Vanessa Cleveland Quotes

“She held a scarlet sequin dress to her chest and posed in front of a mirror. Too hot. She put it back and took a black mini. Too dreary. Then a blue as pale as a whisper caught her eye. She took the dress. The material was silky and clinging. Perfect for a goddess. On the floor below the dress sat scrappy wraparound high-heeled sandals that matched the blue.
She didn't understand why she needed to dress up to meet Stanton but the impulse to steal into the storage room had been rising in her since the sun set.
She took the dress and sandals back to her room, then sat on the floor and painted her toenails and fingernails pale blue. She drew waves of eternal flames and spiral hearts in silver and blue around her ankles and up her legs with body paints.
When she was done, she pressed a Q-tip into glitter eye shadow and spread sparkles on her lid and below her eye. With a sudden impulse she swirled the lines over her temple and into her hairline. She liked the look.
She rolled blue mascara on her lashes, then brushed her hair and snapped crystals in the long blond strands. She squeezed glitter lotion into her palms and rubbed it on her shoulders and arms. Last she took the dress and stepped into it. She turned to the mirror on the closet door.
A thrill ran through her. Her reflection astonished her. She looked otherworldly, a mystical creature... eyes large, skin glowing, eyelashes longer, thicker. Everything about her was more powerful and sleek and fairy tale. Surely this wasn't really happening. Maybe she would wake up and run to school and tell Catty about her crazy dreams. But another part of her knew this was real.
She leaned to one side. The dress exposed too much thigh.
"Good." Her audacity surprised her. Another time she would have changed her dress. But why should she?”
― Lynne Ewing, Goddess of the Night

“She loved her room. She had window seats and shutters, flowered wallpaper, and a bed with too many pillows. Her mother called the decor "romance and drama," and said the room looked like it belonged to a fairy princess.”
― Lynne Ewing, Goddess of the Night

“She looked down at the amulet that hung around her neck. She seldom took it off, but she unclasped it now and studied the face of the moon etched in the metal. Sparkling in the sunlight, it wasn't pure silver but reflected pinks and blues and greens. Maybe who she was had something to do with this moon charm that was given to her at birth.”
― Lynne Ewing, Goddess of the Night

“Her mother looked at the window over the sink. The moon shone huge and ivory yellow through the kitchen window. "You've always loved the moonlight. It seems to relax you."
Vanessa looked outside at the moon. "Do you think there is a goddess of the moon?"
"Oh, several," her mother answered.
"No, I mean for real."
"I was answering for real." Her mother pushed back her chair, then walked over to the sliding glass door, opened it, and stepped out on the patio. The night jasmine filled the cool air with its sweet fragrance. "God must have many spirits to help. We call them angels because that's what we learned to call them when we were little. But there must be many divine beings who act as God's messengers. I think there's room for a goddess or more. When you look at the beauty of the moon it's easy to believe.”
― Lynne Ewing, Goddess of the Night

“She dressed quickly in yellow drawstring pants and a lacy camisole over her bra, then pulled on a sheer blouse with dragons crawling down the shoulders. She slipped into sandals with butterflies, grabbed her messenger bag, and hurried downstairs.”
― Lynne Ewing, Goddess of the Night

“She could stay invisible forever. She didn't completely understand her power, but she was beginning to understand who she was. Goddess, she thought, and her molecules formed a smile before she rode the breeze with arc-shaped leaps, like a dolphin, up and down toward home.”
― Lynne Ewing, Goddess of the Night

“Serena looked through the violently rotating flames and saw Vanessa, Jimena, and Catty running toward her. They looked like goddesses; Vanessa dressed in shimmering blue, Jimena in lightning-strike silver, and Catty in wild strawberry pink, their hair bouncing in silky soft swirls with each step.”
― Lynne Ewing, Into the Cold Fire

