Goddess of the Night

Goddess of the Night is the first book in the Daughters of the Moon series. It was first published in the United States on August 7, 2000. It was also included in the first series omnibus, comprising the first three books, published in 2010. This book focuses on Vanessa Cleveland.

Official Summary
"All Vanessa Cleveland ever wanted is to be like everyone else and be able to do normal things - like kiss gorgeous Michael Saratoga without disappearing right in front of him. But Vanessa is different, and having to hide her secret makes leading a normal life impossible.""Now Vanessa is being followed. She doesn't know who's doing it. But she knows why. Her secret has finally been discovered."

Prologue
The prologue details the myth of Selene and Endymion, wherein the moon goddess Selene falls for the mortal Endymion and comes down from the sky to be with him, angering Zeus, the king of the gods. Zeus punishes Selene by giving Endymion eternal sleep. Despite his eternal sleep, Selene still leaves the sky to visit Endymion (explaining the dark of the moon), and Selene has many daughters by him.

Chapter One
Vanessa is walking home from a Tuesday night out at Planet Bang, a night club in Los Angeles which allows entry for under twenty-ones on Tuesday and Friday. The dark of the moon makes her nervous, and she begins to suspect someone might be following her, though she tries to keep herself distracted with thoughts of her crush, Michael Saratoga, who she had danced with at Planet Bang that night. At first she suspects her best friend, Catty, might be trying to scare her, but then, afraid that it's someone with ill intent, she runs part of the way home. During the ordeal, she whispers a Latin prayer, "O Mater Luna, Regina nocis, adiuvo me nunc." She has never heard the words before, doesn't know what language they're in or what they mean.

Her mother is waiting when she gets home, worried about her daughter coming home late, as it is after 1 am. She lies and tells her mother she got a ride home. Vanessa comes close to telling her mother about her power of invisibility, but thinks better of it. When Vanessa gets to her room, she finds that her window is mysteriously open and her clock and watch have been turned around so that their faces are not visible. Vanessa again suspects Catty might be responsible.

Chapter Two
Vanessa meets up with Catty at a Johnny Rockets diner the next day, where Catty swears she was not in Vanessa's room the previous night. Catty has the power to travel through time, and wants to go back to the night before and see who was following Vanessa to put her mind at ease. Vanessa has time traveled with Catty before, and is worried about being trapped in a different time or in the tunnel they have to go through to time travel. Once they finish eating, Catty begins to pull Vanessa back without paying for their food, something she has done twice before, believing that their being at the diner will be erased by their time travel.

Back the night before, Catty and Vanessa follow Vanessa's pursuer, a person dressed all in black with a cap. Vanessa and Catty wind up following the person through an alley, after the stalker becomes aware of their presence. Vanessa sees a thick shadow appear where she thought the pursuer had been, and hears a message whispered across her mind: I'll find you later when you're alone. She immediately commands Catty to take them both back.

Chapter Three
Catty and Vanessa travel forward in time, but instead of being back at Johnny Rockets, they wind up in the guys' locker room at La Brea High right as the water polo team comes in after finishing practice. Michael, a member of the water polo team, comes in with them and sees Vanessa there. Catty is amused by the mistake, but Vanessa is mortified and tries to leave as quickly as possible. Before they can get out, they are caught by the team's coach, and issued demerit slips. Michael comes up to Vanessa afterwards and they flirt a little, and he asks her on a date for Saturday, to which Vanessa agrees.

Chapter Four
Vanessa worries about things that might go wrong on her date, afraid that her power might cause issues if Michael tries to kiss her, for example. Catty argues that Vanessa should appreciate her gift more, and practice to get better at using and controlling it. This chapter also describes how Catty and Vanessa first met, at a soccer game where they were on opposing teams and noticed that they each wore the same matching moon necklace.

