by Lynne Ewing
“I already explained why I can’t,” Catty told her. “Besides, it’s not like we’d really be stealing anything. Whatever is in the envelope belonged to my mother and should go to me. Think how you’d feel.”
“All right,” Vanessa agreed reluctantly.
“Great!” Catty grabbed her hand.
“But not here,” Vanessa complained. “Someone might see us.”
“All right.” But it was too late. Catty could feel the power surging in her mind and pressing outward against her skull.
Vanessa had an astonished look on her face. She knew what was happening.
Catty glanced down. The hands on her watch began turning backward, and an abnormal heaviness crackled through the air. Vanessa shrieked and dropped her books as the school roared away with a burst of white light. Sucked into the tunnel that opened behind them, they whirled downward in air that felt dry and at the same time seemed to feel fizzy and effervescent.
Vanessa choked and coughed. She could barely breathe in the thick foul air. Catty had gotten used to it.
She glanced down at her watch.
“Now!” she shouted in warning. Vanessa also hated the landings.
They fell back into time. In her mind’s eye, Catty saw herself landing softly on two feet, but instead she fell and skidded across the parking lot in front of the coroner’s office. Her chin hit the ground with a sharp crack. “Ow!”
Vanessa landed next to her.
“Sorry,” Catty muttered and stood, brushing off her clothes.
Vanessa shook her head. “That one was worse than normal.”
Catty stared at the building. “I know,” she confessed, rubbing her chin. “I’m nervous.”
A horn honked. Catty turned. A car was coming slowly toward them.
“Yikes,” Vanessa said and grabbed Catty’s hand. “We’re in the middle of the parking lot. I hope no one saw us land.”
“Too late now,” Catty commented.
They dove between two utility vans parked side by side.
Catty started laughing. “Can you imagine what the driver must have thought if he saw us falling from the air?”
“How would we have explained ourselves?” Vanessa asked, but then she started laughing, too. “Hello, sir, we were just dropping from the sky.”
Finally, Catty stopped laughing and turned to Vanessa. “Ready?”
“Okay.” Vanessa stared at the two buildings connected by a broad cement walkway. She seemed more apprehensive than usual. “Which building do we go into?”
Catty pointed. “That one.”
Vanessa read the words on the side of the building. “Department of Coroner. Medical Examiner. Forensic Laboratories.” She shuddered. “Is that where they keep…” Vanessa stopped, then started again. “Is that where they keep the bodies?”
Catty looked at her. “In the basement. We don’t have to go down there.”
Vanessa took in a deep breath. “All right then, but it still creeps me out.”
“Let’s get it over with,” Catty urged.
Vanessa grabbed Catty tightly around her waist and pulled her close. Catty breathed through her lips trying to suppress her nervousness. Almost immediately her molecules began to stir and a pleasant ache spread through her body. She glanced down at her hands and watched in amazement as skin, muscle, and bone began to separate into innumerable specks. In a few seconds she was able to see through her hand. Finally there was nothing to look at, only air.
They caught a breeze and drifted toward the coroner’s office.
Catty didn’t glance back. She was afraid if she did she might see Kendra and herself sitting in the car staring back at the building.
There was a large crack between the two glass doors, and Vanessa sifted through it, taking Catty with her. If Catty had been able to scream, she would have. She wondered how Vanessa could be so afraid of the tunnel. Being invisible was far spookier.
Inside, the cool air seeped through them. The cold was bad, but worse was the electrical charge that hovered around the three Followers standing near the reception window.
Vanessa paused. Catty pushed her molecules in the direction of the property release door and they started floating that way.
Then Catty sensed something odd. What was happening? She experienced a sharp pain like a pinprick, quickly followed by another and another. Her molecules were colliding. She glanced where she thought her hands would be and saw a mass of dots. Was she becoming visible? She looked nervously at Vanessa. Her face was forming.
“Oops,” Vanessa mouthed.
Catty’s molecules clashed together with an abruptness that left her skin tingling. She fell to the floor and landed on top of Vanessa.
“What happened?” she whispered.
“Sorry,” Vanessa answered. “I got so spooked thinking about all the dead people in here that I lost control.”
“That’s the least of our problems.” Catty glanced up as the Followers turned languidly and stared down at them.
“Do they know who we are?” Vanessa asked.
“Let’s not take any chances.” Catty scrambled to her feet and bolted for the door, dragging Vanessa with her. But before she could reach it the Follower with the broad face stepped in front of her and blocked her way.
“Is there a problem?” he spoke in a polite voice.
“No, none at all,” Catty answered with a nervous smile as Vanessa tugged her arm and pulled her in the opposite direction.
They dodged around the other two Followers and ran down the hallway, past a sign that read ATTENTION VISITORS, LAW ENFORCEMENT ID BADGE MUST BE WORN BEYOND THIS POINT.
“I think we’re trespassing,” Vanessa said. “I swear, Catty, someday you’re going to get me arrested.”
“Not as long as I can change time,” Catty smirked.
Their feet pounded heavily on the floor.
“You can’t go down there!” the receptionist yelled after them.
