Sarah tapped Zach on the shoulder and held out her hand for the phone. "Tell him I want to talk to Rosemary again," she said.

Zach looked a question at her, but complied: "Yurkemi, let us speak to Rosemary, please."

"Oh, of course! Anything you want, Zachriel!" But then his voice changed, became less playful. "But please do come soon, all right?"

Zach handed the phone to Sarah, and across town, Rosemary took the phone from Yurkemi.

"Rosemary," Sarah said, "It's Sarah. Don't talk. Just listen."

Hesitantly: "Okay."

"This guy is bad news. We'll be over as soon as we--"

"Oh, Sarah! I don't believe you! He's really sweet--"

"Rosemary, please just listen to me. We'll be over there soon as we can. Don't go anywhere with him, okay? I don't know much about him, I don't know what he's capable of doing--" she looked over at Zach, who shrugged. "But he tried to hurt me a few days ago, so just be careful. We'll be there soon."

Rosemary seemed only slightly chastened. Obviously, she didn't believe that Yurkemi would hurt her, and maybe he wouldn't. He was an angel, after all, right? How bad could he be?

* * *

"Thank you for everything, Cate. I'm really sorry we woke you up. I'll see you tomorrow at the store, okay?" Sarah moved toward the door and tugged Zach along with her.

"Hey, don't go yet! I'm coming with you! You think I'd miss all the excitement? Just let me get some clothes on."

Cate ran to the bedroom to get dressed, and Sarah let go of Zach and followed her. "You can't go with us--you don't know what we're dealing with here. It could be dangerous. And what about your appointment tomorrow? I thought you had to enroll for school."

"It's no big deal, I can do that any time. I'm coming, all right?" She pulled on a pair of jeans, then pushed her feet into sneakers. "I've had martial arts and self defense training, and," she said, rummaging in her bedside table, "I've got a gun!" She waved a small handgun in the air triumphantly.

"No! God, Cate, no guns! For Heaven's sake. Put it away. I'll let you come with us if you have to, but no guns!"

"Okay. Sure. Sorry." She put the gun back into the drawer, then bent to tie her shoes. As soon as Sarah's back was turned, Cate stuck the gun into her waistband. What Sarah didn't know wouldn't hurt her, and it might just come in handy.

* * *

They piled into the car, Sarah still driving, Cate riding shotgun, and Zach lying across the backseat, his arm across his eyes. Depressed again. Wonderful.

Cate leaned over the seat to look at him. "You okay?" she asked.

"Just thinking."

Sarah looked at him in the rearview mirror. "Zach? What are we dealing with here? What is Yurkemi capable of?"

"I don't know for sure. He used to be called the Angel of Hail, but he hasn't really used hail as a weapon for a long time. He's kind of a loose cannon; Cadmiel doesn't use him very often, since he's so unpredictable. I must have made him angrier than I thought. Actually, I had hoped that no one would find out, at least not until I was back. I still don't know how they did."

"What are you guys talking about? Want to let me in on the secret?" Cate had twisted around in her seat and was leaning her back against the door so she could see both Sarah and Zach. Sarah looked into the rearview mirror again, but Zach still had his arm over his eyes.

Sarah took a deep breath. "Zach is an angel. He's--"

"Oh yeah, I know that."

Sarah shot her a look. "What? What do you mean, you know that? How do you know?"

"Well, you know that night you guys brought the ice cream back to the store? When I left, I didn't go home. I went up to in the Graham's apartment--they gave me a key so I can water their plants and stuff when they're gone. I know you usually do it, but there was one time last summer when you were visiting your folks, and they came in and asked me if I would keep an eye on the place. So that night I wanted to watch something on television, since I don't have one, and I went up there for awhile, and I just happened to be looking out the window when Zach did his magic act out in the street. I admit I felt a little like a voyeur . . ." She grinned at Zach, who snorted a laugh, his eyes still covered.

"What?" Cate asked, feigning indignance.

"Oh, nothing. Like peacocks, right?"

Cate laughed. "Yeah. Like that."

Sarah frowned. "Never mind," Cate said. "Oh, okay, you know, sexual display and like that."

"Ah." Sarah shook her head and turned back to the road. She was glad it was dark, so Cate couldn't see her blush. Sexual display indeed. Although she supposed it was something like that. The only reason he'd unfurled his wings was to impress her, and, she admitted, she had been impressed. Very impressed.

"They are actually functional," Zach said, his voice sounding slightly muffled.

"Oh, I'm sure they are," Cate answered, smiling and rolling her eyes at Sarah.

Sarah looked over at her. "You're taking this awfully well."

"Oh, I always knew there were angels. It just stands to reason one would show up sooner or later."

"I thought you said you weren't an angel kind of gal."

"Oh, that. I meant the cute little ones like you see on Christmas cards--that really isn't my style at all. But hunky guys with wings, who wouldn't like them? I've been painting like crazy since that night. If nothing else, it gave me a TON of inspiration."

"Ah, Cate, you're a treasure."

