Catty shook her head. “This is too much to believe.”
Serena continued softly, her words heavy with concern, “In all the centuries that Stanton’s been a Follower, he’s never heard of anyone who is not an Immortal being allowed to visit the Inner Circle.”
“Why would they choose Cassandra then?”
Jimena asked. “She’s definitely not an Immortal.”
“That’s my point exactly.” Catty leaned forward. “Why Cassandra? I think Stanton’s setting us up.”
“I don’t.” Vanessa argued. “I think he uses us when it’s to his advantage. And it’s definitely to his advantage if we can stop Cassandra.”
“He needs us to stop Cassandra,” Serena said. “If Cassandra succeeds, then her place of power will be higher than his.” Serena hesitated now as if she were trying to regain a measure of calm. “Cassandra wants revenge.”
“She probably wants to get even with him for those ugly letters she cut into her skin.” Catty nervously picked at the funky snake designs on her nails.
Jimena looked at Serena. Serena wasn’t telling Catty and Vanessa the really bad news. Stanton had jilted Cassandra to be with Serena. Jimena could only imagine how much Cassandra wanted to get even with them both . . . if she knew. Maybe that’s why the Regulators hadn’t come after Stanton and Serena. Maybe Cassandra hadn’t told the Atrox, because she was planning revenge on her own terms. Jimena shuddered and looked at Serena.
A worried look crossed Serena’s face, but her voice was steady as she continued. “Stanton said she’s been allowed to visit the Inner Circle because she has a fail-safe plan to stop the Daughters of the Moon.”
“To stop us.” Vanessa repeated the words for emphasis. “That’s why she’s been acting so nasty.”
“Does Stanton know what her plan is?” Jimena asked.
Serena shook her head.
“Go on,” Vanessa urged. “There’s more.”
Serena pulled a tube of lip balm from her pocket and rubbed it across her lips before she went on. “The Cincti have allowed her to go back into the past to change one event so she can start her plan in motion.”
“Has she gone already?” Jimena’s fingers went automatically to her amulet. She pressed it into her palm.
Serena nodded. “Whatever they changed, they’ve changed it already.”
Jimena looked from Catty to Vanessa and back to Serena. “Does Stanton know what event she changed?”
“No.” Serena shook her head. “But whatever it was, it worked, because she was able to set her plan in motion.”
“That’s one reason I don’t believe Stanton,” Catty put in. “You can’t go back and change something unless it was always meant to be.”
“What do you mean—you can’t change time?” Jimena asked. “They already did.”
“Because,” Catty explained. “Time isn’t like a river with one day following the next. We just think of it that way because that’s the way we’ve been taught; everyone talks about tomorrow or yesterday, but really all time occurs at once.”
“Yesterday and tomorrow happen at the same time?” Vanessa rolled her eyes. “That’s impossible.”
“No. How else can I go back and forth in time?” Catty asked. “It’s because time is like a huge lake—it exists all at once. We just experience it one day at a time. That’s why I can never do anything to change what has happened in the past. Because if I were going to change something, it would already be part of our experience. See? So Cassandra couldn’t have changed something. It was something that was always meant to be.”
They all stared at her dumbly.
Jimena thought a moment. “So you’re saying, if Cassandra changed something in the past, because it is already past, as far as we’re concerned it’s not something that has been changed, because it already happened to us.”
Catty smiled. “Yup.”
“I’d still like to know what she did,” Jimena said.
“Me, too,” Vanessa agreed.
“So just supposing that what Stanton said is true, what are we going to do?” Serena asked.
“I can’t believe you’re buying into anything that a Follower said.” Catty stood. “You got anything to eat? All this talk has made me hungry.”
Soon, they were sitting around the table in the kitchen dipping fried tortillas filled with melted cheese into a pot of homemade salsa.
“So we need a plan,” Vanessa said finally.
“Let’s go see Maggie,” Catty suggested.
“We always do that.” Serena took another quesadilla. “Let’s at least try to figure something out by ourselves first.”
