Angel Fever Read Online Free PDF Page B

I jumped off the bed.
    Meghan stared at her. “Seriously? You want to stick a needle through her earlobes?”
    “See?” I said to Liz.
    “
You’ve
got pierced ears,” Liz pointed out to Meghan.
    Meghan fingered one of her dangly gold hoops. “Well, yeah, but I got them done at a shop. But, hey, what about shoes?” she added brightly. “Do you want to borrow a pair? I’ve got the perfect ones!” She darted out of the room, her rich hair glinting like autumn.
    Liz laughed. “No one does ‘enthusiasm’ better than Meghan.”
    “How come I’m the only one down here who doesn’t have a dressy wardrobe?” I said, gazing after her.
    “The rest of us got our priorities right, that’s all.”
    Meghan reappeared with a pair of shiny high-heeled shoes and crouched down gracefully on her long legs. “Oh, good – looks like we’re the same size.” As she began angling one of the shoes onto my bare foot, I started to protest, then just let her do it – it would have been like trying to halt a force of nature. Besides, I was too busy drinking in the shoes. They were a deep wine colour and almost old-fashioned: a chunky heel and rounded toe; a big button perched on the strap. But somehow they looked just…
    “Amazing,” said Liz. “Meghan, you’re a genius.”
    I turned my ankle this way and that. The shoes gleamed like fresh paint. “These are just…absolutely gorgeous. Thank you so much.”
    Meghan sank back on her heels, regarding my feet with a small, wistful smile. “I love these shoes,” she said. “I always think they bring me luck.” She glanced up with a sudden grin. “And you’re going to be the birthday girl, so you get
extra
luck. That’s the rule. Anyway, I got distracted,” she went on, jumping to her feet. “What I came in here for was to ask if you’ve got iPods. I’m going to make a playlist for the party.”
    Officially, the upcoming party next week was to celebrate Alex’s and my birthdays – I’d be turning eighteen, and he’d be nineteen. But really, it was just to give people a chance to let off steam and relax. After months of intense training, everyone was more than ready to.
    I shook my head. “Sorry, I was still playing CDs back in Pawntucket.”
    “I’ve got one,” said Liz. “Wait, I think I left it in the kitchen. Back in a sec.”
    After Liz had gone, a silence stretched out between Meghan and me. I glanced at Liz’s clock. I needed to go talk to Seb soon, but it seemed rude to just leave Meghan there. Turning to her, I started to make some comment about the party – and caught her giving me a sideways glance, lips pursed.
    “What?” I said in surprise.
    Her milky skin flushed. “Sorry. It’s just that – I mean…you’re half-angel, aren’t you?”
    She blurted the words out, and I blinked. Meghan
knew
I was half-angel. Everyone in the base knew, because Seb and I used our angels to help train people.
    Before I could respond, Meghan shook her head. “God, don’t even answer that. I just wanted to know…well…what’s it like?” Her voice was soft, hesitant.
    Strangely enough, in all our time here, no one had ever asked me that. I sank down onto Liz’s bed as I tried to gather my thoughts.
    “I don’t know,” I said finally. “I only found out a year ago, so it’s still pretty new to me. A lot of times, even now, I’m not really conscious of my angel; I just feel human. And then other times, I’m so completely aware of this other self inside me.”
    Meghan had lowered herself into Liz’s desk chair, listening intently. She glanced down, trailing her finger back and forth across the desk. “Do you think – do you think maybe it’s because you didn’t know what you were for so long that you’re with Alex now? I mean, Alex is
gorgeous,
and he’s a great guy,” she added hastily. “But if you’d known that you were half-angel all your life, then…well, do you think you could ever fall in love with a human?”
    Suddenly it was all too