by Lynne Ewing
Then he saw Catty. He hadn’t recognized her at first. She had painted her face white for the day and drawn black caverns around her eyes. Squares over her lips made skeleton teeth.
Children circled her, watching her paint a little girl’s face.
Stanton popped the last bit of taco into his mouth, placed one hand on the iron fence surrounding the patio, and swung his legs over.
Like Serena, Catty was a Daughter of the Moon. She couldn’t read minds; her gift was traveling in time. She could go back and forth in short spurts. When she tried longer jumps she got stuck in the tunnel—that was what she called the hole in time she used to travel from one day to the next.
“You’ll look like a scary calavera now,” Catty assured the young girl as she leaned back to admire the skeleton skull she had made on her face.
“Who’s next?” Catty asked and pulled out another paintbrush.
Four hands shot up, but one little girl eased into the chair in front of Catty before she had a chance to choose. “My turn,” she said.
Catty smiled and began smudging white over the girl’s rosy cheeks. Suddenly her fingers stopped as if she sensed Stanton’s approach.
He tried to ease into her mind to reassure her that his visit was not aggressive, but she blocked him and turned, her muscles tensing, ready to flee and warn the others.
Confusion rushed over her face when he didn’t attack. She glanced down at her moon amulet. It matched the one Serena wore. Each goddess had one. The amulet wasn’t glowing to warn her of danger. Still she stood and motioned the children behind her.
Stanton was a powerful Follower. Even though he had helped her once by taking her back in time to visit her real mother, she had never gotten used to him and Serena being together. She thought Serena was putting them all in danger by seeing Stanton. He could feel the distrust that surrounded her like a dark aura.
The children stared at him and some even backed away.
He stopped a short distance from Catty. “I need to find Serena.”
“Why?” Catty narrowed her eyes.
“I have to warn her—”
“You tell me.” Catty interrupted him. “I’ll tell her.”
Before he could say more, Jimena ran over to them, a papier-mâché skeleton in her hands. Three children raced after her, their shoes beating a rapid rhythm. Jimena stopped and handed back the skeleton, then whispered to the children to wait.
A boy with freckles glanced up and caught Stanton’s eyes, then backed behind a booth selling freshly cut fruit.
Jimena marched toward Stanton. An ex-gangster, she considered herself the toughest of the group. She irritated him with her bold stares. She didn’t understand his power or how he held back because of his affection for Serena. If she knew, would she still approach him with such attitude? He could feel her preparing to defend herself. Of all the Daughters, she disliked him the most, probably because she was Serena’s best friend.
“He says he needs to see Serena,” Catty told Jimena.
Jimena thrust her chin up. Her long luxurious black hair fell away from her face. “You said it was demasiado peligroso. Too dangerous,” Jimena accused. “You told Serena you had to stay away from her because Regulators would terminate you both. “¿Y ahora? ¿Por qué estás aquí? And now you’re here. Why?”
She folded her arms over her chest and smiled wickedly, the face of her wristwatch pointed at him. She knew the watch caused him discomfort. He hated timepieces, clocks, and sundials, anything that reminded him of his eternal bond to evil. All Followers did.
“I’m here to talk to Serena only,” he said firmly.
Then the air filled with a sweet, musky fragrance and a delicate hand covered the face of Jimena’s watch. He looked up into Serena’s eyes. She leaned against Jimena, her arm around her friend, and smiled at Stanton. She was wearing tight jeans and a sheer long-sleeved pink shirt over a thin T. Her hair was curled and glistened in the sun. She looked more beautiful than ever.
He smiled, wondering why he hadn’t sensed her approach. Maybe she had learned some new skill to hide her presence.
She gently probed his mind without trying to hide her happiness at seeing him.
“I need to talk to you,” he said, interrupting her before she could probe too deep. He didn’t want her to see how much he had missed her. He offered her his hand and suddenly Vanessa was there, standing between them.
“What do you need to say to her?” Vanessa asked, her face worried. She dropped the marigold petals she had been holding in her hand to make a path for the dead. Specks of orange swirled around his legs and blew away.
“I have to warn her.” Stanton frowned. He hadn’t thought it would be this difficult to speak to Serena.
“If it’s a warning, then it involves us all.” Vanessa had dangerous eyes. He could see why Michael Saratoga had fallen for her.
“I think we all need to know,” Catty joined in.
Serena devilishly reached for his hand. “I’ll tell you what he says.”
“Listen to me, Serena,” Jimena cautioned, blocking her way. “If Stanton is such a good-guy Follower as he pretends to be, then why doesn’t he ask us to bring him back from the Atrox?”
“Maybe he didn’t know he could.” Vanessa looked up as if the idea had never occurred to her before.
He sighed at their ignorance. “Do you think the Atrox would let that happen?” he asked, trying to keep annoyance from his voice. “A Follower who willingly asks to be released is destroyed. The release must be against his will for him to survive.” He was careful to keep part of his mind closed to Serena. He couldn’t let her see the real reason he could never ask them to break his bondage to the Atrox.
“Come on.” Serena started to walk away.
