Chapter 1- That Star

Elira walked down the snow-covered sidewalk with her hands jammed in her pockets and her head down, shielding her face against the icy winds of January. Her house was still two blocks away and she cursed herself for not bringing gloves. By time she finally reached the familiar brick building she was shaking uncontrollably and certain her toes were going to fall off. "Geez it's cold out!" she declared as she stepped inside.

"Welcome to upstate New York my dear. Perhaps next time you'll remember gloves." Sandra smiled and held a basket of clothes against her hip as she regarded Elira, who had stripped off her winter apparel and was now inspecting her feet.

"I know; I was in a rush. Good to see I don't have frost bite." Elira smiled and Sandra simply rolled her eyes before heading off to the laundry room with the basket. Elira took it from her and said "Let me do that for you."

"Thank you dear, I'm getting too old to be lugging such heavy things around."

"You're not even that old" Elira stated. Sandra was in her fifties, with lines around her kind brown eyes. She had deep brown hair streaked with gray that she usually kept pulled back. "If you say so dear" Sandra replied with a smile before heading off to the kitchen. Elira simply rolled her eyes and descended the steps to the laundry room where she emptied the basked into the washer before heading to her room to change into sweat pants and a fuzzy sweater.

"You know, days like this remind me of when you first came to me, standing on my doorstep and shaking like a leaf." Sandra was leaning in the doorway to Elira's room, a reminiscent smile on her face. "I can't believe it's been fourteen years already." Elira smiled and wrapped Sandra in a hug.

"I love you Sandra" Elira said into her shoulder.

"I love you too, Elira" Sandra said, returning the hug. "Now, dinner is ready so we better go eat before it gets cold."

"What is it?" Elira asked as they made their way to the kitchen.

"Chicken, mashed potatoes and corn" Sandra replied.

"Yum!" Elira exclaimed, she loved Sandra's cooking. While eating the women told each other about their day. Apparently, a young boy got separated from his mother at the grocery store when Sandra was shopping and she found him crying in the frozen pizza aisle.

"He must have been so scared" Elira said.

"He was, but we found his mother rather quickly. He had been a brave boy during the whole ordeal." Elira smiled at her caretaker. Sandra was a kind woman, always thinking of others. She was strong and brave, and completely selfless. Elira assumed this is the reason her mother had send Elira to Sandra when their village had been attacked. The building they lived in used to be an orphanage, which Sandra had owned and operated for twenty years. Sandra's health took a bad turn after though, so she relocated the orphans to another facility which was run by an old friend. She was battling breast cancer when Elira came to her, "my guardian angel" Sandra called her. Though her cancer had been in remission for the last ten years, Elira still worried about her. Sandra was the only family Elira had now, and she didn't know what she'd do if anything happened to Sandra.

"Well I should be getting to bed, I have a job interview in the morning and I want to be well rested for it." Sandra stood and started gathering their dirty dishes, but Elira quickly stood and took over.

"Let me do that, you head off to bed."

"Thank you dear" Sandra said with a tired smile.

"No need to thank me" Elira said before giving Sandra a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight, and good luck on your interview."

"Thank you, I'll need it."

"You'll do great" Elira said encouragingly.

