Trixie's morning started bad, and it got worse.

She barely slept after her nightmare anyway, and after the week she'd had, she'd wanted more than just five hours of sleep and then up by six a.m. to stare at the darkness before sunrise. And a useless Disney movie that at least had made background noise but hadn't really distracted her. Trixie didn't feel any better making a deal with Lucifer. She'd promised, and she understood she was honor bound to keep it. Angels and Lilim and especially the Devil were beings of their word. She wanted to be the same. At least where oaths and vows were concerned. But she hated that she'd had to make such a promise. If things were like she saw...if Lucifer got that bad, then Trixie wanted to be there for him. She was the reigning miracle. Kind of. It was her family that had caused all of this mess. She just wanted to help Lucifer.

But he'd made her promise to have a life, like being a normal human was so great.

And she knew he'd tell Maze and also Michael next time they could safely be in the same room together.

Trixie loathed it. Because she was pretty damn sure her power had finally come, and she'd seen the future. A bleak one where what little was left of her best friend was generous with her-Lucifer would always protect her, whether he wanted to or not-but also so trapped. So limited. And Trixie had no idea how much time they had left to fix it, to try and prevent a future that just couldn't come to pass.

Not that Lucifer believed her.

She hadn't told him over breakfast exactly what she'd seen. It would crush him. Instead, she'd made up an excuse about realizing her latest Spanish quiz had contained every question exactly in order as a dream she'd had the night before. Lucifer had listened thoughtfully and suggested that she might be wrong, that one dream and a feeling of deja vu didn't necessarily denote her miracle ability. She wished to his dad that it didn't, but the nightmare she'd suffered through felt so real. She didn't know how to save him or protect him or even how long she could hide what she'd seen from Luci.

And that was how her day started. By eight a.m. she was headed uptown to campus, both so Lucifer's right wing could heal up and so that she could work on a term paper that she just...too much was falling to the side and if her family or, oddly enough, the crew at Tenebrae found out how her grades were slipping, they'd be upset with her. Trixie was half passed out by eleven a.m. in the school library, not getting past the literary analysis of Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera when her phone buzzed.

She frowned at the message from Annie:

The discipline board got moved up to tonight. We're going over the plans for the float for Mardi Gras first then, well, after general meeting, then we assess your case. Can you make it now instead of Sat?

Sure, great, Trixie would be happy to go through all that the same way that she'd love to get her fingernails peeled off one by one or be back in Esmee's clutches. But if she was going to be ejected from Omega Chi, then it was going to happen either way, and she had bigger fish to fry now. Sighing, she texted Annie back:

Sure whatever works. Also, thanks for the heads up, I need to get my design for the float finished. I mean...maybe you can still choose it even...

Annie's answer was quick and Trixie took comfort in it:

I'm not going to let this happen. Lettie either. BTW - she's going to be at the house for dinner before everything. She said you can meet her as her guest pre-chapter stuff. If Murchison is mean, well, I'll handle it.

Trixie sighed and figured this was ending any type of luck she'd had going for her. Not that since Lucifer had gone postal on Michael, she'd had any luck at all. However, now she had to face the music, and it sucked. She hadn't been the one to just apparate into the sorority house. Yes, technically, Michael was a strange man-super strange-in their bathroom. But on the other hand, he was also God's dumbest angel and only had a mind for heavenly business. At best, he was like an annoying brother by proxy for her. It wasn't anything wrong or weird.

Ugh shoot her no.

But it looked terrible, and she knew how badly Murchison was gunning for her. Hell, she knew how badly Veronica Chang wanted her gone too. It was just...as much as Annie and (Trixie still hoped) Lettie wanted her to stay, she'd still been caught red-handed with a half naked older (like 14 billion years) older guy after hours. It was bad.

She shook her head, and then typed a quick message confirming everything with Annie. Then, she texted Maze that she'd have to do family dinner or, well, dinner between her, Maze, Luci, Michael and whoever was Luci's mystery guest tomorrow instead. Just to have her bases extra covered, she shot the angel who was the source of all her problems a quick prayer as well.

