by Lynne Ewing
"Not without Maggie's permission," Vanessa argued. "She's not supposed to know what she once was."
"What was I?" Jimena whispered.
"Now you've done it." Serena glared at Vanessa. "Are you still not going to tell her?"
"You were a goddess," Catty said softly, ignoring Vanessa's piercing stare. "A Daughter of the Moon."
Jimena was silent for a long time, struggling to hold back the tears brimming in her eyes. Finally, she spoke. "My abuelita keeps telling me that I told her I was una diosa, a goddess, on my last birthday. I just thought she was getting old and imagining things."
"That's the day you lost your memory of being a Daughter," Serena explained. "So, if you did tell her, you wouldn't remember doing it."
Jimena wiped at her tears with her sleeve, her voice barely audible. "Strange memories have been coming back to me."
"You remember being a goddess?" Catty asked, baffled.
Jimena shook her head and touched the Medusa stone hanging around her neck as if she were seeking comfort. "It's like I'm still me, but I'm also becoming someone else."
Catty stared at her. "What do you mean?"
Jimena shrugged. "I think I've lived a lot of lives before this one."
"I wish Maggie were here," Vanessa whispered.
"Who's Maggie?" Jimena asked.
"It doesn't matter." Serena smiled sympathetically. "We'll tell you everything we know."
They started off single file down the rocky path, clasping hands and taking turns telling Jimena about her past.
By the time they reached the city, the sun had vanished, and a strange silence had settled over them. Their footsteps were the only sounds breaking the quiet. Catty led them down an alley, keeping close to the buildings. The gargoyles perched on the steeply pitched roofs cast night shadows across the cobblestones.
"Where is everyone?" Serena asked. "It's like a ghost town."
"They're following us," Jimena said simply.
"What?" Catty turned, her palms sweating from clutching Vanessa and Serena's hands so tightly. The passage between the tall houses looked empty behind her.
"Don't turn your head," Jimena whispered. "Act like you're looking in front of you, and check it out from the corner of your eye."
Catty walked a few more steps and tried again. She cast a sideways glance and caught stealthy movement. Shadows swayed restlessly beneath the trees. Heavy, dark forms billowed, then vanished, only to reappear closer, watching with evil intent.
"What do you think they are?" Vanessa asked.
"Regulators," Serena whispered nervously. "They're following us, but why aren't they attacking?"
"Our powers don't work here," Catty added. "So there's no reason for them to hesitate."
"Unless they have orders," Tianna suggested. "Maybe they're protecting us."
Catty shivered. "Why would they?"
"You said your father was powerful," Tianna answered in a low voice. "So he must have enemies, Followers who don't want him to have the Scroll. Maybe these shadows are his sentinels, making sure we get to him safely."
"If he knows we're here, that is," Catty answered, praying that he didn't. She wanted to get Chris and take him back to earth's realm before her father was even aware that she had come back to Nefandus.
"Can you imagine Regulators protecting us?" Vanessa asked with a dry laugh.
A minute later they stood across the street from Catty's father's home. Lanterns suspended from iron brackets swung overhead. Sparks shot from the flames, and the red embers swirled around them, mixing a sweet, smoldering aroma into the air.
Catty pressed back against a stone wall, her nerves tingling, and stared at the jade dragons on either side of the huge door. Fires blazed from their ferocious jaws, casting light across the veranda. The demons in the stained-glass windows seemed alive, slinking back and forth in the firelight as if they were guarding the front entrance. Overhead, bluish smoke from the hearth fire spiraled out from the chimney, changing from one phantom form to another.
"How are we going to get inside without your father knowing?" Jimena asked.
Catty shook her head, feeling defeated already. Kyle was right. She was too impetuous, too careless, and now she had brought her friends into danger.
"Let's check out the back," she whispered boldly, and she started forward, forcing her legs to move, her body rebelling against each step. The Scroll rested silently against her, as if the nearness to her father had hushed it.