Catty and Vanessa darted around a corner and pressed against a door.
“You hide,” Vanessa ordered.
“Me?” Catty peered back down the hallway. The Followers were coming at a slow even pace. “Why not both of us?”
“I’ll let the Followers chase after me, then I’ll go invisible so they’ll lose my trail and you’ll have time to find what you’re looking for.”
“I don’t know.” Catty felt reluctant to leave her. “It could be dangerous. Maybe it’s better if we stay together and try to fight them.”
The plodding footsteps of the Followers grew steadily louder.
“Just do it. We’ll meet in the basement,” Vanessa called over her shoulder as she started to run.
Catty slipped into a utility room behind her and watched through a crack in the door as the three men followed Vanessa.
When they passed, she started to leave the room but other footfalls made her pause.
The receptionist and a security guard hurried down the corridor. After they went by, Catty eased back into the hallway. She had promised to meet Vanessa in the basement, but there was something she had to do first.
She crept back to the property-release room. The door was still open. She peeked inside. The clerk was humming, her back to Catty.
The brown envelope with her mother’s belongings sat on a small file cabinet. She held her breath and tiptoed forward. Glancing up, she saw her reflection in the huge convex mirror that hung in the corner like a giant bug eye. If the woman looked up, she would see her.
Catty steadied herself and took another step forward. She picked up the envelope. The paper crinkled and something inside moved across the bottom.
The clerk stopped humming and cocked her head, listening, then hunched back over a pile of papers and began ruffling through them.
Catty turned and started silently back to the door. She had only gone a little way, when she heard footsteps behind her.
She glanced back. The clerk was walking toward her. Catty’s heart pounded so loudly she was
sure the clerk could hear it.
“You still here?” the clerk questioned. It was the same woman from yesterday. “I thought you’d left.” She didn’t seem to notice that Catty was wearing different clothes.
Catty nodded.
“Did you put the paper back in the envelope?” She looked at the envelope in Catty’s hands.
“The receptionist still has it,” Catty lied.
“Make sure she brings it back,” she ordered.
“Yes, ma’am.”
The clerk inclined her head and studied Catty briefly, then satisfied, she returned to the pile of papers she had been sorting in the corner.
Catty left the room. The reception area was still empty. She turned, hurried down the hallway, and found an elevator. She pressed the button impatiently. The metal doors slowly scraped open. She rushed in and immediately pushed another button. When the doors finally closed, she let out a long sigh of relief.
As the elevator trundled down, she opened the envelope and peered inside.
She lifted out a chain and held it up. Her breath caught. Dangling from the end was a moon amulet that matched her own, except for the odd coloring. It looked tarnished and blackened as if it had been in a fire. She studied the face of the moon etched in the metal. Had her mother been a Daughter of the Moon?
CHAPTER FIVE
THE ELEVATOR DOORS opened with a rasping sound, and Catty peeked out at the hallway. When she didn’t see anyone, she took a cautious step forward, stopped, and listened. Overhead the fluorescent lights buzzed, then dimmed and lit again as if there had been a power surge. She glanced up and wondered if the Followers had caused it.
“Vanessa?” she called tentatively and slipped her mother’s moon amulet into her pocket. She tossed the envelope into a tall white trash cylinder.
She took a few more steps when the lights flickered and went out. She stood in complete darkness before the emergency lighting came on behind her. Slowly her eyes became accustomed to the dim light and she started again.
As she passed the numbered rooms, she drew in a deep long breath and immediately regretted it. The smell was too antiseptic. Her stomach felt suddenly queasy.
“Where are you, Vanessa?” she called softly.
She looked at the long line of doors in front of her and wondered what she would see if she ventured into one of the rooms. She tried not to think about it and crept farther down the hallway.
The door to the next room was partly open. She tiptoed past it.
The utter silence seemed too deep and unnatural but then, she reasoned, if the electricity had gone off, there would be no sounds from air conditioners or buzzing lights that normally filled any large office building.
She stepped into the heavy shadow near an open door and wished that Vanessa would hurry.
“Where is she?” she whispered with rising anxiety.
A sound from behind her made her alert. She took an uncertain step into the deeper shadows inside the room.
“Vanessa!” She tried again. “Now’s not the time to play games.”
Silence answered her.
“That’s it. I’m leaving.”
She started to turn to go back to the elevator when a hand reached out from behind her and touched her shoulder.
CHAPTER SIX
ALONG HISS OF AIR escaped Catty’s lungs. She stood motionless, waiting for the person to speak. When they didn’t she rushed to give an explanation. “I’m sorry,” she said, assuming the person was a security guard. “I took the elevator, then the lights went out and I got lost.”
The person didn’t answer.
She tried to turn her head to see who stood behind her, but when she did a gloved hand stopped her.
“What?” Catty whispered nervously.
“Don’t turn,” the person whispered. The voice was magnetic, and it was definitely a guy. It also seemed familiar.
“Who are you?” she asked, still trying to identify the voice.
“Catty.” He spoke her name quietly.
