“I would ask you what it was like on a world without angels,” Lexi told Mandy as they flew through the air above North America. “But I didn’t know angels existed on this world until Clarice and the others saved me.”

  Mandy had an expression of rapturous delight on her face as they flew through the air at well under a hundred miles an hour. Moving around at hypersonic speeds could be awesome, but there was something to be said for flying at slower speeds and enjoying the experience. There were squares checkerboarding the land below them as they flew over vast farmlands. If her psychic eye was on target, she suspected Mary was somewhere near Wisconsin. Lexi could feel Mary in the web of psychic energy fields that her mind associated with personal connections she had made, making it easy to track her down.

  “I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I’m an angel,” Mandy declared with a wondering laugh. “Reality really went nuts when I met Aria.”

  “It went nuts before you met her, technically,” Lexi pointed out with a faint smile.

  “Yeah, I’m still not sure I understand what happened,” Mandy frowned, her brows creased. “Lucifer said he sent me there via some kind of character template. So, did I not exist in that world before then? Wasn’t it a copy of this one?”

  “Good question,” Lexi responded with a contemplative frown of her own. “He said it was a shallow copy of this world, so I wonder if it was fully populated. It might have just been more real around Aria, since she was the intended victim. I guess that leads us into the big question of what reality even is, if there can be splinters chipped off of this one. I still think it’s just a collective projection created by all of our minds that are connected on some kind of communion plane.”

  “Hey, check it out, a plane!” Mandy pointed excitedly at a single prop plane coming toward them several miles away. “Should we change course, or wave hello to them?”

  “I get the feeling that you want to say hi to them,” Lexi replied with an amused smile. “Let’s say hello.”

  The small plane seemed to notice them and conclude that they weren’t birds when they were a few thousand feet away. The plane banked to the side to keep its distance. Lexi could see the pilot’s eyes, wide with wonder as he stared at them. Mandy waved excitedly at the pilot and two passengers in the rear as they flew past. There was a teenage girl in the rear of the small plane that waved back at them with a grin plastered to her face.

  “I think we just made someone’s day,” Mandy commented with an exuberant grin.

  “I think you’re right,” Lexi agreed with a last wave at the plane. “At least we brought some joy to someone today.”

  “That’s right, it’s our job to bring people joy, isn’t it?” Mandy asked with a delighted laugh.

  Lexi chuckled as she observed Aria’s savior. She seemed to have a boundless positive energy that bubbled up out of her. Her eyes sparkled with life, enhancing her already beautiful angelic features. She reminded Lexi of a less mischievous version of Clarice.

  “What part of Wisconsin do you think-” Mandy cut off as they both heard the coughing sound of the single prop plane as its engine died. The small plane began gliding down toward the plains below.

  “I suppose we should go help them,” Lexi suggested as she began flying toward the plane at a quicker pace. “This is great terrain for an emergency landing. Everything is so flat.”

  “What can we do to help them?” Mandy asked as she studied the small plane intently. “Should I carry one of them down to the ground? Or maybe you could just go inside and make a portal for them.”

  “Not a bad idea,” Lexi smiled approvingly. “However, we probably don’t want the plane dropping onto someone’s house. I’ll just go underneath it and carry it down to the ground.”

  “You can do that?” Mandy asked, staring at Lexi in amazement.

  Lexi felt warmth spread out from her core as Mandy gazed at her in wonder. Was this what it was like for Aria, Clarice, and Calypso, always having people look at them in awe and respect? She could get used to this.

  “Yeah, the antigravity ability makes it super simple,” Lexi responded with a shrug. She turned to look at Mandy and winked. “It’s kind of fun to get the ability too.”

  Mandy raised a challenging eyebrow. “You’ll have to show me sometime.”

  Lexi flushed as she realized she was teasing someone who outclassed her in the teasing department.

  “You’re really pretty when you blush,” Mandy informed her with a wink.

  “Okay, that backfired spectacularly,” Lexi laughed ruefully.