“That's when she noticed that Serena, Jimena, and Vanessa each wore matching silver charms.
Corrine caught what she was staring at.
"They never take them off," she whispered. "Not in P.E., not for dances. Never. They had another friend, Catty, who wore the same amulet, but she's gone now. Someday when we're alone, I'll tell you what happened to her."
Tianna looked at the face of the moon etched in the metal on the charms. Sparkling in the morning light, the charms didn't seem silver but more like a strange stone that reflected a rainbow of colors.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Lost One

“When she fell asleep, she dreamed of a woman riding the moon across the sky. Her pale hair caught the light of the sun, and the long curls became iridescent rainbows that wrapped the world with love and peace.
"There's someone you have to meet," the woman in the dream said. "Hurry.”
― Lynne Ewing, Goddess of the Night

“She told Catty about Serena's late-night visit while they made breakfast burritos with red and green chili peppers, eggs, and cheese, and drank champurrados, a frothy mixture of water, cornmeal, chocolate, and cinnamon.”
― Lynne Ewing, Goddess of the Night

“Her breath caught. With his face silhouetted against the dark, she knew why he was so curiously familiar.
"You?" she said as a cold knot of fear tightened in her stomach. "You followed me that night when I walked home from Planet Bang."
He smiled, his eyes fervent. "Yes," he stated simply. "I've always been in the dark with you."
He pulled her closer to him. His head leaned down and he spoke against her cheek. Soft lips grazed her skin. "I can feel your heart racing. You shouldn't be afraid of me." His breath caressed her.”
― Lynne Ewing, Goddess of the Night

“He opened the car door. She followed him and started to climb into the car but stopped. She saw her image in the car window. A goddess. Her breath caught, heartbeat quickened. She couldn't pull away from her reflection. It was as if the warrior goddess had emerged, and she looked less human, more dangerously beautiful. Stanton seemed to know what had stopped her.
"That's how I've always seen you," he said. "Since the first night."
Her head jerked around and she caught something in his eyes before they turned hard again. It wasn't her imagination this time. She definitely saw something gentle and caring.”
― Lynne Ewing, Goddess of the Night

“Stanton parked the car. He got out, walked around the car, and opened her door. He put his hands around her waist and lifted her out. Only then did she realize how incredibly strong he was.
He kissed her then, a surprise, but so gentle and sweet, she let him. She wondered if Persephone had fallen in love with Hades when he abducted her and took her to live in the underworld.”
― Lynne Ewing, Goddess of the Night

“Each of you has a special power to fight the Atrox. Jimena's premonitions will tell us when someone needs our help. Serena with her mind-reading will know when someone is being tempted by the Atrox. Vanessa's invisibility will enable her to go among the Followers unseen and tell us what they are planning. And Catty can travel into the past or future to confirm our suspicions so that the Followers cannot deceive us. Together you are an unstoppable force.”
― Lynne Ewing, Goddess of the Night

“Catty and Vanessa were vamping it up on the corner of Fairfax and Beverly, in bell-bottoms with exaggerated lacy bells that they must have pulled from Catty's mother's closet.
Vanessa gave them the peace sign. "Feeling' groovy." She winked. She had gorgeous skin, movie-star blue eyes, and flawless blond hair. She was wearing a headband and blue-tinted glasses. Catty was forever getting Vanessa into trouble, but they remained best friends.
"Love and peace," Catty greeted them. Catty was stylish in an artsy sort of way. Right now, she wore a hand-knit cap with pom-pom ties that hung down to her waist, and her puddle-jumping Doc Martens were so wrong with the bell-bottoms that they looked totally right. Her curly brown hair poked from beneath the fuchsia cap and her brown eyes were framed by granny glasses, probably another steal from her mother.
"You like our retro look?" Vanessa giggled at all the cars honking at them.”
― Lynne Ewing, Into the Cold Fire

“Vanessa's mother worked as a costume designer for the movies. She wore clothes before anyone even knew they were in style. That was her job. She had to be a year or two ahead of everyone else. Sometimes it embarrassed Vanessa to have a mother so overly trendy. But Catty loved to go over to their house and try on her mother's designs.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Secret Scroll

