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shoulders and yank his universe out from under him.
    “That’s right, Vane. I’m not human. And neither are you.”

CHAPTER 9
    VANE
    I can’t stop laughing.
    I laugh so hard I scare bats out of the trees. My sides ache and I have to gasp for air and tears stream from the corners of my eyes. But what else am I supposed to do?
    This is officially entering new realms of crazy, and I refuse to be dragged there. I may not understand a few things about my life or my past, but I’m absolutely positive that I’m a human being . I mean, I look like everyone else. I feel like everyone else.
    So does Audra.
    Right—because she’s human too, I tell myself.
    Psycho. But human.
    I must’ve dreamed what I saw in my room. I’ve had plenty of other crazy dreams about Audra—why not one more?
    That’s a good enough explanation for me.
    “I’m out of here,” I say as I head back toward my house. “Get off our property—and stay away from me, or I’ll smack you with a restraining order so fast you won’t know what hit you.”
    “I can’t do that, Vane.”
    I ignore the chills I get when she says my name. “Yes, you can.”
    She isn’t my dream girl. She’s a problem I’m getting rid of.
    She doesn’t follow me. Instead, I hear her start whispering.
    I don’t want to listen—fight to ignore her—but it feels like her voice bores into my skull. The sounds are mush, but after a second they sink in and become words.
    “Come to me swiftly, carry no trace. Lift me softly, then flow and race.”
    The words fill me with warmth and ache and I want to run to them and away from them at the same time. But I can’t move. I’m frozen—enchanted by the whispers swirling in my consciousness.
    Enchanted.
    “Are you putting a spell on me?” I yell, shaking my head, trying to break whatever voodoo she’s using.
    She doesn’t answer.
    Instead, a blast of wind tangles around me, and I learn what a fly feels as a spider binds it with a web. Among the chaos and torrential gusts I feel her arms wrap across my shoulders and an explosion of heat as her body presses against mine. Then we’re airborne.
    I swear my stomach stays behind as we climb up and up and up. I have to keep popping my ears as we shift altitudes.
    But I’m not afraid.
    I know I should be. My life is literally hanging on a gust of wind that Audra’s somehow controlling—and she’s clearly some sort of witch or goddess or other impossible creature.
    I don’t care.
    It feels right up in the dark sky. Natural. Like scratching an itch I didn’t feel until the burning relief rushes through me. Up high, with the wind whipping around me and Audra’s warmth mingling with mine, everything else washes away.
    I close my eyes and listen to the wind—and I don’t hear the thundering, whipping sound I expect. I hear the ancient language that belongs to the wind and the wind alone. It whispers of the places it’s been.
    Of change.
    Of power.
    Of freedom.
    I want to listen forever. And that’s when I know.
    I’m not human.
    I have no idea what I am, or what I’m supposed to do with that revelation. But it doesn’t stop it from being true.
    A lurch in my stomach rips me back to reality and I open my eyes. We’re falling, fast and hard. I can’t be sure—but I have a feeling the girly scream comes from me.
    “Hit the ground running,” Audra shouts in my ear as the dark earth races toward us.
    Right. ’Cause moving my feet will stop me from turning into a Vane-splat.
    But my options are limited, so when she shoves me away fromher and whispers, “Release,” at the same second the wind cocoon unravels, I follow her lead, pumping my legs as my toes graze the hard earth.
    I laugh as we both run across the rocky ground as fast as our feet will carry us.
    I’m not dead. In fact, I’ve never felt more alive.
    I force my legs to a stop and take in the scenery. We’re high in the foothills, with the lights of the desert cities twinkling in the distance and the freeway