Dear Michael, I can't tonight. My sorority trial changed to today. Maze is making new plans for tomorrow though for dinner. I...it's probably better anyway, and I hope it gives you more time to heal. I...Luci's really sorry; I can tell.

Shaking her head and turning back to the same paragraph she'd read a dozen times with no retention today and tried to focus on her paper. And not on the fact that she was trying and failing to find a balance between sorority sister, college student, and miracle serving as Satan's current leash.

Fuck.

If she ever met Lucifer and Michael's dad, Trixie really didn't care. She was going to at least try to slug him. The jerk deserved it. Damn it. She was more than a leash; she had to be. And she would find a way to actually help Luci if it killed her.

It was almost four when she finally escaped from the library and started walking across the campus sprawl toward the Omega Chi house. The meeting was at six and her dinner with Lettie at five, but after hours trapped in the stacks, Trixie needed some sunshine and fresh air first. What she did not need was to find Michael sitting on the edge of the marble fountain in the center of campus and trying (yet failing) to look casual as he clearly waited for her.

She wanted to yell at him at first, to explain that her prayer had been an update and not an invitation to come by. The bumbling idiot had cost her enough already. But the venom and frustration welling up in her died the moment he turned, and she spied the right side of his face. It was packed well with gauze in two places: his forehead and to his eyebrow and then down the length of his cheek to his chin. He'd flinched well enough last minute to avoid being blinded in one eye by Lucifer's claws.

Bile roiled in her gut, and Trixie almost barfed thinking about the fight from yesterday-shit was it just then-and the anger drained out of her. Besides, she wasn't even angry at Michael. The sorority stuff hurt; it did. But honestly, since January, she'd had less and less time for it anyway. No. If anything Trixie was pissed at God who wasn't even around and herself. Lucifer might have been in denial about him nose-diving into instinctive behaviors around her, but she had to be the reason things were getting worse. Her best friend claimed he felt better than he had in a decade, but she was a miracle and this whole stupid trap...his dad had laid out a Hell (literally) of a poison for him, and Trixie just wished she knew for sure if she was hurting him.

It would be the last thing on earth she'd want.

Michael frowned at her and settled his glasses back up on his nose. They were sliding a bit off the gauze on his right cheekbone, which made them only slightly more crooked than normal. ''Are you alright, Miracle?''

She looked over her shoulder and was at least relieved no one was near enough to hear Michael. It was weird enough to have a dude who looked both like he'd lost a bar fight and was old enough to be her father waiting for her. She really didn't need to let the miracle cat out of the bag, even though people would probably just assumed Michael was insane. Or possibly a cult leader. Maybe both.

Trixie sighed and shook her head. ''I'm meeting Lettie in like thirty minutes, and I'm trying to catch my breath. You don't exactly de-stress me, Mikey.''

He nodded and didn't take the bait with his nickname. ''You sounded very distraught with your brief prayer this morning. Now that family dinner's been moved and I was able to get business in Israel done faster than expected...I have space between sibling visits. May we talk?''

''We are talking.''

He rolled his eyes. ''Please sit for a moment, Trixie. I check in with all the Host. I'm quite capable of checking in with you.''

''I think checking in with me is how I got screwed in the first place out of my housing,'' she said, but even then Trixie did as he asked. With Luci, she couldn't tell him what she'd seen. It would gut him. With Maze, her friend wouldn't believe it, would be too far into denial to help her. But Michael knew more about miracles than anyone else on any plane. He might be able to help her with her finally manifested power. And he'd want to know what was possibly coming for Lucifer too. ''I think my power finally happened.''

He quirked his head at her and today, of all days, the resemblance to Lucifer (a poorly dressed one but still) was tearing into her heart harder than usual. ''That's a good thing, isn't it? You've been searching for weeks, and now you finally know.'' He wrinkled his brow at her. ''Then why do you look as if someone has harmed Beelzebub? Miracle, you're not a good actress, and I've rarely seen you so sad.''

And he was watching her with the kind brown eyes that Lucifer should have had, and she couldn't keep it up any longer. Tears ran down her cheeks, and Trixie swiped angrily at them. Michael leaned closer to her and set a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged him off. ''I can't.''