  They were almost next to the gliding plane when the girl in the back finally noticed them again. Her eyes were wide with fear, clearly expecting the worst. Mandy smiled at her and gave her two thumbs up. Lexi switched her hover field on and flashed over to the underside of the plane. She flipped upside down and used her arms and legs to hug the fuselage. It took her a moment to find the center of balance. Once she felt comfortable that it wouldn’t flip over, she started slowing its forward momentum down while holding it level.

  “Is she holding us up?” she heard a woman ask the pilot in stunned amazement.

  “Yep, she’s got you,” Lexi called over to them from where she was slowly gliding next to them. “She’s going to place you down on the ground.”

  Lexi began descending gently, mindful of her passengers. She looked over at Mandy and found herself staring down the lens of a phone’s camera.

  “I’m sorry, Lexi,” Mandy apologized with a smile just short of laughter on her face. “I have to show this to Aria and the others.”

  Lexi frowned as she imagined how she must look from Lexi’s vantage. “I can already imagine all of the jokes Clarice is going to make,” she sighed in resignation. “She is never going to let me live this down.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Mandy told her with a wide grin. “I remember her telling you to show Mary all of the things you could do in zero gravity. Maybe this is what she meant.”

  Lexi began banging her forehead against the fuselage with a groan. “I’m never going to live this down.”

  It took her nearly ten minutes to reach the ground, with Mandy filming her most of the way down. She had descended slowly to avoid having the wind lift the plane off of her.

  “Superman was full of crap,” Lexi declared as she neared an empty county road in the middle of endless corn fields. “It’s not like these things have handles with reinforced frames to grab them by.”

  “We’re definitely going cape shopping after this,” Mandy promised with a dimpled smile.

  Lexi glared at her as she set the plane down on its wheels. How dare she make fun of my superhero comparison! Especially with those dimples, which should be illegal. Lexi had always had a soft spot for dimples.

  As soon as the plane was on the ground, the pilot was opening the door of the high wing aircraft and dropping the small stairs. A middle-aged woman and her young teenage daughter exited quickly, followed a moment later by the pilot. The woman, Jill, was average height and slightly plump, with short brown hair and light brown eyes. She was trembling with nerves as she took deep, relieved breaths. Unshed tears filled her eyes as she came down from her adrenaline high.

  “Thank you so much, Lexi,” the woman gushed, stepping forward and pulling the surprised angel into a hug. “I was so scared. I know it’s still possible to land without the engine, but it would have been super risky.”

  “You’re very welcome, Jill” Lexi told her warmly, enveloping Jill in her loving aura. The woman gasped as she was flooded with love. She hung on to Lexi for long enough that her daughter, Heather, started poking her discreetly. Heather was the same height as her mother. She was a little overweight and had a serious case of acne on her cheeks. She had chest length brown hair and the same light brown eyes as her mother. Nobody would accuse her of having a beautiful face, but she wasn’t ugly.

  “Mom, don’t make it weird,” Heather admonished with a hiss.

  Lexi laughed and stepped back from her, then pulled a surprised Heather into a hug as well. Heather drew a breath in sharply as she felt the overpowering love fill her soul. She probably would have stayed for hours, but after almost a minute she was interrupted.

  “Don’t make it weird,” Jill told her daughter with a smirk.

  “You didn’t tell me it felt so good,” Heather grumbled as she reluctantly released Lexi.

  “How old are you, Heather?” Lexi asked curiously.

  “How did you know my name?” Heather asked in surprise.

  “A person’s name is written in their aura,” Lexi explained with a small smile. “Calypso can tell how old you are too, but I haven’t evolved that much yet. So? How old are you?”

  “That is so cool,” Heather gushed as she studied Lexi enviously. “I was on my way to my sixteenth birthday party.”

  “Happy birthday!” Mandy told her enthusiastically. “Where were you going?”

  “We were going to go on a cruise on Lake Michigan with my grandparents,” Heather sighed wistfully. “There’s no way we’ll make it there in time before the cruise leaves now.”

  Lexi turned to Douglas, the pilot. He had been staring at them in awe from the moment he exited. He flushed when he saw her staring at him. He was in his twenties, lean, tall, and good looking. “What airport were you flying into, Douglas? Just think of where it is on a map in your head.”

