Catty Turner Quotes

“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

“I really like you." He spoke softly and the words floated around her in a dreamy way. "More than I've ever liked anyone and if you knew everything about me, you'd know that means a lot."
She started to ask him to explain, but before she could he bent down. She thought he was going to kiss her, but he let his lips tease, hovering inches from hers. Their breath mingled. When his lips finally touched hers, a pleasant shock went through her.
All the worries that had been building inside her seemed to vanish and there was only Chris and the sensations of her body. She had imagined so often what it must feel like to kiss a guy, but even in her wildest fantasies a kiss had never felt as good as the ones Chris gave her.
When he pulled back, she opened her eyes quickly and caught a look of intense longing in his eyes, and then it was gone. Was it only her imagination?
"Chris..." She started to ask him what was bothering him, but he closed her mouth with another kiss.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Secret Scroll

“Don't you ever want to be alone sometimes?"
"Sure." He stepped around the counter and stopped close to her. She glanced up and saw herself reflected in his pupils. His fingers played on her shoulders.
'I'd like to be alone with you," he whispered slowly. "We could stay here and watch videos." His hands smoothed down her arms and then he held both of her hands. He didn't seem to mind that they were dirty.
"That's not what I had in mind," she answered.
"But I don't want you to miss the party." His words rustled across her right ear. He took one more step and this time he was close enough to kiss her. His thigh rubbed against hers. She shivered with pleasure.
"Please come." The word fell on her ears like a caress and he looked at her in a dreamy sort of way that made her feel giddy. "Come to the party with me, Catty."
He leaned over and traced one finger gently over her chin and down her throat. She leaned back and let him kiss her.
"Come to the party," he said between his kisses.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Secret Scroll

“All these years I thought I had been protecting a space alien from the government." She laughed and it was dry and filled with sadness. "And now I find out that I've been protecting something evil."
Catty started shaking. "What did you read?"
Kendra looked down at the manuscript. Her finger ran across a line as she translated it. "The child of a fallen goddess and an evil spirit will take possession of the Secret Scroll without fear of its curse."
"You think that's me?" Catty asked nervously. Could she be the daughter of a fallen goddess and an evil spirit?”
― Lynne Ewing, The Secret Scroll

“In ancient times when Pandora's box was opened-"
"Pandora?" Kendra interrupted. "Are you talking about the myth?"
Catty nodded solemnly. "It isn't a myth," she stated firmly and continued, "The last thing to leave the box was hope. Only Selene, the goddess of the moon, saw the creature that had been sent by the Atrox to devour hope. Selene took pity on the people of earth and gave her Daughters, like guardian angels, to perpetuate hope. I'm one of those Daughters. A goddess.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Secret Scroll

“I feared that you were the destined heir to the Secret Scroll because of the prophecy."
"What prophecy?" Catty hated the tremor that had crept into her voice.
"Only the child of a fallen goddess and an evil spirit will inherit the Scroll, Zoe recited.
Catty's heart sunk. Her mother was a Follower, her father an evil member of the Inner Circle. She suddenly felt damned. How could she overcome such a birthright?
Zoe took Catty's hand. "You must never worry that you are evil because of your heritage. The manuscript can only be given to someone with a pure heart and the strength to fight the Atrox.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Secret Scroll

“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

“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

“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

“Catty had the freakiest power. She could actually go back and forth in time. She missed a lot of school because she was always twisting time. But her mother didn't care, because she knew that Catty was different. She wasn't Catty's biological mother. She'd found Catty walking along the side of the road in the Arizona desert when Catty was six years old. She was going to turn her over to the authorities in Yuma, but when she saw Catty make time change, she decided Catty was an extraterrestrial, and that it was her duty to protect her from government officials who would probably dissect her. She still didn't know that Catty was a goddess. Somehow it was easier for people to believe in space aliens than in goddesses.”
― Lynne Ewing, Into the Cold Fire

“I want you to tattoo me."
"Tattoo? I don't know how."
"You draw," Jimena explained. "That's all you need to know to do a jailhouse tattoo. I'll tell you the rest."
An hour later the tattoo of a crescent moon and star was bleeding on Jimena's arm.
"It looks good," Catty said with pride.
"Yeah." Jimena stood in front of the mirror and admired Catty's work. Excitement ran through her when she looked at herself. She glanced at Catty and knew she was feeling the same. They stared at each other's reflections.
"You look... like a goddess," Catty said, smiling.
Jimena remembered she no longer had her gift. Could she even call herself a goddess now? With rising self-assurance, she knew it was her rightful title. The power was inside her.”
― Lynne Ewing, Night Shade

