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‘We’re not married yet.’

‘Oh, I get it. You have to finish this quest before you settle down, stop gallivanting around the universe.’

‘More or less.’

‘That sucks.’

‘Yes, it does.’

‘Well, that’s incentive to find your missing angel, if ever there was any.’

‘Yes, it is. So let’s get back to doing just that.’

‘OK. I don’t suppose Ebrielle has a birthmark?’

‘The birthing chamber burned to the ground so rapidly the midwife Myrinda recalled only the infant being snatched from her arms by a monster she’d never seen before. It was most likely a disguised Prodigy.’

‘A
what
?’

‘Prodigies are an elite division of dark angels who are superbly trained.’

‘Well, isn’t that wonderful news.’

He gets my sarcasm and spits out a laugh.

I try to explain how difficult this is going to be, ‘Dude, I don’t think you realise how many girls go to my school. This could take time. The more identifying features you can give me, the better, you know?’

‘Myrinda noticed a smattering of dark red hair.’

‘That’s a start.’ Then a thought occurs to me. ‘Hey, Thane, do angels resemble their parents?’

He nods and smiles with one half of his mouth. ‘It’s safe to assume she’ll be tall with medium skin colouring like her mother.’

I laugh sarcastically.

He swings his face up to me. ‘What’s so amusing?’

‘You’ve just described about half the girls at my school.’

He gets up off the mat. ‘She’ll have distinctive eyes.’

‘Yeah? Like how? Like yours?’

He nods. ‘Yes, but sapphire like her mother’s, or … mahogany like the commander’s.’

I shake my head. ‘Are you sure they’re not green or orange?’

He flashes me a look that says he doesn’t appreciate my humour. ‘She’ll be intelligent with superior senses, and exceptionally athletic.’

‘Good at everything possible, though probably reluctant to show it.’

He frowns at me and I explain, ‘No one likes to stand out at school.’

Softly he says, ‘She will be so beautiful you won’t be able to take your eyes off her.’

‘Not everyone sees beauty the same way.’

‘Wisely spoken, Jordan, but with Ebrielle, her beauty won’t be all about her physical appearance.’

‘That takes time to see.’

‘Not if you’re observant.’

‘I suppose, but … Are you sure you haven’t seen this girl before?’

Keeping his eyes down he says, ‘I see her every night in my dreams, when she tells me about her day, what she did, where she went, who she met, if she’s happy.’

I stare at him. ‘Man, you don’t tell your fiancée back in Avena this stuff, do you?’

He laughs but doesn’t answer.

‘Oh, man, we have to find this girl fast.’

He looks up, frowning. ‘Why do you sound so concerned suddenly? Has something just occurred to you?’

‘Yep.’

‘Explain.’

I step off the trampoline and shake my head because he doesn’t get it. ‘You’re obsessed with this girl. Finding her has been your whole life and, dude, that’s just unhealthy. Your fiancée must be one tolerant lady.’

Again, he doesn’t answer, except for the strange little smile playing around the edge of his mouth. And I know he’s not telling me something.

On Thursday evening, while sitting at the dinner table with Amber, Dawn and Reuben, eating vegetable lasagne, the conversation swings around to school returning on Tuesday.

‘I don’t want you to worry about your uniform,’ Dawn says. ‘I have that under control, and I’ve organised a new set of textbooks from the library for you. I’ll pick them up when I go into town tomorrow.’

I poke my fork into a juicy zucchini. ‘You guys do so much for me, like this amazing vegetarian meal when I know none of you is vegetarian, and taking me into your home, and now the uniforms and books, I really appreciate everything, but if I’m going to be staying here –’ I glance up and meet each set of eyes briefly – ‘I don’t want anyone putting themselves out or going to extra trouble on my behalf.’

‘You’re no trouble at all,’ Dawn says. ‘We’re just glad you’re taking up our offer to live here. Your own room upstairs will be ready in a few days. It just needs a little tweaking.’

They all look so pleased I’m staying that tears spring to my eyes. Amber runs around the dining table and hugs me. I hug her back. But she stiffens suddenly, her fingers curling
tentatively over the strange growths. For the first time since I noticed them a few weeks ago, I’d forgotten the thickening bumps on my shoulders.

‘Ebony!’ She pulls away and takes several steps back, her hand flying to cover her open mouth, which she promptly drops to yell, ‘What’s with your back? Did you get hurt during the fire?’

