of the
Night
All Vanessa Cleveland has ever wanted is to be able to be like everyone else and be able to do normal things, like kiss gorgeous Michael Saratoga without disappearing right in front of him. But Vanessa is different, and having to hide her secret makes leading a normal liofe impossible.
Now Vanessa is being followed. She doesn't know who's doing it. But she knows why. Her secret has finally been discovered.
In ancient times, it was said that the goddess Selene drove the moon across the sky. Each night she followed her brother Helios, the sun, to catch his fiery rays and reflect the light back to earth. One night on her journey, she looked down and saw Endymion sleeping in the hills. She fell in love with the beautiful shepherd. Night after night she looked down on his gentle beauty and loved him more, until finally one evening she left the moon between the sun and the earth and went down to the grassy fields to lie beside him.
For three nights she stayed with him, and the moon, unable to catch the sun's rays, remained dark. People feared the dark moon. They said it broght death and free evil forces to roam the black night. Zeus, King of the Gods, was angered by the darkness and punished Selene by giving Endymion eternal sleep.
Selene returned to the moon and drove it across the night sky, but her love was too strong. She hid Endymion in a cave; and now, three nights each lunar month, she leaves the moon to visit her sleeping lover and cover him with silver kisses. In his sleep, Endymion dreams he holds the moon. He has given Selene many daughters to guard the night. They are powerful and beautiful like their mother, and mortal like their father.
Vanessa sighed and shook her head. "Believe me, you could have waited until school tomorrow to tell me that. How did you get in here, anyway?"
"How?" Serena seemed surprised. "Your window, of course." And then she giggled in disbelief. "You mean you've never used you window to sneak out?"
Vanessa thought of the times she had left her room late at night under the steady light of a full moon. If Serena ever saw her do that, the sight would jam her giggles down her throat.
"You have snuck out." Serena leaned close to her. "But there's something different about the way you leave your room, Vanessa."
"What do you mean?" Vanessa asked. And wondered how Serena could know what she had been thinking. And then another panicked thought came to her -- had Serena seen her?
"Tell me. It's really important. I need to know." Serena grabbed Vanessa's arm, the fingers icy cold. "What is it about you, Vanessa, that makes you so different from everyone else? I need to know more about your secret."
A sudden fear pushed into Vanessa's thoughts. How would Serena know there was anything different about her? Unless...the thought came as quickly as lightning struck. "It was you. You've been following me. Why? Don't you know how much you've been scaring me?"
"No." The word hit in one staccato beat and hung in the air between them. "It wasn't me," she added softly. "And stop calling me weird. I hate that."
"I didn't say the word."
"I know," Serena answered quickly, "but you were thinking it."
"You can't know what I'm thinking," Vanessa said, more to herself than to Serena.
"If I prove to you I can, will you go with me?"
"Where?"
"Just promise to go with me if I can prove to you that I can read your thoughts."
"Sure, why not? Like people can do that," Vanessa said sarcastically, and thought, A dog has brown spots.
Serena stared at her. "This isn't fair. I can't do it if you're giving me something that has no emotion attached to it. No content!"
"All right, here's another." Vanessa thought of the number seven.
"You're trying to trick me." Serena seemed really frustrated now.
"I'm not!" Vanessa said too loudly, and hoped she didn't wake her mother. She stumbled from the bed and turned on the fluorescent lamp near her computer. White light flooded the room with a buzzing sound. "I don't want you sneaking into my room ever again, and I really think we should wait and talk tomorrow. We could meet at Urth Caffé after school, okay?"
Serena sat back on the chair, green eyes reflective, and studied Vanessa like a cat. A jolt of energy suddenly filled Vanessa's head. The sensation confused her at first. She tried to close her thoughts, make her mind blank.
Serena squinted. The feeling stopped. Then Serena opened her eyes and the feeling returned like the slap of a cold wave. It felt like Serena was rampaging through her mind, examining stored memories.
Impossible. It had to be a headache, some strange flu, a virus. She was beginning to feel dizzy and nauseated.
"Stop!"
Serena seemed to draw back. "I hope I didn't scare you too much. I had to be sure. I needed to know you weren't a trap."
"Trap?"
"It happens now and again. I get deceived," Serena explained.
Vanessa started to speak again, but the way Serena was looking at her made her words fall away.
"You're in danger," Serena said.
The fine hairs on the back of Vanessa's neck bristled.
"You know who's been following me?" she asked.
"Yes." Serena's voice was solemn. "I know."
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