“From the beginning, Kendra had assumed that Catty was from some distant planet and that her extraordinary power was actually a form of teleportation used by her people. She had cautioned Catty not to tell anyone about her unusual skill. And Catty hadn't until she met Vanessa. She had known immediately that Vanessa was different, too, when she saw the silver moon amulet hanging around her neck. It was identical to the one Catty wore. Catty looked down at her amulet now and studied the face of the moon etched in the metal. She had been wearing the charm when Kendra found her. Now, sparkling in the fluorescent lights, it didn't look silver, but opalescent. She never took it off.
Kendra turned and glanced at her, her eyes asking if she was okay. Catty tried to smile back, but her lips curled in a sad imitation of one.
She wished she could find the courage to tell Kendra the truth. She hated keeping any secret from her. But the words never came. It was probably easier to believe in people from outer space than to accept what Catty really was, anyway. She sometimes thought Kendra would feel disappointed if she learned the truth. Kendra was always on the Internet trying to find out more about UFO sightings, Area 51, and Roswell. She seemed to enjoy the research.
Catty studied Kendra now. Her cheeks had taken on an angry red blush and her fingers frantically worked at the beads hanging around her neck. Would Kendra even believe her if she did tell her the truth... that she was a goddess, a Daughter of the Moon, on Earth to protect people from the Followers of an ancient evil called the Atrox.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Secret Scroll

“You remember the day I picked you up at the side of the highway?" Kendra began and looked at Catty.
Catty nodded.
"You were such a precious little thing I couldn't imagine anyone abandoning you. I asked you your name, and you didn't seem to understand."
Catty recalled the moment. She had been unable to remember her name. Like everything that had occurred in her life before that day, she had no memory of it. She didn't even know if she had ever had one.
"When you didn't answer," Kendra continued, "I told you that you were as cute as a cat. That made you giggle, so I decided to call you Catty. You seemed to like the name."
Catty grinned. She did like the name.
Kendra smiled tenderly. "It was a good choice. It fits your personality.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Secret Scroll

“Who's your friend?" Zoe asked Stanton. She glanced at Catty's moon amulet and then her eyes bore into Catty's.
"Zoe," Stanton said. "I want you to meet your daughter."
Zoe glanced at Stanton in disbelief, then stared at Catty in openmouthed wonder. Her hand reached out and caressed Catty's cheek, touched her lips, and smoothed back her hair. "I see your father in your face," she uttered more to herself than to Catty. Then a slight smile crossed her lips. "I give you away and you return to me the same day. At least I know you do make it safely into the future." She started to embrace Catty.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Secret Scroll

“Why aren't you afraid of the curse?"
He smiled bitterly. "Because I am already cursed."
The words chilled her. She almost felt sorry for him.
"My offer stands," he whispered and then he dissolved into shadow.
She stood in the darkness and wondered why he so desperately wanted the manuscript if not to give it to the Atrox. Still he didn't seem as bad as she had once thought. She could almost understand why Serena liked him so much.”
― 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

“It's strange," she started.
"What?" Catty asked.
"Just that you've never followed the rules before," the woman explained. "And so now I'm wondering, why are you going to follow them when you are dealing with the most deceitful being in creation?"
Catty watched the woman leave. What she said was true. Catty hated rules.
A slow smile crept across her face.
"Thank you," Catty said. First she'd sleep, and then she'd act.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Secret Scroll

