Goddess of the Night (14 page)

change in wind.
Before she could collect herself and dive for shelter, another rush
of air caught her. Her molecules scattered in two directions. She
concentrated hard and almost had them back when a blast whistled into
her and spun her into a dangerous vortex. A strong uprising wind
split her apart.

Cold seeped
into every cell. Even with total concentration she could no longer
feel all of her body. Toes, knees, and femurs were gone. Not
invisible, just no more. Panic set in. This had never happened
before.

Wind thrashed
and whipped. Another gust slammed her into the palm trees that lined
the street. The palm fronds slashed between her remaining molecules
and swept them in different directions. Her mind became confused. Her
eyesight blurred, then left.

Silence and
darkness cradled her.

184

Chapter 17

THE MUSIC WAS
FAINT at first.The beat struggled to find her. Had she been
unconscious? The music grew louder and pulsed through every cell. Her
molecules gathered. The cadence seemed to regulate her heart. It was
becoming strong again. Her eyesight returned. She was no more than
long thin bundles of cells, but at least now the cells were absorbing
oxygen through osmosis. The side of a building protected her from the
raging Santa Ana winds.

She hovered, a
transparent veil high over the heads of kids waiting to go inside
Planet Bang. It

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was teen night
again. She recognized some of the kids in line.

A gust of wind
screamed down the side of the building and blew her through the
entrance. It was dark and hot inside and smelled of sweat, cigarette
smoke, and musky colognes.

She wavered
over the freestyle dancers. The strobe light flashed and cut their
dance into freeze-frame clicks. The boys stomped close in a savage
circle. They shouted their crew name with the beat and waved
handkerchiefs to flaunt their colors. Blue lasers swept over the
girls on the periphery of the circle, hips rolling in soft, smooth
spins.

Club kids stood
near the deejay, dressed in outrageous costumes of turquoise feathers
and sequined velvet. Couples stopped and admired their outfits. The
club kids posed and danced in their private Mardi Gras parade.

Other kids
lolled in dark corners, zombied out. They'd probably paid some
homeless guy to buy liquor for them in a corner shop.

Vanessa was
lower now, eye level with the dance crews. The pulse of the music
beat through

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her. Her feet
found the rhythm and she started to dance, close with the girls. She
lifted her hands. She liked the heat and sweat of dancing. She
followed the lead of the dance crew, hips in line, and thought of
Catty dancing with light sticks and Christmas tinsel.

A hand touched
her back. She hadn't realized she had become visible.

She turned
abruptly. Morgan stood behind her, all smiles.

"Hey, I
didn't know you were allowed to come here after what happened last
week." She wore a zip-up top, a silver pull ring dangling
seductively at the base of her throat.

"I'm not.

"Cool."
Morgan grabbed Vanessa's arm. "You're dropping that goodie girl
attitude. I like your outfit. It's a Mom-would-die-if-she-saw-me
choice." Vanessa glanced down. She was wearing the lacy
see-through camisole over her bra. Her yellow drawstring slacks had
thankfully made the trip, but she was barefoot, except for her toe
rings.

"This
place is definitely a blues buster," Morgan said. "Staying
home and crying is a waste

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of time. All it
does is make your nose red and your eyelids puffy. Let's meet those
guys over there in the corner."

"I'm not
staying." Vanessa turned to go.

"Why'd you
come, then?" Morgan took her hands and pulled her across the
floor. "Your hands are as cold as
ice.
Why are you so
nervous? Is Michael coming?"

"No,
really, I've got to get home. I'm grounded."

"That's a
new one," Morgan commented. "Then how did you get here?"

"Long
story."

"Right,
you're checking up on Michael. I know the game. Look over there."
She motioned with her head.

Seven boys
stood in the dark away from the reach of the strobe lights. The
tallest leaned into the flash of white light as if he knew they were
talking about him. It was Stanton.

"Any one
of those boys could love me to death," Morgan said. "How
can there be so many cute boys I haven't met yet? Isn't life
fabulous?" Her voice was a little too frantic, like she was
trying to chase the sadness away.