Dawn glances at Reuben across the table. ‘Amber, what are you talking about?’

‘Before you turned up, the upstairs windows blew out and –’ she stops addressing her dad and looks at me – ‘we hit the ground pretty hard, remember?’

‘I remember you hit it harder!’ I try to make light of her concern, but now Dawn and Reuben are exchanging worried glances, and I wish I could slide under the table and disappear.

‘Don’t forget how you came hurtling out of the kitchen,’ she adds. ‘Did you hurt yourself in there?’

My face fills with heat and my cheeks start burning. How could I have forgotten? What a stupid,
stupid
mistake!

But, now I think about her reaction, why is it so intense? Have the bumps grown larger suddenly? They’ve been tingly today, but since the fire I haven’t thought about them much.

‘Ebony,
please
let Mum take a look.’

‘There’s no need. I’m fine, Amber.’ I turn and sit and pretend to eat, willing her with my eyes to do the same. ‘We shouldn’t let this lovely meal go cold.’

Reluctantly Amber walks back to her seat and pokes at her meal.

I attempt to change the subject. ‘I want to talk to you about photocopying your physics notes before Tuesday. That’s one class I don’t want to fall behind in.’

‘Of course, no problem. We’ll do that tomorrow.’ Her voice lowers, and she says, ‘But, Ebony, your shoulder blades felt … l-lumpy.’

My heart cries out to her as soon as I hear the tremor in her voice.

She croaks softly, ‘Lumps could mean, you know … a tumour or something.’

Dawn closes her fingers around her daughter’s arm. ‘Darling, in the last two weeks, except for Shadow, Ebony has lost everything she owns; let’s give her a little break over dinner.’

I don’t even know what a tumour feels like. I
really
need to take a look now. ‘Um, you know, I do remember falling off Blueboy, one of the geldings Dad was training just before the fire. A python shot out in front of us and Blueboy baulked. I came off and must have grazed my shoulders, but it hardly hurt and I forgot all about it.’

Finally Amber calms down. ‘Mum should definitely still look at it in case the wounds are infected.’

‘No! I mean, jeez, Amber, it didn’t even break the skin.’ I dredge up a smile. ‘It’s nothing, really, but I’ll check it out myself after dinner. OK?’

Reuben pats his daughter’s hand. ‘We’ve all had a lot on our minds recently; it’s easy to jump to conclusions.’ He smiles at her sweetly. ‘I’m sure Ebony would know whether or not she needs medical attention.’

Dawn smiles in that sad way she has just for me now. ‘I’m here if you need me, darling.’

We settle back at the table and, while I make an effort to eat Dawn’s lovely meal, I don’t seem able to swallow anything larger than a pea. It’s a relief when dinner is over and I excuse myself from having dessert and practically run down the hallway to Amber’s room. As soon as I’m in her bathroom, I pull off her brother’s clothes and turn my back to the mirror.

‘Oh!
What?
’ They’ve grown so much bigger! But what exactly am I looking at? I stretch my arms over my back and run my fingers across the growths. They feel leathery at the base and squishy at the top. A fibre of sorts comes away in my hand. I examine it under the light. It’s a white feather.
A feather? A soft downy feather!

How can that come out of me?

I flex my shoulders, the feathers move, and I freeze.

A primordial urge reminds me to breathe and I gulp in a deep breath. My fingers tingle, but I ignore them. I’ve hyperventilated before. Forcing myself to breathe more slowly, I lift my eyes to my reflection. A scared person looks back with violet irises almost entirely absorbed by black pupils.

The room suddenly spins. I grab hold of the basin just as the floor begins to rumble. The vibrations quickly move to the walls. Bottles, tubes, Amber’s toothbrush, just about everything sitting on a shelf or not fixed to a wall starts to shake. I latch on to the towel rail for more support. ‘What’s happening?’ I ask myself and, while looking into my reflection, concentrate on slowing down my breathing because I know it’s important not to pass out.

OK, something is happening to me that I don’t understand. I close my eyes and continue monitoring my breathing, keeping it slow. Losing control will get me nowhere.

The shelves and everything on them stop rattling. I look around the room; everything appears normal with nothing broken. I move a few items back into their positions.