“In the middle of the bobbing bodies, Vanessa moved sinuously against Toby. She wore a black leather skirt with a long slit up the side and a cropped leather jacket. Her midriff was bare and looked incredibly good with the gold chains that hung around her waist.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Secret Scroll

“When they finished dressing, Jimena wore racy red hot pants, a silky blouse with a star-burst pattern, and crazy ankle boots with thin chains draped around her ankles.
"Too cool." Serena admired Jimena's outfit, then she twirled to show off her own shoulder-baring top that exposed her midriff. She had pasted a crystal in her belly button. Kendra's bell-bottoms had been too long, but when she stepped into a pair of gold 70's platform shoes the length became just right.
Catty wore a backless halter top and a pair of lacy bell-bottoms. She held up some stencils. "Kendra is going to start selling these at the shop. Anyone want to try one?" She had two dragons in one hand and a lacy snowflake pattern in the other.
Jimena and Serena started to examine them, when Vanessa walked into the room. She was wearing a pinstripe shirt unbuttoned over a black leather bra top. Kendra's mini-skirt was too big and the waist fell around Vanessa's hips. Her skin looked golden bronze and she had applied one of the snowflake stencils on her stomach.
"Wow," Serena said.
"Talk about going for the jugular," Jimena teased.
"You like it?" she asked and took off the shirt. "It's too hot to wear.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Secret Scroll

“Vanessa stood on the stage now giving out CDs and T-shirts to outstretched hands. She was dressed as a devil, in a slinky red dress. Glitter made her perfect tanned skin shine. Her blond hair was held back by devil horns and a long sinuous tail twitched behind her. She had lined her large blue eyes with tiny silver gems for this night.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Sacrifice

“What do you need to say to her?" Vanessa asked, her face worried. She dropped the marigold petals she had been holding in her hand to make a path for the dead. Specks of orange swirled around his legs and blew away.
"I have to warn her." Stanton frowned. He hadn't thought it would be this difficult to speak to Serena.
"If it's a warning, then it involves us all." Vanessa had dangerous eyes. He could see why Michael Saratoga had fallen for her.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Sacrifice

“Who's Vanessa?"
"I don't believe you. She's only the most popular girl in the whole school." She pointed a finger at the girl in the middle of the three who were still watching Tianna closely. "Everyone knows Vanessa."
Vanessa had perfect skin, large blue eyes, and luxurious blond hair that curled over her shoulders.
"Are those extensions?" Tianna asked.
"All hers." Corrine sighed.
Vanessa was dressed in a funky white coat of fake fur that went down to her brown suede boots; underneath was a low-hanging party-girl skirt with two gold belts draped around her tan waist.
"Where'd she get the clothes? They're so cool." Tianna glanced self-consciously at her own jeans. The knees were soiled, and there was a long black mark on the side, as if she had skidded in dirt or oil.
"Her mom's a costume designer for the movies," Corrine confided.
Tianna felt a pang of jealousy- not for the clothes, but from the mention of Vanessa's mother. She wondered where hers was. Why hadn't she been with her this morning?”
― Lynne Ewing, The Lost One

“You and Derek are good together," Vanessa added. She looked so sincere.
Tianna wished she'd smirk or give her the slightest reason to hate her. She wanted to, but she couldn't. Vanessa was too genuine and good for anyone to dislike.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Lost One

“She relaxed her mind and let her body dissolve. Bone and tendon quivered until her arms, hands, and fingers looked like black specks waving in the dark. Soon she was free from gravity and drifting up the stairs.
But as she twisted through the gloom, something foreign tangled with her invisible body. It wove through her with a furry tickle, leaving a pungent scent of decay. It didn't have the sensation of steam, dust, or smog. She curled back, trying to escape the sickening smell, but whatever it was moved with her, sinuous like a snake, coiling around her. She twirled, then sprang forward, but it held her. The air became thick and gluey, her cells no longer able to pull in oxygen through osmosis.”
― Lynne Ewing, Moon Demon