I avoided Bethany after that. I watched over her, but I didn't let her see me. I spent my free periods, breaks, and lunches with a girl I'd befriended who took Ms. Castle's literature with us named Maghen Moore. She was a shy girl, but she was strong willed and from what I'd seen so far very reliable. I most definitely could say that I preferred her company to Molly's. She was quickly becoming my best friend here in Venus Cove. Bethany and Xavier were spending every spare moment together and anyone could tell they were dating just by looking at them.

"I don't know..." I was talking to Maghen about it one day at lunch, "I'm used to being the black sheep of our family but now she's rebelling...It's just not like her."

"Xavier's been caught up on Emily for a long time. She wasn't just his girlfriend, she was his best friend. This may be good for him. Beth too. If it goes south, she'll never doubt you again. And if it goes well and she's happy, what does it matter if their together?"

"I suppose..." I sighed as we left the lunch room to head toward our next class.

"And you know you can always talk to me, right?"

"Yeah...I know..." I stopped in my tracks, a wave of human pain coming from the front of the school hitting me hard.

I sprinted down the hall, not hearing Maghen's calls for me to wait. I ran out the door, where a crowd of students was forming near the street. There had been a terrible car accident. A head on collision between to seniors. One car's hood was completely crushed and smoke was billowing out of the engine. Glass was shattered everywhere. One of the drivers had made it out with only a few scrapes and was standing by his car. He was fine, but by the prickling of my skin, I knew that the other driver was definitely not.

The girl, named Grace or Gracie by her friends, was in my math and history classes. She was still inside of her wrecked vehicle, her body slumped over, and her head leaning over on the steering wheel, bleeding badly. I was fighting the urge to go over to reap. It was my job, but I couldn't let all of those people see.

"Azrael!" Bethany ran over to me, a panicked look on her face, "You've got to help her. Do something!"

"I...I can't..." I told her helplessly, "Beth, I'm the angel of death. I can't heal. If I get too close to her, her soul will let go.I'd have to reap her. This one is on you. Go. Help her. I'll call Gabriel."
She looked at me, obviously afraid, but nodded and went to do as I told her.

"Azrael...?"

I turned around to see Maghen there in the door way. To my horror, I realized that she'd been there the entire time. She'd heard everything. I sent a quick telepathic message to Gabriel and approached my friend carefully.

"What were you talking about?"

"Come on. We can't talk here." I took her wrist and dragged her into the small chapel that had remained from the school's days as an abbey.

"Ok. We're alone. Now talk." She crossed her arms, leaning against one of the pews.

"Ok...You can't tell anyone this. I'll get in huge trouble if you do." I took off my blazer and my blouse, turning to show her my back. "What do you see?"

"Your tattoo." If I was thankful for Molly about anything, It was that she'd given me a good excuse if someone saw my wings.

"Watch." I let my wings unfurl, thankfully missing my bra. They arched up into the air, just over six feet long each. I folded them, but didn't retract them as I turned to gauge her reaction. She had an uncertain look on her face, which I completely understood. "I'm Azrael, the Archangel of Death. I reap the souls of those who have died and I take them to judgement. I've lived for eons. I've been reaping for over two million years. But I'm also Azrael Estella Church the student, sister, and your friend..."

"So...Mr. Church...is..."

"The Archangel Gabriel. Yes. Bethany is also an angel and Ivy is a serphim."

"And your Father who gave you your 'tattoo' is.." She pointed at a stained glass window of Jesus.

"Pretty much. You know...He's got that whole trinity thing going on."

"Why are you here?"

"Well I'm on earth all of the time anyway. But Beth, Gabriel, and Ivy are taking care of 'Save humanity' stuff. At least until they get called back home."

"That's why you were so upset about Beth and Xavier. She's not supposed to be with a human."

"Or anyone for that matter, but yes. Please don't tell anyone about any of this."

"I...I won't..."She nodded and started laughing, "I won't! My best friend is an angel! That's so effing cool!"

"Shh!" I shushed her but smiled. "Come on... Grace is ok now."

"How do you know?"

"Instinct. I'm guessing either Bethany or Gabriel save her then. " I retracted my wings and pulled back on my blouse.

Maghen handed me my blazer "So she was really gonna die then."

"Mhm." I took it from her and swung it over my shoulder. "I'll answer more of your questions later."

"The bonfire near shipwreck cove tonight. How about then?"

"Perfect. I'd better go get Beth home. It's been a long day..."

Maghen showed up at my house to walk to shipwreck cove with me. Bethany and Xavier were taking his car, but we wanted to take a faster route. I was wearing a purple tank top, sandals, and shorts. Perfect flying clothes.

"I'll get it!" I ran down the stairs when she knocked on the door. I opened it and pulled her through the house, wanting to avoid the questioning looks of my family. I took her down the steps that led to the beach. We took off in a sprint, making it to the jagged cliffs of shipwreck cove as the sun was doing down, the rocky walls giving us a nice private place. If we'd kept walking, eventually we would have been at the bonfire.

"Ok... Dazzle me."

I rolled my eyes and unfurled my wings again. Suddenly getting a wicked idea, I gave her a sinister smirk and crept toward her.

"Azrael..." she said in a warning tone.

I shot toward her, picking her up under her arms and flying to the top of the cliffs. I set her down and she was shaking like a leaf, but a big grin was on her face. "Dazzled?"

"You suck." She laughed, trying to catch her breath.

I sat down on a rock, letting my wings relax. "I want to give you something." I took a leather cord out of my pocket and examining my wings, plucked one of my contour feathers, about four inches long. I wrapped the cord around the spine of the feather, bookmark style, and handed it to her.

"One of your feathers..." She took it carefully, running her finger over the edge of the bristles delicately.

"As long as you've got that, none of the grim reapers will touch you." I paused, "Oh... They're angels I trained to help me collect the souls of the dead..."

"Thank you." she cut me off and hugged me.

"You're welcome."

"Hey..." Maghen looked over the edge of the cliff. "Isn't that Beth and Xavier?"

"What!?"

I looked over the edge and sure enough, there were the love birds. Bethany was walking along the beach and pointed to where her footprints should be. She made him feel he stomach where her navel should be. And then she made him cover his eyes and started climbing the cliff.

"Hide!" Maghen and I shot behind one of the bigger rocks, and I held my wings close to my body.

I saw a light flash and a faint glow over the top of the rock and new what she was doing. I tapped Maghen's shoulder and mouthed 'stay here'. She nodded and I stood Bethany was no longer on the cliff. she was down on the beach showing Xavier her wings. Mine snapped open and I flew down and landed on the beach next to them. Bethany gasped and stood infront of Xavier in defense.

"Relax, Beth." I sighed. "We're all screwed. There's no point in hiding it."

"What do you mean? I know I'm risking the mission but I..."

"Maghen!" I called up at her. "You might as well come down. He knows."

Maghen climbed down the rock carefully, jumping down the last few feet.

"She knows too?" Xavier asked.

"Hush." I snapped at him. "But yes. Unfortunately, you can't hide things like this yet."

"You mean..." Beth winced.

"Yep." I pointed up. "They know what we've done."