Jimena’s frustration was rising. “¿En qué piensas? What are you thinking? What if Regulators catch him when you’re together? I don’t know why you want to put us all in danger.”
“Get real.” Serena turned on her. “You’re still mad at Stanton because he told you the truth about Veto.”
“I am not.” Jimena eyed Serena. “I’ve seen too many friends die. Don’t be one of them. I don’t want to have to say que descansa en paz every time I mention your name.”
“You won’t. I promise.” Serena turned and looked into Stanton’s eyes. The trust shining in her own made his heartbeat quicken.
“If it’s a warning, we should all go talk to Maggie,” Vanessa suggested. “She’ll know what to do.”
Maggie was their mentor and guide. She was still teaching them how to control their gifts.
“Maybe it’s okay,” Catty said softly. Vanessa and Jimena looked at her with surprise. She shrugged. “Stanton has helped us before.”
“When it’s self-serving,” Jimena muttered under her breath.
Serena smiled. “It doesn’t matter what any of you think. I’m going with him.”
“How are you going to ignore all the premonitions I’ve been having about him?” Jimena asked.
That made Stanton start. So Jimena had received a vision. He wondered what she had seen. He started to probe her mind, but she blocked him.
“It’s private,” Jimena snapped, her eyes daring him to go into her mind. She was ready to attack.
He hated her arrogance. Did she really think she could defeat him? He turned back to Serena and held out his hand.
“Maybe you shouldn’t,” Vanessa whispered to Serena. “You know what Jimena has seen.”
Stanton turned suddenly back to Jimena. Before she could close her mind, he caught a glimpse of a premonition. It made him shudder. Jimena had seen him bringing Serena to the Atrox.
CHAPTER NINE
“YOU’RE ALL BEING foolish,” Serena told her friends. “You forget that I can read his mind. I know what’s in his heart and I’m going to listen to what he has to say.” She gave them a defiant look and started walking toward Stanton.
“No puedo creerlo.” Jimena shook her head. “I don’t even
believe this. You think he can’t hide stuff from you? He can. We all know it.”
Serena took his hand anyway and they rushed across the street. They stood in the courtyard at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church and stared at each other in silence, then Stanton pulled her into the shadows near a window and kissed her forehead.
He cupped his hands around her face. When she didn’t resist his touch, he let his hands smooth gently down her neck over her shoulders to her back.
“I had to come see you,” he whispered against her ear, breathing in her fragrance. His fingers stroked her back, and savored the silky feel of her blouse. He nestled his lips on her temple, her satiny hair tickling his cheek.
He drew back, wanting to kiss her, but hesitated, waiting for permission. She closed her eyes and let her arms slowly slip to his back, pulling him to her. He bent forward and when his lips touched hers, the sensation was electric. As they kissed, he weaved in and out of her mind, enjoying the luxury of sorting through her memories again and seeing what she had been doing. He lingered over her thoughts of him.
Finally, he pulled back and looked at her. She smiled, letting him see the truth; she still cared for him. He wondered what their relationship would have been like if her destiny hadn’t stood between them. If she had been an ordinary girl, would he have taken her to the Atrox so he could bind her to him for eternity, or would he still have tried to protect her?
“But I’m not an ordinary girl,” Serena whispered and held her face up for another kiss.
“I—” He started to say I love you, but the words felt too dangerous to express.
She smiled and he knew she had caught his declaration anyway. When he realized his confession hadn’t turned her away, an unexpected smile spread across his lips that matched her own. He brushed his hands through her hair, then closed his eyes and kissed her again.
Dangerous emotions swirled inside him. This was too risky and too wrong. He tried to stop the ache that spread through his body. He was here to warn her. Do it and leave, he thought. He drew back and she looked up at him, startled.
“I have to warn you about the transition,” he stated.
“What is the transition?” she asked with a quizzical stare. “Maggie never mentioned it.”
“The transition,” he explained, “is what Followers call the period of time when the balance of power switches from good to evil.”
Her look was doubtful. “We’ve stopped it before,” she answered. “I just didn’t know that’s what it was called.” He shook his head. “This is different,” he assured her. “It might not be so easy for you to fight.” Guilt ran through him. He should be celebrating with other Followers, not warning the enemy. He pulled Serena closer to him. She didn’t feel like an enemy.
“Why didn’t you want to tell Jimena and the others?” She tilted her head up as if she were hungry for another kiss. “They need to know.”
He nodded. “I lied when I said I could tell only you.”
A stunned looked flashed over her face.
“I wanted an excuse to be alone with you again.” He didn’t need to add how much he had missed her. She could feel his longing. It was other dark compulsions that he had to hide from her.
“But the warning is real,” he continued. “You’re the key. The goddess who can change the balance between good and evil. I don’t know the plan, but I know they will be coming for you.”
As Serena considered what he was saying, he twisted inside her mind to read her thoughts. She had struggled between good and evil before, and knew the seductiveness of the Atrox. It had promised her the world, but once she had become pure evil she had only wanted to destroy with a hunger that even surpassed the one Stanton felt growing inside him now.
