The Prophecy Read online

  Security guards wandered back and forth far below them, their footsteps resonating through the space.

  "Ready?" Vanessa whispered, her voice no more than a sigh of wind.

  Their speed increased, the buildings whizzing by as they jetted down, risking their lives if Vanessa didn't stop in time. In seconds, they were only inches from the concrete. Sudden dizziness overcame Catty. She screamed, but her shriek came out a wheeze.

  Abruptly, Vanessa turned. They passed under a crack beneath the doors and skidded along the floor, their molecules mixing with dust.

  Vanessa swirled up in a lazy spiral and released them. They floated down, landing feet first on the floor, their bodies translucent and shimmering.

  Immediately Catty felt the presence of the Scroll. It's force settled over her, making her molecules collide. She grimaced, then took a deep breath, trying to calm her hammering heart.

  Vanessa became solid, an odd look on her face.

  Hurrying footsteps sounded, coming closer, as Serena and Tianna became solid again.

  A burly guard rounded the corner, his eyes alert.

  "Hey," he shouted, alarm crossing his face. "How did you girls get in here?"

  Serena quickly used her mind control to stop the guard. A dreamy smile crossed his jowly face, and he appeared to fall asleep standing up.

  "What did you do?" Catty asked.

  "I pulled sleep forward with a good dream," Serena explained. "He'll stay that way for a few minutes at least."

  "I'll break the glass," Tianna said, her pupils dilating with energy.

  "Wait." Catty touched her. "It'll make too much noise. Let Vanessa go inside and bring the Scroll back out!"

  "It's probably airtight," Tianna argued, anxious to use her power.

  "I'll try!' Vanessa elongated her body, becoming a series of thin threads stretching high into the air and then vanishing.

  A hissing sound followed, and the Scroll flapped as if something had disturbed it.

  "Vanessa's in the display case," Catty whispered, and she looked around, fearing the approach of another guard but more afraid of what the Scroll's curse might do to Vanessa.

  Without warning, an ear-piercing scream shattered the silence, and Vanessa smashed back together, becoming visible inside the display case, her legs and arms at odd angles, a startled look on her face.

  An alarm went off, and footsteps echoed throughout the building.

  "What happened?" Catty pressed her hands against the glass, feeling an odd vibration emanating from the Scroll.

  "It sucked my energy away." Vanessa gasped. She seemed to be having a difficult time breathing.

  "Make yourself invisible," Catty urged. "The guards are coming."

  "I can't! " Vanessa yelled. "I'm trapped."

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CA T T Y S T O O D W I T H her hands pressed on the glass, staring at Vanessa imprisoned in the display case. Already her appearance had changed. Her skin looked pallid and coarse, deep bluish circles had developed around her eyes, and labored breaths rasped from her lungs.

  "Hurry," Catty said, glancing back at Tianna.

  "I'm trying." Tianna strained, her hands clenched and trembling.

  A nearby bench rocked back and forth, then streaked across the floor, speeding past them before it crashed into the wall with a thundering boom. Plaster and dust sprayed out from the impact.

  "I'm still messed up!" Tianna exclaimed. An odd glow whirled around her as her energy field continued to build without direction.

  "Duck!" Serena screamed.

  An air-conditioning grille tore from the ceiling and catapulted toward Catty. She dodged, and it whizzed by, grazing her cheek, before hitting the floor and clattering noisily to a stop.

  "Sorry." A sheepish grin crossed Tianna's face.

  "Try again," Catty cried as she ran to Tianna, hoping to fortify her friend's strength with her own. Their hands locked, and immediately Carry's power began draining into Tianna.

  "We've got company!" Serena shouted.

  A huge guard rounded the corner and stopped, a whistle escaping his mouth. "What are you girls—" Then his eyes shifted from Vanessa to the bench impaled in the wall and back to the first guard Serena had entranced with slumber.

  Vanessa clawed at the glass, her hands going in and out of focus, stark terror in her eyes. "Catty!"

  A female guard collided with the watchman, then peered past his huge stomach and looked into the room, her eyes widening as she stared dumbfounded at Vanessa. She crept forward, awestruck. "What in the world?"

