As she lay her hand on the chest of the youngest daughter, the ten year old girl opened her eyes and looked up at her rescuer. "What happened? Who are you?"

"You can call me Ember. What's your name?"

"I'm Chloe." Coughing to clear her lungs of smoke, she choked out, "Am I dead?"

"No." Ember brushed the girl's cheek to comfort her.

"Are you an angel?"

Ember forced a smile through her somber expression. She looked around the inside of the trailer and noticed a relatively new gas heater. "Does that thing work?"

"I think so."

"Can you light it?"

The girl nodded.

"I need you to do that." Ember glanced at a display on her left wrist. "I'm going to let the animals out of the barn."

Following Ember, Chloe noticed the snowflakes hanging motionless in the air. She touched one. Suddenly, a gust of cold air stole her breath away and the snow began to fall. In horror, she gasped as she saw her family's brand new home in flames.

As Ember approached the barn, she waved her hand and the double doors swung open. The animals that had managed to escape their pens ran out into the snow. The flames leapt around Ember as she walked through the barn. One by one she opened the pens that still contained livestock allowing them to escape the blaze.

Standing in the doorway of the burning barn, she could hear the sirens of the fire truck and ambulances in the distance. She looked toward the trailer and saw Chloe, now wearing a winter coat, running toward her through the snow. She looked at the display on her left wrist to see it flashing "Power Transfer in Progress."

Realizing the flames were lapping the air around her, Ember walked out toward the road to meet Chloe. "You should be inside with your family where it's warm."

"I have to know what happened!" Chloe exclaimed. "I saw you walk through that fire!"

Ember embraced the girl, holding her tight. The glowing energy around her moved over Chloe. Magically, Chloe felt warm and safe. She looked toward the burning house. "That's our new house. Daddy just finished it last month and now it's gone. I don't understand!" She began to cry.

"Sometimes life isn't fair," Ember said softly, "mostly it isn't fair."

Chloe looked at the house, the barn, and then toward a horse that approached them. "Skizics!" she called running to the horse. "Are you all right?"

Ember walked around the horse running a gentle hand over it. The silver jewel on her crown turned green and the glowing energy moved over the horse and the girl.

"He's going to be just fine," Ember said. "Is he yours?"

"Yes, daddy got him for me for my last birthday," Chloe answered.

"You remind me of another girl I knew a few years ago."

"Why would God do this to us?" Chloe looked at the burning house. "We go to church every Sunday and I always say my prayers."

"God didn't do this. A very evil man is responsible."

"Did God send you to save us?" She touched Ember's arm and watched the glowing energy move over her.

Ember smiled solemnly. "I guess he did," she answered softly.

"What is that? It's like liquid energy."

"That's exactly what it is."

"It feels so warm."

They could see the lights of the fire truck and ambulances through the snow as they came over a hill in the distance. Ember looked at the display unit on her left wrist. "I have just enough power left to put out one fire. I'll let you choose."

Chloe looked at the house. "The house."

Ember took a deep breath and stretched out both arms. A glowing ball of blue energy formed at her hands then shot toward the house snuffing the fire out instantly. She handed Chloe an animated three dimensional business card with a picture of Ember and a horse on it. "This man will board your horse no charge. Just show him that card."

Suddenly, Chloe's father ran screaming from the trailer toward the smoldering house. Ember looked toward the approaching rescue vehicles. "Time for me to go."

"Is that your real name?"

"I was known by another name," Ember answered.

"Will I ever see you again?"

Ember smiled and patted the girl on the head. "You can count on it." She began walking away going transparent then vanishing but her foot prints continued on a few more steps.

"Chloe!" Her father ran toward her in the snow. "Are you all right?" He grabbed Chloe up from the ground and hugged her.

"I'm okay, daddy. An angel named Ember Reign saved us."

(Find out what brought Megan/Ember to this point in time. Read Ember Reign book 1. Find out what happens when Chloe comes to visit her horse on the Martin farm in book two "Project Fallen Angel.")
Ember Reign, Planet Guardian
Project Fallen Angel
Five a.m. in the suburbs.  The silence was split by the sound of the smoke alarm in the Martin house.  Gary opened his door half asleep.  Megan's dad Roy rushed into the hallway from his bedroom.  Her terrified cat hid beneath Megan's bed as smoke filled the room.

"I'll check the kitchen, you check on Megan!" Roy commanded.

Gary tried Megan's door but it was locked.  He looked down to see a flicker of light at the bottom of the door.  Frantically he pounded on the door.  "Megan!"

Megan's mother Donna joined Gary.  She handed him the emergency key for Megan's room.  Gary opened the door; smoke flooded into the hallway.  A gust of heat stole his breath.  He backed away bumping Donna into Roy.  Quickly Roy entered the room, fire extinguisher in hand, with Gary close behind.