A shock ran through her. “Yes,” she answered with a quiver in her voice. “How do you know my name? Do I know you?”
“I have something for you,” he said, ignoring her questions.
There was a rustling behind her and then the gloved hand reached over her shoulder and gave her something that looked like a thick piece of paper.
She took it and recognized the feel of parchment. She held it close to her eyes. It was a lavishly decorated medieval manuscript or something that looked like one. The first letters caught the light from the hallway and sparkled in gold. Strange birds and exotic animals hidden in a tangle of foliage and fairy-tale landscapes lined the borders.
“You’re giving this to me?” Catty asked. If it were authentic it would be priceless. “Is it stolen?”
There was a pause, followed by a chuckle. “It belongs to you.”
“Me?” She smoothed her hand over the swirling script.
“Take the manuscript and use it,” he instructed.
“Use it how?”
“The manuscript contains the answers to your questions.”
She wondered who he was. She wanted to turn and see his face but every time she tried, his hand would stop her again.
“I don’t understand,” she murmured at last. “What questions should I have?”
He paused for a long moment.
“Read the manuscript,” he answered. “Then you will know.”
“Know what?” Catty asked. “What am I supposed to know?”
She could feel him take a step away from her.
“Don’t try to follow me,” he warned.
“Please don’t go, not yet,” she pleaded. She wanted to find out more about him.
She hadn’t even realized he had left until she heard his footsteps echoing down the hallway behind her.
She stood motionless, staring at the manuscript. Should she follow him? He had said not to, but she didn’t understand why. A devious smile crossed her face. She had always hated rules. She turned suddenly and ran to the doorway. She didn’t see him in the long deserted corridor, but he had to be someplace nearby. She hurried in the way he had gone, her feet slapping loudly. She glanced at the closed doors, wondering where he had hidden.
Ahead of her a door was open. She stopped and peeked cautiously inside. It looked like a huge storage room. She took two stealthy steps inside. The shadows seemed deep and foreboding. She didn’t even want to consider what was resting on the gurney, wrapped in plastic.
A harsh voice spoke behind her. “You must never try to discover who I am, do you understand?”
She nodded.
“That is essential,” he warned. “Your very existence could depend on it, Catty.” He spoke her name with tenderness as if he had known her for a long time. “Do you understand?”
“Why?” she asked in a hushed tone. “Why should knowing you put me in danger?”
“Simply accept that it is true.”
She believed him but she wanted to know why. Before she could ask again, his gloved hand took her hand. She tried to see him from the corner of her eyes, but darkness kept him hidden.
“Trust me,” he whispered.
“Yes,” she answered. “I trust you.” And at the same time she wondered how she could trust a complete stranger.
“Good-bye.” He spoke the word against the side of her neck and it sent a pleasing shiver down her back.
Now more than anything she wanted to know who he was. She turned abruptly, expecting to be face-to-face with him. But the room was empty.
Suddenly she heard footsteps echoing in the corridor. Excitement rushed through her. If he were in the corridor, she would have enough light to see who he was.
She ran out the door and collided into Vanessa.
“There you are.” Vanessa sounded angry. “How could you leave me alone in this place for so long? I’d rather face the Followers than creep around these passageways.”
Catty started to show Vaness
a the manuscript, but a noise made her stop.
At the end of the hallway, two Followers pushed open a large metal door and stepped from the stairwell.
They turned and started walking toward Vanessa and Catty. The air took on an odd fuzziness, and Catty could feel the hairs on the back of her neck rise as static electricity whisked around them.
“Why are there only two?” Vanessa asked nervously. “What happened to the third one?”
Catty shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Take us back, Catty,” Vanessa urged. She clutched Catty’s hand. “Hurry.”
“I can’t,” Catty answered, feeling too flustered to attempt opening the tunnel. “Can’t you make us invisible?”
“Are you kidding? I can barely breathe.”
“We better try to fight them off.” Catty braced herself. “That takes less energy.”
Catty and Vanessa stood together, concentrated, and sent their mental energy spiraling at the Followers. The hallway filled with a gleaming light. Catty felt the power rise up in her, but the Followers didn’t stop their slow steady advance and they didn’t respond with an attack of their own. Instead, they smiled at Catty and Vanessa as if they found their efforts amusing.
“What’s with them?” Catty asked. Her nerves were raw, but nothing was happening.
“Take us back to the present,” Vanessa urged. “This is getting too totally spooky.”
“I’ll try.” Catty took Vanessa’s hand but her energy felt drained. She couldn’t concentrate. “I don’t think I can. I don’t have enough power right now.”
“You have to. Hurry!”
Catty struggled to open the tunnel. “I can’t. But I’ve got a plan.”
“What?”
Catty grabbed Vanessa’s hand. “Run!”
They turned and ran down the corridor as the third Follower suddenly appeared at that end and began walking toward them.
Vanessa clasped Catty’s hand. “Please, Catty, now. Just try.”
Catty clutched the manuscript tightly against her chest and squeezed her eyes shut. Nothing happened.
The Followers pressed closer.
“Never again,” Vanessa whimpered. “I am never doing this again.”
