Broken Wings (6 page)

Where the cement walk to the front
door met the sidewalk, Josh stopped. "I guess I'll see you later.
Or not. Maybe I'll call afterwards."

She'd like that—hearing about him and
Elis, especially Elis. "Thanks, for everything."

She gave Josh a quick hug before he
hurried down the street to head home. Raea caught sight of her
cousins on the walk from school a couple blocks away—Dave had to
wait for Eric at the elementary school to walk him home.

Raea rushed through the front door of
the blue house to reach her room, where Dave especially wouldn't
see her tears.

__________

Dark
Angel

Of all the nights he could have been
out flying, Elis had to keep Josh occupied. Meanwhile Nare and Raea
flew in the perfect weather, except for the clouds and the chilly
air, but the resonance would keep them warm. Hopefully Raea led
Nare away. They'd left before him, to get a head start so Josh
wouldn't see them, while he sat with Josh in the backyard on a
rusty patio chair, using the resonance to warm him in the chilly
night.

Elis blamed Nare for this, for
everything. If she hadn't mentioned bonding, everything might be
fine with him and Raea.

No. He couldn't blame her. He wished
he could. But the whole situation was his fault. He should have
told her, but he just couldn't. It was so hard, and then it didn't
seem important to tell her. He'd been wrong, though. It was
important, more important than anything. He should have told her in
the beginning, before the relationship progressed, as part of her
early training.

Upon seeing Raea earlier, he'd wanted
to hold her, but she pushed him away. She couldn't have wanted that
distance, not by the look on her face. And what business did Nare
have whispering conspiracies to her? What had she said to Raea at
the school?

Sure, Nare told him that Raea said she
loved him but needed a break from him, but Nare held something
back. His second cousin had babysat him when they were younger—she
being five years older—but he never forgot how she put him down at
every opportunity.

This was no different. If Raea never
came back to him, he'd blame Nare. She didn't understand what it
was like to lose everything she loved, only to find penitence in
true love and have it nearly taken away. Raea was more precious to
him than his own life. He would do anything for her.

But Nare didn't understand. Instead,
she was flying with Raea, putting thoughts in her head about
leaving him, while he sat with Josh.

For now, he could do nothing if he
wanted to keep from pushing Raea further away. Instead, he sat with
Josh, who watched for the Dark Angel while not realizing he sat
there with him. Humans held some odd superstitions.

Josh watched the sky intently through
his binoculars.

"Looks like it might rain," Elis said.
The clouds had threatened moisture all day without releasing
anything. With the night growing cold as it was, freezing rain
could fall; not unheard of in April but not normal either. But at
least rain would bring Nare and Raea home, where he could listen to
whatever Nare told Raea, unless they went next door to Raea's
house.

If only Josh would call it a night, so
he could return home to the warmth of the house. Evelyn liked her
house warm. So did Elis. Inari didn't do well in the
cold.

But he couldn't tell Josh that; he'd
promised Raea to say nothing. And he'd do anything for her,
especially to win back her trust.

"This is nothing." Josh aimed his
binoculars at a different part of the sky.

So much for that thought. Sitting
outside in the chilly night could have been worse. It would have
been, if not for the warmth of the resonance. Luckily, the full
gloves hid the glow of the Starburst marks on his hands.

"I think I see something, but it's so
far away." Josh adjusted the binoculars, his face contorting
beneath them. "I'd swear I saw something pale. Not our angel, but
something."

Probably Nare.
Elis had warned her that her wings would be easy
to see, but, as with everything he ever said to her, she had
brushed his warning aside. "Definitely not the dark angel."
He's right here with you!

Oh, to say it. What would Josh
do?

Elis couldn't. He'd promised Raea that
he'd leave it to her when she was ready. Bad enough if she found
out what he had told Josh of what he "knew", the little that was
that wouldn't expose him.

"Any idea what Raea and Nare are
doing?"

"No." He hated lying, especially after
Raea's accusations made that point clear. A lie of omission was
still a lie. He'd known, but it had been so easy to ignore the
issue when she needed consoling through the horrors she'd
experienced more than worries about attachments to him.

Josh sat in silence, completely
focused on the night sky.

"So, like, what exactly is going on
with you and Raea? She just said that she needed some time apart.
She wouldn't go into details, but I know it bothers her. I worry
about her. You know? Especially when she cried this
morning."

Had he heard right? "She
cried?"

"Not much, but she probably would've
cried more if we weren't at school." Josh offered the binoculars,
but Elis shook his head. He didn't want to watch the sky. Seeing
Nare would be like her taunting him. He wanted to be up there with
Raea.

Raea had cried? Why? So many reasons
and possibilities circled that statement. He wanted to grab Josh
and shake the answer out of him. Instead, Elis took a deep breath
to calm himself.

Josh watched him expectantly. "Why is
she upset?"

"It's complicated." If that wasn't an
understatement, nothing was.

"Complicated? What's so complicated
about a relationship? Did you do something or say something to
upset her?"

"No…maybe…It's hard to
explain."

"Try me."

"I can't."

"Can't or won't?" Josh's accusation
could have been a slap on his face.

Anger flared from the embers of
frustration. Frustration from not being able to touch Raea.
Frustration from not knowing what she might decide. Frustration
from everyone blaming him. And frustration that Raea had made him
promise not to say anything to Josh about the truth of what the
media called Dark Angel, which would have made everything easier to
explain. "I can't. I promised Raea."

