6

Kerissa grinned at her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing a pair of tight pants and the cute straw sandals with a pale rose halter-top that fit her like a second skin. She outlined her eyes with dark liner and mascara, brushed her lids with dark blue shadow, and applied lip-gloss.

Marissa stepped from the bathroom, wearing a skirt so short that Kerissa wondered how she would move, for fear of showing off her underwear.

"Have you seen my knee-highs?" Marissa questioned peevishly.

Kerissa shook her head. "No. Want to borrow my silver strappy sandals?"

Marissa lost a little of her glower. "Really? Thanks!"

Twenty minutes later, the Oldsmobile pulled into the lot in front of Planet Bang.

"Everybody out!" Catty yelled, "It's time to par-tay!"

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "Only you, Catty."

"Only me," Catty answered smugly.

Everybody busted up laughing.

Kerissa's mind was not on the joke, it was on… you guessed it: Alex. It was a quarter to eight and she couldn't wait.

"Kerissa… KERISSA!"

"Wh-what?" Kerissa jerked from her fantasy world, to find Serena staring at her and the remainder of the group already heading towards the entrance of Planet Bang.

"Are you okay?" Serena asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Eager to meet someone?" It was Stanton.

Kerissa glared at him, and tossed her head. In the light of the full moon, her eyes flashed golden. Serena and Stanton stepped back involuntarily.

"What?" Kerissa asked, unnerved.

"Your… you… I can't believe it!"

"What? What's wrong, Serena?"

"I must be… seeing things…" Serena whispered, shakily. "We'd better go inside. The others will be waiting for us."

She turned. Stanton held back. "So… who are you meeting?" He asked.

"None of your business," Kerissa responded snappily.

"Oh, so there is someone… who is he? Come on Kerissa, you can tell me…" His voice was so coaxing and sincere that she relented.

"His name is Alex. You'll see him tonight."

Stanton nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face. "We'd better go inside."

Kerissa allowed herself to be steered towards the door.

Eight o'clock came and went. As the hand of the clock reached 8:15, Kerissa began to grow depressed. What a looser she was.

The band began a slow song.

Suddenly, a warm hand slipped around her waist, drawing her backwards, into a hard, warm body. Alex.

"You came," she whispered, turning so she faced him.

He smiled his slow, secretive, seductive smile. "I came. How could I not?"

He drew her near him, so that their bodies were scant inches apart. Her hands encircled his neck, as his drifted down to her waist. The song ended much too soon.

Serena and Stanton drifted over. Serena still looked shocked, but Stanton had once again adopted a mask of indifference.

"We're going for a walk," Serena announced, slightly shakily.

"There's going to be a stretch without music, while Vanessa's band prepares. Most people go out and smoke in the parking lots, get some water, or make out in the back." Stanton explained.

"So we were wondering if you wanted to go for a walk in the park," Serena finished.

Kerissa glanced at Alex.

"Sure," Alex supplied. His eyes were glued to Stanton. Kerissa frowned. Odd.

The two couples exited the building. The night air was refreshingly cool after the warmth of Planet Bang. They settled onto park benches. Serena and Stanton on one, and Kerissa and Alex on the opposite one.

"This is a warning," Stanton said, leaning forward slightly. Part of his face melded into the shadow and seemed to disappear. "We are going to be interrogating you."

Alex cocked an eyebrow, apparently not impressed. His "whatever" attitude might have worked, except that Kerissa was sitting right next to him, and could therefore see the way his hands were gripping the park bench until the knuckles turned white.

"May I ask why?" Alex asked, his voice betraying nothing.

Stanton leaned back. His face caught the moonlight and his eyes flashed yellow. "Oh, you could say that we want to know if you're good enough for our friend."

"Your friend." Alex repeated.

"Our friend." Stanton's eyes were fixed on Alex, and there could be no mistaking the subtle threat in their icy depths.

"Um…. Stanton?" Kerissa said, slightly disgruntled. "You do know that I'm not five, right?"

"Of course."

"Is this really necessary?"

"Of course." This time, it was Serena who answered.

Kerissa drifted in and out of the conversation, as Stanton began his interrogation.

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen." One year older than me, Kerissa thought.

"How long have you lived here?"

"Well, it seems like forever." Odd way to put it, Kerissa mused.

Kerissa lost track of the time, as the questions went from basic to:

"Why are you showing any interest in Kerissa?"

At this, she jumped up. "Well, Stanton, it's been an interesting conversation. But we really must be going…" She turned to Alex. "You don't need to answer that."

"Yes," Alex said, "I do."

Kerissa froze in the act of striding over to Serena.

"First of all, is there any reason why I shouldn't "show any interest" as you so charmingly put it, in Kerissa? She's gorgeous, she's fun, she's intelligent, and I felt a connection."

Stanton said nothing.

"What did you want me to say?" Alex asked, angrily. "That I take anyone who comes my way? That I just want to rape her and be done? Why are you so protective of her? She's your girlfriend," he said, pointing to Serena.

"I just want my friend to be with someone who cares for her." Stanton said, eying Alex flatly.