“She took down the framed manuscript from the kitchen wall. It was Kendra's prized possession, and part of her felt guilty for what she planned, but it had to be done. She carefully removed the parchment from its frame, then searched through the piles of translations and notes on the kitchen table. Finally she found the Secret Scroll on the chair where Kendra had been the night before. She carried both manuscripts upstairs and set them on her desk.
Next she gathered paints and brushes and sat down. She studied the artwork on the Secret Scroll, then slowly began copying its rich patterns of gold, red, and blue onto Kendra's old manuscript.
It was late afternoon when she finished. She studied her work. She had managed to copy the exotic birds and animals hidden in the foliage on the borders, and even the detailed picture of the goddess locking the jaws of hell. Her work was rough, but at a distance it would fool Toby or any of the Regulators, especially since they were afraid to touch it.
Satisfied, she went to her closet. She searched through her clothes until she found the strapless top with the slit in the front. She slipped it over her head, then grabbed a silky black skirt and stepped into it. She carried her stiletto boots to the bed and tugged them on.
At last she drew black liquid eyeliner over her top lid, added green glitter shadow, rolled thick mascara on her lashes, and brushed her hair. She added gloss to her lips and rubbed sparkle lotion over her arms and chest. Then she remembered the dragon stencils. Soon, she had a sinuous dragon adorning her thigh between the bottom of her skirt and the top of her boots. She liked the look. She turned in front of the full-length mirror behind the bathroom door.
"Dynamite," she whispered. Her reflection thrilled her. She looked vamped-out and mystical. At once, she sensed the fierce power of the dragon rising in her. She felt like an invincible goddess-warrior.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Secret Scroll

“Then he saw Catty. He hadn't recognized her at first. She had painted her face white for the day and drawn black caverns around her eyes. Squares over her lips made skeleton teeth.
Children circled her, watching her paint a little girl's face.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Sacrifice

“You'll look like a scary calavera now," Catty assured the young girl as she leaned back to admire the skeleton skull she had made on her face.
"Who's next?" Catty asked and pulled out another paintbrush.
Four hands shot up, but one little girl eased into the chair in front of Catty before she had a chance to choose. "My turn," she said.
Catty smiled and began smudging white over the girl's rosy cheeks.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Sacrifice

“The four Daughters stood together, their moon amulets glistening. Seen through a veil of fog, they appeared spectral.
"Goddesses," Lambert whispered, his eyes afire. "You look ravishing. I'm not sure which one of you I will destroy tonight."
"No chance," Catty answered with a wicked grin. Her eyes dilated as if energy were building inside her.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Sacrifice

“Jimena stopped in front of a locker near a floor-length mirror.
"This one was Catty's," she said softly.
A watercolor painting of the full moon rising over an ocean was taped to the front. A beautiful woman hovered behind the moon, her purple robe billowing into the starry sky behind her. The image was haunting.
"Did she do the painting?" Tianna asked. "It's really pretty."
Jimena nodded. "She was a good artist.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Lost One

“1249 A.D.

The Keeper pulled the illuminated manuscript from its hiding place and spread it on the stone hearth. The golden border caught the fire's light, and its reflection looked like an eye flashing open. At once the illusion vanished, but something else caught the Keeper's attention, and the shock of it took his breath away. Within the enlarged first letter, the miniature of the goddess unlocking the jaws of hell had changed; her beauty was gone, replaced by the cruel gaze of a Follower. Was this another change the Scroll had wrought upon itself, or had someone tampered with its magic again?
The Keeper dipped his paintbrush in brown pigment and began drawing a tree on the parchment, curving its limbs over and around the calligraphy until the words were hidden in a maze of twisting branches. For centuries he had devoted himself to uncovering this forbidden knowledge, and now he had assumed the duty of protecting it. He wished he could follow the Path, but the Prophecy was clear; only the child of a fallen goddess and an evil spirit could follow the steps without fear of the Scroll's curse.
Many had died trying to use its magic, but that wasn't the reason the Keeper now kept it hidden, denying its existence. A dangerous transformation had taken place. The Scroll had somehow come to life, as if the words written on the parchment had infused it with an instinct for survival. He could feel it now, alert and suspicious beneath his fingers.
When it was no longer watching him, he dropped his brush, grabbed a reed pin, dipped it into the glutinous black ink, and wrote one final instruction on the last page. His deception awakened whatever lived within the manuscript. Intense light shot through him with deadly force, binding his existence to that of the Secret Scroll for all time.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Prophecy

“A glint of gold caught her eye. The Scroll lay before her. She admired the detailed artwork on the borders, in which exotic beasts and birds with long feathers hid in twisting branches.
She picked up the manuscript. The parchment pulsed beneath her touch as if she had awakened it. She dropped it and stepped back, rubbing her fingers on her jeans to rid herself of the unpleasant sensation that the parchment had recognized her. She didn't recall having had such a feeling before. Perhaps Gerard de Molaire, the sorcerer who had hidden a spell within the Scroll, had channeled some kind of sinister energy into it. But then another thought came to her. Chris had given her the manuscript before, and maybe he had controlled it then.”
― Lynne Ewing, The Prophecy