Starfire Angels (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 1) (13 page)

She dialed his number and waited. When his
youngest sister answered, Raea asked for him. Tess shouted into the
phone for him.
Thanks. I needed a hearing check.

Josh picked up in seconds. "Raea. I thought
you'd be working on your 'special' project."

Ouch. Okay, she deserved the lash of his
tongue. "I'm sorry, Josh. I had to say something to get out of
there. You have no idea how annoying that woman is. Like some
vampire needing innocent blood."

Was that a sigh she heard over the
phone?

"I know. I didn't realize she'd turn into
such a pest for you. What's goin' on with you and Elis, though? I
thought you couldn't stand him?"

He had to ask. She couldn't tell him the
truth. She wasn't ready. What
could
she tell him?

"Debbie said he came from the same..." She
couldn't say "world". That would give it away. Ah, yes. There was
one word that fit. "The same land as my mom. He's kind of, like,
showing me things from there. It's cool. He's actually pretty
nice."

"That's great. See? I told you not to judge
people. So, it's not a project for Mister Maviar?"

"No, but I didn't want your Miss Russet
digging her claws deeper into my business."

"Sorry. Really. I didn't know she'd be like
that. Honest. But I wish you could have told me sooner."

"It's not like I was expecting him to pop
over like that. He kinda took me by surprise, and with her
here...Not a good situation. I couldn't think of anything
else."

"But when did this start?"

"Friday. I understood something he said, in
his first language." Not the truthful answer to his question but
part of it. Good enough for her to pass it off; she was a terrible
liar. If Josh found out the full truth, he'd flip. And with him
close to Nina Russet, her quiet life would turn into a circus. Raea
didn't want any attention, or at least not that kind. From what she
understood, Elis didn't want it either.

"So, your mom came from the same country he
did? And you know the language?"

"Yeah. It's kinda like a big ice-breaker.
You know?"

"No, but I can imagine. What's Pallin
think?"

"He doesn't know. It's not his business." He
wouldn't even be around much longer. Time to change the subject,
sort of. "So...How's the Dark Angel research going?" She cringed.
Oh, to be able to tell him how close he was.

His voice rang with a note of relief as he
went into details about his introducing Nina Russet to a few people
and their opinions on the sightings and unexplained healings.
Unfortunately, that led to Miss Russet's comments about Raea's
hands. Josh apologized again and jumped into mundane topics, like
the snow.

In the end, Raea hung up the phone
satisfied. She could always count on Josh to be reasonable, except
for the truth in this case.

She checked the clock—almost lunch time.
Ugh. She despised snow days. Dave shouted at his game downstairs,
his curses reaching her through the door. Little Eric probably sat
next to him, absorbing all his bad habits. Debbie read and Mike
worked from home via the internet.

I hate this. This house is a cage
.
She wanted to go out flying again. That meant Elis.

She needed him.
No, I don't.

But she couldn't progress with the Starfire.
Maybe they'll help.

They hadn't reached that point.
I haven't
tried. What can I do?

It would be so much easier with his help.
Damn it.

She had the phone.
Call already.
He
was probably waiting for her.

The phone rang before she realized she had
dialed. Why'd she do that?

"Hello?" he said.

She had to say something. "Uh...Hi. I need
some help."

"How far did you get?"

"I get too hot."

"You need to release the energy. I can show
you. You're welcome here anytime. Evelyn's words."

Yeah. She could imagine Mrs. Johnson saying
that. In fact, she probably had at some point, and Raea had
forgotten. But Raea didn't want to go out in that snow. On the
other hand, having him there would incite Dave's taunting. The brat
had already done that, though.
School's gonna suck tomorrow.
She could just imagine Chad. No. She did
not
want to imagine
what Chad would say. Worse, what Pallin would say, which made her
cringe.

Why me?

Oh, hell. The damage is done. Elis did
that last night.
No getting out of it now. Elis might as well
show up there again. At least she could avoid the snow.

"Just come over here, if you really want to
help me."

There. She said it.

"Give me a few minutes."