  "The curse," the watchman whispered behind her, his voice haunted. "Must be the curse." He pulled out his gun and stepped forward, his hands shaking, the barrel pointed at Vanessa.

  Catty's heartbeat quickened. "Do something, Serena.''

  "I'm trying." Serena's tongue ring clicked nervously against her teeth; her pupils grew large.

  Suddenly the two guards became still, chins falling, heads nodding, as slumber claimed them. The watchman's gun fell to the floor with a loud thump.

  Relief flooded through Catty.

  "Hurry," Serena warned. I can't control all three of them for long."

  Tianna squinted in concentration. When her eyes opened, a fiery light crackled across the room and hit the display case. The glass exploded with a loud blast, and shards came flying out.

  Vanessa tumbled to the ground with a startled cry, clutching the Scroll.

  Catty rushed to her, her soles crunching over shattered glass, and helped her to stand.

  Without warning, all three guards awakened from their trance.

  "I lost them!" Serena shouted. "The noise startled me."

  "What now?" Tianna stepped backward.

  "I erased their memories of seeing Vanessa in the display case," Serena continued in a panicked voice. "But now, they think we're thieves who have broken into the museum to steal the Scroll."

  Simultaneously, the heavy guard lifted his hand and yelled, "Freeze!"

  An odd look crossed his face. His pudgy hand was empty, the gun no longer clutched in his palm. He looked around till he saw it, then gingerly grabbed it from the floor and held it at point-blank range, and aimed at them.

  "Somebody do something," Tianna said. A shard of glass trembled beneath her feet. "My power's too wacko to even try."

  "Don't look at me." Vanessa rasped. "I can barely stand."

  Serena glanced at the Scroll in Vanessa's hands. "Maybe the curse is doing something."

  "It's draining us," Vanessa agreed. "Open the tunnel, Catty."

  "So that's how you got in here," the guard said. "Where's the tunnel?"

  "Let me see what I can do," Catty said.

  "Don't try anything," the female guard warned, approaching with handcuffs. She reached for Catty's hand, but when their fingers touched, the guard jerked back as if she had been shocked.

  A tremendous torrent of energy surged inside Catty, making the fine hairs on the back of her neck rise.

  The woman looked up, startled, feeling the change in the air. The man holding the gun stepped closer.

  "He won't shoot," Serena whispered. "I caught his thoughts."

  A black opening appeared in the air, hovering behind Catty.

  "What is it?" the woman gasped and stepped back, the handcuffs clattering to the ground.

  "Bye-bye." Catty smirked and grabbed Vanessa's hand.

  Serena whooped and Tianna laughed as they lunged forward and grabbed on to Catty.

  An unnaturally bright light flooded the room, and the guards lifted their arms to shield their eyes from the glare.

  But as Catty was sucked into the widening black hole, the woman guard sprinted forward and caught her leg.

  Catty shrieked, tumbling to the ground, and Vanessa, Serena, and Tianna fell after her. The tunnel closed with a tremendous roar, whipping up the air around them and leaving them trapped in the present.

  Catty scrambled to her feet.

  "What are we going to do now?" Vaness
a asked.

  "Our number one backup plan," Catty yelled. "Run!" She grabbed Vanessa's hand and darted away, pulling her along.

  Serena and Tianna sprinted after them.

  The piercing sound of alarms grew louder as they approached the stairwell.

  They started down the steps, stumbling in the dim light. The Scroll fell from Vanessa's hand. She turned and started back after it, but the guards were already at the top of the stairs.

  "Leave it!" Catty ran up to Vanessa, yanked her wrist and pulled her away.

  On the lower level, they slipped into a special art exhibition of mummy cases and slid behind a row of dried-out bodies exposed beneath layers of bandages and resin.

  "Couldn't you have chosen a better place to hide?" Vanessa whispered, closing her eyes.

  A dry whistle escaped Serena. Catty glanced up.

  The stout guard entered the room, his flashlight beam sweeping over a sarcophagus.

  "I know you can make us invisible," Catty said, encouraging Vanessa. "Just follow your own advice. No negative thoughts. Picture where you want to go."

