Equinox (Book One of the Firebird Chronicles) WATTY AWARD HIDDEN GEM WINNER 2015

Chapter Two (Part Two): Black Fire Opal

A/N: Media is a real black fire opal.

'Lumina?'

The voice was familiar, but I did not turn my head.

I knew that it was Hanna, the closest figure to a mother I'd ever had. Stern but kind, and treated all of the children with equal affection, she was said to have been a nobleman's daughter, before giving up everything to take care of children that needed her.

'I know you're awake. You're holding that rock again.'

Finally, I turned my head away from the window, where I had been lying and watching all morning. Two days had gone by, exactly in this way. I was not conscious when I was found; everyone thought I was dead, with my eye covered in blood and my clothes ragged. They had carried me to the village doctor, who had calmly cleaned my eye and said there was only bruising. I only awoke once I was back in the orphanage, being cared for in my own bed, and immediately began screaming in terror.

After that first day, I soon realised that nobody believed my story of Reia the angel— and how could I blame them? I was the most logical person of all; if I hadn't seen the wings and horns with my own eye, I would be laughing at my own story. And to make matters worse, my own story didn't match. How could I tell them that the odd stone that I kept looking at had been taken from my eye, when my eye was physically intact, with nothing but a purple hue to suggest damage?

No, I couldn't blame people for not believing my story. What I disliked was people thinking I was attention-seeking, or hiding where Reia had gone.

I, more than anyone, would love to find her, but I had a feeling that angels were a little out of my reach. A part of me had always known that Reia was far above me, but I hadn't realised quite how far.

Reia was gone. She wasn't with me when they found me. They had searched the woods, and found no trace. 

My sister had vanished, possibly forever.

I ignored the shuffling sound of the children stood around me, trying to cheer me up. They had been trying for days, but their attempts, along with the hours, passed around me without my notice. If they hadn't reminded me that it was my eighteenth birthday, I certainly would never have remembered.

Hanna knelt by my side. Her eyes were dark circles, filled with strain.

'What is it?' she said quietly. 'Why do you not help the search?'

I swallowed, a lump rising in my throat. It burned from the number of times I had retched, and vomited, and screamed, from being restlessly awake to haunted nightmares. My voice came out a hoarse whisper.

'You won't find her,' I said, for the umpteenth time. 'She's gone. She's an angel.' It was always at those words that the adults stopped paying attention.

'She's hiding something,' the policeman said.

'She's a hysterical child,' said the orphanage's benefactor, Robert.

'There are no such things as monsters and angels,' said the village major, when he was told about the disappearance, 'she's a liar.'

But I just stared at Hanna, stared at her so hard that I prayed she could see inside my thoughts and memories, and see the horrors retained there.

'It's true,' I breathed, desperate for them to understand. 'Reia was an angel—'

I realised that even the youngest of the children were exchanging glances. They thought I was mad.

My mouth closed with an abrupt snap. I glowered at them all, and then clutched the little black stone even harder.

'It's your birthday,' Hanna said. 'Get up, get dressed. You're going to see the priest. If anyone knows about these demons of yours, they will there.'