  Douglas gave her a nervous stare, and she nearly snorted a laugh, glad that she hadn’t been listening to his thoughts the whole time. As soon as she saw the visual location in his head, she opened a large gateway to the small airfield.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Here we are,” Lexi declared grandly, gesturing at the gateway. “I’ll just push the plane through, if you’ll make sure the brakes aren’t on and steer it.”

  Douglas still hadn’t said a word, clearly too tongue tied to say anything. He climbed back into the airplane and pulled the stair door back up behind him.

  “Oh my god,” Heather exclaimed in a voice that was probably heard in the light realms. “We’re still going to make it to the cruise! I can’t wait to tell grandma and grandpa that we were saved by angels.”

  “Can I talk to you for a minute after we push this through?” Lexi asked Jill with a serious expression.

  “Sure,” Jill nodded agreeably, her eyes still looking dazed as she tried to cope with almost crashing in an airplane and meeting a couple of angels.

  Lexi floated up into the air and positioned herself behind the tail of the plane. She started pushing, but the plane just rocked forward a little. She felt the tail getting brittle in her grip as she put more force into it.

  “I think the brakes are still on!” Mandy shouted loud enough to be heard by Douglas in the cockpit.

  He flinched in his seat, then quickly released the breaks. The plane shot forward under the pressure Lexi was exerting on it from the tail. There was a startled yelp from Douglas as he shot through the portal.

  They had finally been noticed by some employees in the small airfield. They were staring in shock at the plane that had just shot through a portal in the middle of the air. Lexi flew back to Heather and Jill and ushered them through the portal.

  Lexi caught Mandy’s eye and nodded toward Heather meaningfully. Mandy grinned and nodded before engaging Heather in a conversation about what kind of car she wanted now that she was sixteen.

  “Jill, I wanted to make you an offer while we are here,” Lexi told her, glancing at where Heather was engaged with Mandy in excited conversation. “Would you like us to turn you into an angel? I figure you can turn your daughter into one when you think she is ready.”

  Jill stared at her, looking completely stunned. Lexi waited patiently for her to digest her offer.

  “I’m assuming you heard what Aria told the world in the livestream last night,” Lexi added, eyeing her curiously.

  “Yeah,” Jill said, slightly breathless. “That we’re in some kind of prison, and that you can change normal humans into angels with tears.”

  “So, what do you think?” Lexi asked meaningfully. “I can even just unlock the ability in you with an angel tear, and you can wait to say the trigger phrase until you are ready. I don’t know if you’ll get another chance any time soon, so I wanted to offer.”

  “Yes,” Jill replied immediately, her face suddenly eager. “I’ve had enough of this endless reincarnation shit. My soul feels old, and I’m sick of repeating this life over and over.”

  Lexi blinked in surprise. Her eyes softened as she realized some of the horrors people probably had in their soul memory from past lives. The thought was enough to help her produce an angel tear. She took Jill’s hand and placed it on her wet cheek. Her hand suddenly glowed as it took effect. Her features became softer and her body slimmer. She gasped at the rejuvenating effect of an angel tear.

  “Now say the words,” Lexi told her gently.

  “I want to vanquish evil,” Jill said firmly. Her eyes widened as she felt the tingle in her hand begin moving throughout her body.

  Her daughter must have had some kind of sixth sense, because she suddenly cut off what she was saying to Mandy and walked over to her mother. She stared at the now youthful looking woman in awe that slowly turned to excited wonder as Jill began glowing.

  “You’re going to be an angel, Mom!” Heather exclaimed ecstatically.

  When the transformation was complete, Jill stared at them with the face of a twenty-year-old woman, her eyes filled with ecstasy as light flooded her meridians.

  “Mom!” Heather beamed enthusiastically. “You’re an angel!”

  “Wow,” Jill breathed in disbelief. “I can’t believe how good I feel!”

  They had acquired an audience in the short time since appearing through the portal. There were half a dozen people standing a short distance away, watching with rapt attention. Two of the people had pulled their phones out and recorded the process.

  “Can you turn me into an angel?” Heather asked hopefully, her light brown eyes full of anticipation.

