Crystal Tomb (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 3) (5 page)

He stayed with her, climbing from the
scattered farms shrinking on the grid of fields and pastures below.
She recognized the L pattern of the shelterbelt around one with the
placement of two big pines near the ranch-style house, which stood
across the yard from a corral and barn.

The Lake house. The family had been
murdered while their son was at college. Pallin had murdered them
to clear a place to keep her until he returned. Pallin had fooled
everyone into believing he was a simple exchange student. If they
only knew what he had really been and what he had done. The
Shirukan had come for her twice—Pallin being only the first—and
they would come again.

It all returned in vivid detail with
the realization of where they were.

"Oh, God."

Raea stared, too stunned to say
anything more, her mind bombarded by everything from two months
ago; yet she had been unconscious the whole time Pallin had hung
her by her arms from the floor joists in the basement of that
house, waiting…

.

Black wings lifted from
the shadow at the top of the stairs. Elis stepped into the light,
exchanged words with Pallin, and they fought.

When it ended, Elis untied
her and lowered her to the ground, tears trickling down his cheeks.
["You're safe now."] He kissed her cheek and held her close. ["I'm
sorry."]

With her cradled in his
arms, he carried her out. He paused frequently, his breathing heavy
and his side bleeding. Outside, he lifted into the night and flew
her to Evelyn's back yard. Rather than taking her to her own home,
he carried her inside and up the stairs, where he laid her in his
bed and covered her. Seconds later, he crashed on the other side of
the bed, blood crusting over a rip in his coat.

.

The first time she realized Elis cared
for her to the extent he would risk his life. That memory from the
Starfire she considered one of the dearest. He was her life
now.

Amid the memories, she discovered she
couldn't move her wings and something squeezed her waist. For a
second, she panicked, but the present rushed back and calmed
her.

Elis.

Oh, God. He could have been squeezing
out a sponge; the tears poured out of control in that instant of
realization, her emotions overflowing with them.

["Don't think about it,"] he murmured.
["He's gone. I won't let anyone hurt you."]

He knew what bothered her. His memory
was as precise as hers, except he had fought for her and had been
injured by Pallin, all for her.

["I know."] Raea glanced down at the
shrinking farm, reassuring herself that the past could no longer
hurt her. Elis lifted her higher, his arms secure and strong, a
wall blocking the outside world and the pain it could wreak on
her.

At a gliding speed, she twisted to
face him in flight and tucked her wings close to her back. With her
arms and legs around him and his arms around her, she buried her
face in his shirt to dry the tears. The faint musky scent of his
body filled her with peace and the good memories of being with him,
burying the bad memories haunting her nightmares. His arms
tightened around her, but his wings flapped harder. She should
separate to spare him the work, but she needed him close, and in
the sky, they were truly alone and where they belonged. He never
complained or loosened his hold—Elis never would—but worked
harder.

["You'll never be alone."] His whisper
came through softly on the tri-comm. ["When they come back, I'll be
here."]

When, not if. The Shirukan would be
back; they had both accepted that, although neither of them liked
it.

Raea reached around him under the
jacket and pressed close so his heart beat in her ears. The wind
blew strands of hair loose from her braid to tickle the exposed
side of her face. Her angel, Elis, was there for her, as he had
been for nearly two years before she learned the truth. She felt
selfish for wanting him all to herself, but he had come to Earth
for her, not to save the world.

["It's time to practice,"] he said
quietly. ["We're far from everything."]

She twisted and saw the yard lights of
farms below on the grid of dark earth and grassy pastures. She
could no longer tell which one was the Lake farm.

In his arms, she turned again, her
wings to his chest. He held her middle while she focused on forming
the portal. The resonance warmed through her, illuminating the
Starburst marks on her palms and backs of her hands and the crystal
shard hanging at her chest. Raea focused on the pyramids and the
desert and let the Starfire entities guide her to feel the weight
of the energy of their dimension connecting to the matter of
another place. It pulled at her and surrounded her with an almost
tangible thickness pressing under her skin and burning through her
body. The entire universe opened to her at once but focused on the
destination she sought.

The wind picked up around the black
ball forming in the sky, and lightning flashed around
it.

Dear God! She was doing
it.
Stay focused!

The energy collected in the expanding
orb while she maintained the resonance, until the black ball
exploded in a burst of lightning that left a black disk. The wind
whipped around it.

Elis dropped slightly, leaving her
heart in her throat, and parted from her. She struggled against the
wind, her eyes on the disk. ["I actually did it."]

["I knew you could."]

["You're too trusting."] At
least of her skills. Then again, she
did
have guidance from the entities
teaching her how to focus their energy for different
tasks.

She'd have to scan the internet to see
if news of a black hole over the pyramids showed up. Then she would
know for sure she had done it right, and it would likely happen, at
least among scientists. Since returning from Inar'Ahben, she had
applied herself fully to understanding the interdimensional portals
formed by the entities. No more getting taken away from Earth and
getting stuck.

Although he flapped away from the
portal pulling them towards it, Elis looked like he floated on a
breeze. Amid the shifting currents of air, Raea flapped hard to
keep her place, let alone focus on the resonance to maintain
it.

["Now, let it fade,"] he
said.

Let it fade. Right. Easier done than
said, which had surprised her the first time she had opened a
portal. Raea shifted her focus to flying, releasing the resonance
to nothing.

Slowly, the disk shrank, the gravity
lessening while she watched, until the black disk collapsed in upon
itself and disappeared, leaving the wind to settle.

