOON through the wavering flames.
“O Mater Luna, Regina nocis, adiuvo me nunc,” she whispered, chanting the prayer like a mantra.
“The prayer will not help you, Serena.” Zahi smirked.
She was close enough to the fire to feel its sweeping coldness.
She continued to look at the moon through the turbulent fire. Suddenly she knew Zahi couldn’t harm her. Even alone she was protected. She gazed at the moon’s brilliance, breathed deeply, and felt power surge through her.
Zahi noticed the change. “Do you think the moon will protect you?” he whispered across her mind. “Look again.”
Darkness crept over the edge of the moon.
“The moon is entering the shadow of the earth,” he said. “There is a full eclipse tonight. For two and a half hours you will be without the protection of your moon.”
Serena looked up as the edge of night began to cross the moon.
Her power ebbed.
Zahi grabbed her hand.
It took all of her effort to block him from controlling her. And then he broke through her mental barrier with an explosive force. His thoughts flooded through her and took control again.
She looked at the flames licking the night sky and felt a lethargy take over.
She hesitated, then took one step forward and another.
“Lecta,” the Followers began to chant again.
The flames radiated out and encircled her wrists with terrifying coldness. She shivered. The cold penetrated her bones as she stood at the edge of the fire.
Her tears turned to small ice crystals that slid down her cheeks. Then Zahi’s mind wrapped completely around her like protective dark wings, and her resistance died.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
POWERFUL HANDS GRABBED her shoulders and suddenly yanked her back. Zahi left her mind with a suddenness that caused a painful jolt. She fell to the ground. She shook her head, the hypnosis over, and inched back as glaring, angry flames howled skyward, then tracked along the coarse soil trying to grab her and pull her back.
Stanton stood protectively over her.
The power emanating from Stanton and Zahi made the air crackle as if great electrical currents were flowing between them. The small hairs on the back of her neck rose and the air became too thick to breathe. She didn’t have the strength yet to stand.
The Followers loyal to Zahi crowded around him. They could not attack without his order.
Stanton stood alone. Was he powerful enough to fight off Zahi?
The air became heavy with the smell of ozone, and then the air exploded violently with a roll of thick thunder. Stillness followed. She didn’t know who had won. She took a deep breath and then another.
Stanton ran to her and grabbed her hand.
“Come on!” he said. “We have to get away before Zahi recovers.”
She glanced back. Zahi appeared to be frozen in a trance.
She didn’t want to stay with Zahi and his Followers, but at the same time she didn’t completely trust Stanton. Why had he rescued her?
“Haven’t you figured out yet that I was telling you the truth?” he snapped angrily. “Of course not. You don’t remember because Zahi hid those memories from you again.”
She tried to stand but her legs were too shaky. Her head throbbed. Seeing that she couldn’t run, Stanton swung her up in his arms and carried her.
“Up there.” He motioned with his head. “We’ll hide in the rocks.”
He ran into the rocky terrain of the butte, carrying Serena. Night predators scrambled away as he wound in and out of the rocks and shadows. The laser lights and cold fire created strange shifting shadows across the face of the sandstone outcropping.
Stanton tripped over a rock. They fell and he tumbled on top of her.
“Sorry,” he said. “Are you okay?”
“No.” Pain racked her bones.
She suddenly realized he was still lying on top of her, his body warm against hers. And she wasn’t repulsed, not at all. Her hands moved against her will, curling up around the hard muscles on his back. She looked into his blue eyes, visible in the dark, so startlingly honest.
“Stanton,” she whispered, and as she said his name a deluge of memories flooded over her, swirling with tumultuous speed around her every thought. He wasn’t pushing them into her mind. The recollections were forcing their way back from some dark hidden place deep inside her.
He touched her cheek softly as if he knew what was happening. She closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry.” She spoke with deep penetrating sadness as she finally recalled how many times Stanton had warned her about Zahi. “I should have believed you.”
“How could you?” he asked. “He only left you with bad memories of me.”
She lay quietly beneath him, immersed in the memories. How could she feel this way about someone who had dedicated his life to evil?
She could tell by the disappointment on his face that he read her bewilderment and alarm. She looked away.
“It takes longer for the emotions to return,” he said si
A shadow fell over them.
She looked up. A Follower stood nearby. His spiky orange hair and the hoops pierced through eyebrows, lips, and nose made him look edgy and hard-core.
She made her mind blank so that if this Follower had learned how to sense thoughts he wouldn’t be able to pick up hers.
The Follower shook his head, then rubbed his eyes, and she knew Stanton was working his mind. He fingered his nose ring, looked in the opposite direction, and ambled away from them.
Stanton got off her and helped her up, then they peered from behind the boulder.
The Followers swarmed through the jagged rocks.
“It’s only moments before another one finds us,” Stanton whispered. “We’re going to have to split up.”
“Okay.” She nodded and looked up the bluff. It was a steep climb but the only way she saw to escape.
Stanton touched her cheek and turned her head to face him. “If you have the power to read minds and steal memories, then you also have the power to cloud minds.”
“I’ve never done that before.” She shrugged. “I don’t know if I can.”
“You’ll have to use that part of your power to protect yourself in case one of them finds you.”
“But I don’t know how.” Usually she would practice her new skills with the other Daughters before trying them on anyone alone.
“I’m going to distract them,” Stanton said. “Hopefully, Zahi will chase after me. He’ll think you’re the easier prey and come back for you later.”
“Thanks.” She shot him an angry look.
He almost laughed. “I said he’d think. He doesn’t know you the way I do. Sneak back to the rave and hide in the crowd.”
She realized suddenly that he was going to sacrifice himself to save her. Maybe he could fight off Zahi, but what about all of the other Followers?
She touched his hand. “Two together have better odds.”