OK, whatever that was, it’s over. I glance into my reflection. Even my eyes have returned to normal. The wide-pupil stare is gone, and I sigh.

I angle my body like a contortionist to take one last look at my shoulders. The feathers are still there.

Revolted, I slide to the floor, hug my knees to my chest and try to figure out how I’m going to fix this. I wonder what would happen if I pulled them out? Maybe I should simply cut them off as if I were having a haircut. Or shave them off with a razor?

What if they grow back thicker?

What am I thinking? What if I cut them off and they can’t stop bleeding?

‘How can I stay here now?’ I whisper to myself, feeling enormous sadness bearing down on my heart.

I take a deep breath and wipe away the self-defeating tears.

I have to go and see the man who claims to be my uncle. Maybe these things are hereditary and he can tell me about them. Some reassurance that I don’t belong in a carnival sideshow right now would be welcome.

The light rapping on the bathroom door doesn’t register,
but Amber’s startled cry when she opens it and sees me huddled on her bathroom floor does.

‘Oh my God, Ebony. Oh my
God
! Look at your back!’

I look up. ‘That’s what I’ve been doing for the last twenty minutes.’

‘I’ll get Mum!’

I grab her ankle and slam the bathroom door shut with my other hand. ‘Don’t do that, Amber.’

‘But … Ebony, have you seen your back? Have you seen those … those –’

‘
Feathers
, I believe, is the word you’re trying to say.’

She seems put out suddenly. ‘How can you be so calm?’

I get to my feet, slide into a towelling robe and point to my face. ‘Do I look calm?’

She takes in my swollen red eyes and trembling mouth and yanks me into her arms. She holds me tight until my renewed sobbing eases a few minutes later.

We sit on her bed and I explain how I noticed small brown spots a few weeks ago, and how they’ve been growing steadily ever since. I also tell her how different I feel from everyone, how I can do stuff that just isn’t normal.

She stares at me with her mouth open. ‘Ebony, you need a doctor.’

‘Do you believe me, Amber?’

She looks straight into my eyes. ‘Every word.’

‘Then why do you want me to see a doctor?’

‘Not
that
kind of doctor! I mean a skin doctor.’

I swallow around the lump in my throat. It helps stop tears from flowing again. ‘Amber, I can’t see
any
kind of doctor, at least not yet.’

‘Why not?’

‘They’ll want to write me up in a medical journal. There’ll be endless tests and experiments. I’ll have no life, no privacy. A regular doctor isn’t the answer for me. One of the conditions of the adoption was that I never see a doctor. Mr Zavier told my parents I wouldn’t need one, and so far I haven’t. I don’t get sick. If I cut myself …’ I stop, remembering another time when my wounds healed fast. ‘Or my face came too close to a flame …’

‘You heal faster than other people do,’ she says. ‘Well, sweetie, you’re sick now. You have feathers growing out of –’

‘
Jeez
, Amber, I know!’

She looks down at her hands. ‘I’m sorry, but they’re not just going to disappear, are they?’

‘No, and
I’m
sorry. You don’t have anything to be sorry about.’ I shake my head. ‘I need answers. I need information on my biological family – who my mother was, and especially my father.’

‘I’ll help you find them.’

‘Thank you.’ I smile at Amber with tears welling. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t go back to school yet. Maybe I should leave the area.’

‘And what good would that do?’

‘But if anyone sees these …’

‘No one has to. It’ll be our secret.’

‘You won’t tell your mum or dad?’

‘I promise.’

‘Or the girls at school?’

‘No way! We’ll work out what these things on your back
are, even if we have to research every medical database in the world.’

I nod.

‘You have to find out who you are,’ she declares. ‘And I’m going to help you.’

‘Actually, Amber, I have to find out
what
I am.’

On Monday, after training from five in the morning until four in the afternoon, Thane is so pleased with my efforts he gives me a driving lesson in the Lambo.

It doesn’t take long before I’m cruising the quiet mountain backstreets. On the way home my stomach growls. ‘You know, I could do with some real food for a change.’

He shakes his head as if he can’t believe I eat so much.

‘Dude, school’s back tomorrow.’

‘I’m not sure what that has to do with eating,’ he says, but he directs me into a reverse park in front of a Chinese restaurant.

On the same side but a few doors down is a small park with a toilet block at the rear. ‘I just have to duck in there for a minute. I won’t be long.’