Starfire Angels (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 1)
Read Starfire Angels (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 1) Online
Authors: Melanie Nilles
Tags: #romance, #angels, #young adult, #science fiction, #aliens, #crystals, #starfire, #wings, #young adult romance
They've been coming here for thousands of
years, using Earth as a sanctuary to escape threats from their own
kind. Mankind knows them as angels, and one of them left a child
upon her death to be raised as a human.
Raea is now a high school senior and her life
as a human is about to end. The crystal shard she bears is not a
pretty pendant; it's a collective of powerful entities who chose
her as their Keeper, a protector of one of the four shards that
power a machine capable of destroying whole worlds. Those who
desire the Starfire's power have sent an agent to find her, but
she's too busy evading a nosy reporter ready to exploit her secret
and dating a hot new foreign student to notice. Nevermind learning
what she really is.
Only one person on Earth can help her, the last
person she ever expected. But he's not from Earth. Life as a human
would be so much easier.
"Melanie Nilles creates a story that not only
young adults can enjoy but I believe any age will get some delight
from this read. It definitely gives thought if one wakes to
discover they are far from being normal and need to find a way to
be accepted by all." -
Coffee Time Romance
Starfire Angels
By
Melanie Nilles
Starfire Angels
is a work of fiction.
Any resemblance of characters, names, places, or incidents to
reality is pure coincidence.
Starfire Angels
Paperback Copyright © 2009 by Melanie
Nilles
E-book Copyright © 2009 by Melanie Nilles
Cover Art
Copyright © 2009 by Melanie Nilles
Published by Prairie Star Publishing;
Bismarck, North Dakota.
Smashwords Edition
All Rights Reserved.
For information, contact Melanie Nilles at
mailto:[email protected]
or online at
www.melanienilles.com
.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank all my friends who have
supported me throughout the years and new readers who have yet to
dabble in my worlds. You know who you are.
Thank you!
Chapters
____________________
The Good, the Bad, and the Wounded
Dark Descends
Raea gasped and scanned the shadows around
her. Her crystal pendant glowed faintly like the aquamarine
splotches on the backs and palms of her hands, but it all faded to
nothing before she could blink. Impossible. She couldn't have seen
what she thought she saw.
Familiarity chased away the fire and
darkness. Her room. She sat in her room in Debbie and Mike Logan's,
her aunt's and uncle's, house, but her covers stuck to her.
Yuck. In the dark of her room, she threw
back her wet sheet and comforter and picked off her brown hair
sticking to her neck and shoulders. Much better. The cold March
night made her shiver, but after dreaming of fire and waking up
soaked in sweat, she welcomed the cold. She'd welcome a hot shower
in the morning even more.
It must have been a dream. That's all it
was. One more annoying dream to forget.
She closed her eyes. Tomorrow would come too
soon.
* * *
"Watch out!" Linds' voice called over the
noise of various conversations in the crowded second floor hall of
McClarron High School.
Too late. Josh met Raea with a newspaper
clipping held aloft in his hand. With his other hand, he swiped
strands of dark brown hair away from blue eyes sparkling with
excitement.
"Raea, you gotta see this!"
Not another one. The first story had piqued
her interest and the second confirmed it, but after five reports
shoved in her face about a mysterious black-winged angel helping
local residents, she had no desire to see another. Small town news.
Why did she have to live in little McClarron, North Dakota? Why
couldn't her aunt and uncle live in a city, or even Fargo with
several high schools? That was big enough to hide from news like
this and still be close to Debbie's family.
But she wouldn't have her friends, including
Josh, shortest guy in the senior class—her height—a total geek, and
a just plain nice guy. He should've found a girlfriend already.
Instead, he pestered her and the others with his obsession.
What did Josh have—sensors or tracking
devices planted on each of them? He moved too quickly for her to
avoid in the locker-lined halls without hurting his feelings. The
least she could do was humor him. Josh might be obsessive about
this, but he'd been a good friend since first grade.
She took the clipping he shoved into her
hands and glanced down. Yup, another one. This time the angel had
stopped a family from crashing on Highway 200 heading west to
Washburn. She finished skimming the article and handed the clipping
back to him. Her dreams about her mother with wings returned in
vivid detail.
"'Kay...So...Anything?"
Raea shook off her thoughts and focused on
Josh. That pleading gaze waited in expectance of her to get
excited. As much as she wanted to for his sake, she couldn't. "What
do you want me to say?"
"What do you think?"