  Vanessa closed her eyes, and a gentle radiance spilled from her, circling Catty, its tendrils spreading out and curling around Serena and Tianna.

  "Hey," the guard shouted. "I found them."

  Vanessa's face remained placid, and her power continued flowing. Catty's hands blurred, then stretched, fluttering into a mist as she evaporated.

  The guard staggered backward. His flash light hit the doorjamb with a loud thwack.

  Catty disappeared and floated over him, as Vanessa guided her, Serena, and Tianna. They swirled into the central courtyard, then rose to the first floor.

  When they approached the entrance, Catty felt Vanessa's struggle to keep them invisible. What would happen if they materialized and became wedged under the door? Catty tried to push the thought away.

  Vanessa dived, pulling them into a thin thread, then whipped through a crack between the doors and whirled up into the night, spiraling over the Anderson Building, the full moon's radiance gleaming through them, with silver kisses.

  When they neared Wilshire Boulevard, a black cloud rushed over the face of the moon, and they plunged to the ground, their molecules slamming together. Catty hit the sidewalk and skidded along the concrete, scraping her palms. She lay still, exhausted, trying to catch her breath.

  "We've got to get out of here," Catty said, her lips brushing against the grimy sidewalk, but she didn't move. Her arms and legs felt too shaky for her to stand.

  Catty had combined energies with Tianna before without losing her own strength, so why did she feel so weak this time? Her mind kept flashing back to Kyle. Had his kiss really stolen some of her power? Maybe she had just exhausted her strength. "How could everything go so terribly wrong?" she asked.

  Serena stood slowly, stretching out her back. Distant sirens filled the air, becoming louder than the alarms that still vibrated inside the museum.

  "We're never going to be able to explain what we were doing." Vanessa shuddered, her eyes brimming with tears.

  "They'll never catch us." Tianna brushed off her jumpsuit. "No one will believe the surveillance tapes are real."

  Vanessa looked up. "How did the helicopters get here so quickly?"

  The thumping vibration of rotating blades roared over them.

  "We'd better go."Catty pulled herself up and started limping across Wilshire Boulevard.

  "Look out!" Vanessa screamed behind her.

  Catty turned and froze. A car blasted toward her, headlights shining, horn blaring.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  TH E C A R S K I D D E D around Catty and jerked to a stop, its engine rumbling. Immediately, Catty recognized the '81 blue-and-white Oldsmobile.

  Jimena sat in the driver's seat, her eyes darting nervously back and forth, scanning the street. "Get in," Jimena shouted over the thundering music.

  Catty opened the door and jumped into the front. Vanessa, Tianna, and Serena tumbled into the back.

  Before they could even slam the doors, Jimena jammed her foot on the accelerator. The tires spun with a terrible squeal, filling the air with the acrid smell of burning rubber. At once the Olds screeched away, setting off anti-theft alarms in the cars parked along Wilshire Boulevard. "Why are you here?" Catty asked, snapping her seat belt into place. She glanced back at the others, their hair whipping wildly around their faces. They appeared as bewildered as she felt.

  "I knew I had to come save your butts. What have you been up to?" Jimena asked over the heavy beat of an old rap song.

  "But how did you know to come here?" Serena asked. "Were you just driving in the neighborhood?"

  Jimena's fingers curled tighter around the steering wheel, and she stared at Catty. "Intuition," she said, her tone daring Catty to contradict her.

  "The road!" Vanessa squealed from behind.

  Jimena and Catty turned back toward the windshield. A galaxy of red brake lights glared in front of them.

  Catty sucked in air, then swayed against her seat belt as the car dodged around the slowing traffic.

  Vanessa leaned forward. "Maybe we could slow down a bit, too."

  "Who's the one who's escaped cops before?" Jimena shot back. "You or me?"

  Vanessa settled into her seat. "Just don't ever comment on my driving again."

  Jimena laughed and pressed her hand hard on the horn. "We're going through."

  "The light's red," Catty warned.

  "You think I don't know that?" Jimena asked. The car blasted into the intersection, narrowly missing a Cadillac, then spun around a truck loaded with pipes. Horns blared. Cars swerved and braked.