"We need to hurry," Serena cautioned.
The air seemed suddenly filled with furtive murmurings.
"Something's happening." Vanessa inhaled sharply and looked around.
Catty felt it, too, an abrupt change, like a sudden drop in air pressure.
"There," Jimena whispered, pointing upward.
Raven-black clouds gathered above them, but the thunderheads didn't look as if they were heralding a storm.
"Is it the Atrox?" Tianna whispered, her voice tense with fear.
"I don't think so," Catty answered.
Sudden terror rushed through her, and sickening memories poured into her, as if from a primitive consciousness she shared with her evil forebears. She knew at once that within the cloud was a Follower, a powerful member of the Inner Circle, who was also her father's enemy, and thus her own.
Immediately she understood, as if the Follower's intentions had been sent to her by some low-grade telepathy. The Follower intended to sacrifice all four Daughters and gain their power. Their blood would give him access to the energy he needed to destroy her father. But who had let him know of their arrival? Her mind quickly turned to Kyle. Had he been trying to warn her of this, or had he read her mind and understood even better than she did her rash impetuous behavior, and how easy it would be for him to deceive her and set this trap?
Without warning the cloud shrieked down on them.
Catty bolted forward. "Go!" she yelled, and ran jerkily, pulling her friends behind her. "Run faster."
Only moments before, Catty had hoped her father wouldn't discover her presence in Nefandus. Now she prayed that he was waiting for her. She needed his protection. On her own, she didn't have the strength to banish the Follower roaring down on them.
The storm grew stronger, beating around them in a frenzy of spinning winds, trying to keep them from reaching her father's home.
The distance to the huge house now seemed impossibly wide.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CA T T Y S P R I N T E DF O R W A R D,deliberately ignoring the road leading up to the veranda. She cut across at a diagonal to the darker side of the house and ran haphazardly through the thorny bushes. Her friends tromped behind her, gasping and wheezing.
"What are you doing." Vanessa screamed. "The door's the other way."
"Such a huge place has to have a basement," Catty answered. "If we can find a bottom window, we can break through and slide inside."
The demon black shadow swirled about in anger and closed tightly, stealing her breath. Winds twisted the brambles around her, snagging her sweater and hair.
Vanessa cried out as a thorn slashed her face. "There!" Serena shouted, pointing to the base of the house.
A prickly vine wrapped around Catty's arm. She yanked free, her skin stinging with scratches, and retraced her steps. Her breath came in labored huffs by the time she stopped in front of the dirt-streaked window. She kicked furiously.
"Kick!" she shouted, not sure her friends could even hear her over the howling gusts around them.
Jimena joined her, frantically kicking until the glass shattered and splashed like diamonds falling into the dark below.
With no time to think, Catty flopped onto the ground. Her friends tumbled next to her, scooting closer, as if they were riding a toboggan.
"Ready?" She inched forward until she was balanced on the ledge.
The storm screeched down at her, thrashing against her face with bitter cold and snarling her hair, trying to keep her from jumping.
"Don't let go of me, no matter what!'' she shouted, and threw herself into the darkness. She flailed crazily, Serena screaming beside her.
Savage red flames exploded around her, flickering wildly, burning her face and searing her eyebrows. For the briefest moment she thought she was plunging into the depths of hell. She caught the wide-eyed terror on Vanessa's face, then realized that the lantern flames had ignited automatically, as if the girls' presence had made them blaze. Glinting orange light lit the gray dungeon walls. She hit the ground, chin first.
She skidded on her stomach, her hands and shoulders throbbing. Then, she lay still, tasting the blood that trickled into her mouth, and desperately clasped Serena and Vanessa's limp fingers in her hands. She felt too afraid to lift her head, too terrified to ask if her friends were all right.
She blinked to keep tears from her eyes and immediately became aware of her father's protection wrapping itself around her, his power warm and comforting in spite of his vile past.
