Broken Wings

by Melanie Nilles

  It didn't matter if they discovered him. Not now. So what if they found out the secret of their Dark Angel. The Starfire was gone. Raea was gone. Nothing mattered.

  The lights passed, leaving him alone in the dark again. Relief and disappointment clashed.

  But Nare—

  He put a hand to her chest—she breathed, but she was cold. She'd freeze if he didn't get her home. Even at the end of April, nights could still dip into low temperatures. Seeing his breath proved that.

  He couldn't abandon her, no matter how annoying she might be. He hadn't saved her from falling to her death to let the cold finish the task.

  Elis wiped his face with his sleeve. One death because of the Shirukan was enough that night. He slid one arm under Nare's shoulders and the other under her knees.

  Lifting was a problem. The awkwardness of trying not to step on her wings while balancing and lifting with an ache in his back made the task nearly impossible. After a couple tries, another light passed over the ground. A sense of urgency swept over him. Old habit from trying to hide his identity.

  He might have to ask for help. Nare was heavy with her wings dragging, and he wasn't going anywhere. They were in a pasture in the middle of nowhere. The ache in his back made it nearly impossible to lift anything. How would he fly if he couldn’t stand?

  Debbie. She'd always helped him, because he protected Raea. But he failed to protect her tonight. Debbie would be upset to hear Raea was gone. He'd rather wait and tell her in person.

  Who could he ask? Evelyn couldn't help him. The only other person—

  Josh! He'd help.

  Now, if Nare kept her cell phone on her…

  He searched her coat.

  There. Clipped to her belt. Elis pulled it out and dialed Josh's home. After a warning about long distance, he redialed with the area code. Nare's phone service was out of Colorado. Any number in North Dakota was long distance for her. Tri-comm would have been easier, but only if Josh would have had one, assuming they worked for humans.

  The phone rang only twice before a woman picked up. "Hello?"

  "This is Elis. I need to speak to Josh."

  "I'm sorry, Elis. He took off a short time ago. Weren't you watching for his angel with him?"

  "I had to leave." To say the least. If Josh left his house, then maybe he was already on his way. At least his mother hadn't seemed to notice the transformation. One less person to worry about. "Did he say where he was going?"

  "No, just that he needed the car to run an errand."

  Errand. Right. Most likely following. Then he might arrive soon, if he knew where to go. Josh needed directions. "Does Josh have a cell?"

  "No."

  Damn.

  "But he took mine."

  Hope jumped in his chest. "What's the number?"

  She gave it to him and told him to warn Josh not to be angel-chasing when her car was low on fuel. Elis thanked her and hung up.

  Now for Josh. He dialed the number, making sure to use the area code this time.

  It rang a few times before voicemail picked up.

  Crystal fire! Elis tried again.

  Again voicemail.

  Pick it up, Josh! A third time, he dialed the number.

  "Hello?"

  Thank goodness. "Josh, it's Elis."

  "Elis! Holy Hannah! Where are you? What happened? I tried to follow, but I lost track. You're east. Right?"

  Elis breathed a sigh and gave Josh the directions. After two years, he knew the landscape for twenty miles around McClarron. That helped when he wasn't watching the land below him on his way to save Raea, although he'd caught a good look while trying to avoid dropping Nare.

  "Got it. I'm on my way."

  "Hurry. Nare needs warmth."

  "Nare? Where's Raea? What happened?" Worry leaked from Josh's voice. "Did something happen to her? You said she was in trouble. What kind of trouble?"

  Elis choked down the lump in his throat. "I'll tell you when you get here."

  "Oh, God! Okay. I'm closing the phone so I can drive. Bye."

  "Bye." Elis closed the cell and replaced it at Nare's belt.

  Josh would come, but he wouldn't like what he heard.

  Fresh tears welled up, but he fought them. Josh would come. Elis wouldn't have to fly her home. He could end the suffering, but Josh would need help getting her into the house unconscious. No leaving them. He had to stay. There was no escaping the grief tearing through him, but he could distract himself.

  After a moment, he found the resonance and shrank his wings. His back still ached, but much less without carrying the wings. He needed time to heal before flying again. In the strain of the sudden pull from his dive, he'd pulled a few muscles, especially with the added weight of carrying Nare.

