On Raven's Wings Read Online Free PDF

I found myself staring out the window instead of at the equations in front of me.
    The trees swayed back and forth in the breeze, their orange leaves dancing together like kids in a slow-motion mosh pit. My cell buzzed under my leg, but I ignored it. I was still puzzled about Ian. He seemed nice. He was into me. But what did he really know about me? Nothing, which told me he just wanted in my pants. And maybe I wanted that too. Maybe…
    I grabbed my cell to see whose text I missed. It was Ian. How the hell did he get my number?
    Get out of ur house!
    What was wrong with him? Everything was an emergency. Probably some end of the world mess he thought he needed to clean up.
    Change your mind about that whole celibacy thing? I texted back.
    Get ur mind out of gutter! There’s a demon in your house.
    Ian, stop. Not funny.
    A blast downstairs sent smoke upward, choking me in my bedroom. Billowing black clouds and sulfurous scent enveloped my senses. “Mom,” I screamed. I ran to the door, grabbing the handle. Scorching heat radiated through my hand and I jerked back. “Stop. Drop. Roll,” I said to myself, repeating the old slogan I’d learned as a kid and never had to use. I dropped to the floor and crawled over to my window.
    Flinging the sash up, I tasted the scent of fresh air mixing with the horrible smell of my burning house. My hands trembled on the bottom of the window. I couldn’t jump and there wasn’t a tree to climb down on. I looked back to my bedroom door. Smoke crept underneath like a sinister invader.
    I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and jumped out of the window. I waited for the impact of bone against the concrete patio, but it didn’t come. My feet didn’t even touch the ground. A weird, tugging sensation came from my back. Cautiously I opened one eye and swiveled my head to the side.
    Huge, lacey black wings flapped in the air, buoying me from the ground. “What in the name of all that’s holy?” I reached an unsteady hand behind me and touched the leathery wings protruding from my shoulder blades.
    “Raven!” A voice called from below. I looked over, seeing Ian leaning up against a tree, his arms folded across his chest. “Want to talk a little more about heaven and hell?”
    “No,” I shouted back. “Where the hell is my mom and what did you do to my house?”
    Without thinking about it, I lowered to the ground, touching one toe to the cement first, just like Superman always did in the movies. The wings folded up and disappeared. I scratched at my back, but couldn’t even find a hole in the shirt.
    Ignoring Ian, I swung around, watching my house burn as if it were a harmless bonfire, not an event that was about to change my life forever.

Chapter Eight
     
    I sat on the ground next to an ambulance, a scratchy blanket wrapped around my shivering shoulders. The firefighters hadn’t found my mom inside. Not even a trace of her. We all hoped she’d run back to the office for something and forgot to tell me she was leaving. Until she answered her cell phone, we couldn’t be sure. My dad stood off to the side, talking animatedly to the cops. He’d gotten home from work only minutes ago, just after the emergency vehicles arrived and long after my wings disappeared.
    Wings. I tried not to think about them. It was a hallucination brought on by stress. Obviously.
    Ian sat on the ground next to me, his shoulder just barely touching mine. He hadn’t said a word since the fire truck arrived, for which I was grateful. The last thing I needed was more nonsense about demons.
    His shoulder moved up, and I instinctively knew he was about to take a breath, which would lead to more talking.
    “Don’t.” I preempted him. “Don’t say it again.”
    “You’ve changed, Raven. Something’s different. You aren’t the same girl you were after school.”
    Gee, my house was burning down and he was disappointed I wasn’t jumping his bones. Typical guy.
    “Yesterday, I smelled you.”
    He smelled