A look of astonishment crossed Kendra’s face as well, and she moved her thumb to cover the date. Kendra glanced at Catty, her mouth open in surprise.
“What?” Catty asked, wondering if Kendra had seen something more.
“Your moon amulet. It’s changing colors.” She seemed spellbound. “Maybe it is your mother,” she suggested in a voice too low for the receptionist to hear. “Perhaps because you’re close to your real mother, it’s glowing.” Kendra thought the amulet was a homing device that would someday guide Catty back to her home in space.
Catty clasped her hand around the amulet. It resonated against her palm. The amulet only glowed when Followers of the Atrox were nearby. Did that mean she was in danger? She looked quickly behind her, but nothing was there. She wished Vanessa were here.
Kendra’s eyes widened and she put her hand on Catty’s shoulder. Had she noticed something that Catty hadn’t seen? Then Catty felt it. The air changed. She had a curious sensation of an electric charge building around her as if she had brushed a giant balloon vigorously back and forth across her clothing.
Overhead the fluorescent lights buzzed, then flickered, only to come back brighter.
“It must be a power surge,” the receptionist offered in explanation, but Catty didn’t think so.
The tiny hairs on her arm stood on end as if electrons were flowing through the air charging it with electricity, but that was impossible. A current of electricity needed a conductor and a source of energy. It couldn’t just exist in the air. She might get Ds in geometry, but she always knew her science.
She touched Kendra’s arm and a spark flew between them.
Kendra eyed her curiously. “What is it?” she whispered.
That’s when the front entrance door opened and three men walked slowly inside. They were distinguished-looking, with graying hair and deep, clear eyes. All three wore neatly pressed black suits.
When Kendra looked up and saw the men, she edged in front of Catty as if she were trying to protect her.
Catty peeked at the men from behind Kendra. The oldest had a thick mustache and held himself overly erect, as if he were wearing a brace. The shorter one had a broad, handsome face. He turned and smiled, his white, even teeth clenched tightly. When his black eyes met Catty’s, she became suddenly aware of how frightened she felt. The third one seemed almost too good-looking. Catty wondered if he was wearing stage makeup. His skin and hair looked flawless.
If there hadn’t been such a strange electrical aura surrounding them, and if her amulet hadn’t been thrumming against her clenched fist, Catty might have thought they were undertakers from a mortuary that was patronized by only the rich and famous people in Los Angeles. But now she was certain the men were Followers, only different from any she had seen before. They were older, for one thing, and they looked too perfect, more like wax figures than real people.
Most of the Followers Catty met were Initiates. Kids who had turned to the Atrox, hoping to prove themselves worthy of becoming Followers. They were no threat to her, unless a large group of them caught her. But there were other Followers, like these, who were powerful and treacherous.
“I have to go,” the receptionist announced. “Be sure to give the paper back before you leave.”
The men turned to greet her as she walked back to the reception cubicle.
The oldest stepped forward. “We’ve come to claim the body of Zoe Reese,” he said in a smooth voice.
Catty clutched Kendra’s hand. Why would Followers want her mother’s body?
The receptionist sighed. “Who notified you?”
“No one,” he answered. “I am…was her neighbor. I called the police and informed them that I had found her body in the backyard. I knew she was alone in the world and I was hoping to make arrangements for her.” He smiled coldly and leaned closer to the glass. “That is, of course, unless you were able to find a next of kin.”
“The next of kin has already been notified.” The receptionist glanced at Kendra and Catty but didn’t say more.
“Perhaps, then…” He stopped and pressed a finger against his lips as if he were carefully considering his words before he continued. “Perhaps you could give me their address so that I might help them.”
“I’m sorry,” the receptionist answered solemnly. “I can’t give you that information.”
Kendra suddenly jerked Catty’s arm and pulled her from the property release room. They marched quickly across the polished floor to the door and outside into the sunshine.
When they had passed two utility vans parked side by side, Kendra spoke quickly. “Don’t look back until we’re inside the car.”
“You know who they are?” Catty felt surprised.
“They’re from Area 51, I’m sure.” Kendra quickened her pace. “That superclean military look. You’d think G-men would try to blend in rather than stand out. Did you see how polished their shoes were? That’s not the first time I’ve had to hide you from their kind.”
“Their kind?” Catty wondered if Kendra had seen Followers like these before.
“Government agents looking for space aliens,” Kendra replied. The words came out in a single breath.
They climbed into the car and Kendra quickly rolled down her window. The air outside rushed in but did little to cool the interior.
“I’ve tried to protect you from government officials like those.” Kendra sighed. “I’m sure they’ve taken others like you and dissected them. They’d just love to find out about your power. Why do some scientists have this irrational need to dissect God’s creatures? Can’t they just admire their beauty?”
Catty shuddered. She wondered if some scientists really would dissect her in order to find out where her power came from.
Kendra started the car and turned on the air-conditioning.
“You’ve seen them before?” Catty asked nervously.
“Not for a long while. It was especially bad the day I found you on the desert…” Her words trailed away.
“They were there?” Catty didn’t remember seeing them that day.