''Tell me what you do? Constantine said it was Will, didn't he? So I'm curious to see how that's finally manifested.'' He frowned again. ''I figured you'd be able to do something finally with your drawing skills.''

She forced her tears away and hated herself still for being weak, for having her voice break even as she spoke with him. ''It's not Will. That stupid warlock was wrong. Not a big shock considering how like hung over he was then.''

''Alright, is it a painful power? Do you shift into something else?''

She blinked at him. ''Wait, that was on the table?''

''Well, there may have been a few shapeshifters amongst Father's miracles.''

Trixie gaped at him. That definitely would have been good to know, even if those odds were rare. Not that being a physical badass like a werewolf or bear or something wouldn't have an upside. See vampires try and eat her then. ''Luci said werewolves didn't exist.''

''Real ones don't, but Father is sometimes...we haven't had a miracle who can shift forms since the Middle Ages. Those odds are low. So, what do you do?''

Trixie pushed the image of her growing fur all over and tried to focus on the actual crises in her life; there were tons of them after all. ''I can see the future.''

''But I thought you'd tried various forms of Sight and clairvoyance before?'' Michael slipped his glasses off and rubbed the lenses clean against the corner of his turtle neck. ''Besides, Will and Sight could not be more different skills. Constantine said-''

''He was wrong. Michael, you have no idea how wrong he was,'' she said, her voice breaking again even as she watched the archangel slip the glasses over his nose. ''I had a dream last night, and it was like I was living the future. I had to be maybe ten or twelve years from now. I was a doctor and had my own place. And not to sound all Wizard of Oz, but you were there and Luci was there too.'' She set her head in her hands and sniffled. ''It was so bad.''

''Did Lucifer hurt you in the vision?'' Michael said, his tone measured, and Trixie could understand for the first time why his and Lucifer's siblings deferred to Michael. He had an authority about him, this sense that if you let him, he could protect you. It wasn't really true, and Trixie didn't think anyone alone could help her save Lucifer. If they had a shot, it would be her and him and the Lilim all working with Lucifer and against the clock. But it did feel safe for just a moment, and her crying stopped. ''Miracle, I need to know if he's going to become more dangerous.''

She shook her head and looked up at him. ''He'd never be a danger to me. Luci wasn't then even. He really can't hurt miracles; he never would. Honestly, he didn't hurt you either. He was, uh, disgruntled but controllable.''

Michael nodded. ''Just take your time getting it all out. What do you mean 'controllable?''

She couldn't help it anymore. Trixie turned and shocked Michael, she was sure from the way he jumped, by burying her face in his chest. ''It's so bad, Michael. There has to be a way to stop futures, right?''

''Yes, they are patterns and possibilities that become more cemented as time passes, but something that far down the line has a chance to be tweaked. Gabriel is gifted with long term patterns, but I can't...we'll have to muddle through on our own. I don't want him to know about you.''

''Because no one else knows about miracles but Amenadiel and Azrael as far as angels go?''

''Yes, and because you're unique, Trixie Espinoza,'' he said, pulling back and offering her an awkward smile. ''You are the only second generation miracle, the only one as potent as you are, and I do not know how Gabriel will take that.''

''Translation: he might kill me.''

''Angels cannot. We all know what happens now if we do.''

Trixie nodded. ''Maybe, but you're scared he'd find a way to lock me up or have something else come for me and Mom, right?''

Michael frowned. ''I shouldn't have so little faith in my brother, whose power almost rivals that of the Demiurge, but I just don't know what will happen to you if Gabe knew of your existence. But, yes, patterns can be altered. It's difficult but possible. I...what was so bad about Samael? He's already as he is.'''

''He was so feral,'' she admitted, the words bitter on her tongue. '''He wasn't...it was like he was a guard dog for me or maybe about as smart as a preschooler. I think most of what he understood still about our relationship was instinct, Michael. I had to leave him at home during the day to watch Disney movies and curl up in a blanket.'' She sighed. ''He still hated you. I mean, he didn't hurt you, but I think the whole cutting my hip-it's gonna scar by the way-made him super wary of you forever.''