Gary couldn't believe his eyes!  His sister was glowing, hovering more than a foot above her burning covers.  His arms stung as he grabbed her.  The glow vanished as he felt her weight in his arms.  He carried her into the living room as Roy extinguished the fire.  Donna opened the doors and turned on the attic fan to expel the smoke.

Megan woke with a jump.  "What happened?  Where am I?"

"You're in the living room." Gary inspected the burns on his arms.

"I had a nightmare."  Megan noticed the smoke at the ceiling.

Donna entered as Gary went to join his dad.  He and Roy stood at the edge of Megan's bed looking at the singe marks.  "It's a perfect outline of Megan's body."  Roy removed the top covers to show the hole burned through them.  There on the white sheets was a perfect black and white image of Megan's backside.

"Should I call the fire department?" Donna asked entering the room.

"The fire's out." Roy sat the extinguisher on the floor.

"This is one for the book of records." Gary shook his head.  "Her P.J's. don't have a mark on them."

"Oh, my God!"  Donna gasped seeing Megan's impression scorched into the sheet.

Megan worked her way around her mother to see what everyone was looking at.  Her mouth dropped open.

"You said you had a nightmare?" Gary asked.

"I'm afraid to ask." Donna began to cry placing a hand over her mouth.

Megan noticed the burns on her brother's arms.  Her heart sank; tears welled up in her eyes.  She ran to the bathroom slamming the door behind her.  She looked at herself in the mirror.  "What's happening to me?" she cried.

Seven a.m. the Martin family sat at the kitchen table.  May Lynx entered to get Megan for school.  She sensed the unusual mood in the house.  She looked at Megan.  "What's up?"

Gary led May into Megan's bedroom.  "She said she was having a nightmare.  She said she was someone else and she was fighting some kind of creature."

"Creature?" May's eyebrows rose.

"A big hairy ugly monster with fangs.  She was floating about a foot above her bed.  Her eyes were glowing right through her eyelids.  Explain this."  Gary showed the burns on his arms.

Megan entered and looked at the sheets.  "Please don't tell mom."  She looked at Gary's burns.  "I'm so sorry."  She took her brother's hand.  "Close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Please.  Just do it." Megan insisted.  The healing green glow was barely visible.  As it moved over his arms, the burns vanished.  "Feel better?"

Gary opened his eyes and looked at the bed.  "Why wouldn't I?  How'd you do that?"  He left the room.

May shook her head.  "Is that the first time you've done that?"

"If I did it right he won't remember anything.  I couldn't leave him like that."

"Are you going to school today?" May asked.

"Everything I have to wear is in this room."  Megan sighed.  "It all smells like smoke."

"We only have a few days left, you've got to go," May insisted.  "I'll loan you something."

The two met at their lockers in the school hallway.  "You were someone else?" May asked.

"You know who I was."  Megan pulled a book from her locker.

"Ember?"

"Of course." Megan noticed others moving through the hallway.

"The monster wouldn't have been a varlock?" May asked.

"Yes."  Megan closed her locker.

"So you changed into Ember and fired up?"

"If I'm going to change while I'm asleep, no one around me is safe," Megan said despondently.

"Your mom and dad will want answers.  Of course, you could just make them forget."

"Losers!" Mallory Brown bellowed as she brushed past with her friend Stephanie Bragg.

"God I hate preppies," May said.
====
An Angel Gets Her Wings!
Project Fallen Angel
Chapter        40

Midnight, Orion's Ember alarm sounded bringing the others to find Rena standing at the foot of Megan's bed.  Ember floated three feet above her bed with shimmering translucent blue and reddish gold flames moving softly around her.

‟What's going on?"  May asked.

Brianna moved around the bed watching Megan closely.  ‟This is different."

‟She's thinking."  Rena answered.

‟She's having a dream."  Chloe said.

‟Megan is dreaming but Ember is thinking."  Rena explained.

Suddenly Ember vanished.  ‟Orion!" Rena exclaimed.  ‟Track that girl!"  Rena ran for the control room with the others following.  Fawn and Lilly seeing the others in the hallway followed.

‟She's transported…"  Rena looked at the map on her floating viewer.  Orion appeared in the control room observing.

‟She's over White River in Northwest Arkansas."  Rena said.

The forward viewer zoomed in showing Ember floating a foot or so above the cold crystal clear water, gazing into the stream.

‟She's not cloaked!"  Brianna exclaimed.

‟It's midnight."  Chloe said.

‟Megan is Ember?"  Fawn asked.

‟Oh crap!"  Brianna gasped pointing at the viewer.  A teenage boy walked along the gravel path, seeing Ember floating above the river he stopped at the edge of the water.

