by Lynne Ewing
“Listen up.” Jimena nodded toward Serena.
“I was able to go inside Maggie’s mind,” Serena said simply.
“You’ve never been able to read Maggie’s thoughts,” Catty argued.
“I know,” Serena agreed. “I didn’t even really mean to, but I guess she was so distracted by the Scroll that her guard was down.”
“Tell her what you read,” Jimena urged.
“Maggie thinks the manuscript is sending her to her death,” Serena spoke the words slowly.
“No way,” Catty exclaimed. “Why would Maggie think she’s being sent to her death if the manuscript is the key to destroying the Atrox?”
“She wouldn’t,” Jimena answered.
“Not unless Maggie has somehow deceived us,” Vanessa added quietly.
They stared at her in silence.
“How do you figure that?” Jimena picked up a menu, then set it back on the table with a slap.
Vanessa sipped her water, then finally answered. “Maybe she’s really part of the Atrox and has been conning us. If that were true, then if the Atrox is destroyed, she’d be destroyed.”
“How could you even think that?” Serena said angrily.
“Think about it,” Vanessa stated. “Maggie stops us from acting. I mean, our instincts tell us to do the dangerous thing, but she always cautions against it.”
“Because she cares for us,” Jimena reminded her.
“And besides,” Serena put in. “If we do something that she’s asked us not to do, she’s never upset. In fact, she usually says that it was exactly what she wanted us to do anyway.”
“So maybe she tells us not to do something,” Catty suggested, “because she’s really testing us to see if we have what it takes.”
Vanessa shrugged. “It’s a possibility.”
“But you’re thinking something else.” Jimena sounded exasperated.
“Come on,” Vanessa continued. “Catty was given the manuscript. She’s the only person who can follow the Path, and yet Maggie takes it from her. Shouldn’t it stay with Catty?”
“She took it because she’s going to study it,” Catty protested.
Vanessa started to say something more, but a deep voice interrupted. “Hey, how’s my girl?”
They turned. Toby stood behind them. “I didn’t know you guys liked to hang out in Westwood. What are you talking about?”
“It’s private,” Serena snapped.
Toby smiled. “I could hear you guys arguing all the way inside, so it couldn’t have been too private. What’s this manuscript that you’re talking about?”
“Nothing,” Catty and Jimena said together.
Vanessa stood suddenly, and Toby’s eyes admired her body. “You look great,” he cooed and kissed her cheek.
“Let’s go over to the campus.” Vanessa took his arm. “I love to walk around there.”
“Sure.” He tried to pull her closer, but when he did, her hands went automatically to her chest in a protective way as if she were trying to make a barricade between them.
The gesture baffled Catty. Vanessa said she liked him, and yet her body language revealed the opposite.
“I’ll call you tonight.” Vanessa waved and left with Toby.
Catty watched Vanessa and Toby walk away arm-in-arm down Westwood Boulevard. She reached for her water and accidentally touched Serena. A spark flew between them. “How’d that happen?”
“Dry, hot weather,” Serena remarked blandly.
“I thought it was dry, cold weather,” Catty offered.
“Does Toby creep you guys out as much as he does me?” Serena asked.
Catty nodded. “He’s cute with that dark goatee and great bod, but his smile makes me uneasy. I don’t know why Vanessa likes him so much.”
“He’s too clean cut,” Jimena interrupted. “I like guys who are a little roughed up.”
“You better,” Serena joked. “Collin always has a peeling nose and sand in his ears.”
Jimena laughed. “Yeah, but he’s the best-looking guy I’ve ever met.” Collin was Serena’s surf rat brother and Jimena’s boyfriend. “I’m counting the days until he gets back from Hawaii.”
Catty glanced down at her watch. “Could you give me a ride over to the bookshop? I can’t be late again.”
Twenty minutes later, Catty pushed through the front door of the Darma Bookstore on Third Street. Brass bells on leather cords tingled in harmony as she closed the door behind her. Books, candles, prayer beads, crystals, and essence oils sat on white shelves in neat arrays.
“Hi, Mom,” Catty called. Incense curled sinuously around her and filled the air with a pungent scent.
Kendra glanced at her watch and a smile crossed her face. “Thanks for being on time.” She picked up a stack of papers and started for the back door. “What should I pick up for dinner?”
“Anything,” Catty answered.
“That’s dangerous.” Kendra gave her a teasing grin.
“No health food,” Catty added. “Something with lots of fat and calories.”
“Order pizza, then,” Kendra called over her shoulder.
“Sounds good,” Catty answered.
After Kendra left, Catty wandered around the bookstore. It always made her feel tranquil. Water bubbled from fountains set in stone planters near the door, and soothing guitar music played from the speakers.
Catty pushed through the blue curtains separating the back room from the store and went into the small kitchen. She sat down at the oak table. A blurred photo of a flying saucer hovering over the Arizona desert hung on the wall next to posters of deep space taken from the Hubble telescope. Kendra thought the pictures would comfort Catty.
