“Who’s Hekate?” Catty asked.
“The goddess of the dark moon,” Maggie explained, and sipped her tea.
“If she’s the goddess of the dark moon she must be evil,” Vanessa surmised.
“Why would you think that?” Maggie seemed astonished. “Someone has to reign over the dark. That’s when people need help the most, isn’t it?”
“So Hekate was good?” Jimena looked hopeful.
“She did some very good things,” Maggie hesitated. “But then . . .”
“But then what?” Catty was becoming impatient.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe she lived in the darkness too long.”
They all looked at Serena, even Jimena. Did they think she was going to reign over the dark? Become a Follower?
Maggie continued, “Hekate portrays most vividly the struggle between good and evil that is in each one of us.”
Serena felt suddenly ill at ease. She needed to do something. Her muscles were too tense and her hands and feet too jittery to stay seated at the table. She jumped up. “I’d better go.”
“Please don’t,” Maggie said and looked at her kindly.
Serena tried to smile, but hot tears brimmed her eyes. She picked up her cello case and hurried outside.
She didn’t slow down until she was at the corner of Third and La Cienega, waiting for the light to change. She stared across the street at the Beverly Center. The parking structure was aboveground to prevent methane gas seepage, a potentially lethal chemical hazard that existed in this part of Los Angeles. The mall took its odd shape because it curled around a working oil rig in back.
Someone called her name.
She turned. Zahi waved.
“Serena, what are you doing?” He ran up to her. “Daydreaming? I am glad you were, it gave me a chance to catch up to you.”
She glanced at the light. It had turned green. Now the yellow-orange hand was flashing, warning pedestrians to stop.
Zahi took her cello and they ran across the street. Cars honked impatiently at them.
“You seem upset.” Zahi looked concerned. “Is something bothering you?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Maybe you would like to talk with me about it, no? You will feel better if you do.”
He took her hand. His touch surprised her. She looked into his eyes, so clear and intently watching her, as if she were the only person in the world who mattered to him. Suddenly Maggie’s warning didn’t seem very important. It was hardly the first time Serena had been in danger, anyway. Only last month she and Jimena had had to rescue Catty and Vanessa from the Followers. She could handle the Atrox. Of course she could. Why was she worried when such a cool guy seemed to like her?
“Do you need to go home right now?” He didn’t take his hand away.
She shook her head. “No, Dad will be late. He’s working on a big case and Collin is surfing.”
“Good. Then please go with me to Michel Richard’s for a cappuccino.”
“Sure,” she responded, even though her stomach was already full with tea and scones. She wanted to be with him.
“Great.” He smiled and kissed her lightly on the cheek.
She sucked in her breath, startled by the kiss.
That’s when she heard Jimena call her name.
“Oye, Serena, wait up!”
She looked back.
Vanessa, Catty, and Jimena darted through traffic as the cars started to roll forward. A barrage of horns and squealing brakes filled the air.
Zahi stepped back. “But you have plans with your friends. I should leave, no?”
Serena wanted to go with him, but more than anything she hated girls who dumped their friends to spend time with a guy.
“Yeah.” She made an effort to hide her disappointment. “I guess so.” Zahi walked away.
“He’s so cute.” Catty elbowed Serena playfully. “I love his accent. I wonder what France is like.”
And suddenly they fell quiet, thinking about their final destiny when they turned seventeen.
“Yeah.” Serena spoke quietly. “I wonder, too.” It scared her if she thought about it for too long. She didn’t want to lose her memories of any of their adventures. She looked at her friends. Did they have similar fears? They were fifteen now. The change was only two years away.
Vanessa was the first to break the dark mood. “Let’s go over to the Skinmarket and try on makeup.”
“Yeah!” Catty whooped.
They ran to the escalators and rode up to the seventh floor.
Serena stopped at the two-tone false eyelashes.
“You’ll look like a payasa,” Jimena warned, and picked up a pair with tiny red feathers.
“What’s that?”