Michael considered that. ''So what happened last night is a prelude. Sam's mind-''

She hiccupped and buried her head in her hands again. ''He's not going to stay like he is. I mean, the whole snarky still British thing he's got going on? It's not going to stay. I mean, he was like talking with maybe a four year old at best.'' Trixie looked back up at Michael, and it stung all over again to see a version of the Lucifer she'd known in L.A. staring back at her. ''We have to save him.''

He reached out and set a hand on her shoulder. ''I'll start research immediately. I...family meetings are about you.''

She smirked a little at such an odd thing to hear from Michael. ''So you and me and Maze and Taka and Lucifer are all family now?''

Michael sat up straighter, and that natural angelic hauteur was back. ''I am an angel of the Lord. I am an archangel in point of fact and the Demiurge besides. My power is almost unfathomable. Azrael is my sister and once, Samael was my equal yet opposite number. I am not family with Lilim.''

''But we're a team, and we all want the same thing. Tomorrow for dinner, I know you and Luci have some mystery guest coming and if Rae Rae can come all depends on what type of accident might have happened out there in the big bad world or which mudslide or who knows what, but Maze will come at least too. I...Luci's like me. He straddles a lot of worlds now. Maze is his family and I am too. He has a human, mostly, and a demon protecting him. He has angels as brothers and sisters. We need all of us to figure this out, so none of that I'm better than demons cause I'm an angel bullshit. You're good at making tons of mistakes on your own, Mikey.''

He narrowed his eyes at her. ''Perhaps, but the demon Mazikeen is a good idea; I can admit that. She knows him well and if Sammy becomes feral one day, only a team of Lilim might be able to contain him.''

''It wasn't jail, exactly. It was just a few rooms in my apartment where he...it was more like daycare,'' she admitted and the horror on Michael's face was obvious.

''Samael made the universe with me. He was a pain and a fool and started a Rebellion, but afterwards he still had more than enough power and cunning to be a King of his new domain. He was a good detective too even in L.A.''

She laughed, and it came out as a small croak. ''Mom is a great fucking detective. Lucifer is...the 'desire' mojo helps a lot with that,'' she admitted. '''Well in the future, he's barely coherent. I just...I can't let this happen to him. You can help me, right?''

''Yes, and tomorrow we will stick to you and how best to work on training up your Sight. It's important that we have every tool at our disposal to help Samael escape his fate, and now your visions might be the best resource we have.''' He stood then but seemed to think better of something and reached out toward her injured hip. Michael's hands grazed her side there, and she stilled. It was a shock, but his touch was at least gentle. With angels, you never knew if they'd just bowl you over. Most were terrible at human things. ''Are you alright physically? I never meant to harm you, Miracle.''

She quirked her head at him and frowned. ''It's a scratch so, okay, it's gonna give me a scar, but the Lilim are going to be so jealous!'' She stood and checked her phone. She'd have to sprint across the rest of campus to Greek Row to get to Lettie in time. ''I'll live, Mikey. You're not that tough.''

''One day, Miracle, you'll respect the Demiurge.''

She shrugged and winked at him. ''Meh, probably not. One half the Demiurge never learned how to like check before he just pops in to places unannounced. The other half has a blood feud going on with a flying squirrel and frets over giving me the best makeup tips.''

''We've been more impressive, I admit,'' Michael said, offering her a small grin. ''You are not Lilim. You need to remember that.''

''I'm a little bit of everything. I am human but I have powers now because without your Dad interfering, I wouldn't exist. My best friend is the Devil and Maze is basically like a sister to me and Taka too by now. You and Rae Rae are growing on me. I just...it's like I told Luci. I only look normal, but demons and angels are both my friends. So I think a bit like all of you.''

''One day, you'll understand what it is to be divinely inspired even finitely so. You are better than demons.''

''Better than Lucifer now?''

''Maybe, but I'm glad that the scar isn't painful. I didn't mean-''

She reached out and squeezed his hand. ''I know. Like I said, I got street cred from it, so that's pretty bad ass. I just...we have to save him.''

Michael nodded. ''Then we'll figure out if your theory is right and if somehow Samael is doing this to himself and not under Father's direct punishment. We work harder at getting him to change back. If he can do his eyes or an arm, we have to be able to get more from him.''