  So much for considering leaving for good.

  Elis waited and watched. A couple cars passed their lights over the pasture as they turned a corner somewhere behind him.

  Finally, one set of lights lingered and grew brighter. It bobbled and stopped on him.

  Elis shaded his eyes and turned. Not far away, a car door thunked closed.

  "Josh?"

  "Elis!" Josh crossed into the headlights, a shadow against the brightness. His steps crunched over the yellowed grass, until he stopped. "Whoa! Dude, you never said…What happened?"

  "Help me with Nare?" The explanation could wait.

  Elis lifted her into a sitting position, her white-blue wings limp behind her.

  Josh froze in place, staring wide-eyed at Nare.

  "Help, please?"

  "Oh. Yeah. Right." Josh blinked and helped Elis carry her to the car, one of them on each side. Getting her into the car was another matter, especially with the wings dragging. Elis folded them close to her. A few feathers had bent or broken. She'd be upset with him for that, but she was alive.

  In the car, Elis laid her across the back seat.

  "What happened?" Josh closed the back door and opened the driver door. "Where's Raea? You said she was in trouble?"

  Elis slammed the rear door on his side and sat in the front passenger seat. He didn't want to talk about what happened, but Josh probably had hundreds of questions.

  Josh sat down and shut the door. "Where is she?"

  "Gone." Elis swallowed the lump in his throat. "I wasn't there. I should've been there."

  "Where? What's going on?" Josh started the car, but didn't drive. His eyes by the glow of the dashboard demanded an explanation. He worried, with good reason.

  How could Elis explain it to a human? He'd explained it to Evelyn, or, rather, Debbie had, but Debbie had already known about their kind from Padina.

  Elis pulled off his gloves.

  "No way. That's…just like Raea." Josh sat back, his eyes staring into the distance.

  "She's Inari, not human."

  Josh blinked. "Inari? That's what you call yourselves?"

  "We're not from this world. Ours is in a galaxy far from this."

  "Whoa. I mean, WOW! I never thought…" Josh let the words trail off.

  "How about driving?"

  "Yeah. I guess that'd be a good thing." Josh twisted back and glanced at Nare. "What happened to her?" He backed the car off the approach and onto a gravel road before turning forward.

  "Neutralizer, I'd guess. The Shirukan didn't want Raea dead…" In a quiet voice, Elis added, "Not yet."

  The sudden stop threw Elis against the seatbelt. Nare slid on the backseat.

  "Wait. Shirukan? Raea dead? What's going on?" Josh's voice hardened. He cared about Raea. Elis had seen it many times in Josh's behavior. "You told me once that you called the fallen angels Shirukan…Oh, God. You were talking about bad guys from your world. Weren't you?"

  "Yes. They're after the crystal shard she wears. It's called the Starfire, a collective of powerful entities, but it's only through Keepers that it has any power."

  "Keepers? You lost me at crystal."

  He should have expected this. Josh deserved an explanation, though.
"The Starfire created Keepers five thousand years ago, because the machine made to use their power was used as a weapon. It shattered and linked itself to the DNA of those within the machine known as Heffin's Gate."

  Elis took a deep breath before continuing, because—knowing Josh—he was going to have to explain anyway. "Twenty-five or six years ago, Shirat Marin was elected governor of Naviketan. She gained a following among the meistal, the descendants of Keepers without the Starburst marks—the marks Raea and I, and Nare, bear. Marin gave them special privileges in return for their fealty to her. They became known as the Shirukan, the honored of Shirat. With them, she went after Keepers, and swore to gather every shard of the Starfire to gain full power over Heffin's Gate, which would give her complete power over our world, and others. With it, she could even destroy Earth, our sanctuary." The speech repeated almost exactly what he'd told Raea in Inari six weeks ago.

  Josh focused on the road ahead. Sometime during Elis's explanation, he'd made it to the paved road. "So, like, Raea is Inari and a Crystal Keeper, and now the Shirukan have her?"

  "Yes. I have no way to reach her. She'll be dead soon, if she…" He blinked back the tears threatening again. "If she isn't already."