Kerissa frowned. Was it just her, or was there something more to this conversation than spoken words? Why was Alex regarding Stanton with the kind of fear and reference that you would give a god? And why was Stanton testing Alex so much. He'd certainly shown no interest in any of Marissa's guys in the month that they'd been in school.

She bit her lower lip. She had an idea. It wasn't a very good idea, but it just might work. She had never done this before, not on purpose, at least, but it was worth a shot. She remembered Stanton's silent conversation with her. If it hadn't been imaginary, that is. She remembered the feeling of reaching out and touching something.

Carefully, she reached out with her mind. She didn't go anywhere. She couldn't leave her own mind.

Suddenly, she had another idea. She carefully lowered the barriers that she had inadvertently put on her own mind, and reached out. Millions of voices clamored for her attention. She felt dizzy. Warily, she reached out directly towards Stanton's mind. After all, that was the only one she was familiar with.

She lightly touched it, to find that it wasn't there. She followed the thread of his mind, to a joining of three.

Why are you here? Stanton's voice asked. For a moment, she thought that she'd been caught. Then Alex's voice answered.

Do I need a reason?

Yes, you do, if you want to escape here alive, Serena's voice added. The voices were slightly fuzzy. Kerissa moved closer.

Fine-

Wait, Stanton's voice ordered, we have company.

Kerissa felt something tap her mind, and she threw up temporary barriers.

Someone's listening in, Serena said.

This conversation isn't over, Stanton said, as he withdrew, back into his own mind.

Frantically, Kerissa retreated back to her own mind. She felt dizzy and doubled over.

"What's wrong?" Alex and Serena asked in unison.

"I'm… I'm fine." Kerissa picked up her head, and gave everyone a defiant glare. Remember, her inner voice said, you are indignant about Alex being interrogated.

"Can we leave now?" Kerissa asked again, repeating her defiant glare. She tossed her hair over her shoulder, and her eyes glinted gold in the moonlight again.

Stanton and Serena shifted back again. "Yeah," Serena said, "let's go."

"Do you think she's a Follower?" Serena asked Stanton, late that night. They were back at her house, snacking on her specialty: chocolate chip cookies. Wally the raccoon sat at the foot of her bed, munching on a grape. Wally loved grapes.

Stanton thought a moment. "It's hard to be sure," he said, "The golden glint of her eyes would be a dead giveaway, except…" he trailed off.

"What?"

"I can perform soul-searches, remember?" Stanton said.

"Soul-searches? Oh, yeah."

"A soul-search allows me to see the good and the evil in a person. This way, I can choose the best to become sacrifices for the Atrox."

Serena nodded.

"Well, out of curiosity, I did one on her's, and her sister's."

"And?"

"Well, her sister's was the same as most Daughters—white, edged with gray and black."

"Wait, what do Follower's souls look like?"

"Pure black."

"And Kerissa's?"

"It's hard to tell. Something is wrong. I can't perform the spell properly. One second her soul is pure white—without even the tiniest bit of gray. The next second, it's pure black—like a Follower's."

"So, she could be a Follower." Serena stated, flatly.

"Technically, yes."

"But why would it appear white?"

Stanton shook his head. "I don't know. Not even the Atrox can explain it. It's never happened before."

"So we can't really be sure whether or not we can trust her."

"Exactly."

"And her sister, Marissa, is probably a Daughter?"

"I said she had the soul of a Daughter, I don't know if she is one."

"Does she have a power?"

"I don't know, I haven't paid much attention to her."

"So what do we do?" Serena asked, leaning against the solid warmth of Stanton's chest.

"I suggest you take her to Tianna. She'll know what to do."

Serena nodded. After Tianna had given herself to stop the Atrox from regaining human form Selene had granted her the powers and the body to become the advisor to the Daughters. And just in time, as they still didn't know the full details concerning Maggie's disappearance.

Then, Stanton's lips covered her's and she lost herself in his kiss.

Marissa glanced at her sleeping twin. Kerissa was sound asleep, but would she remain that way for very long? Kerissa had the sometimes annoying ability to know when Marissa was trying to sneak out.

But the moon was full, something that always gave Marissa courage. She squared her shoulders. She had to go, this was important.

Silently, she opened their bedroom window. Kerissa stirred, and murmured, "No!" in her sleep. Marissa froze, but Kerissa didn't move again.

Marissa slipped outside of the window, and onto the huge tree that grew next to it. She slid the window closed and lowered herself so that she was sitting on the tree branch.

The tree swayed, and bent over so that her branch was a foot from the ground. Marissa jumped off, patted the branch fondly, and disappeared from the night.

The full moon shone above her in the night sky, as she ran down the block. Black shadows swirled in the air, unable to land on the bright sidewalks. Marissa paid no attention to them. She slipped through an alleyway and was lost from sight.

In her bedroom window, a dark shape stood, watching her. Its dark form glanced at the sleeping Kerissa, knowing that she was still in the deep trance of nightmares that it had set upon her, knowing that she would not wake until the sun's rays hit her.

The dark shape retreated into the shadows, dissolved, and flew off into the night sky.