Starfire Angels (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 1) (18 page)

"That'll work. But don't get any funny
ideas." She might still be able to convince herself that she wasn't
attracted to him. But
his
shirt...Maybe she should run home
quick.

Forget it. She was there. But her friends
were
not
going to hear of this.

"What funny ideas?"

Faking innocence. She wouldn't fall for
that, but she wasn't about to explain herself. "Nevermind. Find me
a shirt. I'll be in the bathroom. I don't like this, you know."

"I know." He hurried up the stairs with his
back to her.

"It hurts."

"I know." The loose board squeaked under his
weight.

"Your shirt'll be too big," she called up as
he reached the top.

"I know." Exasperation. Good. Maybe she'd
wear him down and he'd back off this idea.

Not likely. He'd been pretty insistent with
all of her progress so far. Why would he change now?

The scrape of the closet door reached her.
Damn. He was looking. No getting out of it this time without a good
excuse. She passed through the sitting room, where Evelyn smiled
from her rocker near the window, to Evelyn's bedroom and the main
floor bathroom around the corner.

Raea didn't wait long. In minutes, Elis's
steps squeaked and clomped coming down the stairs. The old house
made a lot of noise.

He appeared at the door with a gray t-shirt.
"It's the best I could find."

"It'll have to do." She took it, expecting
him to step out. "Ahem?"

He smiled shyly and stepped back. Much
better. She locked the door behind him. This was so weird. Not the
floral print towels and cracked porcelain of the sink. The whole
situation. She was an alien raised on a world where she and
everyone around her believed she was one of them. And who should
she fall for, but the guy next door, another alien like her.
Inari
. Alien sounded so outer space. It hadn't been
coincidence his living next door and such. But falling for him had
been partly coincidence, partly the fault of some intelligent
collective hinting to her.

Why fight it?

What would she tell Pallin?
Easy
stomach.
It churned and twisted. Her nerves gave out at the
prospects. Did Elis even feel the same for her? Should she
completely end the little bit of hope with Pallin? If only these
things came with directions. She had no experience in relationships
like this. Besides, what would she tell her friends?

Why was she worrying? She wasn't even sure
of what she wanted.
Get your head together.

Raea shook away the confusion and changed
shirts. Time to practice, not to worry. His shirt hung on her like
a sheet. Could it be any longer, she could have belted it and worn
it as a dress. What did she expect from an XL on a body that fit a
medium? Well, here went nothing, except her back. A slight chill
came through. She reached around. The slits left part of her back
exposed, like a hospital gown. No problem. She'd keep her back away
from him.

She opened the door to an empty bedroom.
What? He couldn't stick around for her to model it? Mister
Respectful. She should have known.

Voices reached her from outside the
bedroom.

She found him talking with Evelyn, who
looked up and chuckled. "A bit big, dear?"

"Yeah. Well. It's only temporary." Right.
She could tell herself that all she wanted. Elis glanced down, a
look of disappointment on his face, or so she thought. Or was it
the Starfire influencing her interpretation of his mood? She
couldn't even trust herself now.

"Let's get this over with." She couldn't
stand that look on him and motioned him up the stairs ahead of her.
No way would she turn her back on him.

He went ahead.

Upstairs, he stepped aside from the bed.
"You might want to lay on your stomach, but sitting up works."

As if. She sat on the edge of the bed and he
knelt before her.

["Now, find the resonance and think about
flying. Think about using your wings, what they feel like, the
muscles to control them."]

Yeah. She could do that, except for one
thing. ["What about the pain?"] And why couldn't he just stick with
English?

["It's only temporary. Work through it. You
need to learn to control the transformation yourself. And this is a
good time to practice."]

["Like that's so easy."]

["I won't lie. It takes focus. But it gets
easier with practice. Remember—this is who you are. You are Inari,
like me. We're born with wings. Not having them is unnatural, like
having a limb amputated."] He patted her leg and stood. ["I know
you can do it."]

Oh, how she loved his smile. Wait.
Don't
go there. Not now.
Now was the time to focus on her wings.

What? Wait a sec— "So, like, you're just
leaving me alone?"

"I'll be outside the room. This is something
you
have to do."

Alone. Joy. He knew she would ask his help.
"You just have to make this difficult, don't you?"

"I never said it was easy."

That teasing grin. She swore she'd wipe it
from his face, but not to hurt him.
Enough.
Focus on the
resonance.
She really was attracted to him.
Get over it. Now
is not the time to think about Elis.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
One way or another, she would do this. The sooner she did it, the
sooner she could show him.

Find the resonance. Check. Actually, the
easiest part of the whole process. That now came with a thought
since she knew how it felt inside her.

But to grow her wings? That wasn't so easy.
Raea struggled with focusing on having her wings, but the thought
of the pain hindered her.

After some time, she fell back on the bed,
fanning herself from the heat of the resonance. She needed fresh
air. She wanted to fly. "Elis?"

No answer.

Now, where had he gone?

"Elis?"

Still nothing.

Nope. There it came—the thump of steps. He
hadn't stayed outside the door as he said he would. Rather, he'd
gone downstairs.

She glanced aside at the digital clock on
the nightstand. A half hour? That's it? It seemed like
eternity.

"What is it?" He opened the door and scanned
the area around her. "You haven't done it?"

"Oh, I've tried. I just can't. And I'm too
hot now to continue." She wiped sweat from her forehead. That
should clue him in. "Where'd you go, anyway?"

"Downstairs to talk to Evelyn. You need to
keep trying, but it's dinner time."

"Food." She sat up and shivered at the cool
air that brushed through the openings at the back of the shirt.
Food would feel better in her empty stomach.

"Come and eat. You can try again
afterwards."

"You're gonna make me keep at this all
night?"

