Chapter 1

Blood pooled between my fingers as I pressed the towel down onto Simon's back. He grunted in response.

"Jesus Izzy that hurts."

I pushed black curls out of my face with the back of one hand and shuddered. There was so much blood, but beneath it, I could feel sharp protrusions that I didn't know what to make of.

"Did you get stabbed or something Si? What the hell? You need to get to a hospital!"

"And how would I explain what's wrong with me? Oh hey doc, I've got something trying to escape from my back like I'm the star in an Alien movie. No, I have no idea what it is, I just started feeling pain yesterday morning and I was bleeding by the afternoon. Come on Iz, I'd be shipped off to Area 51 and studied, never to be seen again."

"Area 51 isn't real, genius," I snapped, falling easily into our normal banter, but there was no real heat behind it since I was pretty sure he was partially right. Going to a hospital would probably not be a good idea. "Dammit Jim I'm a dancer, not a doctor."

He laughed. "I'm pretty sure your mom would strangle you for that quote. He never says that in the show, you know. And how are you not passing out? Aren't girls supposed to swoon at the sight of blood?"

I rolled my eyes, swapping the blood soaked towel on Simon's back for one from the clean pile.

"Swoon? Really? Girls see more blood than boys idiot. You know someone is going to come into your dorm room and think you murdered someone. Why would you think that it's a good idea to call your seventeen year old lady friend for this anyway?"

"I don't trust anyone else enough for this," he sighed sleepily, folding his arms under his head. "Sorry about your date by the way."

I scoffed. "No you're not. You hate everyone I date. Besides, I can blame it on Ares, not like Meliorn won't ask for a rain check."

"I don't hate the people you date. I hate that you date like it's a sport and you're practicing for the olympics. You're never serious about them. I actually liked Amanda," Luke sighed.

I changed the subject, not comfortable explaining that it was easier to keep the people I dated at a distance than it was to let them have my heart just to break it. "Do you need me to stay overnight? I'll have to bring Ares here and wait to come back until my mom falls asleep."

Simon shook his head. "You have grad practice tomorrow. I'll text you in the morning. Lucky for me, classes are done for the semester and my roommate has already gone home for the summer."

"You'd better. You're not allowed to die on me Simon Lewis."

I'd known Simon my entire life. His dad Jorge and my mom Samantha were best friends from high school all the way through college, drawn together by their love of comic books, Star Trek, and the Atari. He helped me take my first steps, two little babies waddling around together, our families went camping together every year, so we climbed trees together, swam in our undies together until Si hit double digits. The whole Lewis family was there for me and my mom when my dad left us. Hell, Simon was my first word as a baby. He knows me better than anyone, even my mom, and the gods better watch themselves if he dies.

"How'd the date with Meliorn go?" My friend Amy asked the next day after graduation practice. Simon had been texting me, letting me know that, although he was still bleeding and practically immobile, he was alive, and we were pretty sure at this point that he wasn't going to die, which meant I was able to relax a bit.

"Ares was having stomach issues. I had to cancel."

Amy shook her head. "Isabelle, he's been asking you out every month since school started this year. One day he's going to give up."

I shrugged. "I think I'll survive when he does. And what about his friend Sebastian? He's been asking you out every day all semester."

Amy tossed her red hair over her shoulder and sniffed.

"I'm not into Sebastian."

"Oh god I know that look," I laughed. "Who is he?"

"You don't know him," She said quickly.

"Okaaay," I drew out the word, confused. Amy had never refused to talk to me about a guy. Not since I'd met her freshmen year and we bonded over our awful algebra teacher. It made me curious and it made me wonder what she was hiding about him. "Is he in jail or something?"

"What? No!"

"Then why are you being weird about him? What's his name? What's he look like? Come on Mimi, give me something here."

"Ok, ok, geez. His name is Jace. He's only like two years older than us, and he's got these gorgeous amber eyes. Like gemestones. And long blonde hair… he's so hot, but he knows it."

"That can be a good thing sometimes. So why aren't you dating?"

"I… We're from two different worlds. And besides, I don't even know if he wants to date me."

"A guy would have to be soft in the head to not want to date you Amy."

"Whatever," She shook her head. "Anyway, how's that hot college neighbor of yours doing?"

I was startled for a moment by the abrupt change in subject, but then I thought of Simon as I'd known him as we were growing up. Hair too long, always in his eyes, a little chunky, short for most of the time we've known each other… But also extremely intelligent and kind, always there for me when I needed him.

"Si? Hot?" I couldn't picture how he looked now without seeing him covered in blood, and I'd never looked at him that way before. The thought of Simon with Amy, however, didn't sit right with me for some reason.

"Uh, duh." Amy looked at me like I was a lunatic. "Have you seen him?"