Chapter Five
Morgan Page comes up to Catty and Vanessa, telling them she thought she had seen them at Johnny Rockets, where she had gone looking for them. Morgan calls Michael "her hottie" and tries to convince Vanessa that Michael is trouble, also claiming that "he's nothing special" to try to keep Vanessa from being interested in him. They see Serena Killingsworth and Morgan makes fun of her and fills Vanessa and Catty in about everything she knows about Serena. She tells Vanessa that she should have Serena read her tarot cards to tell her about how badly Michael Saratoga will break her heart. Serena comes over and asks Morgan if she was one of the girls whose heart was broken by Michael, claiming that she has "acute hearing." Serena gives Vanessa and Catty her home address in case they want their fortune read.

Chapter Six
Catty and Vanessa cut class on Friday afternoon to go to The Darma Bookstore, the shop Catty's mother, Kendra, owns. Vanessa shows Kendra the phrase she spoke when she was being chased, curious if she knows anything about it. Kendra translates it for the girls: "Oh Mother Moon, Queen of the night, help me now." She explains that Vanessa was praying to the moon for protection in Latin.

Chapter Seven
Saturday is Vanessa's date with Michael. Michael takes Vanessa to the Hollywood Bowl to listen to the L.A. Philharmonic, but rather than paying to get in, the two sit on a hill above the Bowl and listen to the music while having a picnic prepared by Michael. Vanessa gets nervous and almost goes invisible during the date, especially when Michael kisses her. Michael accidentally brushes Vanesa's chest with his hand, and she worries that Morgan may have been right about Michael. Immediately after, however, Vanessa hears laughter from behind them in the woods, and becomes afraid that someone may have followed them there. Vanessa gets nervous and asks to leave, and Michael thinks it's because of his mistake.

Rather than going back to Michael's van, Vanessa wants to travel down the hill to the Bowl, risking being caught by security, figuring that would be safer than letting whatever is following them catch up. Vanessa becomes protective of Michael as they head down the hill. They wind up in the top row of seats at the Bowl, not being stopped by security. Stanton approaches them at the Bowl. Michael has clearly met him before and believes Stanton enjoys making people uncomfortable, angry and jealous.

Michael drops Vanessa off back at home without a goodnight kiss, much to her disappointment.

Chapter Eight
Back home, Vanessa calls Catty to have her sleep over for comfort, offering to pay for Catty's cab to Vanessa's house. Vanessa tells Catty about her night, and Catty begins speculating about the girls' origin, wondering if her mother is right about Catty being an alien, and if perhaps it was government agents following Vanessa. Catty's speculation frightens Vanessa and the girls go to sleep. Vanessa muses that it would be nice to be able to only worry about normal problems, and the two discuss their appreciation for the other's company.

Chapter Nine
Vanessa goes to Serena's house to have her fortune read. Serena is very friendly to Vanessa, but once they sit down to read Vanessa's cards, Serena keeps staring at Vanessa and probing her to think more specifically about her questions and problems. A couple of cards Serena draws freaks her out and she doesn't want to tell Vanessa what she has seen. The first card Serena reacts this way to is one indicating unforeseen danger, telling Vanessa that she should be cautious. The second card, Serena refuses to explain at all and tries to invite Vanessa to hang out or go out, which Vanessa declines, saying she has to go home. On her way out, Vanessa runs into a girl going into the house, who warns her in Spanish and English to be careful.

Chapter Ten
Vanessa avoids Michael at school out of embarrassment. Morgan suspects that Serena is following Catty and Vanessa, who brush off her suspicions and defend Serena. Morgan asks about Vanessa's date and again tries to discourage Vanessa's feelings for Michael. After Morgan leaves, Vanessa tells Catty that she plans to tell her mom about her power of invisibility, afraid that she'll find out somehow anyway. Serena runs out of school early without a pass, not stopping when the guards yell after her.

Michael finds Vanessa later after school and talks to her about the date, worried that he did something wrong. Vanessa, having been worried that Michael wouldn't like her after her behavior on the date, is thrilled that Michael is actually worried. She tells him she loved the date, and he tells her that he was so put off by Stanton's behavior that he was tempted to go back to the Bowl to fight him, but knew that was exactly what Stanton wanted. He drives her home and kisses her in the car, but she begins to turn invisible and runs away into her house, deciding that she can't have a relationship due to her power. Michael thinks she is running away because she's never been kissed before. Once in the house, someone grabs Vanessa from behind.