Milayna Read Online Free PDF Page B

me? It physically hurt.
    She raised her head, her eyes wide. “You would have thought I was insane. I thought I was insane.”
    “You’ve let me think I’m a freak! You could have tried , Muriel. You could have tried to tell me, so I wouldn’t have been so scared that something was really wrong with me—that I wasn’t going insane.” Tears pushed at the back of my eyes, but I fought to keep them from falling. I was too angry to cry in front of Muriel. As far as I was concerned, she’d betrayed our trust.
    “I’m so sorry, Milayna, but you wouldn’t talk to me when I asked. And until it happens to you, it’s pretty hard to explain. Or believe.” Muriel held out her hand to me, pleading, but I pushed it away.
    Grams tsked behind me. “How long have you known, Muriel?”
    “I didn’t know for sure until the day in the cafeteria. I started wondering the day at the mall.” Muriel dropped her hand.
    I turned my back on Muriel and met Grams’ gaze. I asked, “So my dad and Muriel’s dad are angel brothers?”
    “No. They’re just angels who happened to find each other on earth. They think of each other as family. And they are, if you think about it. They love each other like brothers. I think that makes them just as much of a family as anyone else.” She folded her hands in her lap, the sparkle in her eyes introspective. “See, angels don’t have blood family, dear. We’re created, not born like humans. Other than your mom, your brother, and you, your father is alone in this world.”
    “We? You’re an angel too?” My voice went up several octaves. “Geez, all I wanted was a brownie, but what did I get? Family members jumping around, telling me they’re angels.” I rolled my eyes and tossed my hands in the air. “Okay, you have my attention. Prove it. Fly around the room. Show me your angel wings.” Throwing my arms out, I spun around. “Prove you’re an angel, Grams, because I don’t believe a word you’re saying.”
    Grams’ mouth pinched down at the corners. “When we leave our home to come to earth, we become mortal. We aren’t quite human, but we lose most of our angelic abilities. I can’t fly around the room. I don’t have wings stuffed in my bra that I can whip out and show you.”
    I lowered my arms and huffed. “Yeah, okay, joke’s over, guys.”
    All of a sudden, the lamp on the table next to me turned on. I swung around to see who else was in the room and felt a chill trickle down my spine—no one.
    “I can turn it off, too.”
    The light went out, and I stared at it before turning around again. “So you got one of those clapper things that turn your lights on and off automatically—big freakin’ deal. That isn’t proof of anything,” I said slowly. Trying to be inconspicuous, I looked around for the clapper thing.
    But she didn’t clap. She didn’t do anything.
    Grams leaned back in her wheelchair and crossed her thin arms over her chest. “Okay, try this, then.”
    Every light in the apartment came on. The ceiling fans started to whir above us, and the blender buzzed in the kitchen. I jumped, a small scream slipping past my lips. My breaths came as fast as my racing heart. “What the hell…?” I looked around the room.
    “Can I turn them off now? My electric bill will be outrageous this month if I have to keep turning lights on and off,” Grams said with an eye roll. Everything turned off simultaneously, just as they’d turned on.
    “How’d you do that?” I stared at the floor where I’d let my shoes fall earlier, but I didn’t really see them. I didn’t see anything. In truth, I wasn’t thinking much of anything either. My mind was a mishmash of information. Angels, demi-angels, visions… My insides quivered like I was sitting on top of the washer during the spin cycle. But this wasn’t a fun kind of quivering, this was the change-your-life kind. “Angels. Angels? So, wait, if you really are an angel—”
    “I am.” She folded her hands in her