"I hope you're right" Sandra said before retiring to bed. Elira cleaned up dinner then headed to her own room. She wasn't tired, so she decided to finish the book she had been reading before going to bed herself.

~~~

Sandra was already gone when Elira awoke the next morning. It was Friday, which meant Elira didn't have classes at university, so she pulled out her phone and called her best friend, who answered on the fourth ring sounding irritated and groggy. "What do you want?" was her warm greeting.

"Well good morning to you too. Want to go to the library? I need a new book."

"Already? You just got that one a few days ago!"

"Yeah well I need a new one. Meet me at the library in ten?"

"Whatever" Tyna replied before the line went dead. Elira shook her head and started getting ready. She had already gotten to the library, returned her old book and was hunting for a new one by the time Tyna trudged in, looking tired and miserable.

"You are so not a morning person" Elira told her.

"What gave you the first clue?" Tyna asked unhappily. She was short and slim but still had curves, which Elira was always jealous of. Her strawberry blond hair was in a messy bun atop her head and her crystal blue eyes were rimmed with metallic liner. She had peachy skin and a dusting of freckles over her slim nose. She wore leggings tucked into furry boots and a baggy gray sweater that almost reached her knees.

Elira shook her head and smiled. "Come one, help me choose a book."

"Whichever one has a sexy man on the cover" Tyna said.

"Is that how you pick what book to read?" Elira asked.

"You know it" Tyna answered as she sunk into one of the overly stuffed chairs. Elira shook her head again and went back to book hunting. Tyna had been Elira's best friend since the first day of school. She had been small and scared and new to the human world. With purple eyes and white hair, she always attracted unwanted attention, from children and adults alike. Parents constantly criticized Sandra for allowing Elira to dye her hair and wear colored contacts, and they were forced to deal with it since no one could know the truth behind Elira's peculiar looks. That particular day some of the kids had been teasing her because of her unnatural appearance, and Tyna- the terrifying little girl she was- knocked them all down onto their rumps and threatened to cause them severe bodily harm if they didn't leave Elira alone. The girls became close buddies that day, and their bond only grew stronger as time went by. Besides Sandra, Tyna was the only human who knew where Elira came from and what she was. Tyna finding out had been an accident, but Elira never regretted it. The girls had been eight and were climbing the big oak tree in Tyna's backyard. Elira had gone inside to use the bathroom and had come out to her fearless friend almost at the top of the tree. "Be careful!" she had called.

"Don't worry, I do this all the time" Tyna had stated as she reached for the next branch, which snapped under her weight and sent her tumbling down the tree screaming. Elira had stood frozen as she watched her friend fall. She hadn't thought as she flew up and quickly grabbed her friend, bringing her safely to the ground. Tyna had been breathless and slightly battered, but otherwise okay. She had looked at her friend and the white wigs coming out from under her shirt with wide eyes. Elira remembered watching her warily, not knowing how she was going to respond.

"Don't be afraid" Elira had said, not wanting to lose her only friend. Tyna nodded.

"M-may I touch them?" she had asked. Elira nodded and Tyna hesitantly put her hand out and stroked Elira's wings. When they twitched Tyna had jumped back with a shriek, but then giggled. "They're so cool!" she had squealed.

Elira had put her finger to her smiling lips. "You have to promise not to tell anyone." Tyna nodded vigorously. "My best friend is an angel." Her voice had been full of awe and Elira knew then that she made the right choice, both in befriending Tyna and trusting her enough to keep her secret, which Tyna had done with great pride. Since that day the girls had been inseparable and told each other everything. "Have you decided on a book yet?" Tyna asked, pulling Elira out of her reverie.

"I can't decide between these two" Elira said, holding up two books. Tyna inspected them carefully before pointing to the one on the right.

"That one, the guy is way hotter." Elira put the other book back on the shelf and looked down at the one her friend had picked. It was about an angel and a demon that had fallen in love. Yeah right Elira thought. Demons are evil, an Angel would never fall in love with one. Despite that, the book looked interesting, so Elira signed it out.

"Anything you want to get out?" Elira asked.

"No, I'm still on the book I got last time. Not everyone can read as fast as you. You're some kind of reading guru." Elira rolled her eyes and exited the library with Tyna trailing close behind.

"What do you want to do then?" Elira asked. Tyna pondered for a minute before answering.

"Food. And caffeine" she said. Elira's stomach growled in agreement.