  Lexi looked at Jill questioningly. Jill smiled and stepped forward, pulling her daughter into an embrace. Quicksilver tears rolled down her cheeks and landed on Heather’s neck. The effect was more dramatic for Heather. The acne on her cheeks vanished, and her extra pounds also vanished, leaving her to hold up her suddenly loose clothing.

  “I guess I should have warned you about that,” Lexi apologized wryly. “Angel tears reshape your body to its ultimate design in preparation for the etheric translation to angelhood.”

  “I want to vanquish evil,” Heather said immediately.

  Lexi felt a sense of satisfaction that she was no longer the youngest angel. As Heather’s transformation completed and she recovered from the overwhelming positive energy flooding her system, Lexi marveled at the differences. She could still tell it was the same person...barely. Her face no longer missed being beautiful, and her lavender eyes made her new face striking with its beauty.

  Mandy walked over and held her phone out to Heather with the rear camera active so that she could see herself. Her hand flew to her mouth as she beheld her angelic features. A slow smile filled her face as she admired herself with wonder in her lavender eyes.

  “Um...I don’t suppose you would be willing to do that to me?” one of the airfield employees asked, his eyes almost painfully hopeful.

  Lexi shared a look with Mandy, then shrugged. “Might as well.”

  Twenty minutes later they were finally able to continue their journey. Lexi sighed and decided to just make a portal. They would never reach Mary at the rate they were moving.

  She opened a portal to the location she felt Mary’s consciousness glowing in the web of psychic energy overlaying the mortal realm. She stood in front of the portal staring at what her eyes were seeing but her mind wasn’t believing. Mary was in a large bed, and she wasn’t alone. There was a tall male angel with archangel wings. They were both naked and doing it. Neither of the angels had seen her, so focused on what they were doing. Feeling a steel weight drop into her stomach, she closed the gateway.

  She felt Mandy pull her into a comforting hug from behind, but it didn’t register. She had been so sure that her and Mary would be together, with their own eternity to cherish. Mary had been her salvation when she was a child, and again when Aria had vanished. Should she have gone with Mary and left Clarice on her own? Would things have worked out differently? She knew that even if she could be sure they worked out differently, she still wouldn’t have left Clarice behind.

  She felt hot tears forming in her eyes as she accepted that the fantasy she had created in her mind with the two of them living out eternity side by side, was just a fantasy.

  “I’m so sorry,” Mandy whispered sympathetically,

  She let out a wail and turned around, falling into Mandy’s arms. She felt the weight in her stomach spread out as she looked at an eternity of solitude. She couldn’t imagine herself with anyone else. Clarice had been the only person she could have ever seen herself with besides Mary, and she was taken. Twice.

  There was a ripple in the space around her, and suddenly Aria, Calypso, and Clarice were there, surrounding her with concern on their faces. Clarice stared at Mandy for a moment, clearly speaking telepathically.

  “I’m so sorry, Lexi,” Clarice whispered as tears formed in her own eyes, and she took her from Mandy’s arms.

  The words coming from Clarice were like a stick of dynamite on a dam. She sobbed into Clarice’s shoulder, weeping bitterly for the future she had been denied. The tears just kept coming as she revisited all of the memories she had of Mary in her early teenage years. She felt the horror and self-loathing of her years in captivity, subjected to the whims of the powerful and twisted. The sudden hope as she was reunited with Mary in her transcendental state. She had been so sure that her happily ever after had finally arrived as she rekindled her friendship.

  Even as her heart hit rock bottom, she was self-aware enough to realize that she had been making some huge assumptions. Mary had been a person filled with compassion and sympathy, but there had never been any hint at romance in their time together. She had known that at some level, deep in her soul. It was the reason she had never tried to kiss her. She had convinced herself that it just needed time and companionship. She had deluded herself and probably put Mary in an uncomfortable place. Her perceptive friend had probably known of her feelings the entire time.

  “I’m such an idiot,” Lexi muttered as she clung to Clarice like a lifeline.

