Twenty minutes later, as the sun began to set behind the Smoky Mountains, Angel parked the van among a group of pickup trucks and off-road vehicles in a clearing off to the side of the road. He spied about twenty people already beginning to move into the forest. He turned in his chair to fetch his duffel bag, opened it up, and pulled out a box. Charlotte watched him as he opened it and lifted out a small plastic box.

"Here, wear this." He opened the box and pulled out a small earpiece. "When you're out there, you'll be able to hear me and respond. If you find the boy—"

"When," Charlotte cut in, firmly.

"When you find the boy, call me, and I'll come get you." Angel corrected himself.

"How will you find me?"

Angel handed her a smart tag, same as the one he planted on Ben Pry, "This is a GPS tracker. I will be able to pinpoint your location and come retrieve the boy. Just remember to stay invisible."

"I promise. I won't mess up this time!"

"Don't scold yourself over last time anymore. That was a learning experience for both of us. I trust you. Now, hide."

"Got it," Charlotte said, fading out of sight.

Angel watched her fade, and wondered to himself if he would ever get used to that. Sliding out of the van, Angel headed over to meet with the officer in charge of directing the search. "Officer?" Angel questioned him as he held his hand out.

"Barter." The officer shook his hand, "And you are?"

"Kevin Collins, Bounty Hunter, and Tracker." Angel produced his license, adding, "I heard about the missing boy and wanted to offer my help."

"We can use all the help we can get, Mr. Collins. We've got a grid set up, and I can show you which one we'd need you on. We also have a K-9 unit on route."

"Why this area? The boy went missing south of here, didn't he?"

"Yes, but one of the K-9's in another unit led us in this direction before losing the scent entirely. Since they still hadn't cleared the main area, they retreated to try to pick up the boy's scent elsewhere, and so we set this area up as a secondary search area."

"K-9's coming in? You have an item of the boy's for them?"

"Yes, the parents gave us a pair of his socks."

"May I see one of them?"

Officer Barter gave him a weird look, "You have your own tracking dog?"

"No." Angel smirked, "Something better. It's a military secret, though, if you don't mind. It is very effective, however."

Shrugging, the officer went and retrieved one of the socks, and Angel took it gratefully, promising to return it in a few minutes. Shaking his head softly as he walked to the van, he wondered what the officer was thinking and smirked—if only he knew. Reaching the passenger side door, Angel opened it and leaned in, holding the sock up, "Here. Can you get a good scent?"

Having shifted into her demon form, Charlotte's disembodied voice whispered back after he heard a loud sniff: "It's… sharp. Definitely unique. I think I can pick it up."

"Okay, I'm going to leave the door open when I go return the sock and join the search party. Good luck."

He stepped back and turned to the side to give her room. Feeling her invisible body softly brush him as she moved past him sent an unexpected spark along his spine. Shaking it off, Angel walked back to the officer, with the sock, to get his assignment.

—

Seconds had ticked by, and Charlotte was already ahead of the groups that had begun to fan out. She cleared fifty yards ahead and stopped. Closing her eyes, she inhaled as deeply as she could, and she was greeted with a barrage of smells. Trees, bushes, animals, flowers, insects—she could detect them all. But the scent of the boy was absent. Determined, she began to run, her cloven feet deftly carrying her over fallen branches and jagged trails. Charlotte moved in a wide zig-zag pattern, covering a wide range of ground in minutes. Now, as she was likely nearly two hundred yards ahead of anyone else, she stopped at a sound she hadn't picked up before. Closing her eyes, Charlotte recognized the sounds of a river flowing fast in the distance south of her location. She took another strong whiff and was greeted by the scent of water, algae, fish, mud, and—

Her eyes snapped open. The boy's scent was mixed into the rolling smells of the river. Turning towards the strongest of the smells, she picked up her pace and raced towards the river, opening up all of her senses to their maximum. With her speed, it took only a couple of minutes to reach the waters edge. Standing on the bank, she looked down at the rushing waters, her eyes scanning along the river's flow. The sun had faded, and now, with the overcast clouds, twilight was taking hold. Darting her eyes, perking her ears, and inhaling as deep as she could, she picked up two things: the scent of fear and distant crying.

"Angel?" She whispered, her voice carrying into the earpiece. It took a couple of beats, then she heard his smooth voice melt in her ear.

"I'm here. I had to move away from the others first. You have something?"

"I got his scent! I can't tell how far off he is, but I think he's in the river!"

Angel hissed urgently, "Go! Find him!"

She didn't give a response as her legs started moving. Heart aching, Charlotte followed the scent and sound for nearly three-hundred yards down river, having now gone out of the search grid area. Thanks to her demon form, she alighted over the rough terrain with ease. Her eyes wide to let all the possible light in and give her a clear view of her surroundings. With a quick pause to listen, the sounds of crying now lapped over the sounds of the river. She was close, and she followed the sounds, moving quicker than before.

Stepping over a ridge of an embankment, she looked down into the rushing water and saw the boy stuck in a fallen tree that was a third of the way into the fast-moving river. She quickly assessed that he had to have fallen in some place upstream and got carried to this spot, and it seemed like luck had helped him to catch the tree to stop himself. The water was too fast for him to pull himself out and she could tell he was fading fast. If she didn't get him out now, he'd drown.

"Angel!" She radioed, "I found him! I found him! Track the tag! I have to get him out! Now!"

"I'm coming! Good job!" Angel affirmed, his voice sounding proud, and she looked around hurriedly, trying to figure out what she could do to reach him.

