Elis slipped off his shoes and coat. He had proven nothing about Pallin or a Shirukan in the area, and Raea forbid him from saying anything more. He couldn't push the subject on her without proof. Bad enough that she left him with her coat with hardly a word. In fact, she'd hardly spoken after the close call at the farm house.
Elis hung up both his coats in the closet, which reminded him of the pantry. Standing in the tight space of the pantry with her had presented a unique opportunity for the kind of closeness he had only hoped for since seeing her the first day he arrived in that town.
For nearly two Earth years, he had longed to talk to Raea, but never knew what to say, which only made her avoid him. Like the human students around her, she ignored him soon after he started attending their local high school. Debbie's arrangements with the school allowed him to attend to watch over her, and Debbie's arrangements with Evelyn gave him a close place to live.
Now, Raea had trouble accepting his friendship. He saw it in the way she kept her distance. With the training, though, he hoped she would allow him in as someone she trusted, and maybe someone closer. For a brief time in that pantry, she had relaxed next to him. He could have stood there forever if she would have stayed. Every cell in his body found peace holding her. He hoped she would choose him to bond as a mate, but it seemed she had no intention of accepting him.
Only on landing in a new field a little further away from home than where they had taken off had she allowed him close again. And then it had only been to help her to pull the broken feathers, and afterwards to shrink her wings. She said little to him on the walk back through the snow.
What did he have to do to prove himself to her? The Starfire had brought this opportunity to be close in teaching her about what she was. He didn't know what else to do. Almost two years of silence and letting the students of McClarron High stick him with a negative label would be hard to break.
Some days he longed for home, despite the dangers. Earth could be much worse, even cruel, in many ways.
Elis sighed and closed the closet. Silence filled the house. Evelyn had gone to bed already. He respected her sleep, and he loved her as family. Her faith in her God inspired him. Maybe Earth wasn't so bad. And he had his cousin to talk to.
Nare. Maybe she could help him. He hurried up to his room, squeezing to the far left on the loose step to avoid making it squeak. From the desk in the corner, the computer fan hummed quietly. But he had another means to contact her.
He closed the door and pulled out the tri-comm from his jeans pocket. He carried it with him everywhere but didn't like to use it in public. Besides, while he liked to see who he spoke to, having that image move while he moved—because the signal connected to his optic nerve along with his auditory nerve—could be disorienting.
On the side of the flat, oblong device, he entered a code on the tiny buttons, the code for Nare's tri-comm. Unlike telephones, the devices had no need of a relay station when used within a few thousand miles of the tri-comm they dialed. No satellites or towers to relay messages. Inar'Ahben's orbit was far less cluttered than Earth's, except for the trading station.
He set the tri-comm on a line along his cheek from near his ear to his mouth and hit the transmit button. Now he could only wait.
While he waited, he could search. The monitor on the desk brightened with a click of a key. It had taken some time, but he had learned to type. His skills might not match others, but they were sufficient.
After some time—still no answer from Nare—and calls to the hotel, he had nothing on Pallin Montran, not even a birth record. The internet had anything on almost everyone in the world. Surely a man born to any U.S. military officer at least had a record with the government, if not a passport. Even he, Elis, had to jump through hoops, which he cleared thanks to Debbie's contacts through the office her brother Scott had worked in. He couldn't keep it all straight. The paperwork had given him a headache. She had done all the real work. What a mess. Humans had redundancies on top of redundancies.
Pallin had nothing.
Nothing. He might be able to use that.
No answer from Nare came after an hour. She had her reasons, or so he hoped. No worries there. She could take care of herself.
Elis removed the tri-comm and changed for the night. Debbie probably still knew enough people in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.
* * *
The girl had evaded her again.
Nina growled and let the door of her hotel room slam shut. Hearing it knocked out some of the curses built up inside. The night had grown too late and too cold. She couldn't sit in that car forever. In summer, maybe; but winter, no. Where had Raea gone with that boyfriend? No one had seen them since supper.
You're good. I'll give you that. But you can't hide from me forever. Sooner or later, she would catch Raea. Questions piled up, demanding answers. She had to know. If Raea had nothing odd about her, why did she continue to hide? Something was up.
At least one good thing had come from her visit—feathers. Brown and black. Some had skated across the snow, blown by the wind, but she caught all she could. The black had to be from the mysterious Dark Angel. But who was the other? She could have sworn the two wore regular clothes. Why would beings supposed to be supernatural leave tracks in the snow, or need to dress warm?
There's more to this than I thought. Something doesn't add up. Where's the connection? I'm missing something obvious.
She held up the five feathers she had collected. In the light of the hotel room, faint mini rainbows shimmered across the brown and black when she turned them at a particular angle. Beautiful.
* * *
"Look who just showed up for lunch." Linds gaped at the figure that approached the lunch line.