“Well,” Jimena started. “I saw Karyl, Morgan, and Cassandra in MacArthur Park today.”
“What were they doing this far from Hollywood?” Catty wondered.
“Do you think it has something to do with Cassandra’s plan?” Serena asked.
“I don’t know,” Jimena answered. “Earlier today when I saw Cassandra she was stepping onto one of the paddleboats. That was odd, because the boat ride is closed on weekdays. It’s only open on Sunday. And when I went back later, I didn’t see Cassandra, only Karyl and Morgan. And remember the earthquake this afternoon?”
“It didn’t feel like a quake,” Catty put in.
“When we had the tremor, Karyl and Vanessa didn’t get scared like everyone else, they seemed—” Jimena thought, trying to find the right word for the expressions she had seen on their faces.
“What?” Serena licked her fingers.
“They seemed happy or maybe excited, but not in a bad way,” Jimena answered. “Everyone else was running and screaming, but they smiled as if they’d been looking forward to it.”
“Could they have discovered a way to make an earthquake?” Vanessa didn’t hide the amazement in her voice.
“Impossible.” Catty rolled her eyes. “They were probably just hoping someone would get hurt.”
“Still the Inner Circle would be really powerful. . . .” Serena let her words trail off. “Do you think?”
“Maybe we should stake out the park,” Jimena suggested. “And see if we can discover what Cassandra is up to.”
Serena nodded in agreement.
“That’s a good idea,” Vanessa said. “I’ll bring a flashlight so we can study.”
“Please.” Catty playfully punched Vanessa. “Why do you have to ruin every adventure?”
“We have to get into a good college,” Vanessa reminded her and then stopped.
Catty looked down at the table. “It seems kind of silly to study unless . . .”
“Unless what?” Vanessa asked.
Catty stared at her. “Unless you’ve already made your decision.”
Vanessa blushed.
The girls looked at each other. Their gifts only lasted until they were seventeen. Then there was a change, a metamorphosis. They had to make the most important choice of their life. Either they could choose to lose their powers and their memory of what they had once been, or they disappeared. The ones who disappeared became something else, guardian spirits perhaps. No one really knew. They didn’t like to think about it.
“Let’s not start worrying about that now,” Serena broke in.
“Yeah,” Jimena agreed. “Let’s concentrate on the present.”
“Okay, so let’s start tonight,” Vanessa suggested. “We’ll camp right out there with all the drug dealers, addicts, and homeless people.”
“Sounds like fun,” Catty laughed. “What else can we do?” Serena asked. No one had an answer.
CHAPTER EIGHT
FRIDAY NIGHT, Serena was the first to arrive. She wore a slinky one-shoulder black dress with a plunging neckline and a beaded gold belt slung low on her waist. She carried a fringed bag, and Jimena suspected that her dangling earrings were a gift from Stanton.
“Wow,” Jimena squealed, as she let Serena into her grandmother’s apartment. “You’re dressed to kill.”
Serena seemed breathless with exci
tement. “What about you? I love that halter top with the split up the middle.”
“Thanks.” Jimena hurried back to the bathroom. She hadn’t finished putting on her makeup yet.
A sly smile crossed Serena’s face as she sat on the edge of the white porcelain tub. “Why are you fixing yourself up so special tonight? Are you meeting some hottie you haven’t told me about?”
“I do this whenever we go out.” Jimena rolled mascara on her lashes.
“You always look good, but tonight you look extra special. Maybe it’s the glow of love,” Serena teased.
Jimena bit her lip. She had been dying to tell Serena about Veto all week, but the right time never came. It seemed that Serena was always running off with Stanton, and if she and Serena had a moment together, Catty and Vanessa always showed up.
Jimena turned and faced her. “There is someone.”
Serena gasped with delight. “I knew it. I’ve been picking up these dreamy thoughts from you all week of kissing and hugging, but I couldn’t see who you were with.”
“No fair reading my mind,” Jimena said with a smile as she snapped crystals into her hair.