Why couldn't he refuse? "All right. See ya
in a few."

"Bye."

She clicked off the phone. Well, he was
coming. No use denying it to the others.
Might as well get this
over with.
Besides, she had to take the phone back to
charge.

Raea made her way to the main floor, passing
Debbie with the newspaper at the dinner table. Wait—newspaper?
"Don't tell me the paper boy delivered in this mess."

"No. Of course not. I didn't get a chance to
read yesterday's," Debbie said.

That made sense.

The paper rustled as Raea set the phone on
the charger. "So, you decided to come down?"

"It's only temporary. Elis is coming over."
Hopefully Dave was too busy to have heard.

"I see. Then I should expect an extra mouth
for lunch?"

Raea grimaced. She hadn't thought of the
time. "Sorry."

"Not a problem. Don't worry. I'm just happy
that the three of us can talk now."

There was that. "Yeah. About talking. Why
did you ask Elis to snoop for you?"

Debbie frowned and folded the section of the
paper she read. "He told you?"

"Yes, but Pallin told me first."

"Pallin? How did he know?"

"Elis confronted him."

Debbie opened another section of the paper.
"Well, what's done is done. I'm sorry, but I can't let you be
alone. Who knows what he might do to you?"

"I'm eighteen. Can't I live my own life?"
Raea growled and hurried away to the front door. Just in time. A
dark shape materialized from the white blur, and she opened the
door, sweeping aside a bank of snow in the process. "Come in." She
snapped the words in her frustration. The two of them—Debbie and
him—tried to run her life. Three, if one counted the Starfire.

Elis stepped in and stopped on the door mat,
where a pile of snow fell off his lower legs. The white stuff on
his head and shoulders quickly melted to leave glistening drops
weighing down the thick, black mess. ["We never see this at home.
This is why the others all live in milder climates."]

["Others? Here? I mean, on Earth?"]

He nodded and pulled off his winter gloves,
leaving the usual gloves on, which he wore underneath. ["They came
by ship six years ago, I believe it was."]

["Why?"]

"Hey. What's with the —" Dave's game went
silent. "Woo. Couldn't wait to see him again, Raea?"

"Shut up, Dave."

"You
are
seeing Elis. Wait 'til
everyone hears about this.
And Pallin.
Holy shit!"

"David!"

He cringed at Debbie's scolding and returned
to his game, mumbling about Raea and Pallin
and
Elis.

No.
Raea smacked her hand to her
face. Why did this have to happen to her? She knew Dave would
torture her, but that didn't make it any more tolerable.

["He's like a little brother."]

Huh? The smile on Elis's face washed away
some of her embarrassment. Did he understand?

["He'll grow out of it."]

She hoped so, and the sooner, the
better.

Elis finished brushing the snow off his
jeans and left his shoes to thaw on the mat.

["Up stairs. First door on the left,"] she
said. The sooner they escaped to the privacy of her room, the
sooner she could close out any taunting by Dave.

"Hi, Elis." Debbie looked up from her paper.
"Oh, Raea, can you babysit Thursday evening for a couple
hours?"

"Yeah, I suppose. Why?"

"The wake is that day. I want to go see how
Sheri's doing. She's been out all week making funeral
arrangements."

"Okay." Ryan Lake's parents. Raea remembered
him—three years older, tall and lanky, bad acne, but nice to
everyone. A shame it had to be his parents. "Did they figure out
who killed them?"

"Nothing yet. According to Sheri, there were
no bullets, just holes burned in their chests. She said it looked
like something from a science fiction movie."

"Were there feathers?"

What?
Raea turned to Elis. No. He
couldn't be thinking what she thought he was thinking. Why couldn't
he let it go?

The hard line of his mouth said he was
serious.

"She didn't say. There isn't anything in the
paper either."

["You don't still think Pallin is Shirukan.
Do you?"]

["Very much."]

["He's not. I'll bet on it. In fact, I'll
prove it."]

["If not him, someone else is."]

Her insides went cold. ["Let's go
practice."] If he was right, she'd never be ready to protect the
Starfire. Now she really didn't want any attention from Miss
Russet.