She shrugged. "All I know is, if this is a dream, it's a pretty cool one."

Zach sat up in the backseat. "It's not a dream. And I don't know what we're going to walk into over at Rosemary's, so I want you both to stay in the car, all right? I'll handle it, whatever happens."

He seemed to be gathering strength, sitting up straighter, pulling himself together. He had more color in his face, too. He looked less like someone who was hoping to be invisible, and more like the avenging angel that Sarah hoped he could be. Librarian into gladiator? She guessed it could happen, but she wasn't sure they should count on it.

"So, back to Yurkemi--he's going to, what? Make it hail on us? We could probably handle that, don't you think? How back could it be?"

"He hasn't done that for centuries. That was more of a plague of locusts kind of thing--that era--which he's done as well. But not for a long time. The last I heard, he'd moved on to more modern weapons."

So Sarah was right to be worried. "Like what?" she asked. "Guns?"

Zach shrugged. "I don't know. It probably depends on what he thinks I can come up with."

"What can you come up with?"

"I have a gun!" Cate piped up.

"I told you not to bring the gun!"

"Well, I know, but I had a feeling we might need it."

Sarah sighed and looked back at Zach. "So? What did you have in mind?"

"I have a sword."

"Where?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll have it when I need it." Sarah looked over at Cate, who shrugged. Everyone seemed to be shrugging tonight. No one knew what to expect, she supposed. Zach had an invisible sword. And Cate had a gun. Great. Just great.

* * *

Rosemary lived in a residential part of town, several miles from the beaches. Her house was in the middle of the block, a small pink stucco house with a tile roof and a sandy front yard. She, or whoever had lived there before, had obviously given up on trying to grow grass. The "lawn" was mostly sand with a few clumps of straggly grass. As they drove up, a cat streaked out from beneath a bush and ran across the street.

Sarah parked the car and they sat and looked up at the house. "So what do we do now?" Sarah asked. Zach answered, "Just stay here." He opened the car door and started to get out, just as Yurkemi stepped out onto the small porch. He looked larger than Sarah remembered, and more menacing. As she watched, he lifted his arms in the gesture she must have missed seeing Zach perform. It did resemble a magic trick, and she wondered if this was what Cate saw. As Yurkemi's arms rose, so did a set of wings just as magnificant as Zach's. His were darker, though, a soft gray, where Zach's were white, and Sarah wondered if the color denoted age or temperament--she remembered her dreams and the grouchy old angels with dusty black wings. Maybe it was just like hair color, and didn't mean anything.

She supposed now wasn't the right time to ask.

"Wow!" breathed Cate. Sarah could see Rosemary kneeling on a chair inside the front window of the house, her face pressed against the window, her mouth an "o" of astonishment. It was impressive.

"Zachriel, my old friend!" he cried as he walked down the sidewalk, arms still outstretched. "It's been much too long!"

"Not long enough, Yurkemi," Zach said, "and we were never friends." As they watched, he made the same sweeping gesture that Yurkemi had made, and his own wings spread out behind him, reaching to the heavens.

"We can do this here, Zachriel, or we can go home and talk it over with Cadmiel."

"I'm not going home, Yurkemi. Not yet. My work here isn't finished. And Cadmiel has no power over me."

"Oh, on the contrary. Your work here is finished. It should never have been started in the first place. You don't have permission to be here, Zach. You know that's not allowed. You've been a bad boy," and with that, Yurkemi made another gesture with his arm, and he was suddenly holding a sword. A huge sword, bigger than anything Sarah had imagined, and both she and Cate, still sitting in the car, gasped.

At that moment Cate opened her door and slipped out of the car. Sarah grabbed for her, but Cate was too quick. She slid off the seat, then stood leaning against the side of the car never taking her eyes off the tableau on the lawn. Time seemed to stand still as the two angels faced each other, two supernatural beings matching wills and strength. Yurkemi waved the sword over his head, and as quickly as Yurkemi's sword had appeared, Zachriel was holding a sword of his own. It caught a glint of light from the moon and the reflected beam shot back into the sky.

He flipped his long coat behind him as if it was a cowboy's duster, and they stood facing each other like gunslingers, but instead of six-shooters, they were holding swords, each pinning the other with his eyes, waiting to see who would strike first.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Cate couldn't wait to find out. With everyone's attention riveted on the two angels, she had pulled the gun from her waistband, and now stood in a stance she must have learned at firearms class--legs spread, arms outstretched, the gun held in both hands.

"Knock it off!" she shouted, and Yurkemi turned his head to look at her. "Oh, a little girl!" he mocked, and she did look like a little girl in her jeans and sneakers, her hair pulled up into two pigtails on top of her head. But her voice was anything but childish as she repeated, "Knock it off! I mean it! Drop the fucking swords!"

Like a car wreck, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Yurkemi swung his sword in Zach's direction, Sarah shouted, "Zack!" Zach moved gracefully out of the way and swung his sword, and Cate fired the gun. Yurkemi threw his head back and howled, "Alimon!" and this time, time really did stop.

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