“Who are you going to see?” Serena stood.
Jimena looked back at the mirror and saw a blush rising to her cheeks, then she glanced at Serena’s reflection.
Serena appeared perplexed. “Veto?! How?” Then her face became serious. “How are you going to meet Veto at Planet Bang? Are you having a séance?”
Someone knocked at the door.
“I’ll explain later.” Jimena hurried to answer the door.
Serena followed her. “Tell me.”
“His ghost is still haunting me,” Jimena teased mysteriously. She didn’t have all the answers yet herself, so how was she going to explain Veto’s sudden reappearance to Serena? “Let’s talk later.”
She opened the door and Catty and Vanessa pushed inside. Catty wore an iridescent hot green mini and matching eye shadow. Vanessa had covered herself with an ultrafine glitter. It looked really hot with her gold halter top. Her skirt hung across her flat stomach and hugged her hips.
“Tell her she needs to pierce her belly button if she’s going to show off her body like that,” Catty said as if she were continuing an argument they had started on the bus.
Vanessa ignored Catty. “Are we still planning to go to the park again tonight? It feels like such a waste of time. We haven’t seen Cassandra all week.”
“I think she knows about our plan and that’s why we haven’t seen her,” Catty said.
Vanessa stared at Serena. “Did you tell Stanton that we were planning to stake out the park? He might have said something to Cassandra.”
“I can’t believe you’d think I’d tell Stanton our plan,” Serena answered and toyed nervously with her new gold earrings.
“It’s just strange Cassandra never showed up.” Vanessa sighed. “I guess we should go to the park one last time.”
“Dressed like this?” Catty asked.
“No one will see us if we’re careful.” Serena started toward the door.
Jimena followed her. “Yeah, and if some tecato does see us he’ll just think he’s having a heroin dream.”
Vanessa stuck her hand into her gold velvet bag and pulled out a lipstick. She brushed it across her lips. “It’s Friday already, and it just seems that if we haven’t seen Cassandra once all week we’re not likely to see her tonight. Besides, the moon is full. Do you really think she’d do anything during the full moon?”
The Daughters were more powerful under the steady glow of a full moon, but Followers were betrayed by the same light; their eyes turned phosphorescent and even ordinary people could sense their evil during that time.
“You just want to get to Planet Bang because you’ve made up with Michael again,” Serena said accusingly.
“Would you stop reading my mind!” Vanessa tossed the lipstick back in her purse.
“What was all the big deal about needing breathing room?” Catty badgered.
Vanessa beamed. “We gave each other breathing room, but then we missed each other too much.”
“You mean you were afraid he’d get interested in someone else,” Catty put in.
“Maybe.” Then Vanessa looked at Jimena. “Seriously, do you think it’s worth staking out the park one more time? Maybe we should just go on to Planet Bang.”
“I think we should try one last time.” Jimena opened the door.
“Yeah,” Serena agreed. “Then we’ll go see Maggie tomorrow.”
The night was warm, with a gentle wind. They walked up Wilshire Boulevard under swaying shadows cast from the palm trees. As they neared the park Jimena noticed how each of them became quieter and started glancing at her moon amulet.
They hadn’t gone far when they passed a guy removing the hubcap from his car. He looked suspiciously at Jimena, then stood and with the skill of a magician, swapped a small plastic bag for the bills wadded in the trembling hand of a man standing near him. Only someone who knew would have seen the transaction. Others would have thought the drug dealer was shaking the hand of a friend who had come to help him change a tire.
The full moon hung low in the eastern sky as they strolled into the park. Homeless people were starting to make beds for the night, laying out pieces of cardboard and claiming shelter under park benches.
Vanessa kicked aside a used hypodermic syringe. “I don’t know what Followers could do to make the park worse.”
Catty agreed. “What would they want to do here anyway?”
“It doesn’t make sense, when they usually hang out in Hollywood.” Serena added.
Jimena looked around. “The park’s different during the day, when the old men and street vendors and children are here. It’s a nice place then.”