"You can go home anytime. But, no flying
until you can get it yourself."

He'd pay for that. She'd show him. "That's
so unfair."

He shrugged and stepped back from the door.
"Coming?"

"Yes."

"Maybe later we can go out and practice
releasing the energy."

Raea halted before stepping through the
doorway, next to him and comfortable with it. Out? As in..."And
fly?"

"Not until you complete your own
transformation."

Damn him. He was worse than their math
teacher, and he had the nickname of Patton. Oh, well. She supposed
she really should be able to change herself. "All right. Fine. But
you're totally gonna pay for this."

"I know."

* * *

What a long, annoying day. Nina collapsed on
her bed at the hotel. All day interviewing, setting up camera shots
and equipment, packing up equipment. Repeat at the next house.
Wash, rinse, repeat. And they had only been able to meet with three
of the families. Three, out of something like six. Well, that was
half. But it felt like nothing.

Not to mention they had observations yet and
she needed to review the footage to see if they needed anything
more. She had less than a week left.

"Crazy little town." She needed a cigarette.
No. Willpower. You quit last month..
Continuing her nicotine
addiction would be the death of her anyway. She knew better, but
quitting was harder than catching Raea.

"That's right." She sprang to her feet and
grabbed her laptop from the dresser. The girl. She'd actually been
too busy to think about her, but not now. "Let's see if you sent me
anything. Shall we, Nolan?" She'd been out all day. After hearing
nothing since her call, she hoped he finally got back to her with
the information she needed.

"All right now." She typed her login and
password. Had he found what she hoped? He had pictures. She
remembered seeing them. At the time, it didn't concern her. Now,
she had to know. Stupid computer. Why couldn't it load faster?

Or not. Her email came up and processed. New
emails popped onto her screen. Something from post-production on
her last assignment. No. Her cousin Mary. No.
Come on.
No,
no, and no.

Then it popped up. "Bingo!"

What was this? Could he attach any fewer
files? Four was all he could come up with? And so little
explanation. Normally he'd talk a person's ear off about these
things, or write a thesis of an email. She must have upset him.

"You can do better, Nolan. Ah, well. Let's
see it." She opened the four files—three pictures and a document.
The document was written by none other than...
Nolan. You didn't
let me down. 'Atta boy!

The pictures, though...
That's it! I knew
I'd seen these before.
Sure enough, they were images from
various civilizations showing some sort of radiance coming from a
person's hands as they touched another prostrated before them. Two
were of painted images, and one was a carving. The pictures showed
a sequence of events that could only be interpreted as healing. In
one of those sequences, the hands were upraised and open with some
jagged blue-green markings on them. The individual was shown flying
above the others with wings that weren't there before.

Wings? Like angels.

Nina pulled up the document and sat back
against the pillows on the bed to read. Now she had to know what
Nolan thought. Ideas formed in her mind about the marks and the
black and brown feathers she found. The two angels rising into the
night sky...

It couldn't be!

Angel Wings

Raea sat on the side of her bed, listening
through her open door to the gunshots from the television
downstairs. Typical Saturday. Dave played his games. Eric probably
sat with him, watching, if Dave wouldn't let him play. Debbie
cleaned and folded laundry. Mike had Buddy out for a walk.

She had to see Pallin, to be sure. Did she
really want to be with Elis? What if she liked both? What if she
was wrong? Maybe she only thought she liked Elis but that was
because she spent more time with him but really had feelings for
Pallin?

Why did it have to be so complicated and
confusing?

Last night, Elis had left her mostly alone
to concentrate, so they hadn't had much time together. She had
hardly seen him, although she thought of him. They hadn't gone out
flying, but she hadn't been able to overcome her fear of the pain
to relax and let the wings grow out.

Waking up that morning refreshed her, but
now that she had the afternoon open, she couldn't help wondering
about how she really felt. Maybe Jess had some advice. She'd gone
through a few boyfriends already. Or maybe Josh had some advice, as
a guy.

No. She couldn't tell her friends she might
like Elis. The whole school would find out. Then she'd never hear
the end of the teasing. How would she break it to Pallin?

Now was a perfect time to call Pallin,
again. He hadn't answered earlier. What was he doing? Homework
couldn't take all night, or all weekend.

She picked up the phone on her nightstand
and dialed the hotel and they transferred her call. Sometimes they
didn't put her right through. Guess it depended on the person
answering. It rang several times, each time stealing her hope of
reaching him. Why didn't he or someone answer?

Raea clicked off the phone with a heavy
sigh.

A moment later, she noticed the time. Duh.
He was probably out eating.

She should have tried sooner. With luck she
could have joined him. He could have called her, though. The phone
worked both ways.

She hated this. He always did the same
thing. Time to give up.

But he's always happy to see me at school.
He's probably busy. He'll call when he's free.

Yeah, probably.

So why did she feel like he didn't care?
Probably because he didn't. Or maybe having to stay close to home
scared him. Maybe that was it. She needed to get away from parental
supervision, so he could relax and they could enjoy their time.

What was right?

She might as well have stuck her head in the
washing machine on the spin cycle. Her emotions spun out of her
control. She was an alien with wings, not human. Her crystal was
more than a crystal, a collective of intelligent beings. She kind
of still liked Pallin, but he never called or made any effort to
hold her hand at school, and the one time they touched, the
Starfire reacted. And in the meantime, she learned about a world
that should only exist in her imagination but was real, a homeworld
she didn't know. Stranger yet, she was falling for the one guy she
never in a million years would have expected to like.

The world is gonna end. That has to be it.
What else could there be to explain this? Hell froze over. With as
cold as winter gets here, I wouldn't be surprised.

Yeah. That made sense. Sure.

Raea groaned and fell back on her bed. When
would the dream end? When would the world return to something like
normal?