A Beautiful Dark

until Wednesday afternoon,” she told me. “Best behavior till I get back.”
    “Promise.”
    After several I-love-you’s, she hung up. The house echoed in the silence.
    I wondered if my mom had ever told Aunt Jo about her life as an angel. Probably not. I hadn’t told Cassie about all the strange things going on in my life. Some things were impossible to explain.
    I wound up in the kitchen, rummaging in the refrigerator for something that wasn’t prepackaged food. The yellow light spilled out across the room, and the refrigerator hum made me feel less alone. On the top shelf, I spotted a plate of cookies left over from the batch Aunt Jo had made a while ago. They were probably beyond stale by this point, but they’d have to do. I took the plate out and put it on the counter. I turned on the overhead lights, pulled up a stool, and grabbed a magazine from the growing pile of mail.
    I snatched a cookie and was just about to take a bite when something clattered outside. When I looked up, my heart froze in my chest.
    There was a face at the window. Shocking blue eyes. Porcelain skin. Straight blond hair. Though I’d only seen her twice before, I’d know her anywhere.
    Raven.
    I started to panic. What did she want? I knew so little about her, but Asher’s uneasy reaction to the news that she was here in River Springs made me nervous. I got off my stool, unsure of my next step. But when I turned around, it looked like the choice had been made for me.
    Raven stood in my kitchen, her blinding white wings unfurled from her small frame. It shocked me how such enormous, menacing wings could come tumbling forth from such a small being. The feathers glinted sharply in the moonlight—and for a moment, I had a horrifying vision that they could slit my neck with one quick swoop, open my arteries, and cause my blood to come spilling to the floor.
    I backed away.
    “That’s right, back away,” she said, and the calm of her voice gave me chills. “You don’t know how dangerous I am.”
    “What do you want?” I tried to hide my fear, but it was like she could sense it.
    Her hair flashed in the moonlight.
    “Poor little Skye. Two sides to choose from. Two sets of powers vying for your attention. What will you do?”
    “I—I don’t know. I didn’t know about any of this until the other day.”
    Raven circled me like a cat eyeing the mouse it plans to pounce on. “Of course, how could you know? The human child whose future the Order cannot see and the Rebellion cannot claim . Isn’t that how it goes? The old foretelling that brought the Rebel and the Guardian to watch you in the first place? The whole reason this mission came to be. How could you know if the Order doesn’t?”
    “What? I thought the Order sees everything?”
    “Funny, isn’t it? The one girl who has the power to destroy everything, and they can’t even see how their own mission will end.”
    “What are you talking about? Asher and Devin haven’t told me anything like that.”
    “Oh, the boys don’t know. They are just little pawns in the game. And isn’t it always the girls who run the show, anyway? You’ll be stronger than them before they know it, and they won’t care about you, then. They’ll leave you if they think you’re better. And you will be.” She took a small step toward me, then another.
    “Why are you telling me this? What do you want?” I was somehow able to push down my fear, and my voice sounded clear and confident. I almost fooled myself.
    Suddenly she was behind me. The sharp edge of her wing pricked my neck.
    “Leave Devin alone,” she said. “Let him come back to the Order. He is mine. The Gifted have foretold it and so it shall be.”
    “It’s not like I sought him out,” I said defensively, trying to keep still so the feathery blade wouldn’t slice me. “I didn’t ask for this.”
    “ You’re the reason he’s changing.” I broke away and stared. “You didn’t know that, did you? But he is. Don’t you understand what you’re doing to Devin?” Her voice softened. “How you’re tempting him? He likes you. He’s not supposed to feel anything for you. You are a mission. He can’t see you as more. He’ll fail if he does. And if he fails . . .” Her voice faltered, and when she spoke again, it was with renewed strength. “It must come to an end.”
    “Huh?” I thought about Devin: tranquil, peaceful, confusing as ever. “You must be kidding.”
    “The forecasts are shifting. The Sight