“Yeah, maybe the Followers have always claimed it at night,” Catty suggested. “That could explain all the bad stuff that happens here after the sun goes down.”
They stopped near the edge of the lake. Jimena’s amulet began humming softly against her chest. “Look,” she whispered.
Cassandra walked toward them, her hips swaying with practiced ease, and high-heeled boots clicking nicely on the asphalt path. A breeze blew through her long maroon hair as she tossed her head. She wore tight, low-cut jeans and a skimpy studded top. Silver chains dangled low on her hips. Under the moon’s steady glow the jagged STA scars on her chest seemed to luminesce against her skin. Her eyes burned yellow.
A homeless man started to ask her for money but then drew back as if he had suddenly sensed her evil.
Jimena, Catty, and Vanessa quietly stepped into the shadows. Jimena had to pull Serena after them. Jimena felt a kind of nagging fear at the back of her mind as she watched silently. Her nerves tingled with anticipation.
Cassandra stood at the edge of the lake and waited for a paddleboat to drift toward her.
“How did she do that?” Vanessa wondered. “The boats are all tied together.”
Jimena shook her head “Maybe she didn’t do it. Maybe the boat just got loose.” But she knew that wasn’t the case. She sensed that more was happening than they were seeing. She could feel the change in the air, something electrical and alive.
Cassandra stepped into the boat.
“Why’s she doing that?” Catty asked in a low voice.
“That’s what I saw her do that first day,” Jimena whispered back. “The boat ride was closed, but she somehow found a stray boat and stepped on.”
Cassandra rode the bobbing boat toward a geyserlike fountain.
Jimena was filled with frustration. Her muscles felt tight. “We can’t see her if she goes behind the jet of water.”
“I’m going to go invisible and follow her.”
Already Vanessa’s molecules were starting to separate and she looked like a dusty cloud. The cloud swirled with a twinkle of gold, and then she became completely invisible.
Jimena could no longer see her, but she could feel a soft breeze as Vanessa flo
wed up and over her and headed toward the lake.
They waited impatiently in the shadows. Then a thought rose inside Jimena and she knew Vanessa was in danger. Her hands clasped into fists, and she started to run toward the lake as the ground began to tremble.
Thunder crashed through the air and the earth shook.
Jimena stopped. She glanced up and saw a golden burst of light over the lake. The light quickly became a dense form.
“Vanessa!” Jimena shouted with alarm.
Vanessa was visible again and tumbling quickly toward the water.
“Come on. Let’s go help her!” Serena yelled, but Jimena was already running to the other side of the lake.
Just as Vanessa was about to hit the water, her molecules separated into long strands and she became invisible again.
“She caught herself just in time.” Catty panted as she came to a stop.
Serena slowed her pace. “Something bad must have happened to make her lose her concentration. Do you think Cassandra did something to her?”
“I hope she’s all right,” Jimena whispered.
A whirlwind whipped around them and then molecule by molecule Vanessa pulled herself back together until she was standing whole in front of them.
“What happened?” Catty asked.
“Cassandra disappeared.” Vanessa caught her breath.
“What do you mean disappeared?” Jimena felt baffled. “How could she just disappear?”
Vanessa smoothed her hands over her body, straightening her halter and skirt. “Just that. She was there one minute and the next, both she and the paddleboat were gone. I wasn’t expecting it, so I lost control and started falling toward the water.”
The girls stared at each other.
“Does she have a special power like Vanessa’s?” Catty wondered.
Serena shook her head. “I’ve never heard Maggie mention it. She would have told us. Some of the Followers are shape-changers, but those are all Immortals.”
Vanessa interrupted. “You didn’t let me finish.” Her hand clasped Jimena’s wrist. Her fingers were ice-cold.
“There’s more?” Catty’s eyes widened.
Vanessa nodded. “It didn’t look like she became invisible. I would have understood what was happening if I’d seen her molecules spreading. It was just that she was there and then all of a sudden she was gone. As if she and the paddle-boat had passed into another dimension.”