She lay on a rugged stone floor. Black, muddy dirt oozing up through the cracks with a dank musty stench made her recoil. She wondered vaguely if the smell was the aroma of evil, and she shuddered at the thought.
Abruptly, a crashing sound made her turn.
She winced at the pain in her neck.
Wind thrashed against the empty window frame, seeming to shake the foundation but unable to enter her father's home. Stillness followed, and a thin, pallid face stared at her from within a black, roiling cloud. Catty watched in horror as the features became elongated, turning into a twist of night before disappearing.
"Who was that?" Vanessa whispered, leaning against her, her breath coming in agonizing bursts.
"One of my father's enemies—my enemy," Catty choked in a shaky voice as she struggled to sit up.
"Who cares who it was?" Jimena said. "Is it coming back?"
"I don't think so," Catty answered, feeling that this was true but not understanding the reason why. "How is everyone?"
"As well as can be expected," Serena answered bluntly. Her skirt was torn, and a purple bruise swelled on her cheekbone. "Can't we ever do anything the easy way?"
Hollow footsteps pounded on the floorboards overhead, and the girls froze.
"Do you think your father heard us?" Tianna whispered. Her scarf was gone, and two buttons were missing from her pajama top.
"No, it has to be one of his servi," Catty said. "I'm certain he isn't home. If he were, he would have engaged the Follower in the storm cloud."
"¡Orale!" Jimena nodded, her hand swelling as if it had broken. "He wouldn't let his enemigo come into his territory like that."
"Let's get on with it." Vanessa started to stand, then moaned and stretched in a rolling motion, slow and careful. "This place is creeping me out."
Catty stood, also eager to leave, and looked around the gloomy cellar, searching for a door or stairs. When she didn't see a way out, she began to panic. Then she saw Jimena staring at something and followed her gaze.
Flat stones were lodged into the wall, almost invisible in the strange light from the lantern fires.
"It looks dangerous," Jimena whispered, more to herself than to Catty. She cranked her neck, looking up at the distance they were about to climb.
Catty nodded and started across the chamber, pain exploding in her knees.
A huge door waited at the top of the stairs under a round archway with demon carvings on top. Catty feared her only exit would be locked, but there was no way she could salvage what she had done now. She took another step.
Finally she pushed her shoulder against the polished wood, and the door eased open with a soft scraping of hinges.
Catty entered a vast hallway and waited for the others to join her. Garishly painted wood carvings of grotesque creatures looked down at them from the ceiling.
"How do you know which way to go?" Serena asked.
"I don't." Catty paused, helplessly lost. Then she became aware of the Scroll vibrating against her with agitated fierceness, as if it were trying to tell her which way to go. "I think the Scroll must sense Chris's presence."
"Are you sure?" Vanessa looked doubtful. "The Scroll is leading me," Catty answered, feeling both terrified and excited. She hurried down the hall, then started up another flight of stairs, only to pause, sensing a change in the Scroll. It was urging her to continue down the corridor instead. She turned back.
She had only gone a little way when a force greater than she could have imagined pulsed steadily against her, and she knew instinctively that the Scroll was telling her to stop.
"What now?" Jimena asked, looking around.
"I'm not sure." Catty leaned against the wall behind her, considering what to do next, and the wood panel flew open. She stumbled into a dusty stairwell.
Immediately, rusted lanterns flickered on, casting a poor light.
Catty brushed away some gluey cobwebs and started up the twisting stairs, leaving footprints in the dust.
"He can't be up here," Tianna said behind her. "No one has used these steps for centuries."
"Of course they haven't," Serena countered with a snicker. "Most Followers become shadows and fly."
Catty pressed forward more quickly now, feeling the Scroll's energy flutter through her.
At the top of the stairs she came to a door. She held her breath and entered.
Chris sat on a window seat at the far end of the room, gazing out at the darkness as though he were waiting for something. He turned, surprised, blinking in disbelief. He seemed overcome with emotion. Suddenly he scowled.