  "We're going to crash!" Vanessa yelled.

  Jimena hunched over the steering wheel, eyes frozen in concentration, and zipped around a Jaguar.

  Catty felt a change in the air and turned to peek at the backseat. Serena put her arm around Vanessa and held her tightly, cautioning her .

  Vanessa's face was dissolving, and the Daughters couldn't let Jimena see that anymore.

  "What were you doing in the museum, anyway?" Jimena asked.

  "Nothing, really," Catty lied.

  "I went to jail twice for doing nothing." Jimena slammed on the brakes.

  Catty's head wrenched backward.

  The car spun around the next corner. Then Jimena switched off the headlights, pulled into a driveway, and killed the engine.

  "Heads down," she warned and ducked her head under the steering wheel.

  Catty rolled beneath the dashboard, her heart hammering. The car became eerily quiet except for Vanessa's rattling breaths.

  A beam of moonlight fell on Jimena's face.

  Catty saw her eyes glistening and had the oddest sensation that Jimena was about to cry.

  "What?" Catty whispered.

  "Nada." Jimena shook her head and caught the tears sliding down her cheeks with the side of her hand.

  The tears surprised Catty. Jimena had been in a gang, jacking cars and worse, before she discovered her true destiny. Nothing ever bothered her. Another thought came to Catty. When Jimena had her goddess powers she had always been forewarned when something bad was going to happen. Now Catty wondered if Jimena had seen something in the future—something worse than the trouble at the museum.

  “Are you okay?” Catty asked, as she rubbed Jimenas hand, surprised to find the skin cold and sticky.

  Jimena put a finger to her lips, silencing her.

  At the same moment, helicopter blades stirred the air, sweeping tree branches back and forth and spinning shadows inside the car.

  Silence followed, the seconds stretching into minutes.

  At last, Jimena sat up and turned the key in the ignition. The engine rumbled gently as she backed from the drive.

  Catty took her place, buckling herself in with a sharp click of metal.

  Serena rested her chin on the seat back between Catty and Jimena. "Now tell us how you knew we needed help."

  "I'm not sure.
" Jimena drove down a residential street toward Burton Way. "It started this afternoon at the hospital. The idea popped into my head and kept getting stronger. By the time I got home I was shaking. Mi abuelita told me to trust my intuition and gave me the keys to my brother's car." Jimena shrugged and glanced at Serena in the rearview mirror. "So, here I am. Now, you tell me. What were you doing?"

  "We were trying to get a look at the manuscript." Serena lied. "You know, the one everyone is talking about."

  "We peeked through the glass doors in the front."Vanessa added nervously. "How were we to know alarms would go off ?"

  "Is that right?" Jimena fixed her gaze on Catty. "How did you get past the locked gates?"

  "They weren't locked in back." Catty looked away, hating to lie to Jimena. They had been through too much together.

  Jimena jammed on the brakes.

  Anger flashed in Jimena's eyes. "I know you're lying to me."

  "We'd tell you the truth if we could." Serena sounded distressed. Of all the Daughters, she had been closest to Jimena.

  “Youd tell me if you were my friends,” Jimena said, her lips quivering. “Get out, all of you.

  Catty reluctantly climbed out into the street in front of the Beverly Center. Tianna, Vanessa, and Serena joined her on the sidewalk.

  Jimena eased back into traffic and drove away without waving good-bye.

  "She's really been weird lately," Serena said. "Maybe we should tell her the truth."

  Catty shook her head. "We can't. Didn't you go in her mind and check out her thoughts?"

  "I couldn't get inside," Serena admitted.

  "What do you mean?" Tianna brushed her hands through her hair, sending tiny pieces of glass to the sidewalk.

  "Her thoughts are protected," Serena explained. "By a really strong power."

  "You don't need to be a mind reader to know she's keeping something from us," Vanessa added with a heavy sigh.

  "But how does she have the power to keep her thoughts from Serena?" Catty asked.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CAT T Y A W A K E N E D W I T H a start, a blinding shaft of sunlight in her eyes. The pencils and paintbrushes on her desk clattered against each other, and she jerked up, thinking, Earthquake.