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"Maybe you
should be careful," Vanessa warned. She wasn't in the mood to
say hi to Stanton or any of his friends.

"Those
boys look like they need someone to tame them. I'd just be doing my
duty."

"Morgan,
do you ever think of anything besides boys?"

"Sure,
clothes and style. I must be doing something right, haven't you
noticed?"

"What?"

"Look at
how many girls are wearing a tassel of mini-braids like I wore last
week. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

"Yeah, if
that's important," Vanessa muttered.

"It's
everything." Morgan pulled her through a line of dancers to the
smoke-filled corner.

"I think
I'll start a diet tomorrow." Morgan kept watching. "It'll
change the way I feel about myself." She pinched a nonexistent
roll of fat on her thigh.

"Morgan,
what century are you living in?"

"I'm just
trying to get your mind off Catty.

I'm
teasing.
You know I don't believe all that stuff I say."

189

"Then why
do you say it?"

"It's
expected," she said, and pointed. "There! That one. What do
you think?"

Stanton popped
a match with his thumbnail and lit a cigarette. His eyes never left
Vanessa.

"I think
we should go home."

"Because
you have a boyfriend no one else needs one? Please. Look at the tall
one."

"I know
him," Vanessa said.

"Good."
Morgan smiled. "That's the one I want. Introduce me."

Vanessa tried
not to stare at Stanton, but she kept feeling her eyes drawn back to
him.

A girl stood
next to him. She had long maroon hair and wore a low-cut black dress.
Something in her hand flashed dangerous silver. It was a razor blade.
She lifted it to her chest and cut a jagged S, then looked up at
Stanton with a coy smile.

She licked her
lips and sliced a T into the pale white skin. Blood trickled down her
breasts.

No one seemed
alarmed. Vanessa felt sick. She barreled through the crowd and
grabbed the girl's wrist to stop her from cutting the A.

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Stanton took
the razor from the girl, his fingers unafraid of the slicing blade.
"Cassandra's into blood sports," he drawled, and dropped
the blade into his shirt pocket.

Cassandra
seemed to hiss and draw back. She stared at Vanessa, then quickly
looked away, but not before Vanessa saw the bottomless black deadness
in her eyes.

"She's a
cutter," Stanton whispered, his lips too close to Vanessa's
cheek. "She can't feel, so she cuts herself to escape it."

Cassandra
smiled in a dreamy sort of way and patted at the blood with the tips
of her fingers.

Morgan pulled
Stanton away from Vanessa.

"I'm
Morgan," she said, hanging on his arm. "Vanessa's best
friend."

Stanton smiled
at Morgan, but his eyes returned to Vanessa.

"Let's
dance." Morgan pulled him back into shadows, too much desire and
desperation in her face. She held her hands over her head. Her hips
moved sinuous and slow. Stanton placed his hands on her waist. She
looked shyly into his eyes,

191

then her hands
entwined the back of his neck.

Another boy
with shadows in his eyes hopped over to Vanessa. She was instantly
afraid of him. He appeared to be like any boy her age, but there was
something creepy about the way he looked at her.

"You're
Stanton's friend?" he said. "I'm Karyl." His eyes held
frank sexual suggestion and kept returning to her see-through
camisole. He brushed an uninvited hand down her arm. His skin felt
dry and thin like lizard skin. He stared at her as if there was
something Vanessa had that he wanted desperately.

She stepped
away from him and bumped into another boy, tall with white-blond hair
and black roots. He smiled at her, lips curved in a crooked sort of
way. His nose hoops shimmered. The strobe light made his thin face
look haunted. He put his arm around her waist, fingers digging into
her side, craving.

She slapped his
fingers.

He laughed.
"Don't you like me touching you?" He touched her again, his
hand dangerously bold.

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She pushed him
away. "Stop it."

He laughed
again. So did Karyl.

She hated that
they were making her feel so vulnerable.

"My friend
Tymmie's got a longing for something," Karyl said. "I got
it, too, a real bad hunger. Maybe a pretty girl like you can feed
it."

"And maybe
not." Vanessa started to walk away.