Catty pulled out her mother’s moon amulet and set it on the table in front of her. She wondered if Maggie was right. Could her mother have turned to the Atrox? Or was there some other reason the amulet was with her mother’s belongings? She wished she could go into the past and see her mother right now. Then she remembered what Serena had said about Maggie. Before she could consider it more, the bells hanging on the front door tingled. She put the amulet back in her pocket and walked into the shop.
Chris stood near a counter, looking at a pack of green candles.
“Hi,” he called when he saw her.
“I didn’t know you were coming by.” She felt happy to see him, but she couldn’t spend time with him right now. She had too many things she needed to sort out. Plus it was against Kendra’s new rules to have guys visit while Catty watched the shop, and she didn’t want to chance getting in trouble again.
“I missed you after school,” he said with a flirtatious smile. “You didn’t stick around.”
She was surprised that he had noticed, but she was glad that he had. She shrugged. “I had to go someplace.”
“Anywhere special?”
She cocked her head and looked at him. If she hadn’t known better, she’d think he was jealous. “Just out,” she answered lightly.
“Not with someone else, I hope.” He tried to make it sound like he was teasing, but she sensed his worry.
“Not with another guy, if that’s what you mean.” She looked at him curiously.
He took her hand. “Is that what you think I mean?”
“Look, I really am busy.” She wanted him to leave. What if Kendra suddenly came back? “I have a lot of things I need to do.”
He acted like he hadn’t heard her. He stepped closer and with the tip of his finger, he turned her face up to his. His breath was sweet and tickled across her cheek. He rested his hands on her shoulders, then slid them down her arms to her elbows. He pulled her to him and placed her hands behind his back.
He draped his arms around her. “I really am sorry about the way I acted at school. Can you just trust me for now?”
“Can’t you tell me what’s going on?” She glanced at his sensuous lips.
He shook his head. “I want to tell you. I will someday. I promise.”
She looked int
o his alluring eyes. She wanted to believe him. More than anything, and if she were only going by the way her heart felt, she would trust him.
“I really like you.” He spoke softly and the words floated around her in a dreamy way. “More than I’ve ever liked anyone and if you knew everything about me, you’d know that means a lot.”
She started to ask him to explain, but before she could he bent down. She thought he was going to kiss her, but he let his lips tease, hovering inches from hers. Their breath mingled. When his lips finally touched hers, a pleasant shock went through her.
All the worries that had been building inside her seemed to vanish and there was only Chris and the sensations of her body. She had imagined so often what it must feel like to kiss a guy, but even in her wildest fantasies a kiss had never felt as good as the ones Chris gave her.
When he pulled back, she opened her eyes quickly and caught a look of intense longing in his eyes, and then it was gone. Was it only her imagination?
“Chris…” She started to ask him what was bothering him, but he closed her mouth with another kiss.
CHAPTER TEN
CATTY SAT IN geometry class nervously waiting for Mr. Hall to hand back the test papers. He stepped down the aisle and paused in front of her desk, tapping his toe. He gazed suspiciously at her through the lens of his small black-framed glasses, then set a paper on her desk.
A large red A looped across of the top. She tried to pick up the paper but her hands trembled so badly that kids sitting on either side of her were starting to stare. She had been the first one to finish the test the day before, not because she had studied, but because the test questions were a duplicate of the ones on the test found in her mother’s belongings.
She stared at the paper and took a deep breath. She wanted to compare the new and old tests, but she knew if she pulled out the old one, Mr. Hall would see and accuse her of cheating.
Finally, she couldn’t take the wondering any longer. She grabbed her bag and the new test paper and went up to Mr. Hall’s desk.
“Can I have the hall pass?” she whispered.
He scowled and wiped his handkerchief across his nose. “Class just began.”
“Girl stuff,” she confided in an even lower whisper.
Mr. Hall dug the large wood board from his desk and handed it to her. “Don’t lose it this time, Catty.”
“I promise I won’t.” She grinned nervously. How could she ever explain that she had lost the last hall pass somewhere in time?
She hurried from the room. Jimena, Serena, and Vanessa all cast worried looks after her.
In the corridor, she walked quickly past open doors. Teachers’ voices drifted into the hallway after her. She went outside to the back of the school and found a cement bench near the weed-infested corridor between the gym and music building. The rays from the morning sun dusted the side of the stucco wall but did little to warm her. She sat down and spread the first paper in front of her, then searched for the old one in her bag, found it, and smoothed it next to the new one. She let out a long hiss. They were identical. Even the red As were a perfect match.
She stared at the papers for a long time, wondering what it meant. She was about to go back to class when a shadow slid over the papers.
Even as she was turning to see who it was, she could feel her moon amulet pulsing against her chest. Her body became vigilant and tense.
Stanton stood behind her, dressed in black, his shaggy blond hair hanging in his eyes. He was handsome in a dangerous way that made her want to stare forever in his intense blue eyes.
“Catty.” His voice sounded annoyed.
“What?” she answered coldly. She grabbed her bag and took a step backward.
Catty often wondered what evil act Stanton had committed to receive the gift of immortality from the Atrox. It didn’t matter that Serena liked him. Catty saw him as purely evil. Besides, she never believed that Stanton really cared about Serena. She assumed he was only using her. There was immense competition among Followers for a place of power in the Atrox hierarchy and the biggest prize for any Followers was the seduction of a Daughter of the Moon or the theft of her powers.