I shrugged and shook my head. "Simon is good. He'll be at graduation, so you'll see him then."

Amy practically squealed with excitement, and then fluffed her red hair around her shoulders. "I'll have to make sure I look ravishing."

I giggled. "You always do and you know it."

"What the hell Simon…?" I squeaked when he let me in. It'd been five days since he'd first asked me to come help him the first time and I hadn't heard from him in the last twenty four hours. Then I'd gotten a frantic call from him that morning, begging me to come by before I had to get ready for graduation. His skin glistened with sweat, brown hair sticking to his neck and forehead. He wasn't wearing a shirt, but I couldn't even focus on his broad shoulders or his six pack that I'd never known he had, because arched over his shoulders were a pair of feathered wings. They were shiny and silver and huge, hanging down his back all the way to his knees.

Simon looked terrified.

I was mesmerized.

"I don't know what to do Izzy. I can't leave my dorm like this."

I took a deep breath to and forced myself to concentrate on helping and not on touching.

"Where's your trench coat?"

We carefully pulled the coat over the wings and Simon's shoulders, buttoning it up so that it wasn't noticeable that he wasn't wearing a shirt. Si's wings were soft and silky smooth and I wanted to continue touching them, but I refrained.

"You'll still be at my graduation, right?"

He nodded. "I'll probably head to my parents' cabin right afterwards. Figure out what to do next."

The cabin made me think of camping together every summer going up. Which made me think of a particular incident.

"Do up remember when we were kids, that one summer we went camping out at your dad's cabin?"

"Are you talking about that year they actually let him have the whole summer off of work?" Simon asked, looking confused.

"Yeah, that one. Do you remember falling out of that giant tree by the lake?"

"We thought I'd broken my back on the way down because I couldn't feel my legs for a while," he said, laughing.

"But when we got to the hospital the doctor said you were lucky…" I hesitated, my thoughts jumbled. "What if you weren't lucky?"

He knew what I meant of course.

"You think I did break it."

I nodded. "Maybe not a huge break, just a bad enough one that you couldn't move your legs. We were a few hours away from the hospital. What if you… healed… in that time?"

Simon gazed off to the right and I knew he was thinking of other possible incidents that would hint that he was different.

"Are your parents still in the Caribbean?" I asked, changing the subject. I didn't want to make him too uncomfortable, and I knew that he was feeling uncomfortable now.

He nodded without looking at me. "You should get home. You know your mom is going to want to doll you up for graduation."

I sighed. My mom pushed me into all of the girly things she could fit into my schedule. She said that she wanted me to always feel like I was allowed to be delicate and feminine if I wanted to be. I didn't have a problem with girly things in general. I actually really enjoyed dance and gymnastics, but I didn't really like cheer, ballet, or beauty pageants, all of which I'd been involved in since as long as I can remember. I just didn't like feeling like I was forced to go to these things. But I knew my mom was just trying to keep me active and keep me from regretting not doing these things. I did a lot of other things also, it wasn't like she forced me to only do things she deemed girly enough to be acceptable. I turned to leave, not looking forward to the hours of makeup and hair straightening I was about to endure even though I knew I always loved the outcome, when a sharp, agonizing sensation shot down my shoulder blades from deep within the bone.

My knees gave out and hit the carpet hard, I could feel my back arch sharply causing my shoulders to hit the floor too. Spots danced in front of my eyes and there was a high pitched ringing in my ears. I tasted blood in my mouth.

"Isabelle!" Simon sounded garbled, like he was talking to me from far away and through water.

I made a noise low in my throat. I vaguely noticed Simon trying to get a response from me, but I couldn't fight passed the pain to respond. It was like my bones were rearranging themselves within my back, pinching and pulling on my muscles and nerves.

Simon stopped trying to get me to speak and I felt his hands underneath my neck and my lower back right before he lifted me and laid me across what felt like his legs.

All I could think about, aside from the obvious 'this must be what death feels like' thoughts, was that same summer that Simon and I were just talking about. There was another incident involving me and a fire. Simon and I had snuck one of Jorge's tequila bottles, went out to the lake and made a bonfire on the shore. We'd both gotten pretty drunk and without realizing it, I stepped into the fire. Neither of us noticed for a minute, and by the time Simon shouted at me and pulled me away from the flames, my shoe had completely melted off of my foot, but my skin was unharmed. Unmarked even. Being drunk, we didn't freak out as much as we should have, we just thought it was cool and made jokes about Game of Thrones and dragons. When my mom asked about my shoe later I told her I thought I'd lost it in the lake. But, like Simon's potentially broken back, that had been one of a few incidents in my life hinting that I wasn't completely normal.

