Goddess of the Night (9 page)

Serena seemed
nervous. "No, I'd tell you if there was more," she said.
"Come on, let's go to Ed Debevic's. It'll be fun."

"I can't
tonight. I promised Mom I'd be home early." Vanessa pulled a
twenty-dollar bill from her jeans pocket. She handed it to Serena.

Serena started
to take the money, then stopped. "I can't charge a friend. Just
don't tell anyone else I didn't charge you. Telling fortunes is a
cool way to make extra cash."

"Thanks."
Vanessa tucked the money back in her pocket. "I'll see you
tomorrow."

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"Yeah."
Serena walked her to the back door.

Vanessa hurried
down the drive to the front of the house, then stopped and looked
back.

"Freaky,"
she whispered. She knew Serena was holding something back, but why
would she? Was it something about Michael? Or Morgan? She felt
heartsick.

She turned and
bumped into a girl with long black hair. The girl gasped and took a
step backward. She looked like a gangbanger, in black cargo pants and
sport tank. Homemade tattoos covered her back and arm. She was thin
with large brown eyes that seemed afraid of something she saw in
Vanessa's face.

"What?"
Vanessa said.

"
Ten
cuidado"
the girl whispered. "Be careful."

That made
Vanessa more uneasy than if she had snarled.

"Sure,"
Vanessa muttered uncertainly and began the long walk home. She
decided that she shouldn't see Michael anymore. Her heart twisted at
the thought. But that took care of one problem, at least. Then she
could concentrate on finding out who was following her and why.

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Chapter 11

M
ONDAY
MORNING Michael was standing on the concrete steps at school when
Vanessa and Catty arrived. He wore khakis and Birkenstocks. His
tumble of black hair curled against a white T-shirt. He waved, and
adrenaline shot through Vanessa with a sweet pleasant tingle. What
was it about his smile that made her body turn traitor to her mind
and crave his touch?

"Come on."
Vanessa pulled Catty back the way they had come.

Catty looked
up. "Maybe he's looking for you.

"I'm done
with him."

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The look in
Catty's eyes told her that she didn't believe her.

"I'm too
embarrassed to see him," she begrudgingly admitted. "Besides,
I can't have a boyfriend. There's no way it can work out. I can't
even kiss him without going invisible."

Catty glanced
back at the cement steps. "If he were my boyfriend, I'd find a
way."

By noon, heat,
smog, and automobile exhaust had settled over the city. Security
guards stood at the front gate checking off-campus passes, but kids
loitered on campus. The air was too hot and sultry to walk up to Okie
Dog or Pink's or sit at Kokomo's in Farmers' Market. Morgan lounged
under a tree, fanning herself with an algebra test and sipping a Big
Gulp through a straw. Vanessa and Catty joined her.

"Won't
this day ever end?" Morgan said. "It feels like it's been
going on forever."

Morgan motioned
with her chin at something behind them. "Why is Serena following
you?"

Serena
gravitated toward them and sat in a shady spot near the building.

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"She's not
following us. She wants to get out of the sun like everyone else."
Vanessa opened her bottle of carrot juice.

Serena wore
jeans hemmed with red feathers. FLOWER POWER was written on the front
of her green tank top. Pointy rhinestone glasses kept sliding down
her nose, and her hair was curled in tight ringlets.

"She'd be
pretty hard to miss," Catty said. "We would have noticed
her."

The hot day had
made everyone restless and kids were starting to squirt each other
with bottles of water. Steam rose from the puddles.

"I saw
her." Morgan wrapped her hair on top of her head. "She's
been hanging behind you all day. Weird little goat. You should say
something to her."

"Leave her
alone," Vanessa snapped.

"Oh,
phase!'
Morgan bit back with a spark of anger. "Since
when does she need you to protect her?"

"Morgan,"
Vanessa started, but stopped. It wasn't worth arguing.

"Maybe
she's the one who's been following

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you,"
Catty whispered, and unwrapped a peanut butter and jelly sandwich
that had melted through the bread. She wrapped it back up and wadded
it into a ball for the trash. "It's too hot to eat."

