Timeless Moon by C. T. Adams, Cathy Clamp

but glance at it again out the window of the tiny motel, the Shooting Star.
    Rick would love this car.
    She took another sip of coffee and lifted the clean, but worn, drape. The Shooting Star Motel wasn't nearly as well maintained as some of the larger chain motels. It stood on a corner lot at the very outskirts of Pony, directly across the access road from an old-fashioned drive-in theater that had been fully restored. The moment Josette saw the tall neon sign with its five-pointed star she had a sinking sensation of d éjà vu. Pulling into the parking lot she'd recognized every detail of the place. The office was a small separate building of tan brick with large tinted windows that sat in front of two long rows of cabins with what should have been a narrow grass courtyard between. From where she parked she could see that the "courtyard" was nothing more than a mass of overgrown weeds. Still, the small tan brick cabins looked as though they were in fairly good condition. Each was separated from the next by a covered parking awning. The corrugated metal of each awning had been given a new coat of dark turquoise to match the window trim and cabin doors.
    The place was familiar, but try as she might, Josette couldn't remember the content of the vision. It had been long ago, in a time before motels —before even the cars that had spawned them.
    The harder she tried to chase the details, the more they eluded her. But the tightness that wouldn't leave her back and shoulders made her think it was bad.
    In fact, everything felt bad lately … as though she had walked into a future war zone without knowing when the battle would start or, worse, who the enemies were. When they'd arrived in town the day before, Ellen had taken her to Mrs. Hunt's house to pick up the car. She had the strange feeling that they were being watched, but nothing seemed out of place to her sensitive nose or ears. Even trying to force a present-time vision hadn't been effective like it had so many times in the past.
    After picking up the Firebird, they'd made the long trip back to Albuquerque with Ellen, already an accomplished driver at seventeen, driving the SUV. Leaving the rental in the outskirts of Albuquerque in a nice suburb might not have been the best solution, but at least there was a good chance the snakes or whoever came to claim their bodies wouldn't be able to track them beyond the city limits. The persuasion magic she'd used had kept the humans there from being interested in watching. Nobody should be able to identify them, even if tortured.
    Ellen had cocked her head when she'd gotten in the passenger seat of the convertible, as though something was tickling at her memory. "Are you sure you haven't met my parents? I could swear I've seen your picture somewhere around the house. In fact, I know I have?
    Josette felt herself shrug once more, as she tried again to remember like she did the previous day. "I suppose anything's possible but I'll be honest —the last time I traveled anywhere was fifty or sixty years ago. If your parents are human, I sincerely doubt I've met them, and I never get any visitors at home."
    Get … used to get. A tiny slip of the tongue. What a difference a few short words made. She had no home anymore.
    She needed to call Amber. Her sister might not even be aware of what had happened by now, but if she was, she'd be worrying. Josette was too cautious to call her from the motel phone, or any landline. Calls to and from the residences of the Chief Justice were routinely traced. There'd still been no sign of anyone looking for her thus far, but Josette was going to assume the worst and act accordingly. She'd wait, buy a cell phone at the little grocery store on the other side of town, and call while driving. It wasn't a perfect solution. She'd need to keep the call very short. But to her mind it was better than the alternative. After all, Aspen Monier was gone. Only Josette LaRue remained.
    The Josette LaRue who'd picked