Djinn: Cursed Read Online Free Page A

into the alley.
    It was them, it had to be.  My heart was threatening to beat out of my chest, and every instinct in my body was screaming at me to flee, to take to the sky and not look back.  That made me swallow, whatever had happened to me, to make me a freak, had invaded my instincts as well if my first thought was to fly away.  Had... had my mind been changed as well?  Was I still... was I still me?
    We sat there a moment, her on top of me our faces inches apart as I just stared into her dark eyes.  I swear they were reflecting her inner torment, something that haunted her to her core.  Then she just grinned despite the gravity of the situation.  And reached over for a dirty canvas trap which was draped over some detritus in the stairwell; Some boxes and paint cans that were likely put there long ago and promptly forgotten.
    She pulled the canvas over me and hugged it tight to my wings.  I yelped in pain over my injured wing.  She put her other hand over my mouth and gave me a warning look in the darkness.  I held my breath as we listened to the cars slowly prowl down the alley.  I could see light sweep past our hiding spot as they searched.
    Then a moment later the screeching of tires as they moved on and turned down the street once they reached the end of the alley.  I tried to sit up and move her off me, but she shook her head and released my mouth, putting a finger to her lips as she cocked her head and listened.
    After a few seconds, she nodded her head and said off to the side, “Thanks,” For some odd reason.
    Then she looked at me.  It was hard to make her out in the darkness under the canvas.  In a sweeping move, she whipped the canvas off of us and rolled off of me, saying, “They say they are gone now, Angel.”
    I sat up, cradling my wing and wincing at the pain in my head and back.  I shook my head and asked, “Who says they are gone?  Who are you and how do you know my name?”
    She cocked her head and asked in confusion, “Your name?”
    I nodded as I started examining the leading edge of the impossible wing, feeling for breaks.  It seemed to be only deeply bruised tissue with no breaks unless there was a hairline fracture of the light bones.  “Angel.  How do you know me?”
    Her face screwed up in confusion, then she looked to her left and said, “I know, lay off, just let me talk.”
    Then she turned her eyes to me and said far too cheerfully for how insane she sounded saying it, “You're a fallen angel.  I saw you fall from the sky myself.  Those men were looking for you, they must have seen you fall from the heavens too.  But you're my angel, I found you.”
    Oh... she really was mad.  She didn't know my name, she seriously thought I was an angel.  Then I blinked and started laughing almost uncontrollably.  Maybe she wasn't as far gone as I thought.  After all, here I was, examining my wings for injuries.  My wings.  I had fucking wings!
    I looked more like an angel than human now so what I would have thought impossible just minutes before was staring at me in the face as I subconsciously wrapped both wings around myself in a protective cloak.  Maybe I was the mad one, and she was... wait, she was talking to someone who wasn't there.
    Could my life get any more fucked up?
    I assured her, “I'm no angel.  Those men are trying to kill me for some reason, and I don't have a clue why.  And I don't know how I got these wings.”  Then in a confused voice, tinged with a bit of wonder as I spread them wide to look at, I said, “But they saved my life.”
    She looked at me dubiously, and I took a deep, calming breath and centered myself.  Then I exhaled and offered my hand out to her as she looked away from my face, her eyes tracking the length of my wings.  I blushed under the scrutiny, folding my wings to my back as I offered, “Angelina Drake.”
    She looked disappointed I had hidden my wings away from her, and she accepted my hand and reached her other hand out