Kendra shook her head. “No, that night when we stopped in Yuma, the town was swarming with them. It was so obvious they were looking for you. That’s why we didn’t spend the night there but drove on to Palm Springs.”
Catty remembered the night travel and how Kendra had sung songs to her, trying to keep her calm. She also remembered the strange way Kendra had spoken to her at first, saying each word as if it contained three syllables and talking too loudly because she hadn’t known if Catty understood English.
“You remember the day I picked you up at the side of the highway?” Kendra began and looked at Catty.
Catty nodded.
“You were such a precious little thing I couldn’t imagine anyone abandoning you. I asked you your name, and you didn’t seem to understand.”
Catty recalled the moment. She had been unable to remember her name. Like everything that had occurred in her life before that day, she had no memory of it. She didn’t even know if she had ever had one.
“When you didn’t answer,” Kendra continued, “I told you that you were as cute as a cat. That made you giggle, so I decided to call you Catty. You seemed to like the name.”
Catty grinned. She did like the name.
Kendra smiled tenderly. “It was a good choice. It fits your personality.” Then she glanced back at the building and continued her story. “I had planned to stop at the Department of Social Services in Yuma and turn you over to them, but then you did something extraordinary.”
When Catty was little she had always encouraged Kendra to complete the story. “What made you think I was from outer space?” she would ask and cuddle closer. The story had both pleased and frightened her. She liked to think she had descended from some super race of creatures who traveled across galaxies, but at the same time she was afraid they might return and take her away from Kendra.
Kendra no longer needed coaxing to finish the story. “Whe
n we started to drive off, you grabbed my shoulder; and without warning, we were traveling through another dimension. It was like floating inside a dark endless tunnel, and then suddenly we were back on the road where I had picked you up, but now we were outside the car. I was terrified but I knew there had to be a rational explanation. That’s when I decided you must come from another planet. I assumed that what we had done was some kind of teleportation.”
Kendra never understood that Catty’s gift was actually the ability to time-travel. Catty wondered what she would think if she knew.
“I figured that for a civilization that could travel across galaxies, the speed of light would be an archaic measure,” Kendra went on. “So merely walking would probably seem as antiquated. I decided that when we went through that tunnel, you were actually trying to reconnect with your family. It made me feel so sad for you.” She shook her head and stared at her hands. “Later when you told me about your memories of the crash and fire, I assumed that your spaceship had probably smashed into Earth, maybe killing your family and leaving you wandering on the desert.”
Catty bit her lower lip. She should tell Kendra right now. “Kendra, there’s something about me,” she started, but then the three men left the coroner’s office.
Kendra stared at them. “What do you think they were doing inside all this time?”
“Shouldn’t we go?” Catty could feel her moon amulet pulsing against her chest and knew it was dangerous to stay.
Kendra put the car in reverse, but her movements were frustratingly slow as if she were debating whether to stay or leave.
Finally she spoke. “The woman must be your mother, Catty, and that’s why the men are trying to claim her body without arousing suspicion. They can’t afford another Roswell.”
She squinted against the glaring sun, then remembered her sunglasses and brought them down from the top of her head to her nose. “We should have taken the envelope with the rest of her belongings. There might have been something important in it.” Kendra pulled the geometry test from her purse and handed it to Catty.
Catty hadn’t realized that Kendra had kept the paper until now.
“Government agents.” Kendra spit out the words as if they left a bad taste in her mouth. “After all these years, they’re back. You’ll need to be careful, Catty. More careful than usual. I wonder if it’s even safe for us to stay. Maybe we should leave Los Angeles.”
Kendra’s words left an uneasy foreboding in the air.
CHAPTER TWO
THAT NIGHT, CATTY awakened with a start, her heart beating as if she had been running. She tried to bring the dream into focus, but the more she did, the more it seemed to slip away, leaving her with only a nagging feeling that there was something important she should be doing.
Moonlight streamed through the windows, giving her walls and furniture an eerie silver glow. Glancing at the butterfly chair next to her bed, she had the strangest impression that someone had been sitting in it, not just talking to her, but warning her about something. What had they said?
She rubbed her eyes. Her apprehension felt so real. It must mean something.
She tossed back her covers and rolled to the side of the bed. She tried to reassure herself that no one had been in the room. Her easel stood in the corner with her latest painting of a moonscape. The sketchpads and pencils on her desk looked the same as she had left them.
She listened to the silence for a long moment, then stood and walked to the chair. Her hand hovered above it. Finally, to convince herself that no one had been in the chair, she touched the seat. The faux-fur cover felt warm. She jerked her hand back as if it had been burned and scanned the room in disbelief. The warmth had to be stored heat, leftover from the day, but when she touched the edge of the chair, it felt cool.
Then she thought of Kendra and relaxed. How many nights had Kendra sat by her bed to comfort her? Kendra had probably come into her room to check on her, then sat down. Maybe she had even voiced her concerns about the “government men.”
Catty took a deep breath and decided to go downstairs for a glass of milk.
In the hallway, the gray moonlight dissolved into total blackness. She waited until her eyes adjusted to the dark, then she continued to the stairs. She gripped the banister, and with quiet, even steps she made her way down to the living room.
