Free Starfire Angels (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 1) by Melanie Nilles Page A

facilitate communication with our kind, to
further its purpose of studying our universe. That's why it grants
us its gifts, as it told your mother."]
    Raea stared at him. So much, all at once.
All in one day. She could hardly absorb it all.
    ["Its power has been sought by many since
its discovery. It still is. 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. She 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."]
    Raea lifted the crystal. Damn. One seemingly
insignificant gem could cause an awful lot of trouble. No Earth. No
Pallin. ["How many shards does she have?"]
    ["Two, with my father's."]
    The sorrow in his voice pulled at her
sympathy. ["I'm sorry."]
    He nodded, but his throat flashed with a
swallow. ["I wish I had been there to help fight off the Shirukan
when they went after my family."]
    ["Wouldn't you be dead too?"]
    He sniffed and a moment later brightened
with a faint smile. ["That's what Saffir said when she told me to
come here."]
    ["She's important, isn't she?"]
    ["The most honored of Crystal Keepers. The
shard she bears is the largest. The others turn to her for
guidance, because she's the oldest and wisest, and at least one
shard has always stayed within our line."]
    ["That explains the vision with my mother."]
Raea dropped the crystal and looked away from him. The pain on his
face reminded her too much of what she felt inside. She didn't need
to see it on someone else, least of all on Elis. And she was afraid
of crying in sympathy. The Shirukan must have been the black-clad
figures she had seen in her dreams. They killed her real father and
tried to capture her mother.
    "You should get back to practicing." Elis
stood up and exited the room, the familiar hunch of his somber mood
weighing on his shoulders.
    Had she said something wrong? Was it the
memory of his family? Guilt twisted her stomach. She should have
said nothing more. Now, she upset him, just when he was opening
up.
    She shouldn't have cared, but she did.
    Despite feeling bad for him, she stayed
behind to practice. He would return...she hoped.
    The resonance came quicker each time she
found it. Recognizing that pitch inside her made all the
difference.
    After an hour, she noticed the clock on the
stand by his bed and stood up. Her back ached from sitting without
support. She'd pay for it the next day. Oh, well. That's what
Saturdays were for, besides birthdays.
    So, why hadn't Elis returned yet? Where had
he gone? She couldn't believe she sat in his room. Weirder still—it
no longer creeped her out. After all that day had brought, she
actually felt sorry for him, and guilty about her behavior.
    She left his room. "Elis?"
    "Down here." His voice came from the sitting
room.
    Raea thumped down the stairs in a hurry and
caught herself at the bottom. Whoa. Before she thought to slow
down, he met her at the doorway, standing tall once more.
"I...ah...should get home." In case Pallin calls.
    He nodded and stepped past her to the door.
"We'll practice tomorrow."
    Did she have to? What about Linds's
birthday?
    "The sooner you control the resonance, the
sooner you can fly."
    "Awesome! Really?" Calm down. Too
late. His smile returned—he knew exactly how to tempt her. "I mean,
that'd be cool." What would it be like to fly? She couldn't wait to
find out.
    Raea slipped on her shoes without tying them
and hurried out. At the bottom of the steps, she stopped and
turned. "Um...Thanks, for everything; and I'm sorry about the
rest."
    At the open door, he waited, but said
nothing. Raea ran through the ice-coated snow to her door and
waved.
    He