''Exactly!'' She straightened out her backpack and craned her neck to the expanse of the quad. ''I gotta go. I'll see you for dinner tomorrow night. Uh, you can do spicy, right? Maze is in charge of getting the food and she loves it all very New Orleans style and as hot as Creole gets. It's not quite as hot as when my abuela makes her specialties but you can handle that, right, angel?''

''Miracle, I can handle almost anything.'' He frowned at her, and despite feeling more upbeat with the Sword of God on her side, Trixie felt a heavy weight again settle in her chest. ''Trixie?''

''Yes. I'm gonna be late and I have got to explain to Lettie like so much. Anyway, what is it?'' She picked up her phone and held it up for him so he could see the time. ''Seriously, minutes are flying by here!''

''If for some reason even with all our collective strength and your new powers...if we cannot stop Samael's fate, well, let Mazikeen and I care for him. I know Sam and he'd-''

She glared at him. ''Your twin beat you to it. I promised him I'd move on if I couldn't help him, but I don't want that. I really fucking don't. I'm not going to let my dream happen.''

''I hope we can stop this, truly, but Trixie, you can't live your life by shoving everything you are and want aside for your friends' sakes.''

''He's family. I'd do anything for him or for Maze, just like I would for mom and dad or my abuelos. Do you understand doing anything for family?''

Michael shook his head and put his hands in his blazer pockets. ''I cannot. I have done as much as I can for my siblings now, and I will do all I can for Sammy now, but there are lines that I won't cross.''

''Oh, I know.''

''And there are things you're not destined for. Trixie, being Sam's keeper isn't your fate. I'm sure of it.''

She shook her head and regarded him angrily. It was a struggle not to shout at him, and she only managed not to because the rest of the campus would overhear at that volume and assume she was Looney Tunes. Maybe she was. ''Maybe that's the place you're wrong, Mikey. We both know I'm a leash, one your dad made to order. But I am so scared that I'm worse, that Mom and me are the worst Trojan Horses ever. I just...maybe I was made to be his keeper because your dad didn't know what else to do with him and all that power, the devil side and the archangel side.'' Trixie forced herself not to tear up; she was already going to look like a mess at dinner with Lettie. ''Do you have any idea what it's like to know you exist because God needed a fucking muzzle?''

''I know what it's like to exist because, in part, Father needed a tool. But you're more than Samael's guardian, especially when if the worst happens, he has endless Lilim for that task.''

''Then,'' she said, turning back toward the far end of the quad. ''We're not going to let that happen. I don't care what he wants or you want or even your dad. If we can't save him...I'll take care of him. It's my debt, Michael, and I earned it.''

''If Father's machinations resulted in Sammy feeling he had to kill Cain and then doing it, then you don't owe him that. I...just focus on the tribunal or the hearing or whatever you call it. We have a decade you said. We can figure something out, but I...don't chain yourself to a miserable sentence too, Miracle.''

She stopped one last time and eyed him. ''Why do you even care? Is this some thing where at least half the Demiurge has to have the final say?'''

Michael shook his head and stepped closer, and then he set his hand on her injured hip. ''No, nothing like that. It's because I can see the costs this is having already on your life and your body and everything, and I'm sick of miracles suffering. You're exasperating,'' he said, removing his hand again. ''But you're brave and good-hearted and strong, especially for a human. You deserve a real life, and if both Samael and I agree on that point, you know it must be true.''

''Well, maybe I never got a choice in any of this anyway because your dad decided to make my mom and me by proxy and we're just play things, right?''

Michael doubled over laughing. ''Oh Miracle, we don't know each other well yet, but I am sure of one thing: any being as stubborn as you, for good or for ill, won't be manipulated by anyone. Perhaps not even Father.''

''Yeah, and I'm sure that's what Luci thought about himself and look what your dad is doing to him even from who knows where in the multiverse. Yes, Mikey, I'm a damn muzzle, but I'm going to figure out how to be anything but that if it's the last thing I do.''

He nodded solemnly at her, even if he was still a bit out of breath from laughing. ''I hope that you do. Sam's fate may depend on it.''