CHAPTER ONE

 

Rachel slammed into the asphalt and bounced a few times before coming to a stop at the exit of a dark alley. If He wanted her out, why hadn't He at least sent her in the direction of a nice body of water? Something to break her hurtling fall. A breeze ruffled her hair, sending a shiver through her, and a throb in her hip pulled a groan from her lips as she stood. What the fuck was that?

She wiggled her toes, stretched her back, and flexed her legs. Fresh spikes of needles flooded her. Was that pain? How in the heavens could she be in pain?

And then she knew. She was on Earth. Angelic power nil or dying. There had to be a mistake. He could not have meant to send her here with almost no power, no explanation, no plan. What was she supposed to do now?

She looked up to Heaven, praying, asking to be brought home. She didn't belong here and hadn't been here in over a millennium. A car raced by, its exhaust puffing out a cloud of gas that caused her to cough. The car screeched around a corner, fresh skid marks scarred the asphalt. Ugh. Technology. Earth had been a much nicer, quieter, place the last time she'd been on terra firma. Sure, there was more disease, more intrigue, more seclusion, but it had been quiet.

A groan from her left caught her attention and momentarily shoved aside her self-pity. Rachel walked over to the angel. Tangled red hair hid her face. The other angel clawed at the strands to wipe them out of her eyes.

The angel gasped, eyes wide. "Is that pain?"

Rachel held out a hand to help her up. "Afraid so."

"But why?"

"You'd have to ask Him. I recognize you. Rebecca, isn't it?" With millions of angels coming and going, she didn’t know every angel but she’d seen Rebecca a few times in the Miracles department.

"Becky, yes. And you're Rachel?"

Rachel nodded. "I'm assuming you also have no idea why He sent you here."

Becky dusted off her robes and brushed the hair out of her eyes. "No. There was no warning. I was on my cloud observing humanity and suddenly, I was racing towards the Earth."

A faint hiss through the air drew Rachel's attention right this time. Another angel hit the ground full speed, bounced, rolled, and came to an abrupt stop just before a woman’s stiletto heel, laying on the road, poked the angel’s eye. The angel's pool of golden hair splayed out on the ground around her head like the halo she didn't have anymore. "Where am I?"

Rachel and Becky limped over and helped her up.

"Earth." Rachel scanned their surroundings, her gaze alighting on the tower near the water. "Toronto, it would seem."

"Before you ask why, we don't know," Becky said.

"I know you two. Rebecca and Rachel, right?"

"Becky," Becky said. "And you're Sarah?"

Sarah nodded, stretched, scrunched her face, and gasped. "Pain? Really?"

The cause of the pain, more than the pain itself, worried Rachel. ”Beck, turn around, unfurl your wings."

Becky obliged, stretching her wings wide.

"That's not good," Sarah said.

"What? What is it?"

Rachel turned her back to the angel and unfurled her own wings.

"How can He send us here with so little power?"

Their once gleaming white wings were now almost as dark as a moonless night. One small, white, shining patch of hope remained.

"Maybe this is a test," Sarah suggested.

"If it's a test, shouldn't He have told us what we need to do at least?" Rachel asked.

"What if it's a mistake!" Becky said.

Rachel wanted to believe it was a mistake, but it was too deliberate, and it felt too much like a lesson needed to be learned, but for the life of her, she didn't know what that was. What could they have done wrong to be exiled?

"Hold onto that if you want, but I don't think it was a mistake. He did this for a reason. We need to figure out what that reason is," Rachel said.

"You think we can get back to Heaven if we do whatever it is we need to do?" Becky asked.

"I hope so. I do not want to spend centuries, or longer, down here with them." Rachel sneered at a gaggle of sorority sisters, tripping over themselves and giggling.

“Someone lost a shoe.” Sarah pointed to the shoe that almost skewered her eye.

“One of the sorority sisters?” Becky waved a hand at the stiletto. The shoe vanished. “There. Back with its owner.”

“I don’t know if that was such a good idea,” Rachel said, a lump of dread weighing down her stomach.

“Why not? Her feet could get hurt if she’s walking around drunk without one of her shoes.”

“Turn around again. Let me see your wings.” Rachel moved her closer to the exit of the alley to get some of the light from the street.

“That’s not good,” Sarah commented.

“What’s going on?” Becky pulled a wing forward to check it out.

“That white patch you had is smaller,” Sarah explained.

“Shit.”

Becky and Sarah gasped. Rachel ignored them for the moment. A little magic used meant a little power was gone from Becky. When their wings were loaded with power, a small drain didn’t make a lot of difference. They had plenty of time and deeds they accomplished that recharged their wings. But that was in Heaven where the power came back faster.

“You know what this means?” Rachel turned back to the angels. “We can’t go around fixing things. We have to conserve our power. Figure out a plan.”

A “falling star” shot through the sky, bounced at the back of the alley, and stopped only when it hit the curb. The street remained relatively traffic-free at this hour. Most people in the area, presumably already at their drinking destination of choice or otherwise engaged in some recreational activity the city offered, either didn’t see the object falling or didn’t care. No one “oooohhhed” or “ahhhhed” about the streak of light from the sky.

“What the fuck is that?” Rachel asked.

Sarah and Becky backed away slightly and looked Heaven ward, expecting to be stricken down.

“Relax. He doesn’t care.”

An object glowed white hot, then dimmed. A soft hiss escaped the balled-up piece of paper with the expelled heat. As they drew near, the object unfolded. They ran over, leaving the relative safety and dim light at the exit of the alley.