After what felt like an eternity, the pain dulled and faded enough that I could focus on something other than death and fire.

I cursed and sat up quickly, knocking heads with Si in the process. He let out a string of Spanish curses and I grabbed my forehead.

"Christ Izzy." Simon sounded relieved as he curled an arm around me and pulled me close. His hands were shaking.

"I'm ok," I reassured him. My voice was hoarse. Simon pulled back and looked into my eyes, putting his hands on my shoulders.

"Are you sure? You looked like you were about to have a seizure or something."

I nodded, unable to look away from his intense gaze. There was something in his eyes that I'd never noticed before, and it scared me. We were silent for a while, gazing into each other's eyes. It was strange, intimate and new, and I didn't know how to react. Then he glanced down at my lips and I panicked, immediately looking away.

"Was that what it was like for you when your… wings started coming in?"

I heard him sigh softly before speaking. "No. It just started off as a dull ache, not… whatever that was."

"It felt like my bones were moving around. It actually still hurts, but it's bearable now."

Si moved away and stood. "I'll get you some ibuprofen."

When he walked away I put my palms on my forehead and tangled my fingers in my hair. What was wrong with me? This was Si. Simon Lewis. He lived next door to me my whole life, he was there for all of my firsts; first step, first word, first day of school… his dad is my mom's best friend. There's no way he was thinking of kissing me. There's no way I wanted him to kiss me. He was one of the few constants in my life, and I couldn't ruin that by starting something when I knew I couldn't give everything and I also knew that he would. I was delirious from the pain. That was all.

Simon came back, helped me to my feet, gave me the medicine with a glass of water and walked me to the door. He wouldn't meet my eyes.

"I'll see you at your graduation."

I didn't want to leave on such awkward terms. Things had never been awkward between us.

"Do you want me to come with you to your parents' cabin? Help you figure out your next move?"

Simon looked startled for a moment and then he smiled and I relaxed. "Didn't you have plans to go to the beach for a week after your graduation?"

I shrugged, glad that he seemed to be in a good mood again. "You need me. I can always go to the beach later in the summer."

"That would be great. Pack a bag. I'll be leaving straight from your graduation. Can I stash some stuff in your car? I'll be able to bring more stuff than if I tried to pack a backpack and carry it on my bike."

"Yeah, of course. I'll swing by here after graduation and then we'll go."

I felt better leaving after that.

Just as I feared, and secretly looked forward to, my mom dolled me up like crazy when I got back from Simon's. I had to give it to her though, I looked good, just like I knew I would. My hair fell to my lower back when straight and the makeup she put on my eyes really made the green pop. I packed like I was going to the beach so that my mom wouldn't ask any questions, stashed my suitcase in the trunk, and started getting dressed.

"Are you excited?"

Although I do complain a lot about the things that she encourages me to like, I love my mom. I love that, even though she pushes me into things we both know I don't always enjoy, she also lets me do the things I do like, such as singing, kickboxing and cosplay, and she's not pushing me into a particular career or college major. She even let me get Ares, who is a huge high maintenance fluff ball and not a typical 'girl dog.' She lets me be myself, whoever that is at the moment, and I appreciate it.

"Yeah, I'm ready to be out of high school. Is dad coming?"

Mom's face dropped slightly. When I was eight years old, my dad decided that he'd rather be with his mistress than with my mom and I. So he left us and moved in with her and had kids. I hadn't actually seen him since my middle school graduation. I felt for my mom over the whole thing. She loved him so much, when he left I think a part of her broke and never healed. I never wanted to go through that, loving one person far more than they loved me, to the point that they hardly batted an eye when leaving me while I'm left in pieces that I have to put back together practically alone. My mom is the strongest person I know for that.

"I'm not sure," mom said with a false smile. "He said he was, but that was in January."

I grunted, wondering how such a wonderful person like my mom wound up with such a selfish man like my father, and changed the subject, not wanting to torture her even more. I pulled my graduation robe over my dress. "You're bringing Ares, right? I'm heading out right after the ceremony is over and he's coming with me."

My mom laughed. "Yes Diana, I'm bringing your giant wolfdog."

"He's not a wolf, he's a dog." I kissed her on the cheek. "I'll see you soon."

The day flew by. I hugged my friends, took tons of pictures, saw my mom crying when my name was called for my diploma, saw and heard my dad whistling, his new family nowhere in sight thankfully. Simon was whooping, Ares was howling, cameras were flashing, I looked gorgeous and felt confident, thanks largely to my mom's glorious makeover. My shoulders ached, but it was hardly noticeable with the happiness and excitement flowing through me. And when it was all over, I put Ares in the front seat of my car and went to meet Simon before heading to the cabin.

A/N: I've gone through and done some editing. I like it a lot better now.