“A clown.” Jimena laughed and took the eyelashes with the tiny feathers up to the cashier. “But a totally cool one.”
Catty squealed. They all turned. She was holding up a can of hair spray and a stencil. “Look at this. We can spray hearts and lightning bolts on our hair.”
“Do me,” Jimena begged.
A few seconds later Jimena had a silver lightning bolt on either side of her head.
“Wild!” Serena grinned and tried to remember why she had been so worried when she ran out of Chado’s earlier. Everything was perfect. She had great friends and a guy who really liked her.
CHAPTER SIX
FRIDAY NIGHT, Jimena and Serena strutted up to the line of kids waiting to go inside Planet Bang. Serena recognized some of the kids and waved. The fast rhythm of the music thumped through the walls and undulated around them, making them move their heads with the beat, but other things made Serena’s heart jitter. She looked around hoping to see Zahi. The new lashes made a strange shadow at the top of her vision.
“Scope it out.” Jimena nodded in the direction of the crowd. “You ever seen so many churrisimos vatos?” A sultry smile crossed her lips as she caught the sideways glances of the guys in line looking her over.
“I’m only looking for one.”
“You’re going to knock him out with those lashes.” Jimena was still scanning the guys. “They’re awesome and you know it.”
Serena let a sly smile cross her face. She knew she looked good. She never cared if a guy liked the way she dressed. She loved the lashes and the glitter waves she’d painted on her bare legs. She’d spent the afternoon in Freddie’s having extensions added to her hair. Now her black roots with the red tips had gorgeous tight curls that reached to her shoulders.
“Do you see him?”
Jimena shook her head. “You’ve got it bad.”
“I can’t believe I’m so nervous.” Serena took a deep breath.
“Hormones.” Jimena laughed. “It’s not nerves. It’s anticipation. You’re dying to get your lips on his.” The stenciled silver lightning bolts shimmered in her hair when she moved.
They both wore wide cuffs of sequins.
Jimena wore silver and Serena wore gold, to match their outfits.
“Maybe he’s inside already.” Serena stepped forward.
“Calm down,” Jimena soothed.
At the door they opened their purses for security. A security guard with a gold tooth smiled and waved them inside to the cashier.
They paid and walked into the large interior that had once been a ballroom. The pulse of the music made the floor vibrate as machines on either side of the stage released mist into the room. The vapors caught the light show. Blue and red lasers pierced the air in time to the punk-rock beat.
They walked around the crowded dance floor. Guys turned and stared.
“I don’t know why you’re so nervous about Zahi, anyway,” Jimena commented. “You could have your pick of the guys.”
“Maybe,” Serena answered with a big smile. “But Zahi’s not just a guy. He is total perfection.”
Jimena laughed.
The music stopped and the deejay hopped back and forth on the stage.
“Come on, raise the roof!” he shouted into
a microphone. “Throw your hands up. Come on, raise the roof!”
Kids stopped dancing and lifted their hands to the ceiling in time to his cadence. He built the energy high and then let industrial music pump against the wall. The music took over and everyone started dancing. Jimena and Serena stood on the edge of the dance floor. The music beat through them and they started to move.
“I don’t see him.” Serena could feel her heart beating rapidly with anticipation as she scanned the dark corners and the dance floor.
“He’ll be here!” Jimena rolled her eyes. “Let’s stand in the light. I want to see what people think of my outfit.”
They moved over to the canteen where a big guy with a buzz cut sold soft drinks and pretzels.
“Okay, ready? Get anything?” Jimena posed and put a dollar down for a Pepsi.
Serena concentrated. “Most of the guys are thinking you’re hot, but they don’t want to ditch the girls they came in with.”
Jimena was wearing a shimmery silver skirt and a halter top. “All right, I’m going to go bikini now.” She tugged, then pulled the skirt below her belly. Her tattoos looked good and the hoop in her belly button sparkled as she aligned the hip-hugging skirt with her hipbones.