What if he was wrong? What if it was someone
else? She hoped he was wrong, but something inside her felt that he
might be right.

Angels Rising

It didn't happen in the morning, but Raea
dreaded the day progressing. By lunchtime Tuesday, she wanted to
hide, from Pallin too. She was going to kill Dave.

Passing Chad and his on and off girlfriend,
Brittany, was torture. The mocking started by them was picked up by
others around them. Everyone else turned to stare as she walked by
with her tray in the lunch room.
Oh, God. Just kill me and get
it over with.

"Ignore them, Raea," Linds said from
behind.

Easy for her to say. She wasn't the subject
of humiliation.

A group of students vacated a table. She
aimed straight for it.
Sit down and hide.
Embarrassment
warmed through her. Or was it? A quick glance at her hands relieved
her. No loss of control there. Thank goodness. What a pain it was
to have to worry about displaying her special talents. Her whole
world had changed in one weekend, one very
busy
weekend.

"Don't worry about it." Josh sat between her
and Linds.

"Yeah," Jess said from her other side. "But
what
is
going on with you two?"

"Nothing. I don't want to talk about
it."

"Actually, it's pretty cool," Josh said.

"What is?"

"
Nothing.
"
Don't say another word.
Everyone's listening.
Well, not everyone, but it felt like the
whole cafeteria listened.

"But you have someone who can teach you
about your mom's life—her culture—before she came here. What a way
to get to know her."

"Through Elis? You've
got
to be
kidding." Linds looked from Josh to Raea. "You are
kidding...right?"

If Josh had kept his mouth shut... Too late.
"No. He's from the same land as my mom."

"Shut up. Are you serious?"

"Yes, Jess." Raea sighed, picking at the
food on her plate since her appetite had waned.
God, please
don't let Pallin see me.

"Wow. Who'dathunk?" Linds said.

"I know. It's weird, but..."
But
what?
Her life was so different, she couldn't begin to describe
it to them. Elis was nothing like what she had expected. In fact,
he was the total opposite, and he was the town's Dark Angel, the
hero in hiding. That was pretty cool. But the mystery had been
interesting.

"Well?"

"Um...Just, he can be kind
of...maybe...nice. I wouldn't have thought. He's just shy." Oh, no.
Why did she just say that? She sounded like—

"You make it sound like you do like him,"
Linds said.

"I do not." Three days and a lot of time
learning from someone didn't make them more than friends. "I like
Pallin."

"Okay, this is too weird," Jess said.

"Can we talk about someone else? Anything?
Maybe Josh's weekend?" There. That should shift the balance, and
maybe her appetite would come back.

"Yeah. What happened with the lady from your
favorite show?" Linds sounded more than a little upset.

"She's not what I expected." Josh dropped
his eyes and picked at his food. "Once she saw Raea's hands, that's
all she wanted to know about."

They turned to Raea. "Why?"

"She thinks Raea has the power to heal." He
said it like he wanted an answer from her.

"No, I can't. End of story."
Move
on.

Silence circled over them like a vulture as
they ate their lunch.

After a few minutes, Jess swallowed her last
bite of sandwich. "So, Raea. How'd it go with Pallin?"

She should have known Jess would ask. At
least that topic she didn't feel the need to shy from. Raea told
them about her dinner and their walk and the awkwardness of meeting
him outside of school. "I haven't been able to talk to him this
morning since Dave opened his big mouth."

"I'm sorry. Maybe you'll have your chance."
Jess motioned with her chin towards the front of the cafeteria.

So much for her appetite. Raea forced a
smile when Pallin looked at her, but he didn't return it. Great.
What did he think of this mess? Somewhere in the back of her mind,
she wondered if Elis was right. Defiance rose up like a cornered
beast. No. Elis had to be wrong. He just had to be. Pallin was not
a threat to her. Elis was jealous.

Yet he sat a couple tables away eating
quietly as if nothing were amiss. God, she hated him. He might have
seriously screwed up her chances of a normal relationship with a
very hot guy.