“Call mom and tell her to get us,” I said irritably. My body was increasing in temperature. I had to calm down before I burst into flames.
“Who needs moms?” Shawn winked, and I watched as two large black wings unfolded from his back. “We can fly.”
My heart fluttered at the beauty taking shape before me. Shawn smiled and opened his arms. I let them wrap around me, and we took off like a bullet up into the sky. One thought displaced all others in my head. I had to get me a set of wings.
Chapter 24
Moving On
I didn’t sleep that night and the next day at school dragged by slower than molasses. I didn’t see Adam all day; he was even absent in choir. I became concerned. He hadn’t missed a single day of school all year. I was filled with fear, thinking that the creatures had attacked him at the same time that they had attacked Aaron. I would never be able to live with myself if something had happened to him and I hadn’t been there.
Once class was out, I took off at a sprint to get to Adam’s father’s diner to see if he was there. I pulled into the parking lot, but the restaurant was empty, and the closed sign was visible in the window. I panicked as I got back in my car and frantically dialed Adam’s cell phone number on my mobile. It went to voicemail, and I was even more frightened as I sped down the road to the townhouse that his father had rented until they could move back to their home.
The police were still investigating the murder that had taken place. Okay, they were assuming it was murder… there was nothing that they could do to figure out what had happened in Adam’s room.
Both their cars were in the driveway. I slammed on the brakes, took the keys out of the ignition, and raced to the front door; beating on it with all my might. When nobody answered, I tried the handle. It was unlocked, so I threw the door open and raced inside. I couldn’t feel Adam there, and I was feeling even more scared than I was before. Hundreds of scenarios played out in my mind when my phone began to ring in my back pocket.
I grabbed it and hit the talk button without looking at the screen.
“Dawn? Where are you?” It was my mother, and she sounded panicked.
“I’m at Adam’s townhouse. There’s nobody here,” I told her, unable to keep the worry out of my voice.
“Get out of there, Dawn! They were being watched!”
As she screamed into the phone, I felt a hand slam into the back of my head.
I spun around, and my phone flew across the room. Standing in front of me was a man in a black suit. His eyes were also black, and he had a sinister grin on his face as he reached for me again.
“Who are you?” I demanded, throwing my hand to the back of my head. That shit hurt.
“I don’t think it really matters who, or what, I am,” the man said as he grabbed me by my shirt and yanked me toward him. Sniffing me, he threw me back and grumbled.
“Why are you here?” I asked. Why did I think he was going to answer that question when he didn’t answer the one before?
“That’s also not important,” he said, stomping on my phone, and shattering it. The last thing I heard from it was my mother’s shrill scream.
“Well, I think it’s important,” I retorted, trying to sound smart.
“I’m here for the angel,” he said suddenly, looking surprised at his own answer.
“What angel?” I asked. He apparently didn’t smell my celestial blood; otherwise, he would have continued beating me.
“The one with the brown hair. The one that got away from us once, but won’t this next time,” he said, looking even more confused. I wasn’t doing anything, yet he was willingly sharing the information.
“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” I said, getting to my feet. I could feel the fires ready to explode from my fingers.
“You know the boy,” he pointed out. “So, you must know something of the girl.”
I held my hands in front of me and let the fires scorch his eyes. He screamed and tried to grab me.
“You’re one of them!” he shrieked at me.
“I am one of what?” I shouted back as his eyes began to boil. And then I ran.
I got to my car and sped out of the driveway, heading for the only place I knew to go. I kept my senses open; I didn’t want to be followed. The man in black must have been one of the guys who had asked Adam tons of questions right after Helen left, the men that my mother called Equalizers.
I couldn’t call my mother as my phone was in pieces on the floor of Adam’s dad’s townhouse. All I could do was pray that Adam and his father were with her. I drove faster than I had ever driven before, eventually pulling into our driveway and dashing for the house.
I entered the living room with my heart pounding in my ears. My mother looked up with red-rimmed eyes. In a flash, she was on her feet and throwing her arms around me.
“I thought I’d lost you!” she cried, gripping onto me.
“No, but the bastard smashed my phone,” I confessed angrily. I was confused as to why she would think that I was dead.
“How did you get away?” she asked, refusing to let me go.
“I burnt his eyes out,” I said as if this was a normal everyday thing for me.
“Good,” she replied, nodding as she finally let me go.
“Where’s Adam and his father?” I asked. That was my main focus, not the man in black that I had encountered