  “You’re the hottest idiot I’ve ever seen,” Clarice told her playfully, her eyes filled with tears of sympathy. Lexi could feel Clarice's overwhelming love engulfing her through the bond. She remembered seeing Clarice’s inner soul, that place of ultimate beauty. The pain in her heart lessened slightly as she realized that to be loved by the goddess in front of her meant she would never be alone in the halls of eternity. She desperately clung to that lifeline, holding on to the image of Clarice’s inner soul and the love she could even now feel pouring out of that soul and into her.

  Slowly, her wracking sobs subsided. She felt the love flowing in from Aria and Calypso through their bond as well, confirming that she would never be truly alone. She could also feel the presence of Mandy’s inexperienced aura, pushed toward her in an attempt to comfort her. Aria’s savior. She had only been with her for a short time, but she could see how brightly the inner soul of that beautiful angel burned.

  Her sorrow and heartache were suddenly replaced by overwhelming gratitude for the beautiful angels that had pulled her into their hearts. She staggered as the power of her gratitude left her dizzy with wonder. They had shown up to be with her the second they felt her pain. They had pulled her out of a literal hell and made her a part of their soul. Whatever she might have lost with Mary, it paled in comparison to what she had gained with these three angels.

  “I love you all so much,” Lexi whispered fiercely.

  “You will never be alone, Lexi,” Clarice told her firmly, her voice a mixture of compassion and confidence. “We will always be here with you.”

  “That’s right,” Mandy told her gently. “I’m immortal now, so I’ll always be here too. I know this isn’t much comfort right now, but I’m so glad I met you, Lexi. You’ve become such large part of my new life that I don’t know what I would do without you.”

  “That is comforting,” Lexi told her warmly. “Did you study psychology or something? Making me feel needed is just what I need right now.”

  “I do need you,” Mandy told her, a quiet note of longing in her voice as she watched Lexi with eyes full of love...and something else. “From the moment you taught me to fly I have felt a connection with you. Maybe we were friends before mortality, and it is my soul memory making you seem so familiar, or maybe we’ve been together in previous incarnations. I just know that you are very special to me and that I need you.”

  Lexi was shocked to feel the hole so recently made in her heart suddenly fill up with desire again. She stared at Mandy in a new light, an unexpected feeling of attraction flooding her heart and leaving her slightly breathless. Clarice suddenly grinned at her and waggled her eyebrows suggestively, breaking the spell and sending her into peels of near-hysterical laughter. Mandy looked puzzled, but the laughter was contagious, dragging her into the collective mirth as Aria and Calypso laughed with her as well.

  When Lexi finally recovered from her manic humor attack, she stepped up close to Mandy and stared into her lavender eyes, seeing the same longing she now felt. “We still haven’t unlocked your antigravity ability,” Lexi told her in a silky soft voice.

  Mandy’s eyes widened slightly as she sensed the change in Lexi’s manner. She looked down at Lexi’s lips, her eyes darting back up to her eyes as her breathing quickened. Lexi wasn’t sure that she had the courage to initiate a kiss on her own, but she felt so much confidence and affirmation flowing through the bond from the other three that she was able to push past her fear. She looked at Mandy’s lips. They looked soft, inviting, and were slightly parted. She looked back up into Mandy’s eyes, knowing how vulnerable her own eyes must look in that moment.

  Mandy smiled seductively, her dimples flashing and sending a shiver down Lexi’s spine. Mandy leaned forward slowly, her eyes never leaving Lexi’s vulnerable eyes. As their lips touched, Lexi felt a sensation similar to a quickly descending elevator, eliciting a flood of motion in her core that took control of her body. Her arms wrapped around Mandy as she pushed her body tightly against the other woman, molding herself to Mandy’s soft form as their lips met with a passion Lexi hadn’t thought she possessed. She heard a passionate moan and realized that it had come from her own throat as raw need pumped through her veins like liquid desire.

  Lexi was interrupted when she felt Mandy suddenly float up out of her arms. She stared up at Mandy with a wondering smile on her face. She couldn’t believe how much passion she had felt rushing through her system. A dimpled Mandy stared back down at her with eyes full of unsatisfied need.

  “Our work here is done,” Clarice announced with a mock salute at the two of them. A moment later she vanished with Aria and Calypso, all of them grinning at her encouragingly.