She stuffed the two test papers back in her bag and stood to face him. Before she was even aware that his hand had moved, he ripped the bag from her.
“Give it back.” She started to reach for it but already he had opened it and was digging inside.
When he didn’t find what he wanted, he tossed the bag back to her. “I’ve been told you possess the Secret Scroll.” His voice rumbled with anger. “Where is it?”
Catty felt her body preparing to fight. She stood taller, anticipating his attack. “Like I’m going to give you that.”
“The manuscript belongs to my family,” Stanton spoke calmly. She tried not to look in his eyes but it was hard not to stare at their haunting beauty.
“What makes you think it belonged to your family?” she challenged. “I’m the heir.”
A darkness seemed to pass over his face. “There was a quest for the Secret Scroll at the end of the thirteenth century. My father found it. It belongs to me now.”
Without warning, his mind was in hers before she could deflect it. Her heart beat nervously, but it didn’t feel as if he meant to harm her. He seemed to be holding back as if he didn’t want to frighten her. Abruptly his memories came in a fast-moving torrent, spinning and swirling around her in an ever increasing speed until she had to reach out and clutch his arm to keep from falling. Finally, the dizzy motion stopped and she focused on one memory.
It opened before her, and Catty hesitatingly stepped forward. Stanton had once trapped Vanessa in one of his memories but while there she had tried to save a younger Stanton from the Atrox. For that act he could never harm Vanessa, but Catty had no guarantee. Stanton was capable of trapping her forever in his memories. Still, she felt awed by what was happening, but she didn’t feel afraid.
She stepped onto a hard floor and almost tripped on an animal skin. Crosses and candles were placed around the small room. Tapestries hung on the stone walls and a fire crackled in a corner. Three men sat around a table that was covered with a delicately woven cloth. Two of the men wore the cowled robe of monks. Catty couldn’t see their faces. Then she saw what held their attention. The Secret Scroll lay in the middle of the table.
The third man glanced at the fire. He resembled Stanton. Vanessa had told her that Stanton’s father had been a great prince of western Europe during the thirteenth century. He had raised an army to go on a crusade against the Atrox, but then the Atrox had kidnapped Stanton to stop his father.
At first, she couldn’t understand their language, but Stanton must have done something, because suddenly she grasped what they were saying.
“My mission has always been to combat evil by force of arms.” Stanton’s father spoke quietly. “Not by prayers.” His voice was gentle and kind, and it stirred something inside of Catty.
“The Path of the Manuscript is the only way,” said one of the monks.
Stanton’s father nodded. “I’ve already chosen my path.” He walked to the fireplace and stared at the flames. “But the manuscript must be guarded until an heir is found. Someone of pure heart who can fight the Atrox if I fail.” He turned back suddenly and faced the monks again. “And even if the Atrox takes me, you are not to exchange the manuscript for my freedom.”
The monks nodded again.
Stanton’s father continued, “I have two sons. One surely will survive and when he is of age you will give the manuscript to him.”
The monks turned toward the corner of the room. Seated on a tall chair sat a small boy with blond hair. She knew he must be Stanton at a younger age. Even then his blue eyes were alluring. He looked frightened by what was going on around him.
“We’ve already named a keeper for the manuscript,” the one monk asserted. “A knight who is strong and noble, and will risk his life to guard it.”
Stanton’s father sat back at the t
able. “That is all then.”
The monks wrapped the parchment in a leather pouch and slowly left the room.
The memory began to fade, but Catty didn’t want to leave this man. She wanted to talk to him. The edges of her vision shimmered, and then she was back in La Brea High facing Stanton.
“Now you see that it is mine,” he said bluntly. “And I expect its return.”
Catty shook her head and took one step away from him. “I was given the manuscript—”
“Its curse brings horrible danger to its owner,” he warned. “Are you prepared for that?”
She hadn’t really thought about the curse. Both Maggie and Kendra had mentioned it, but it had seemed more superstition than reality until now.
“It’s not real?” She had meant for the words to form a statement but instead it sounded like a question.
“Throughout its history the manuscript has cursed its possessor.”
Catty hesitated. Was that why Maggie had seemed so frightened by the manuscript?
“The Daughters of the Moon should stay as far away from the Secret Scroll as possible,” Stanton cautioned.
Catty considered his warning, but she didn’t trust Stanton, so how could she believe anything he told her? “You only want the manuscript so you can turn it over to the Atrox and win a place of honor in the Inner Circle.”
“Inner Circle,” Stanton repeated with obvious disdain. “How little you know.” His mouth opened as if he were going to say more, but then he turned his head, seeming to sense something.
He reached for Catty and she took a quick step away from him.
“Come with me,” he ordered and held out his hand.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Catty answered.
“I warned you,” he said, and then he slipped around the music building and peeked back at her. “Hurry. Can’t you feel it?”
She clutched her bag against her chest. There was an unusual stillness in the air. “What’s happening?”
“The Regulators.” He motioned for her to join him. “Come on, we have to escape into time.”