“You got their attention now.” Serena laughed. “Do you ever.”
“Okay, dig deeper.” Jimena smiled big. “Are any of them wondering what I like to read?” She moved one hand sensually down her hip and rested it lightly on her thigh.
“Ah . . . no.” Then Serena stopped. She was picking up something. Impossible. It sounded like Collin. Jimena looks really good tonight.
She shook her head. Collin was surfing or at home, no doubt, but still she found herself involuntarily scanning the kids in the club, looking for him.
“What?” Jimena watched her closely. “Did you find him?”
“Sorry, you didn’t find Mr. Perfect tonight,” she stated finally.
Jimena shrugged. “Maybe tomorrow.”
The deejay was going back and forth between sounds—top forty, house, disco, and techno—until he saw what the kids would dance to, then he’d stay with that. He started another song and the strobe light flashed, making the room jump with the strange flicker of old film footage.
That’s when she saw him. Zahi was walking toward her. He wasn’t bagged out like the other guys. He wore a black T-shirt under a black leather jacket, and his hair was slicked back and parted in the middle, the sides starting to fall into his eyes.
She squeezed Jimena’s arm.
“You gotta chill,” Jimena said.
“I can’t.”
“Yeah, you can.” Jimena pulled her onto the dance floor. “You’re a goddess, remember? One thing you got is cool. Like an iceberg.” She put her hands on Serena’s hips and they started dancing, bodies flowing with the music, hips swaying.
“Make him want you,” Jimena whispered. “Let him spend long, tortured nights dreaming about you.”
“Look and suffer.” Serena let her hands reach for the heavens. The tips of Jimena’s fingers touched hers, and then she felt other hands on her waist. Her lungs took in a sharp breath. Her heart raced. She turned slowly. The hands held her waist more tightly. Zahi danced slow and sensual next to her. His jeans rubbed against her bare legs, and he pulled her closer and closer until their breath mingled. His eyes lingered, taking in every bit of her. Her heart throbbed until she couldn’t draw a breath.
Jimena giggled behind her.
“See ya.” Jimena waved and then there was only Zahi. Even the music seemed far away.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t come.” Zahi murmured the words against her ear like soft, lazy kisses.
Something stirred with delicious longing inside her.
“I had to wait until Jimena could get the car,” she explained, wondering if he could even hear her above the music.
“You look beautiful tonight,” he said. His finger stroked her bare back.
Adrenaline shot through her and her heart pumped crazily.
“I’m glad you’re here with me.” He nestled his lips against the curve of her neck. His soft breath tickled her bare skin.
She closed her eyes and let her arms slowly entwine his neck. She had never been this close to a guy before. She didn’t know it would feel this good. His lips moved up her neck to her cheek, searching for her lips.
Finally, she was going to have her first kiss.
She turned her face to him, her lips parting when someone tapped her shoulder.
Go away, Jimena, she thought.
The finger tapped again, hard and urgent.
She opened her eyes and angrily turned.
Collin stood behind her.
“Collin?” she said in shock. “What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing, you mean?”
“You always said Planet Bang was a place for wanna-bes and gremmies,” Serena reminded him.
“Obviously.” He was looking pointedly at Zahi.
Morgan ducked from behind Collin. “Hi, Serena.” Morgan smiled smugly. She looked incredible as always, in a slinky black camisole with shimmering white capris and sleek tiger-print sandals, hair glittered and curled.
She threaded her arm through Collin’s and held on possessively. “I was just telling Collin how you hexed me.”
“She didn’t hex you, Morgan,” Collin corrected.
Morgan shrugged.
“Hexed?” Zahi laughed and looked at Serena. “Is she calling you a witch?”
“I didn’t do anything.” Serena was feeling flustered with her lie.
Suddenly, Jimena was beside her. “Are you still playing that tune?” Then she glanced at Collin. “And what are you doing here?”
Before Collin could answer, Morgan spoke. “I know she did something to me when I was over at her house. I don’t get headaches.”