His hand rose to her chin and lifted her face to his. It would be so easy to take her now. She was too trusting. His evil side paced at the edge of his control. Then with a shock he realized that if he did something to Serena, he could destroy the balance. With rising dread, he wondered if it was possible that the Atrox had kidnapped him not to stop his father’s crusade, but because it knew his love for Serena could one day be a catalyst for the transition.
“What?” Serena tried to push into his mind, but he wouldn’t let her. “Tell me. What’s bothering you?”
She grasped his uneasiness so easily. Did that also mean she could sense the dark compulsion rising inside him? The one that made him want to turn her to the Atrox. He looked at her. She didn’t seem afraid. Maybe he should tell her everything, even though he had never confessed the full story to anyone before. There was too much pain in remembering it all. Vanessa had seen a little and so had Catty.
“Then tell me,” Serena whispered across his mind. “Trust me.”
Her warmth and understanding flowed through his thoughts. He let her lead him to the bench under the window. A man eating a sandwich smiled at them and moved to a chair so they could have their privacy.
“My father,” he started. He could take her into his mind and show her, let her live the memory, but that seemed too risky. The side of him that was bound to the Atrox felt too strong right now. He might trap her there forever even if that were not his intent. He didn’t trust himself.
“Just tell me.” Her soft fingers entwined with his. “I don’t need to see it to believe you.”
“One day when I was only six—”
“Before the Atrox took you?”
He nodded. “I still had hopes and dreams then. Everything in my life was perfect until that day. Then three monks walked up to the castle carrying something. They wanted to speak with my father. He took them in and they placed a manuscript on the table.”
“The Secret Scroll?” Serena asked. “Catty told me that the Scroll had originally belonged to your family.”
“It did.” He took a deep breath. “I sat in the corner on a chair, alone and paralyzed with fear. They told my father about the Atrox. He argued with them. He said what they were saying was heresy, but if you looked in their eyes—” He turned away, remembering the stark fear he had seen on their faces. His father had argued with the men over the existence of such an unholy force, but Stanton had understood at once. “If you looked in their eyes you could see the truth. I know my father didn’t want to see because he understood what it would mean, but in the end they convinced him that the manuscript was real.”
“But the Scroll tells how to destroy the Atrox,” Serena said.
Stanton nodded. “The priests explained that they had come to my father because the path was difficult and needed someone with a brave heart who would have the courage and fortitude to do what was required.”
“And your father agreed?”
“Not then, but eventually he accepted the burden of the manuscript and organized a great crusade against the Atrox.”
“You should feel proud of him,” Serena interrupted.
Stanton sighed. “Yes and no. My father understood the danger to his family and he assigned his bravest knight to guard me. The priest had given my father a ring. They said it would protect him from the Atrox, but instead, he gave the ring to me.”
Serena squeezed his hand.
“Not even the bravest knight or a charmed ring could protect me. The Atrox took me.” Stanton pushed his hair out of his eyes. “Fear of losing his other sons stopped my father. I didn’t see my father again until his death.”
He felt Serena’s sadness for him.
“By then I was an Immortal with the power to change into shadow. It was easy to slip into the castle late one night unseen and become whole again beside my father’s bed.” He remembered even now the quivering of his chin, the hot tears in his eyes as he leaned over and kissed the wrinkled skin and protruding blue veins on his father’s temple.
“Was he happy to see you?” Serena asked.
“He told me I was no longer his son.” He choked on the words. “He said I belonged to evil now.” Rage swelled in his throat. He slammed his fist through the windowpane behind h
im. Glass exploded. Everyone in the patio turned to see.
Serena stood suddenly as blood-covered glass shattered on the cement.
“I was taken against my will,” he said harshly. “My father knew. Did he blame me for losing a foolish ring? I was only a child.”
People eating lunches in the serenity of the patio watched, eyes wide and vigilant, wondering if it was safe to stay.
Serena picked shards of glass from his skin, then took off her overshirt and wrapped it around his hand to stop the bleeding.
Blood seeped into the pink material as quickly as his anger grew. “He never tried to rescue me,” Stanton whispered roughly as drops of his blood pattered onto the courtyard floor.
“But he searched for the Scroll after it was lost,” Serena argued. “You’ve said so yourself. He went on a quest for the Scroll. I think that means he was trying to find a way to defeat the Atrox and bring you back.”
“Then why did he deny me?” Stanton asked.
She shook her head.
He stared at Serena as the need trembled through him like an addict’s mantra: Find someone and kill the emptiness inside. The duty to cross someone over was now a physical demand, the pain intense. He needed relief.
“You see what I am?” he asked, his voice harsh and grating. “Even my father rejected me because I’m pure evil.”
“I see you’ve suffered.” She tried to take his hand to comfort him.
He jerked it away. Already the bleeding had stopped and his skin was beginning to heal.
He handed back her shirt. “My father had other, stronger sons. Why did the Atrox take me? A child? Did it see something in my future? Some part I play?”
“It took you because it was easy to take a child.”
“Why are you refusing to understand what I’m trying to tell you?” he asked.
“What is it you think I don’t see?”
“The Atrox can see the future,” he explained. “Maybe it looked into the future and saw my role in the transition and that’s why it stole me from my father’s castle.”