Josh dropped his eyes.
"Sorry. I—I know it's not my business, but I just can't believe how
fast it happened. I mean, one day she was all excited about Pallin.
Then, before he even did anything wrong, she was asking me for
advice about what to say to you, and now she's not sure
what
she
wants."

"She did?" Raea hadn't said she talked
to Josh, but as close as she was to the guy, Elis should have
expected it. Had she said anything to Jess or Linds? Why would she
tell Josh and not one of her girl friends?

"Yeah. It was weird. I have no idea
what happened between you while you were teaching her about her
mother and stuff—totally between the two of you. But, like, she was
so sure she liked you better than Pallin and didn't want to screw
it up. She thought since I'm a guy I might—you know—like, know what
was in your head. I mean, come on. How was I to know? You
know?"

"What did you say?"

Josh shrugged. "Not much, just that
we, like, get scared to say anything and sometimes the girl has to
make a move."

Had Josh hoped that move would be for
himself? If he liked Raea but was afraid to say anything to her,
they had more in common than Elis expected. Or was this Josh's way
of testing him, to see if Josh could now steal Raea? That thought
gnawed at Elis's gut, twisting and biting like a thrashing
beast.

"Apparently I was right."

Yes, he was, but Elis wouldn't stand
by and let Josh take Raea away from him. He'd waited too long for
the right time and given her his heart. He wouldn't lose her
without a fight.

The faint rush of the breeze filled
the void of silence between them.

A minute passed before Elis spoke. "I
don't think you're going to see any angels tonight."

"Probably not, but I kinda wanted to
talk with you anyway. I mean, after what happened with Pallin, I
don't want anyone hurting her again."

Josh would never fully understand,
even after hearing the story of what happened that awful night a
month ago. Elis had seen Pallin rape Raea through the vision from
the Starfire that she shared with him. It sickened and angered him,
eating away at the last of his control. Knowing the smug bastard
was free after drugging and abducting Raea and was Shirukan, like
the soldiers who killed his family, snapped something inside him.
He had relinquished control to a dark monster seeking vengeance but
also a need to protect the most precious part of his
life.

"I'll never hurt her." He was there to
protect her. If anything, he had failed and was more determined to
keep Raea safe, part of the reason he disliked being stuck there
while she was out flying. Nare didn't know the land like he did. If
something happened…

"I thought that about Pallin
too."

Josh sounded wary, with every right,
but it still annoyed Elis. "So, you'd rather have me out of her
life?"

"No. No, I didn’t say
that."

"But you were thinking it."

Josh sighed. "I'm sorry.
It's just that, after everything… After you told me what Pallin did
and how you went after him, you know, I…kind of…um…I wonder…I'm a
little skeptical. I mean, you're like so quiet most of the time,
and you just went off after Pallin. And now Raea needs distance
from
you?
"

He hadn't thought of it that way. Josh
made it sound like he was unstable, but at the time he had been.
After figuring out Pallin was one of those he most hated and had
hurt Raea in a way that could never be undone. The only resolution
he saw at the time had been to hurt Pallin as he'd hurt Raea. He'd
never experienced that kind of hatred before. "What would you have
done if you knew the man who raped someone you loved was alive and
free to hurt her again?"

"I don't know. You
said
she
killed him
in self defense. I never could have done that."

Elis could have and wanted to, not
only for Raea but also for his family. Pallin had come as an
undercover Shirukan, sent to take Raea back to surrender her
Starfire shard and kill her afterwards. Pallin had been more
dangerous alive than Josh would ever know.

Maybe he should know. He
deserves to meet his Dark Angel, and maybe he'd realize the truth
about Raea and realize she deserves to be with her own kind.
Damn his promise to her! He bit his tongue on
saying anything to Josh. "He was far more dangerous than you
realize."

"Oh?" Josh set his binoculars
down.

"Pallin was…" He couldn't break his
word to Raea. Crystal fire. "He wasn't what he said he was." There.
He didn't say it.

"I know…I checked at school, you know.
I had to know, just because I couldn't stand him getting away with
that. There's no record of his parents ever being there. Supposedly
they registered over the phone. The papers were sent to an address
in California, signed, and mailed back."

Elis's breath froze in his chest. An
address on Earth. Who would have pretended to be Pallin's parents?
Did they know what Pallin was? "What was the address?"

"The school wouldn't give it to me.
That information's confidential. Does it matter?"

"It might." Especially if someone else
was helping Pallin. If they were also Shirukan, Raea was in real
trouble. But why wouldn't they have acted sooner? It didn't make
sense. They were up to something. But what?

He had to track down whoever pretended
to be Pallin's parents. That address would be a start. He should
have thought of it sooner, but he had other things to worry about,
like taking care of Raea. Now, he had nothing else to do, and it
would keep his mind off Raea, until she came back.

His heart raced with anxiety, warming
him against the cold.

No. Not anxiety. The warmth increased
throughout his body, all the way to his fingers. The resonance. The
Starfire! But Josh's questions had distracted him from using the
resonance.

If he didn't, then…
No!
Only a Starfire portal
could call to the Starfire in Keepers from a distance.
Raea!
He had to reach her
immediately.

"What's with the wind?" Josh looked
around at the tree in the backyard waving in the sudden wind
stirred up by the portal in the atmosphere.

Elis had to get up there. Raea and
Nare needed him. He looked aside at Josh. There wasn't time to
waste.

But he had promised Raea.

Keep her promise or protect her? He
knew the answer without thinking. "Where'd you see the pale
wings?"