"So how
was the big date?" Morgan said. She took a piece of ice from her
Big Gulp and held it against the back of her neck.

Vanessa didn't
answer.

"I warned
you about Michael." Morgan shook her head. "You're not
sexperienced. I won't hold it against you. But you shouldn't dive in
over your head."

"Why do
you keep saying that? I thought the sexual revolution was about
choice," Catty said. "How can you hold that against
anyone?"

"Give it
up." Morgan tossed the ice cube away.

"Well, it
does seem like you want to make Michael sound bad," Vanessa
accused her. "He was really nice."

Morgan gave her
a bitter look. "Whatever." She stood suddenly. "This
day is dragging. I'm going to the nurse's office so I can go home.
Heat exhaustion." She walked off.

"What's
her deal?" Catty said.

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I don't know.
Vanessa wondered if Morgan was still upset about Michael.

"Why are
you still friends with her, anyway?"

"We used
to have really good times together, don't you remember?"

"No. She
never liked me, and now she's got to bust an attitude on everyone."

"Catty--"
Vanessa had something else she wanted to talk about. Something
important.

"Yeah,
what's up?"

"I've made
a decision," Vanessa said. "Mom doesn't work tomorrow. I'm
going to stay home and tell her about . . . you know. Maybe she can
help me."

Catty frowned.
"Are you sure?"

"I don't
know what else to do. Besides, I'd rather she hear it from me than
see me go invisible on the nightly news."

"All
right," Catty agreed, but her voice was dry with anxiety.

A noise
startled them. Serena gathered her books and ran across the hot
blacktop. She slipped past the guards at the front gate, and didn't
stop when the guards yelled after her for

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her pass. Kids
standing against the chain-link fence applauded her audacity.

"Cool,"
Catty said.

"Why
didn't she get a pass?" Vanessa wondered.

"Must've
been in a hurry." Catty shrugged. "Let's go see if a
classroom is open where we can cool off"

The day
stretched on forever. Morgan was right. It felt like someone had bent
reality and made classes twice as long. By the end of the day Vanessa
was worn out. She trudged across the empty basketball courts, her
sweater tied around her waist and shirt open to the third button,
when someone called her name.

"Hey,
Vanessa." Michael ran up to her, his face flushed. "I've
been trying to catch you all day." He touched her arm. A drop of
sweat trickled down his cheek.

She tried to
pull her breath in slow even draws. She didn't want him to see her
nervousness. She almost made an excuse to flee, but the sweetness of
his smile closed her mouth and made her stay.

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"I'm sorry
about what happened at the Bowl." His eyes drifted to the third
button on her shirt, then pulled away. "I was pretty rude
after."

She thought
he'd be angry about the way she had acted. But he thought he had
ruined the night. She wanted to cheer. "I had a great time,"
she said.

"Yeah?"

She cleared her
throat. "I loved the music."

He shifted his
books and put an arm around her. When his hand touched her waist, new
heat rose inside her, a fire for something forbidden.

"Stanton
pushes my buttons," he said as they walked across the basketball
courts. "It's like ... do you think someone can be evil?"

"What do
you mean?"

He seemed a
little embarrassed. "It sounds crazy, but the guy creeps me
out."

Like how?"
she asked. But she couldn't pay attention. Her mind drifted to
thoughts about his hand on her waist. What would it have felt like if
his hand had brushed over her at the Bowl, and it hadn't been an
accident, but invited?

"He pushes
me, like he wants to make me

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mad. Usually he
can't get to me, but when I saw the way he looked at you right in
front of me, something happened inside me. At first I thought he
liked you, too, but then I knew he was flirting with you because he'd
heard how much I like you."

"Me?"
Her stomach fluttered.

He smiled, and
his eyes said
you.
"The last time I really liked someone,
he tried to take her away from me. I figured he was the one who was
spying on us. I was so furious that all I wanted to do was drop you
off and go back to have it out with him."