“You think Serena’s a bruja? A witch?” Jimena asked dangerously.
“Those things are possible,” Morgan replied. “Scientists have studied curses and they’re real. Right, Collin?”
Serena watched Collin closely.
He ignored Morgan and looked at Jimena. “So you know about witches and spells, Jimena? I bet you cast a lot of spells on guys.”
“Yeah, well, you’ll never know, will you?” Jimena snapped.
Collin smirked. “What makes you think I’d want to know?”
“That’s right.” Jimena nodded to Morgan. “You like girls all shiny and smiley.”
“What does that mean?” Morgan knew she had been insulted, but wasn’t sure how.
“If you have to have it explained to you, you’re more tonta than I thought.” Jimena crossed her arms in front of her chest.
The music changed to a sultry beat.
“This music is banging.” Jimena started to sway. “I’m going to dance.” She strutted out to the dance floor and two guys quickly walked up to her.
Collin took Morgan’s arm. “Let’s dance.”
“Aren’t you going to talk to your sister?” Morgan said.
Serena glanced at Collin expectantly.
“Come on.” Collin took Morgan out to the dance floor near Jimena. Morgan pouted and refused to dance until Collin coaxed her, running his hands up and down her arms. When they finally did dance, his eyes kept drifting back to Jimena.
Zahi curled his arms around Serena. “Why does she think you did something to her?”
Serena sighed. “It’s a long story,”
“Let’s forget about Morgan, then.” He gently pulled Serena out to the dance floor.
Zahi drew her to him, his touch frighteningly tender, the heat from his body warming hers. Her skin suddenly became feverish and supersensitive. The caress of his hands on her bare back was making her dizzy. They danced to the luxurious feel of the song, their faces close as if they were sharing secrets.
A couple jostled into them and she fell hard against his body. His arms tightened and kept her there.
The music became more fren
zied. Kids around them danced wild with the beat, but they stood motionless, holding each other.
He bent his head. He was going to kiss her now. She closed her eyes.
The music stopped. The sudden silence felt cruel, and then the houselights came on. She opened her eyes. Her lips, parted expectantly, were inches from Zahi’s mouth. He didn’t let her go.
The deejay introduced Michael’s new band. The drummer started marking the beat, then the rhythm guitar and lead guitar began to play. The singer grabbed the microphone and the band went full tilt into smooth, feel-good music. Kids crowded the stage.
Jimena came running back to Serena and Zahi. “Where’s Vanessa? I thought she wanted to dance when Michael played.”
“I don’t know!” Serena shouted above the music.
Michael played bass guitar and sang a song he had written for Vanessa. When he finished the crowd went wild. Most of the kids started dancing again, unable to resist the beat of the music.
Vanessa and Catty ran up to them. Like Serena and Jimena, they wore hip-hugging skirts, halter tops, and thick cuffs.
“Let’s show them our moves,” Vanessa said excitedly. She had been waiting to impress Michael with how well she had learned to dance.
Serena looked at Zahi questioningly.
“Please, I want to see you dance also.”
“Wait for the next song.” Jimena motioned to the band. “We need a different beat.”
Then the music changed and the lead singer’s voice belted a song with hungry desire. They were ready. They looked at each other, smiled, and melted together in a slow-moving swing that made everyone turn and stare, even Morgan.
Serena watched Zahi watching her; his eyes lingered, taking his time. She slid her body next to Jimena’s, never taking her eyes off him. Then she bent lower, the long muscles of her thighs pulling tight. Rolling her hips with the beat, she placed her hands on Vanessa’s shoulders.
Zahi smiled, his eyes half closed, and a jolt of pleasure shivered through her. She turned her head from side to side, moving as one with Jimena, Catty, and Vanessa. They slithered together. She turned back. Zahi had taken a step closer as if he needed to wrap his arms around her and hold her tight.
The music ended too soon. The lights came up and everyone applauded wildly. Girls bumped around Serena, crowding toward the stage to get autographs from the band members.