“He cares.” Sarah pointed at the note that had formed the object.

Scrawled in St. Peter’s elaborate script, the note had one word. Redemption. Underneath the word, that right now meant nothing to any of them, were the initials SP.

“Redemption for what, Sarah? If He cared, wouldn’t He have at least told us why we were exiled? Do you know why He kicked you out?”

Both angels shook their heads. Determination lit their eyes. At least they weren’t going to cry.

Before Rachel could pick up the note, it burst into flames and disappeared. Ashes floated on the night air, out onto the street.

***

Unprotected from the buildings, a gust of wind caused them all to shiver. They stood on the sidewalk now, looking in all directions for some direction. There was no telling how long they were going to be there. It could be days, months, centuries. Please don’t let it be centuries.

Sarah’s stomach grumbled. She held out her hand and a hamburger appeared. The smell of roasted meat, spices, the savory aroma of roasted garlic teased Rachel’s nose and made her stomach grumble in return.

“Stop doing that!”

“What?” Sarah asked around a mouthful of burger.

“Using your power. We have to conserve.”

Rachel pulled out Sarah’s wing to look at the damage.

“That hurts. I can’t believe I feel pain now. So unfair.”

“Then unfurl.” Sarah obliged. “Yep, you have less white than you did when you first got here.”

"If we can't use our power, how are we going to survive here?" Becky paced in front of a boarded-up record shop.

Rachel stepped in front of her to stop her aimless walking. "First, we have to remain calm. There's a reason for everything. We'll figure out why we're here, fix it, and go home."

"We know why. Redemption." Sarah popped the last of the burger in her mouth.

Rachel's stomach protested the lack of food again. It had been over a thousand years since she'd eaten. As an angel, she didn't need organic sustenance to survive and had never been a fan of eating anyway. It took away valuable time from other tasks. Now, she was so hungry, she could eat for a week.

"We'll start there. It must be our own redemption otherwise we would have been given a person to watch over."

A moan from the right, down the street, possibly the next block of buildings, snagged their attention.

"What was that? Another angel?" Becky asked.

They ran in the direction of the moan, to the street parallel to the alley they'd landed in. A woman lay in the center of the street, shaking her head and pushing herself up from the pavement.

Sarah rushed over to grab her around the waist and help her off the ground.

"Thanks," the woman said.

Blood dripped down the side of her face from a cut above her eye. She dabbed at it, blinking her eyes at the red on her fingers.

"What's your name," Rachel asked.

The woman looked up, confusion flitting across her face for a moment. She shook her head again and took a deep breath. Memories flooded into her mind, her eyes widening in horror.

"My friend! Where is she? Did you see her?"

"Slow down," Becky said.

Sarah helped the woman over to the curb and eased her down. A shiver shook the woman's delicate shoulders.

"I have to, Rachel."

"No, we need to conserve."

Despite the warning, a cardigan appeared in Sarah's hands in the woman's size. Sarah draped it around the woman’s shoulders. A grateful sigh escaped her lips, and she pulled the garment closer together and snuggled into the warmth.

"Back to you," Becky said. "What happened? Do you know who you are?"

Sadness passed over the woman's face. "I'm Gina. I was with my friend, Leyla. A car pulled up, men got out and grabbed her."

"She didn't know these men?" Rachel asked.

A harsh laugh escaped Gina's lips. "If she did, she didn't want to go with them. She ran down the street." Gina pointed left.

A sinking feeling weighed Rachel down. She pulled Becky and Sarah away, toward the main street, out of Gina's earshot.

"I think we got here too late. What if we were supposed to save Leyla?”

Sarah glanced over her shoulder to check on Gina. ”How is that possible, though? His timing is impeccable."

"I have another bad thought," Becky said. "What if that shoe belonged to Leyla?"

"Shit. You disappeared evidence that could help the police find her."

"I didn't know! It could still belong to one of the roving sorority sisters."

Rachel went back to Gina. She crouched down to look the frightened woman in the eyes. A dash of angel power could erase the fear and replace it with calm reassurance. But if they'd already messed up, she couldn't afford to lose what little power she had.

"Do you remember what your friend was wearing?"

“We were celebrating her ten-year anniversary at work. She was wearing a little black dress and killer burgundy high heels.”

Nausea threatened to purge Rachel’s already empty stomach. “Stiletto heels?”

The woman’s face brightened. “Yes! Did you see her?”

“Not exactly. We saw her shoe,” Becky explained.

Rachel glared at Becky for that revelation. Becky shrugged and glared back.

“Where is her shoe?” Gina asked.

Becky waved her hand in the direction the car had gone. “Over there.”

A burgundy stiletto lay on its side against the curb. How much more power had Becky lost for fixing that mistake? On the bright side, maybe the shoe picked up some evidence from its brief stay on Stephanie’s foot, wherever she was. If she was still in a car, it might not help them, but any evidence gave them a place to start.

“Where do you work?” Rachel asked.

“We’re teachers. We work at Fort York Collegiate.”

“We need to call the police so you can give them a description of the car and the men who took her. Do you have a picture of Leyla?”

Gina nodded. “Are you guys pledging a sorority?”

Sarah sat on the curb beside the woman. “No, why?”

“Costume party, then? To celebrate the start of the school year?”

Gina looked pointedly at first Sarah’s wings, then Becky’s and Rachel’s. Rachel glanced down at her once pristine white robe. If they were going to be stuck here for a while, they would need to do something about the way they looked. It wasn’t every day that people dealt with angels, and without their powers, they would have a hard time blending in.