‟Beam her out of there!" May exclaimed.

‟Can't."  Orion shook his head.  ‟She's Ember."

‟Suits!" Brianna exclaimed.  ‟Send me down there."

Suddenly the image on the large viewer turned lining up behind the boy on the gravel.  Brianna ran into the image instantly her suit appeared on her as she emerged behind the lad.

The stunned expression on Rena and May's faces spoke volumes.  ‟It's, ah, the, well Brianna has a direct link to Orion now."  Chloe looked at the Orion android.  ‟Suit!"  She ran into the viewer emerging with her suit.

The boy glanced to his side seeing Brianna.  ‟She must be an angel?"

Brianna nodded.  ‟Sometimes."

Payah and Baby Starburst's energy flowed around Ember like a beautiful gown gently blowing in the wind.

‟Ember?"  Brianna asked.

Rena and May appeared behind them also moving near the water.  The boy looked around to see.  ‟Killer insomniac."  He said.  ‟You?"

‟Messenger from God."  Chloe answered.

‟Ember, what are you doing?"  Brianna asked again.

Slowly Ember moved into an upright position, as she did the energy flowing around her changed moving upward and outward from behind her shoulders forming wings.  A breeze began flowing around her making ripples on the water.

‟She is an angel."  The lad spoke softly.

‟She's three angels in one." Brianna said.

Ember floated over the water to the group.  ‟It's on the other side."

‟What's on the other side?"  Rena asked.

‟The thing which I seek."

‟The other side of what?"  Brianna asked.

‟The water."

‟There's nothing but fish on the other side of the water."  Chloe said.

‟No, I must find it."  Ember shot into the sky and vanished.

‟She can fly!"  Brianna exclaimed.

‟Like a rocket!"  Chloe added.

‟I knew she could if she wanted to."  Rena looked at her watch.  ‟It's going to be a long night."  She walked back into the transport and disappeared.

The boy realized they were all dressed alike.  ‟You know the angel?"

Brianna nodded.  ‟She drives us crazy sometimes."  Brianna started toward the transport.

Chloe reached out and grabbed the boy's hand, shaking it.  ‟Hi, glad to meet ya.  Gotta run now.  Ta!"  Chloe ran into the transport and disappeared.

The boy stood on the beach in the early morning.  His younger sister joined him.  ‟Can't sleep Hu?"  She asked.

The boy looked around then back at the water.  ‟I thought I was awake but now I'm not sure."

‟I saw a shooting star from the porch."  She pointed at the cabin on the edge of the river.  ‟I made a wish."

‟What did you wish for?"

‟For mom to get well." She answered.  ‟I asked God for an angel."

The lad looked at his sister.
====
The segments above are actually from the novels, the segments below are either from future novels or just for fun.  Please enjoy.
Ember Reign Returns
From a future Ember Reign novel. ;-) Ember/Megan returns.
(Caution: This segment reveals several secrets from the novel series.)
A 12 year old girl watched a falling star streak across the midnight sky growing larger as it fell toward her. She glanced back at the cabin where her family slept oblivious. She looked again. The fiery, glowing orb slowed as it moved over a nearby hilltop transforming and changing shapes as it did.

The girl strained her eyes as a beautiful, glowing, winged form emerged from the light, swooping down gently above the water. "An angel," she whispered.

The angel walked gently upon the water of the crystal clear chilled waters. As she moved near, the girl could see the gentle ripples her feet made on the water as she walked. Quickly, she ran from the balcony around the cabin to the path and across the foot bridge to the stream near the big rock as fast as her feet could carry her. She gazed, her eyes fixed upon the glowing form that approached.

Seeing the girl the angel smiled. Her eyes glowed white with the power of infinity. Her suit glowed as burnished gold with white stripes down her arms and sides to her feet. A glowing golden triangle shimmered a rainbow of colors upon her forehead. She stood before the girl. "Up late aren't we?"

"I had a strange dream," the girl answered. "Have you come far?"

"Very far," the angel answered.

"Why?"

"Now and then I like to return to see how things are going on earth."

"Oh?"

"A few years ago I helped save this world from certain destruction," the angel explained.

"You wanted to know if we'd all killed each other?"

The angel smiled nodding. Her flaming translucent wings became smaller folding behind her back. "You remind me of a girl I once knew." She held out her hand. "Walk with me."

The girl took the angel's hand and they walked out upon the water.

"Like me?" the girl asked.

"Would you like to hear the story?"

"Oh, yes. Please."

"She was just twelve years old when her grandpa bought her a pony," the angel began.

"I love ponies."

"Me too." The angel smiled as she continued, "When the girl saw Sparky she was so excited. Her grandfather said, 'He's all yours.' The girl asked if she could ride him."