A familiar song played from her
pocket—her cell phone ringer. Who would be calling now?

One idea jumped ahead of the others;
pulling out the cell confirmed it.

["Josh?"] Elis passed overhead, but
his voice sounded right next to her because of the
tri-comm.

["How'd you guess?"] It wasn't like
her friend wasn't obsessed with watching them while they were
flying or fascinated by her emerging abilities with the Starfire
energy. And it wasn't like he didn't watch them every single night.
Nope; nothing of the sort.

Raea flipped it open and cut off the
song. "Hey, Josh."

"Was that you?" He sounded far too
excited.

"Yes. I opened a portal."

"Wicked cool, Raea! I could see the
lightning from here and could kind of see you."

Great. Just what she wanted to
hear—that she was exposed. Then again, Josh watched with binoculars
and had a heads up from her where they would be, and at least it
came from him and not a stranger.

Still, he had other things to do and
she didn't like every move being watched. "Shouldn't you be
studying?"

"Yeah, but…you know…It's always more
fun watching you guys."

Of course, but sometimes she wanted a
little privacy, like when she broke down.
"Procrastinating?"

"Sort of…Okay, yeah. Um, how do you
remember the sine versus cosine again?"

So predictable. "SOHCAHTOA. The sine
is the opposite side over the hypotenuse—"

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember now.
Thanks, Raea."

"You're sure?" He sounded like there
was something more.

"Yeah. No problem." He cleared his
throat. "I just wanted to congratulate you on the portal. You know
I love that stuff."

"Sure, Josh. Good luck on your final
tomorrow." His only final, but their math teacher ended up grading
so strictly that all but a handful of trigonometry students nearly
failed, Josh included.

"Thanks…um…All right. Take care. I'll
see you…sometime after finals." He clicked off, and she tucked her
phone back into her jacket pocket.

Poor Josh. He was barely passing trig,
one of two classes he needed for college. She'd tried to help him,
but he hated studying. Now he had no choice.

["He should try basic math back
home."] Elis sounded amused, like he smiled. She could imagine how
advanced Inari children were expected to be. No, she dreaded it.
They were far more intelligent than her, and the way Elis talked
about physics theories studied by humans being close or wrong in
some points only exaggerated how far behind she was for growing up
on Earth. She would be no better off than a young child if she
returned to Inar'Ahben.

["Speaking of home…"] She glided
towards the eastern edge of the town sparkling with street lights.
["I think we should be heading back. That portal will have
attracted some attention besides Josh."] And they had attracted
angel watchers to the town.

Elis hesitated to answer but glided
level with her so their wingtips nearly touched. ["All right."] His
gentle voice came through on the tri-comm. Or was it disappointment
she heard?

["You just wanted a practice run,
right?"]

["We're not ready to go around the
world yet. Tomorrow maybe."]

["Tomorrow?"] As in
already?

["The sooner we retrieve the Eye, the
better, but it will take some timing and preparation. Egypt is
seven hours ahead. We'll have to time it so we arrive in the dark
hours of morning. It's too late now."]

["Can't we wait until after
graduation?"]

["We've already waited too
long."]

He was right, of course. Elis was
always right. They'd waited while she learned to control opening a
portal to a designated point. He couldn't do it, or they'd have
retrieved the Eye last week. Only a Crystal Keeper with the power
of a shard could make that connection. Since she could do it now,
nothing could stop them.

One thing still bothered her,
something he hadn't explained. ["Once we have it, what'll we do
with it?"]

Silence. She waited, questions growing
in her mind. Did he have a plan?

They approached McClarron's glowing
lights.

["Elis?"]

["I don't know."]

Great. He didn't know. Well, that made
it better. ["So we're supposed to wait for the Shirukan to discover
it when they come again?"]

["No."] The word growled from his
throat.

Then what?

An idea tickled her mind. He wouldn't.
Would he?

That had to be it. He'd said he would
never let them hurt her again. ["You want it to choose you as its
Keeper."]

Silence again.

That
was
it!

["We have to find it before whoever is
taking the protectors learns its location."]

Uh, huh. There was more he wasn't
telling her. He could go dead silent when he had something on his
mind, or when she was close to hitting the bulls-eye.

Elis angled down.

That was it, huh? Not a word. She'd
hit pretty close to the mark, but he wasn't getting off that
easily. ["Hey. You didn't answer my question."]

Still nothing. He continued
down.

Raea followed him, determined to get
her answer, although she was sure by his tight lips that she was
right. Still, she wanted to hear it from him.

Elis headed towards a field about a
mile northeast of town, where they'd taken off. Sure, they'd have
some walking, but it was a nice night, and the walk would give her
time to pry out an answer. Besides, the field across the street
from town that they'd used all spring was a field of green sprouts.
Their footprints would be obvious trampling the plants night after
night, and the farmer probably wouldn't be too happy about
it.

The flapping of large black wings
reached her as Elis touched down. She followed behind, slowing her
descent with the flap of her brown wings while stretching her legs
down to touch solid ground.

After landing, she stepped up to him
and grabbed his jacket sleeves, intending to hold him until she had
that answer. ["Well? Am I right?"]

Even in the dark, she could tell he
looked away to the outline of the nearest line of trees beyond the
gravel road where they stood. Raea reached up and, with her hand on
his cheek, turned his head. She couldn't see his eyes, but the
shift of his cheek muscles under her hand came from his indecision.
What was he afraid to say? ["Tell me the truth, Elis,"] she said
softly.