  "Don't say that! She'll be back. She has to." Josh fell silent, his eyes on the road and the town a few miles away.

  Elis wiped his eyes, but the faint rasping of "Far Away" choked him. The worst song at a time like that would play. He switched off the radio and pulled his glove on. Josh said nothing.

  They rode to the house in silence. Elis stared at the quiet sky. No portal formed for him; not a sign that Raea returned. But why would she? They'd neutralized her. She wouldn't wake up for hours. Then they'd force her to give up the shard. He had no way of rescuing her. She was as good as dead.

  Josh parked in the driveway next to the yellow house. Together, he and Elis carried Nare inside and up the stairs to the extra bedroom where Evelyn let her stay.

  She would wake up in the morning.

  "Now," Josh said in a quiet voice after Elis closed the door of the bedroom. "Tell me again. Raea has wings? What happened to yours? Why are you here? I mean, really here, on this world. That was you helping people?"

  So many questions he didn't want to answer. Not this. Not now. Elis walked down the stairs to hang up his coat. Josh followed.

  "I appreciate your help tonight." Elis opened the closet door. Hopefully Josh would take the hint and leave now.

  "Sure. No problem. So, is this what Raea meant by you teaching her about her homeland?"

  "Yes."

  Josh stood at the bottom of the stairs, clearly not intending to leave. "Didn't she know?"

  "No. Padina asked that she grow up human, and Debbie obeyed that."

  "Debbie knows? I mean, she knew all along?"

  Elis grimaced and hung up his coat. Debbie. He still had to tell her what happened, that he'd failed to protect Raea.

  "And she didn't tell Raea. This is all just so…like…bizarre. You know? I never thought— I mean, my best friend is an angel."

  "No." Elis closed the door and turned to face Josh. "We're not angels as you think."

  "Sure. You said you were from a different world. So you're, like, aliens. But you look so…"

  "Human?"

  "Yeah." Josh studied him.

  Elis expected the renewed scrutiny, and walked into the sitting room, where Evelyn snoozed in her recliner. Josh followed.

  "So, like, how do you do the wing tricks? I mean hiding them and stuff?"

  The interrogation wasn't going to quit. Elis sat down on the sofa with a sigh. Might as well get it over with. The sooner he satisfied Josh, the sooner he would leave.

  The interrogation went on most of the night, until the cell rang in Josh's pocket.

  Saved by the phone. Elis breathed a sigh of relief when Josh excused himself to return home.

  Seeing him leave opened the door for regrets to reenter. For a while, the mundane questions had distracted Elis. Now, the weight of losing Raea returned.

  The excitement and tears left him drained. He wandered up to his bedroom and laid down. He could do nothing now but hope someone rescued Raea.

  It was a slim chance.

  __________

  No Place Like Home

  A faint light in the dark highlighted a familiar face. Padina brushed strands of brown hair behind her ear, but her hair betrayed her and fell towards the view.

  ["Raea."] She spoke in a soft voice. ["How sweetly you sleep. I can't believe how you've grown. Soon you'll be in school on this world. If we were home, we'd be at Starfire Tower for your preliminary lessons."]

  She sighed and looked away a moment. "I'll be out soon."

  "All right," a deep voice replied.

  After a couple seconds, Padina licked her lips and reached around the view. ["I know the Starfire sees me, but I hope it doesn't reveal this until you're ready to understand. There's so much I wish I could tell you now. With luck, they'll never find us and I'll watch you grow into a beautiful woman.]

  ["But I feel that the meistal serving Shirat Marin know I'm here. I'm afraid they're coming. I won't run, but I'll do all I can to protect you. My lovely little angel."] Her lips quivered and she wiped her eyes. ["If they never find you, that's all I could hope. If you have questions, Scott or Debbie will be here for you."] She sniffed and wiped her eyes again. ["I will always love you."]

  A moment later, Padina disappeared from the room.

  ["How's she doing?"] a deep voice asked.

  ["Still resting off the neutralizer."] A woman replied.

  ["Let me know—"]

  ["As soon as she's awake. Yes, I know."] The woman sounded exasperated. ["It's no use checking every five minutes. It won't hurry her recovery."]