The girl sniffed the air as images passed before her eyes. "He was black, brown, and white, wasn't he?" She looked up at the angel. "I can see him. I even smell the barnyard!"

"Of course you can, Jasmine." The angel smiled.

"You know my name?"

"I know your father's name is Gary Martin."

"You know my family?"

"Did your dad ever tell you about his sister?" the angel asked.

"Yes, he said her name was Megan. I have pictures of her." The girl looked sad. "But she went away before I was born. I wish I could have met her but daddy said he doesn't know where she went." The two walk upon a gravel bar and stopped.

"That is sad," the angel said.

"What's your name?"

"Most who know me call me Ember," she smiled, "but you can call me Megan." Ember knelt facing the girl. The glow left her eyes as tears began to trickle down her cheeks.

Jasmine stood speechless gazing into Megan's eyes. "Aunt Megan?"

Megan nodded placing a finger across her lips. "It's a secret."

The girl hugged her. Tears flowed down her cheeks. "Where have you been all these years?"

Megan smiled. "I had to help save inhabitants in a galaxy far, far away."

"Like in the Star Battle movie with Princess Leona?"

"Exactly like that." Megan pushed Jasmine back. "You watch old movies?"

"It's not that old."

"Would you like to meet her?" Megan asked.

"Who? Princess Leona?"

"Of course."

"But that was just a movie, it wasn't real."

Megan looked upward toward the night sky. "Remember that great big spaceship the princess commanded her last battle from?"

"Orion?" Jasmine asked.

"Look up." Megan pointed.

"Oh my!" The girl gasped as Orion's glowing triangular form appeared shimmering in the night sky. "That means it's all real!"

Megan nodded. "Would you like to meet her?"

"Is she up there?"

"Her real name is Rena." Megan laughed. "Two to come up, Orion."

In a flash of blue light, the two vanished.
===

Ember Reign, "Roughing It!"
Late October the girls gathered at the campground beside the stream at the far south edge of the Martin farm.

It was nearly midnight as the thunder echoed through the valley from a nearby storm.  The horses in the corral watched the lightning flash in the western sky, their ears rotating scanning the woods like Doppler radar.

Megan, May and Rena worked to set up one of the tents but before they could get it up the wind would blow it back down again.  Brianna and Chloe worked to start a fire with the wet wood, but it would not light.

Finally the threesome managed to get one tent erected.  A moment later they turned to see Brianna and Chloe standing behind Megan with two forked sticks with wieners on them.  Rena and May took a step back from Megan then looked at the pile of fire wood.

Slowly Megan turned to face Brianna and Chloe.  Rena tried to hold back a giggle as May shook her head.

"Are you trying to tell me something?"  Megan asked.

10 minutes later the girls were seated on the rocks around the warm camp fire.  Rena and May roasting their hot dogs over the open fire, Chloe and Brianna roasting their hot dogs over Ember.

"Thanks Megan, I mean…" Chloe stammered.

"I know what you mean."  Ember responded.  "You know I fixed the fire."

"Yeah, but how many people can say they roasted a hot dog over a flaming angel?"  Brianna smiled.  "This is going to be so good."

"That's what I call roughing it."  Rena smiled shaking her head.

May nodded.  "This one is definitely going in the scrap book."
Ember Reign
The Crown
Prologue

The snow came down in sheets driven by the howling wind. A burning farm house illuminated the snow-covered landscape. Flames licked up the side of the newly built, white, two-story house.

Across the road, a second fire burned through hay on the floor of a barn. A panicking horse reared and kicked at the sides of his stall with both hind legs attempting to escape. Two cows mooed as they turned in their stalls in panic. Chickens clucked and flapped their wings as they scurried along the walls searching for a way out.

Footsteps appeared among the trees moving down the slope toward the house. The form of a woman materialized shimmering translucent blue. She was dressed in a form fitting white suit with dark blue stripes accenting the arms and legs. Occasionally the blue stripes shimmered to gold then back to blue. Upon her left chest was a symbol of a circle inside an oval inside a triangle all surrounded by another circle. She wore a beautiful glowing golden jeweled crown with a central silver triangular jewel that emitted a rainbow of energy around her.

As she reached the house, she waved her right hand. The snowflakes and flames became motionless. She walked through the now hovering snowflakes directly through the front door of the house like a ghost. One by one she levitated the unconscious occupants into an old trailer house on the opposite side of the driveway. As the mother, father, and two children were now safe, the glow of the silver jewel changed to a green hue. She placed her hand on each of the victims and the glowing energy moved over them.
She has a friend who's an angel of the species of Seraphim.  That's a fire angel to you and me.

Her name is Baby Starburst.  She appears as a fiery orb about three inches across, but don't judge her power by her size.