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Vanessa's sixteenth birthday is coming up. While most girls would be thrilled at the prospect, Vanessa dreads being one year closer to making the most important decision of her life. Now she is beginning to doubt everything she holds true—her friends, her relationship with Michael, and even her identity. Then she meets Hector, who is more exciting and dangerous than anyone else she knows. Through him, she learns about a side of herself that she never knew existed.
During the Peloponnesian War a brave Athenian soldier fell desperately in love with the daughter of his commander. He asked for her hand in marriage but she had refuse. Having dedicated her life to the goddes Selene, she had vowed not to marry until and evil power called the Atrox was vanquished. The soldier swore to destroy the dark force and free his beloived from her vow.
He traveled day and nightuntil he came to the western side of the river Oceanus. There he passed through groves of carren willows and poplars until he found the cave that led to Tartarus, the land of the dead. He entered it, and when he reached the impenetrable darkness, demons swarmed around him.
A towering black cloud surged toward him. He knew it was the Atrox. But instead of trembling with fear, he became intoxicated with his own bravery; he alone had the courage to face the Atrox. If he destroyed it, he would not only win his bride but also become as powerful as any of the immortal gods.
Pride overtook him as he shot his arrow. A terrible scream pierced the misty air. Then the unimaginable happened. The Atrox surrendered to him and humbly offered him a gift of gold ankle bands in tribute. The young man, eager to return to his love and flaunt his victory, clasped the heavy metal bands around his legs, but as he did, flames ravaged his body and the evil he had set out to destroy consumed him. The Atrox had tricked him and given him not ornaments but shackles, condemning him to an eternity of servitude. Demons carried him away from the underworld and cast him out from the Earth.
Over the centuries many people have seen the young soldier in the night sky and thought him only a falling star. He wanders the universe alone, unable to return to Earth unless summoned by his master, the Atrox.
Vanessa thought of Hector on the way home. Words floated through her mind and she started composing lyrics for another song, a wailing bittersweet ballad about impossible love. She wanted to make the music dynamic and cathartic. Already, she could feels her fingers aching to find the keys, but she didn't say anything. She hadn't told any of them about her new passion. She was too afraid they'd laugh.
She wondered what her onstage presence would be. Some of the singers she saw had her wholesome look but they were intense and earthy when they sang. She didn't know if she'd have the courage. She might be too embarrassed to show her most private thoughts in public, but she'd have to try someday.
When the car stopped she looked up, surprised to see that they were parked in front of her house.
"Why are you letting me off first?" she asked. "It's out of the way."
"I just got driving and forgot where I was," Jimena answered, glancing at Vanessa in the rearview mirror.
"Right," Vanessa slid out and slammed the door.
The car blasted away before she had even stopped on the curb. She watched the rear end fishtail around the corner. She had a strange feeling that if she became invisible and went over to Jan's Café in a few minutes, she'd find them gathered around a table, discussing their next move. She started to go invisible and stopped. She didn't want to spy on them. She wanted to work on her music.
With quick steps, she started up the front walk. She had forgotten to turn the porch light on again, and in the darkness the twisted olive tree looked like a monster ready to pounce. She hurried around to the back, singing the melody for her new song and reworking the words, anxious to go upstairs to her keyboard before she lost the arrangement she was imagining.
But as she neared the corner of the house, she stopped. A sharp sense of impending danger made her nerves thrum. She listened. A thumping sound came from the back. She crept forward and peered into the yard, scanning the patio with its broken cover, the hibiscus bush, and planters. Then she saw the door that led to the utility room.
It was open, swinging on its hinges, the breeze knocking it against the side of the house. She didn't think her mother would have forgotten to shut the door. She was too careful.
Vanessa tiptoed toward the banging door, afraid someone might be lurking behind the trees. A sudden rapping sound on the window upstairs startled her. She jumped back, pressing against the trunk of a cottonwood, and glanced up.
A face appeared in her bedroom window, and then it was gone. Her heartbeat quickened as new worry spread through her. Maybe the intruder from the night before hadn't been her imagination after all and her mother was now inside, needing her help.
She hurried up the back steps and into the utility porch, her feet tapping loudly on the linoleum. She slipped from her shoes, leaving them by the washer, and continued barefoot into the kitchen.
In the dark her mother's worktable, piled high with swatches of cloth and sketches, seeming unfamiliar. The shadows took on monstrous shapes. She glanced into the living room. Nothing looked out of place, but instinct told her there was something dangerous in the house with her. She glanced down at her moon amulet. It was not glowing, but her nerves were on fire, warning her of another presence.
She tried to turn invisible to go upstairs to investigate but her molecules refused to respond. Her cells knit together in frozen panic.
She stepped into the living room, her hands trembling, and squinted at the stairs, then started across the hardwood floor and stopped.
A low rustling came from the top of the stairs like the soft sound of pant legs brushing against each other when someone walked. She thought of the face in the window and wondered if her mother had run to her bedroom to hide from a prowler.
Before Vanessa was even aware of what she was doing, her feet were hitting the stairs, taking them two at a time. She bounded down the hallway and threw open the door to her mother's bedroom.
"Mom?"
The room was empty. She wondered what she had expected to see.
She ran into the hallway again, adrenaline pumping through her, and bolted into her room. She stopped abruptly at the door, holding back a scream. What she saw made her heart stop.