"Why did you come, Catty?" he asked, his blue eyes filling with anger. "It was a foolish and dangerous thing to try. You'll never escape."
The Scroll throbbed. It wanted to go to Chris.
"I came here because you said you needed to tell me something important," she answered, wondering what held him imprisoned. She didn't see bars, ropes, or chains.
Guilt flashed in his eyes and he looked away from her. "I've failed in my mission, and I must suffer the consequences."
"You haven't failed," she argued, stepping closer. "I have the Scroll, and Tianna can take us back to earth's realm."
"Let's do it now," Tianna said nervously and clasped his hand.
Jimena took his other hand, completing a circle.
Even though their goddess powers didn't work in Nefandus, Tianna had once before lifted the veil between the worlds from inside. Catty hoped she could do it again now.
Tianna gazed at the fireplace behind Catty, her face tense. Her eyes narrowed in tight slits, and her concentration pulsed through the air, her energy becoming stronger.
The walls wrinkled, and Nefandus started to fade away. Then, suddenly, it came back into sharp focus.
Tianna gasped, as if she had been holding her breath. "Something's wrong," she said, frowning. "There's a counterforce working against me."
"You never should have come here," Chris said.
Catty ignored him, not understanding his agitation. She had expected at least a little gratitude. "We'll go to the portal, then," she said, and started toward the door.
"What about the cloud that chased us?" Serena asked, distressed.
"I don't think we need to worry about that right now," Vanessa said, her voice a mix of fear and disgust.
"My guards," Chris said, looking over Catty's shoulder. "I warned you we couldn't escape."
Catty turned and gazed into the misshapen face of a Regulator materializing near her. His hot breath sprayed over her nose and lips. She spit, trying to get the putrid taste out of her mouth.
Only the Regulator's head had formed, resting hideously on circling shadows. His eyes gleamed with triumph, arms and legs still pulling together from floating specks that looked like a cloud of flies.
The air grew blacker, then pulsed as more Regulators formed from slow, lazy swirls. Their fierce power crackled about the room.
Catty stepped backward, pulling the others with her, feeling sudde
nly powerless and defeated. She held back a childish desire to cry. She had brought all the Daughters to their doom, and there was nothing they could do.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
J I M E N A , U S E Y O U RMedusa stone!" Catty shouted, suddenly understanding that these creatures weren't Regulators but a spell cast by her father to imprison Chris. "Maybe that will work here." The stone protected against magic and warded off evil spirits.
Jimena looked baffled, but dropped her hold on Chris. Then, still holding on tightly to Serena, she grabbed her amulet and held it up. It glowed fiercely. The snakes carved on it coiled, getting ready to attack. Then twin pools of light streaked from the Gorgon's eyes.
The confused Regulators shrieked and began to shrink, their thick hands shielding their faces from the brightness. They cringed, wincing in pain, then blustered away, howling in defeat. After they were gone, their shrill cries echoed about the small room, then stopped.
But the silence was worse. Catty's neck prickled, and instinct told her to hurry; they were still in grave danger.
"Come on," she whispered. "Let's go to the portal."
Ten minutes later they rushed down a narrow, twisting street, linking hands, their shoes shuffling over the cobblestones. They found a stoop at the back of a dark house and slid onto it together, sheltered by an overhanging balcony on the second floor. A single lantern, with broken panes and a hissing flame, cast a pool of gray light over them.
"I don't think we'll have to wait too long," Catty said.
"How are you going to know when the portal opens?" Vanessa rested her head on the wall behind her.
"We'll sense it," Tianna said with assurance as she leaned back.
Chris stood and ambled over to Catty. "Will you take a walk with me?" he asked, his eyes gazing into hers.
"I can't," she answered, looking at her friends. "They'll be lost in the mists if I leave."
"Go," Vanessa ordered, shaking free of Catty's grip. "We'll stay put."
Serena pulled her hand away and froze as if she were afraid that any movement might send her drifting into the fog that now blinded her to Nefandus.