At the entrance to the kitchen she stopped, suddenly aware of a cold draft. The back door was open and hanging on its hinges. Had an intruder come into the house? But why would a trespasser leave without shutting the door? Then she thought of Kendra upstairs and alone. Suddenly, she felt afraid for her. She rushed back through the dark house, stumbling up the stairs. Her breathing was hoarse by the time she opened the door to Kendra’s room and switched on the light.
Kendra jerked awake and sat up in bed. “What’s wrong?”
Catty walked slowly into the room. “I’m sorry to wake you.” She slumped onto the bed and took deep breaths.
“What happened?” Kendra asked. “Are you all right?”
Catty shook her head. “I had this unbelievably crazy idea that you were in danger.”
“I was,” Kendra said softly.
“You were?” Catty looked quickly around the room. She didn’t see anything that suggested danger.
“I was having one of those horrible nightmares.” Kendra laughed softly, but the look in her eyes told Catty that the dream had truly frightened her. “You know the kind in which you can’t wake up?”
Catty nodded. “What were you dreaming?”
“About those government men we saw in the coroner’s office today.” Kendra brushed her hands through her long hair and stretched.
“What were they doing?” Catty asked.
“They were chasing me because they wanted to find you.” Kendra put her hand in front of her mouth to hide a yawn, then laughed. “They were demanding to see my memories, but I closed my mind to them.” She shook her head. “I guess all that meditation makes me too focused,” she joked. “Then they thought they could make me tell them where you were by force. It felt so real. One grabbed my arm and wouldn’t let go. I’m glad you woke me.”
Kendra must have seen something on Catty’s face because she reached forward and patted Catty’s cheek. “Don’t be so concerned. It was only a dream.”
When Catty didn’t smile back at her, she continued. “Besides, the dream was probably only an expression of my very real fear that government officials will find you.”
“Probably,” Catty agreed, but secretly she wondered if these new Followers had a power she hadn’t encountered before. Could they somehow go into dreams? Or was it only a strange coincidence that Kendra had dreamed about them? She grabbed Kendra’s hand as if to protect her.
Kendra squeezed Catty’s hand in return. “I love you, baby.”
“I love you, too,” Catty murmured.
Kendra got up and went to her bathroom, splashed water on her face, then stared back at her raw-boned reflection in the mirror over the sink. Her eyes still held a charm, and her nose and cheekbones had an attractiveness, but nothing like the pictures that sat in the frames on her dresser.
Then Kendra looked down at her arm. “Odd.”
“What?” Catty asked.
“Look at this.” Kendra walked toward her, holding out her arm.
Catty stood and examined it. Four circular bruises colored the skin.
“I must have done this to myself while I was sleeping,” Kendra announced, bemused.
Catty nodded. But she knew with a certainty that made her stomach curl that Kendra had not done that to herself. Somehow the Followers had found her in her dreams.
“Maybe I’ll sleep in here for the rest of the night,” Catty suggested.
“Okay,” Kendra answered.
Catty knew from the quickness of her response that Kendra felt edgy about being alone. She suddenly remembered the back door was still open.
“I’ll get us some milk.” Catty started to leave the bedro
om. She didn’t want to alarm Kendra about the open door. Besides, maybe the wind had blown it open.
“Good idea,” Kendra called after her.
Catty hurried downstairs and closed the back door. As she slipped the dead bolt in place, she saw last year’s Christmas pictures of Kendra’s nieces and nephews on the refrigerator. She realized suddenly how much Kendra had sacrificed to protect her. Kendra rarely saw her family because she was afraid they might guess that Catty was a space alien. She also never dated for fear of exposing her. But Kendra never seemed to have any regrets for what she had had to give up to take care of Catty. Catty felt grateful, but also sad. Kendra loved her nieces and nephews and had always wanted a large family of her own. Catty hoped she wasn’t going to repay her by putting her in danger.
CHAPTER THREE
THE DAY STARTED with a fire in the Sepulveda pass. By the time Catty walked to school, three new brushfires had begun burning in the hills surrounding Los Angeles. Newscasters blamed the continued drought and hot, dry weather. The air smelled of smoke, and gray ash drifted over La Brea High School.
Catty saw Vanessa leaning against the bank of lockers outside the classroom. She waved and hurried toward her. Like Catty, Vanessa had a special gift. She could expand her molecules and become invisible. But she didn’t have complete control over it. If she became too upset or excited, her molecules acted on their own. That had made it difficult to date Michael at first, because every time he had tried to kiss her, she had started to go invisible. Catty wondered if she was having any trouble kissing Toby. Vanessa usually shared everything with her, but she had been closemouthed about him.
“Hi.” Vanessa smiled. Her long blond hair shimmered in the morning sun.
“Hi,” Catty answered and glanced down at Vanessa’s flat, tanned stomach. White boxer shorts peeked over the top of her black, hip-hugging slacks. Catty wondered briefly if the boxers belonged to Toby.
Vanessa’s blue eyes looked at Catty with concern. “Why weren’t you at Planet Bang last night?”