"Sounds like a good idea" Elira said with a giggle. The girls went to their favorite cafe and sat at their favorite booth. Angeli Maracoi was a small brown and white building with a cream interior. It had booths lining the walls and small square tables in the center. Bar stools lined the front counter and depictions of angels in different scenarios lined the walls. The girls had originally gone to it out of irony. Angeli Maracoi was Latin for Angel Maracoi, the angel that had started the centuries long war between Angels and Demons after the Demons murdered her family.

A pretty waitress with wavy brown hair and big brown eyes walked over and set down two glasses of soda. "The usual?" she asked. Elira and Tyna went to the cafe so often that all the staff knew them.

"Yes please, Melissa" Elira said with a smile. Melissa smiled back before heading off to tell the chef their orders. She returned a few minutes later with two plates piled with chocolate chip pancakes. One overflowed with syrup, the other was lathered in buttered.

"Dig in" Melissa said before heading off to take another table's order.

"Mmm" was Tyna's reply before diving into her syrup covered pancakes. Elira giggled and dove into her own plate. Neither of the girls spoke as they ate and after their plates were empty Tyna ordered a coffee and Elira ordered peppermint tea. "So, what should we do now?" Tyna asked as she sipped her coffee.

"I don't know" Elira said. She looked out the window as she drank her tea and pondered what exactly they could do. She had finished her tea and decided ice skating would be fun when a dark figure caught her eye across the street. The figure was large, masculine looking. It sported a trench coat and a rimed hat that hid its face, but it was facing the direction of the café and Elira could feel it watching her. She told herself that was ridiculous, but the feeling wouldn't go away.

"You okay?" Tyna asked. "You look like you're going to be sick."

"I'm fine" Elira said, turning away from the window to face her friend. "I was thinking we could go ice skating."

"Sounds like a plan" Tyna agreed. The girls paid their bill and left the café. As they waited at the bus stop Elira looked back at where the figure had been standing, but it gone. She sighed in relief, but the uneasy feeling building within her didn't go away. Luckily, the bus arrived and the girls climbed on. They got off at a large indoor skating arena several blocks away from the café.

After several hours of skating Elira had forgotten about the figure, her numb fingers and sore bottom taking precedence. The girls headed back to Elira's house where they made hot cocoa and curled up on the couch with a blanket to watch scary movies. Halfway into the second movie Sandra came home.

"Hey girls" she greeted when she walked into the living room.

"Hey Sandra" Tyna said, not looking away from the screen which currently showed the main girl walking down the stairs to the basement. "Stupid girl, breaking the top two things to 'never do when in a horror movie.' Never go anywhere alone and never go into the basement."

Elira rolled her eyes at her friend and turned to Sandra. "How'd the interview go?"

"I think it went pretty well. They said they would be in touch in a few days."

"What was the interview for?" Tyna asked, seemingly bored with the girl currently getting hacked to pieces on screen.

"A social worker, one of theirs just moved to Florida so they had a position open up."

"You'd make a fantastic social worker. Between being in foster care most of your childhood, running an orphanage and raising me, you'd be a pro" Elira said confidently.

"Thank you, sweetheart. I just hope they see what you do" Sandra replied.

"You'd kick some major ass at that job" Tyna added, making Sandra laugh.

"It's nice to see you two have confidence in me."

"You're amazing Sandra, and if they don't see that then they don't deserve to have you work for them" Elira stated.

"If they have any brains inside their heads, they will hire you" Tyna stated. Sandra smiled and hugged both girls tightly.

"I'm so lucky to have the two of you in my life" Sandra said with tears in her eyes.

"We're lucky to have you too" Elira said. "You've raised me and practically raised Tyna."

"She's right, you're like my second mother" Tyna agreed.

Sandra wiped her eyes and smiled. "I'm happy to hear that, you girls mean the world to me. Now, how about we order a pizza? I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

"Yes!" both girls exclaimed. Sandra laughed and left to order pizza. Twenty minutes later the trio was sitting on the couch eating pizza and watching a comedy movie Tyna's mom had told her about.

"Well, I think I'm going to head off to bed." Sandra said after the pizza was gone. "Don't you girls stay up too late."

"We won't, goodnight" Elira said, kissing Sandra on the cheek. Tyna did the same and Sandra headed off to bed with a smile on her face. By time the movie ended both girls were yawning. "Maybe we should head to bed now" Elira said. Tyna agreed and the girls headed up to Elira's room. Since the girls were about the same size, Tyna borrowed some pajamas. After changing, both girls slid into Elira's bed.

"Goodnight Birdy" Tyna said sleepily, using her childhood nickname for Elira.

"Goodnight Tiny" Elira said, using her own pet name for Tyna, who replied with a tired grumble. Elira smiled at her friend before turning off her bedside lamp and snuggling into the blankets. The day had been eventful and it didn't take long for both girls to begin snoring softly.