"You went
back?"

"I started
to, then I realized . . ."

"What?"

"That's
exactly what he wanted. So I didn't." He guided her away from
the bus stop toward the students' parking lot.

"You think
he was following us?"

"I
wouldn't put it past him," Michael said. "So I acted like
an ass. Forgive me?"

"Yes."
She smiled. And then they were at his van.

"Can I
give you a ride home?"

121

"Okay,"
she said. Her heart beat wildly. Was this another chance for a kiss?

He smiled and
opened the van door. She untied her sweater and rolled it into a ball
on top of her books, then climbed in. The air was tight and hot
inside. The plastic seat burned her back through her blouse.

Michael got in
and started the van. She rolled down her window and let the velvet
breeze cool her face. He babbled on about school, his guitar, and
surfing. She sank lower in the seat, listening to the song of his
voice. Sweet melody, don't stop.

The van parked
and her eyes opened. They were in front of her house already.

"Don't get
out yet," he said.

She paused.

"I really
like you, you know, because you're so different."

Her heart
flipped. If he only knew how different.

"You're so
mysterious." His eyes smiled slyly. "I like a mystery to
unravel." Then he leaned over. He stopped when he was close
enough to kiss her

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and waited, as
if he were asking for permission. She closed her eyes. His lips, warm
from the heat, rested on hers, and then he pulled away.

She didn't want
him to stop.

"I really
like you, Vanessa," he said, his face still close to hers, his
breath caressing her cheek, and then he kissed her again. Soft,
gentle, sweet. His hand touched her knee. Her body tingled, longing
for more. The tip of his tongue traced over her lips. His other hand
slipped lazily to the back of her head. His fingers traced through
her hair. Her body was spinning. The molecules stirred. She shouldn't
let him kiss her again. She did.

His mouth
pressed harder. She knew what was happening, but she continued to
kiss him anyway. At the last possible second she jerked back and
hoped her face wasn't drifting into a whirl of golden light. She
glanced in the side mirror. A face stared back at her, gratefully
whole and complete.

"You
haven't been kissed before, have you?"

"Of course
I have," she said defensively. She felt embarrassed; her first
kiss had been with him at the Bowl. "Lots."

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He only smiled.
But she didn't see it. She was too focused on looking at feet that
were no longer there, only flecks of gold whirling on the floor mats.
She threw her sweater over her legs. The sleeve snapped his eye.

"Ouch."
He bent down and held his eye.

"Sorry."
She felt like an idiot. "I must be coming down with a cold. I
feel so chilled suddenly. I better go." She propelled what
remained of her body out of the van. Her sudden movement left him
unbalanced. He fell forward.

"Vanessa,"
he called out.

She turned back
for one last quick look.

"I don't
care if you've never been kissed before," he said, still holding
his eye. She didn't answer because she wasn't sure she could speak.
Her throat tickled, and sometimes as she became invisible she didn't
have all the abilities she had when she was solid. She dropped a
pencil and didn't stop to pick it up. Her hand was missing. She ran
as fast as she could, hoping he didn't see the way her body was
unraveling into a trail of dust. She darted behind the olive tree in
the front

124

yard, then
sprinted through the lilies and onto the porch. She flung open the
front door. Her arms vanished. Her books crashed to the floor and
scattered.

She whirled to
the front window and floated there, no more than a sinuous vapor.
Anyone looking in the window from the outside would see only dust
motes caught in a bar of sunlight. She looked back at Michael, afraid
he had seen too much.

He started the
van and drove slowly away.

"Good-bye,
Michael." The words came out like a sigh of wind. A boyfriend
would never be part of her life. Even a kiss was too complicated. She
looked down at her hands. They were starting to come into focus now.
Gradually, the heaviness of gravity began to pull her back into form.

She was going
to spend the rest of the afternoon feeling sorry for herself. Why
shouldn't she? There was no way she could continue to see Michael. If
only there was a guidebook she could purchase to explain the laws of
invisibility. Did such laws exist?