Read Starfire Angels (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 1) for Free Online

to
her?
    Maybe Chad was right—she really was a freak.
No. She couldn't think like that. There was a reasonable
explanation; she just had to find it.
    Reason? What reason was there for growing
wings?
    If she cleared her head, maybe the voices
would come back. Calm. She needed that. Deep
breaths...Focus. Each breath pulled her further away from the
anxiety. The quiet invading her mind coaxed her to the peace of
sleep.
    A knock jerked her awake.
    "Raea! Time to get up."
    "Huh?" What time was it? A check of her
clock told her—time to get up for school.
    Debbie tried the door handle but it only
jiggled. "Why's your door locked?"
    Door locked? Oh, yeah. She'd locked it.
Then, that meant…
    Raea reached around her back, and her
fingers brushed the soft feathers. Oh, no. It hadn't been a
dream.
    "Are you all right?"
    No! I have wings . Yeah, right.
As if she could say that, but she had to say something to satisfy
Debbie or her aunt would never leave. "I...I don't feel good. Don't
come in."
    "What's wrong, honey?"
    "Um...I'm not myself this morning. I can't
go to school." She certainly didn't lie about not being herself.
But what was she?
    "Can you unlock the door?"
    "That's not a good idea." What would Debbie
think if she saw her like this? What would anyone think, besides
that she belonged in some circus side show?
    "What's wrong? It can't be that bad."
    "Oh, yes, it can!" If Debbie only knew. But
she never would.
    After a pause, Debbie spoke in a tone of
defeat. "All right. I hope you feel better soon."
    "Me too." Good. Debbie gave up. Now what
could she do? Raea couldn't hide in her room forever. Sooner or
later Debbie—or worse, Mike—would find a way to unlock that
door.
    Raea's stomach rumbled, and she groaned. She
needed something to eat. She couldn't stay there all day, but at
least after everyone left, she could sneak out to the kitchen.
    The morning passed slower than ever. For
once, she didn't care when Dave called out that she could have the
shower and all the cold water.
    The voices and clatter of flatware on plates
from everyone eating echoed up from the main floor. Her stomach
grumbled in protest. Easy. Soon they'll be gone. Then the
kitchen is ours, stomach.
    When the phone rang, her heart leapt from
her chest. What if Pallin called? Raea groaned. The hottest guy to
ever show an interest in her would get away. The only guy to
express any interest in being with her. Someone somewhere was
having a good laugh at her expense. Why did this have to happen
now?
    What did the wings look like, though? Could
she actually fly? Sure, and she hated heights. What good were
wings? Still, she might as well look.
    Raea crawled out of bed and hesitated.
Curiosity had a cruel way of revealing unpleasant surprises. Maybe
she should stay away from the mirror.
    Could she move her wings?
    They weren't as heavy as she thought. And
moving them only took a thought. Like wiggling her fingers or
walking. But the wings didn't do exactly what she wanted.
    Could she stretch? How far would they
go?
    She tried, but her room blocked her from
what she thought would be a full stretch. Her bedroom barely
measured fifteen feet long. The wings had to be huge to support her
and still bend with each wingtip out.
    I wonder ... Raea sat at the wall near
the head of her bed and concentrated on making one brown wing
flatten out in the morning light. Both stretched, one to the side
and the other back, knocking into her dresser and bumping it into
the wall behind her.
    Stupid wings!
    She took a deep breath and tried again. The
one wing easily pressed into the glass of the window and the
feather tips could have gone farther. How big were they?
    A knock on the door startled her. She
turned, forgetting about the inconvenience behind her. Her
corkboard crashed to the ground.
    "Raea, are you all right?"
    "I'm...Yeah. Just knocked my board down.
That's all."
    Stupid, stupid wings. If she couldn't
control them, how would she ever hide them?
    "The boys and Mike