On Raven's Wings (5 page)

“I’m not adopted.” I still wasn’t sure about Ian, especially since he would be the first person I ever told. He hadn’t earned the right to know yet.

He didn’t say anything, just grunted a tiny bit. Maybe he didn’t believe me, which was ironic since I wasn’t sure I believed him either. But if he’d seen the wings, then I couldn’t deny they were real. I had touched them. I could still feel the unearthly softness on my fingertips. It was a memory that wouldn’t fade anytime soon.

“We’ll figure this out together.” He draped his arm around my shoulder.

“There’s nothing to figure out,” I insisted. “My mom is missing and my house is on fire. That’s all that matters.”

He leaned in and whispered in my ear. “Raven, you know that’s not true. Even if you don’t want to admit to it to me, you know there’s something bigger going on here. What if your mom was taken by a demon searching for you? If I’m on to your scent, I may not be the only one. You’ve managed to confuse them for years with the Catholic school thing and whatever charm is protecting you.”

“There aren’t any charms, Ian. There’s nothing different about me now than there was at school except that I changed clothes.”

I hadn’t worn anything interesting to school. Nothing I wouldn’t wear on any other day. Just my jeans, a black shirt, socks, and Chucks. Only two things in my pocket, my cell and…

“The scapular.” I whispered it, but Ian was close enough to hear.

“Were you wearing it last night at the concert?”

I nodded, my eyes wide.

“What about yesterday at school?”

I took a deep breath. “No. I’d forgotten to stick it in my pocket. I meant to, but then I switched jeans at the last second yesterday morning.”

“By carrying it, you were making an unspoken covenant with God for protection.”

“I’m not wearing it now. It’s upstairs, in my jeans pocket.”

The heat from the receding flames licked my face. The firefighters had brought it down to just a smolder now, but the house was gone. Nothing was salvageable – not my things, and not my life as I used to know it.

“So what does this mean?” Fear flooded my veins.

Ian placed his palms on my cheeks. He looked deep into my eyes. “It means I have to destroy the only girl I’ve ever fallen for.”

Signs and Portents, 

releases November 6
^th
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A huge thank you to the people who help my books come alive: Karly Kirkpatrick and Angela Carlie. Without you ladies, these stories would be fleeting thoughts in my head.