  Was she still dreaming? Who were they? Raea didn't recognize either voice.

  But they spoke Inari. Or was it another dream?

  Raea opened her eyes to a dimly lit nook of thick metal pipes and walls. The foul aroma of waste mixed with the dankness of stale water. She wasn't home on the plains with the fresh, clean air.

  Her last memories flashed back—the Shirukan attacked her and Nare. Panic swept through her.

  Raea jerked to sit up. Stupid move; pain wracked her skull. She fell back to whatever hard surface she laid on, her hands on her head. Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow.

  ["Easy. Take it slowly."] The faint overhead light touched a head of yellow-brown hair on a woman sitting next to her in a dark coverall. The shadowed visage touched no familiarity in Raea. Where was Nare? Where was Elis?

  Damn headache. It pounded a drum solo in her head. ["What did you do to me? Who are you?"]

  Footsteps padded closer, matching the steady strides of a looming figure. Dark wings shifted slightly behind him and settled out of sight again. The man carried an aura of authority and a reservation of emotion, a cold stare in his dark eyes. She didn't recognize him, but he was Inari, like the woman. She definitely was not home.

  ["We rescued you from the Shirukan. They neutralized you."] He spoke with a tone of authority that cut off any argument.

  ["Neutralized?"] As if being attacked by the Shirukan wasn't bad enough. ["Where am I?"]

  ["In the bowels of Naviketan."]

  Naviketan? Raea knew that name. Through the subdued pounding in her head, it came back. Elis had mentioned it. Her heart sank in dismay.

  Naviketan, the capital of the Shirat Empire, the home of Heffin's Gate. Now she knew this wasn't real. She couldn't be on Inar'Ahben. I'm dreaming…Wake up…There's no place like home. There's no place like home…

  Not working. Probably needed magic ruby slippers, something in short supply.

  ["I'm Leksel, leader of the vaiyosh."] He spoke as if she should be impressed. Far from it.

  ["What?"] She'd never heard that word before.

  ["We're one small group of vaiyosh."] The woman spoke in a firm but soft voice. Raea liked her.

  ["We're growing,"] the man said. ["There are five ot
her groups in Naviketan, all of them dedicated to stopping Shirat Marin."]

  Now she got it. They were rebels. A small gap in her Inari vocabulary. Only one question nipped at her caution. ["What about Keepers?"] In other words, what about her? Why was she still alive?

  ["Shirat Marin seeks to exterminate all Keepers, but we won't allow that."] The woman smiled and grabbed a metal cup next to her.

  ["Shartrael Raea—"]

  She blinked and focused on the man's face—he knew her name, not her actual name but her mother's maiden name. How? The cold tone of command matched the stern lines carved in shadow. His crossed arms were thick, his dark hair short, almost military short, and stared through her with those dark eyes as if into her soul where she couldn't escape.

  In a startling show of respect, he bowed his head as Nare had when she arrived. ["I pledge my service to you."]

  What? He pledged to serve her? Too weird, especially coming from someone so cold. If he had ordered her to do something, she would have believed that, but not the opposite.

  ["But you can't stay here."]

  No kidding. She wanted to go home.

  Steps tapped from behind him, announcing the new shadow a second before he appeared.

  Raea pushed herself up to sit, wincing at the moments of throbbing but determined to sit up to get a better look at her…rescuers?

  ["Here you are, again. Tarin said the patrols are gone from gold sector. He wants to know what we should do abou…"]

  The second man, also with dark wings, stared at her, his hair a mess that reminded her of Elis. This one had the lean look of a boy her age, probably almost ten years younger than Leksel, who gave the newcomer a dark glare. Either Leksel was going to hurt him—and he looked more than capable with those broad shoulders and thick arms—or the lift of his wings meant he wanted to fly. Probably not the latter. Leksel's wings tightened to his back a second later. So not the latter. The new guy acted as if he didn't notice the threat.

  Was it warm suddenly or was it her? The smile on the new guy could have melted the ice on the streets of McClarron in January.

  McClarron. Elis. What happened to him? She dropped her eyes to the blanket beneath her. If only he was there with her. Wait. Where was his coat? She had worn his coat to stay warm while flying. She didn't even have that much of him.