Pallin. His morning call had sent shivers of anticipation through Raea, and pity as he explained the trouble with homework. When she took the chance to visit with him that morning before class, Pallin agreed to join Raea to go out for lunch.
"You are ready for food?" Pallin glanced about at the others. "I being not late?"
"Nope. In the nick of time," Josh said. "So, where're we going?" Josh's interest in Pallin switched to his stomach fast.
"Let's get out of here. We can decide in the car," Linds said.
"Agreed." Jess led them to the nearest door.
"How 'bout Pizza?" Linds asked.
"Sounds good," Josh said.
The quick lunch at the gas station cafe turned out more pleasant than Raea expected. Pallin said nothing about Elis, which disappointed her in a way. Shouldn't he be jealous? He had been yesterday. Or had the fact that he wouldn't be there long made him give up any hope of continuing a long-distance relationship?
During their conversation, he and Raea both reached for a napkin. When her hand brushed his, a jolt seized through her. Pain crushed her skull.
What the hell... Not now. What happened this time? The voices cried in discord. That damned Starfire. Why did it do this? First Elis. Now Pallin.
"Raea, are you all right?"
"No." She spoke through clenched teeth. Someone make it stop. "Shut up!"
"Sor-ry," Jess said.
"Not you." Raea gasped and held her head. Quiet! I can't understand. Leave me alone!
"Where's Elis when you need him?"
Josh said it. For once, she agreed. She could use that magic touch again. How did he quiet the Starfire's voices? Go away. It's too much. If they'd just leave her alone. What did she have to do to shut them off?
The voices faded, taking the headache with them. Good riddance. She had to find a way to keep them silent. For now, they went away without much trouble, and the headache faded.
"You okay?" Linds put a hand on Raea's shoulder.
"Yeah. I'll be fine."
"What happened?"
Raea looked up at Jess. "Just a sudden headache. It's gone now."
"Shit, Raea. That's the second time in a week. I'd get it checked out if I were you."
"Ahem..." Josh gave Linds that look. The look that warned them to watch their language.
"Whatever."
Raea agreed with Linds. 'Whatever' said it best. None of them cared about his preaching.
"This is not normal?" Pallin asked.
"No, but I'm fine." Now. No thanks to the Starfire. What set them off this time? She glanced aside at Pallin's hand on the table. He had never touched her before then. What were the entities trying to tell her? That they didn't want her to be with Pallin? Did they know something, like when Elis had touched her to ease her headache last week? So, they liked Elis and not Pallin. No one controlled her life. Period. End of story. She would decide.
But the headache made her wonder. Was he a threat? Is that what they tried to tell her?
If they really wanted her to understand, the least the entities could do was tell her clearly.
She returned to the school with her friends before the warning bell. The sun warmed her and melted the snow. Raea stood outside with Pallin, her friends giggling on their way into the school to give her some time alone.
"So...um...it wasn't much, but I'm glad you came." That sounded stupid.
"It was nice. I can have time later...alone?"
Another date outside of school. Another chance to find out if she was wrong or right. "Of course. Yeah. I'd like, like that." So, why didn't the proposition excite her like it did a few days ago?
"Good. I like also."
"Yeah." Now what?
Silence fell between them. Say something. "We should get back to school."
"Yes. It is…much work. You will be done soon?"
"No. A couple months. Then graduation. Then I'm all done, but of course there's college in the fall." Or would there be? What would happen with her not being human? What if Nina found out? Don't think of that. She would have a future, and she would live a human life, like her friends.
The bell rang. "We better get to class. Call me later?"
"I will call."
She waited, hoping he might offer a hug or something more, or at the least to hold her hand, but he never reached for her. He never touched her. Maybe Elis had frightened him off.
She'd kill him.
"Well…um…We should get going." She reached out, but he pulled his hand away. All right. So, that was weird. Had he felt the shock? This wasn't going as she hoped. Everything was wrong.
She hurried to the doors with him, where she caught Elis watching. Damn him. Why did he have to keep this up? Pallin wasn't there for her crystal. In fact, he had never asked about it, or her hands. And he'd been a gentleman the whole time. If Elis continued his wild goose chase and turned off Pallin, she'd never forgive him.
The afternoon brightened for her with questions about her man from some classmates and dirty looks from others. Those others could be jealous all they wanted. Pallin liked her, or so she wanted to believe. They weren't getting any part of him.
It all ended with the walk home. Elis said nothing about Pallin, and Josh said plenty, mostly complaining about the unfairness of Mister Carter's Government test. Raea hardly listened. From down the street, she spotted the dreaded white rental car driven by Nina Russet. Oh, no. Raea had nowhere to hide. None. Caught in the open. A deer in the headlights.
To hell with that woman. No more hiding. Raea could face her without giving away her secret. She just had to act like nothing was strange.
Great. That'll go over like a lead balloon. She was doomed.