The boys
circled around her, and then Cassandra joined them.

"Dance
with me," she said, her body slinking around Vanessa as tight as
a cat.

"No."
Vanessa tore away from their hands. She barreled toward the dance
floor where she had last seen Morgan dancing with Stanton. Karyl
hurried beside her.

"You don't
want me to go hungry, do you?" he said. "That wouldn't be
nice. You seem like a nice girl."

"Get
away!" Vanessa ducked under his arm.

He laughed and
jumped as if she had blown him a kiss.

She slammed
through the throng of dancers.

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Cassandra
stepped in front of her. Inch-long fingernails cut into her skin.

"Ouch."
Vanessa jerked her arm away.

"Play
nice." Cassandra let her bloody fingers glide down Vanessa's
neck. "Karyl and Tymmie just want to play. So do I. Be our
friend."

"You guys
are lost in the K hole," Vanessa said with disgust. Planet Bang
was strict about drug use, but kids took them in the parking lot.
Stanton's friends were on Ecstasy or worse, Special K, the drug from
hell.

Then she saw
Morgan kissing Stanton. She yanked free from Cassandra and grabbed
Morgan. Her zipper had been pulled down to her silky pink push-up
bra. Her eyes looked dreamy.

"Let's get
out of here," Vanessa whispered fiercely. "I think they're
doing Special K. I don't want to stay and see the rest."

"You go
on." Morgan looked up at Stanton. "I'm staying.

Vanessa
couldn't abandon Morgan. She had a strange feeling that bad things
were going to happen.

"I've got
to go," Vanessa said again. "You coming with me, Morgan?"
She didn't wait for an

194

answer. She
yanked Morgan away from Stanton and rammed through the dancers,
pulling Morgan behind her.

She rushed
outside into the cool night air. The wind whirled around her.

"What's
your problem?" Morgan jerked away from her. "I never knew
you were so jealous."

"I'm not
jealous! Did you meet his creepy friends?"

"So
they're druggies. He's not." Morgan shrugged and started back
inside.

Vanessa seized
her hand. "It's not safe.

She started to
say more but something made her look behind Morgan. Stanton had
stopped at the door. Now he gazed up at the night sky as if something
in the black endless night was filling him with despair. Was it the
moon that tormented him? She thought she saw his eyes flicker with a
yellow light. It had to be her imagination.

Vanessa took a
sharp breath. "Did you see?"

"Yes. He's
beautiful, isn't he?" Morgan breathed. "What's with you?"

A hand touched
Vanessa's shoulder. She turned quickly.

195

"Michael!"
She jumped, surprised.

"You told
me you were grounded," he said, his hurt and confusion barely
concealed in his tight smile.

"She is,"
Morgan replied for her in a flirty way. "Isn't it great she's
getting rid of her goodie- girl attitude?"

Michael ignored
Morgan and looked at Vanessa. "I thought you didn't want to go
out tonight anyway, because you were too upset about Catty."

"I
didn't."

His eyes
drifted to the entrance of Planet Bang. Stanton waved and smiled
maliciously.

Michael glanced
back at Vanessa, then back at Stanton.

"You could
have told me the truth, Vanessa," Michael said in anger. "I
thought you were a good person ... I guess I was wrong." His
words stunned her.

"I did
tell you the truth." Vanessa felt desperate. "Things just
happened."

"Why
shouldn't she party?" Morgan added defensively.

Michael glanced
at Morgan, then back at

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Vanessa. "I
guess I can see what happened." He motioned with his head toward
Stanton, then he turned and walked away.

"Michael!"
She ran after him.

He stopped and
the look on his face made fear cut through her like a jagged blade.

"I didn't
mean to come here tonight. I was going to stay home, but something
happened that I couldn't control."

"Like
Stanton came by," he said grimly.

She turned to
Morgan. "Tell him!"

"Tell him
what?"

"Tell him
I wasn't with Stanton."

Morgan cocked
her head and smiled at Michael with her eyes lowered. "Why would
I tell him that?" Her hand slid up Michael's chest. "Did
you come to dance with me, Michael?"