In answer, the bell rang. The squeak of
sneakers and stampede with the slams of metal lockers around them
made talking difficult. Saved by the bell. Josh was cool, but she
and the others tired of hearing about their small town hero.
"I think we better get our butts into
Biology," she said.
"Forget Biology. Don't you get it? They made
the name official. They're calling him 'Dark Angel' for sure." He
followed to her locker. Why her? "It's just wicked! I love it!"
She didn't care about his "Dark Angel." Why
did they have to assign a name? Now that's all she'd hear from
him.
"Oh, and there was another article."
"Josh, we don't have time." Hadn't he heard
the warning bell?
"It just said a film crew from the Xplorer
Channel is coming next week to interview people and try to catch a
glimpse of the Dark Angel. Anyway, see ya in class."
Thank you,
she mouthed and turned the
dial for the lock on her green locker door. At least she wouldn't
have to hear about it for a while. But a film crew? She could just
see the madhouse with everyone wanting their moment of fame. Still,
it would liven up their small town for a while. It would be
interesting, to say the least.
With her books in her arms, Raea slammed her
locker and hurried to her first class of the day.
The only thing she wanted to think about at
the present was Linds's birthday party that weekend. Eighteen. Her
friend would be an official adult, even if they were still in high
school.
If only Raea's mother could have been there
to see
her
reach adulthood. That would have been perfect.
Her whole life would have been perfect if Padina had lived all
those years. At least then Raea wouldn't have only her dreams.
After her mother's and stepfather's deaths in the tornado thirteen
years ago, Raea had come to live with her aunt and uncle and
cousins.
Every day she wished she could speak to her
mother one more time, so she could ask questions like the one that
plagued her since waking last night. Had Raea really seen the marks
on her hands glow last night? Like her mother's marks, the
aquamarine blotches in her palms also showed on the backs of her
hands, so she couldn't hide them by closing her fists. Worse still,
jagged lines sprayed out from the center to her fingertips and
beyond her wrists. The bullies liked them, as a reason to tease
her.
Somebody bumped against her from behind, but
she caught her balance with a step.
A moonlit vista of a large valley clustered
with trees and dotted with a couple of rocky waterfalls stretched
to the horizon.
"I don't care what you are, Padina," Scott
said. "You're still the world to me. I want you to stay. Don't
leave me, not like this."
Padina hesitated and the scene blurred a
moment. It stopped on Scott in the wan glow of moonlight, his trim
figure crossed with shadows from the trees rising high around
him.
"Careful."
Raea blinked away the brief vision of her
mother and stepdad and looked up at the last sight she expected.
Elis Jasheir? No way. Disheveled black hair and gloves with the
fingertips exposed—that was him. Deep purple eyes behind black
locks made her look twice. Sure enough—purple. An odd color but
attractive on him. Warmth rose to her face. What was she thinking?
She wasn't, but when she turned away, she caught the smirk on Chad
Cooper's face. Oh, no. She'd never live this down.
She pulled away from Elis. The creepiest guy
in her class had caught her, and she blushed. This was
not
happening.
Elis left her to take his seat near the back
of the room, near the shelves of jars of preserved samples of odd
creatures Mr. Maviar collected for their study. He never said
anything, just sat quietly and did his work. She almost felt sorry
for him.
Not now.
What was she thinking?
She hurried to join Josh at their lab table
at the front and slumped down to hide. The worst was yet to come.
She knew it. Chad always found time to harass her. Unlike other
guys in her class, he and Joey had never grown up, and probably
never would.
"Woo!" Chuckles erupted from Chad, and the
other voice was probably Joey, who sat one table back and one row
closer to the door. Two of the worst bullies in school.
Raea hunched down and hid her face in her
hands.
Please, just leave me alone this once.
"Freaky and Creeper sittin' in a
tree..."
It was too much to hope. Twelve years of
torture were almost over. If she could just hold out two more
months, she would graduate and never have to see or hear him
again.
"Don't listen to them," Josh said. "They
just have to find some way to cause trouble."
"Yeah. For me." Why couldn't it be someone
else?
Before the bell rang to start the class, she
breathed easier. The handsome, young science teacher, Mister
Maviar, had only to give Chad "the look" to silence him. It paid to
be on a teacher's good side, although she could live without being
called a teacher's pet. After all, she didn't fawn over him, not
like the rest of the girls, or dress scantily to get his attention.
She didn't have to. Her perfect grades gave her enough
attention.
A familiar sound caught her ears. She
recognized the clack of heels growing louder down the hall outside
the open classroom door and waited expectantly.