Fuck! Wings would be so useful right now! She cursed her limitations but pushed them aside as she needed to rely on what she did have. Moving down to the edge of the river, Charlotte saw that he was out of her reach by about twenty feet. Testing the strength of the fallen tree, she cautiously started to crawl out but could only get half way when she heard snapping. The tree was not going to hold her weight if she went any further. Quickly thinking, Charlotte wrapped her demon tail around a thicker branch and slipped into the rushing water. The force was more than she anticipated and it knocked her against the tree.

"OOMPH!" She let out a painful shout, and the boy looked her way, his eyes bloodshot from crying, and let out a fearful whimper. Cursing herself again, she bit her lip and reached out for him. She knew he'd be scared of feeling her grip, but if she could carry him around the tree and swim him to shore, maybe he'd think a current had led him ashore.

Charlotte reached out, but he was still out of her reach, and she couldn't get closer. She saw a six-foot-thick branch, broken off from the tree, lodged among the other branches, and thought if only she'd grabbed it first, she could reach him with it. She stared at the branch for an infinite split second, wishing she had it, and then felt something solid in her clawed hand.

The branch she wanted had blinked out of its lodged spot to reappear in her grip, conjured as if by magic. Charlotte gasped. How? How!? She pushed the question aside and slipped the branch through the water until it nudged the boy. Would he grab it? She thought. She took a chance and spoke, just loud enough for him to hear over the loud, rushing currents. "Grab the branch."

"Wha—?" The boy couldn't say much else; his eyes fluttered, and his grip on the branches looked weak.

"Please, sweetie, grab hold. Trust me, please, please?"

Subconsciously, he did as she asked, and she pulled steadily and firmly those frightening last few feet against the force of the rushing water and brought him to her. She retracted her claws, letting her human hands take over, and she grabbed him by his green and white T-shirt and pulled him to her. He was out, his body having given up, and she put all of her strength into her tail. She pulled until she could get her waist above the level of water. Lifting the boy into her arms and growling deep, she lunged and landed them roughly on the mud and sludge of the river's edge. She quickly flipped onto her back, the boy held in her tight embrace, and she lay there, breathing hard, her energy spent, and started to cry.

She heard him take a trembling breath, followed by soft, rhythmic breathing, which told her that he would be okay. Charlotte cried harder, held him close, and comforted him, I won't let anything happen to you. I won't let anything happen to anyone! She thought in defiance.

She lost track of how long she lay there, body pressed into the cold wet mud, her cloven hooves splashed with lapping water at the river's edge, but her ears picked up Angel nearing her and she sniffled in relief. She heard Angel's footfalls, followed by dirt shifting and falling down the embankment behind her. Her eyes moved to try to see him but the angle didn't help. For a panicked moment, Charlie needed to see him.

Angel saw the boy suspended inches above the mud, as if floating, and he slid down to kneel next to him and Charlotte's invisible form. "You okay?" He whispered.

Charlotte's wet-filled throat croaked back, exhausted. "Take him."

Angel slid his arms under the boy, sliding over Charlotte's body, and she closed her eyes, grateful for his touch. He lifted the boy up and off of her, stood with the boy cradled in his arms, and looked down at the human-shaped indent in the mud.

"You can come out."

The mud shifted, but Charlotte didn't appear.

"I—" Her voice paused, "I'll meet you back at the van."

The tone in her voice told Angel all he needed to know, and without another word, Angel took the boy and began the trek back to the meeting spot. When Angel had moved a distance away, Charlotte finally pulled herself to her feet and wrapped her arms around herself, feeling the sludge slide down her back. Her blonde hair was dyed shit-brown from all the mud, and she shivered in the growing cold. Taking slow, deep breaths, Charlotte drew from her demon powers, and her body began to sizzle, steam rising up off her body, both warming her and drying her. She was still so dirty, but the chill in her bones had gone. The few moments alone allowed her to regain her composure, and with a crack of her neck, she turned and took off at a full run, heading back to the van.

—

Angel returned with the boy to a cheering crowd and barking dogs. An ambulance had been called just in case and was on sight. The paramedics took the boy from Angel to quickly attend to him. Officer Barter expressed how impressed he was, and others came over to clap Angel on the back, shake his hand, and add some offers to buy him drinks. Angel waved them off, saying he was just doing his job and he needed sleep. After a few minutes of quick debriefing by Officer Barter and an exchange of phone numbers in case he had follow-up questions, Angel was free to return to the van. When he reached it, he noticed the passenger side door was closed and he knew he'd left it open for Charlotte so he took that as a signal she was inside. He slid into the driver's side and closed the door. He listened for a moment.

"Charlotte?"

"Angel." Her voice traveled from the far back of the van, soft and pleading,. "Get me out of here, please?"

Angel started the van in silence and guided it towards the two-lane road, the headlights cutting through the darkness. Movement drew his eyes to the rear view mirror as Charlotte's form filled out as she reappeared, and she came up into the front passenger seat, falling into it as her body gave up. Still, she remembered safety and pulled the seat belt around her with a click. "Memories be damned," Charlotte scoffed, "But I don't think I've ever been that scared in my entire life." Angel responded with silence, giving her time. Charlotte pulled at the belt against her neck, unusually aggrieved by it, "If I feel this way about saving them, I don't know what I'm going to do if I fail."

Memories flooded Angel's mind; torrents of pain washed over him, and he let out a slow breath, "I've failed before."

"How do you handle it?" she whispered, sniffing again.

"I curse God."

"I thought your family was Catholic?"

"I lost my faith a long time ago, Charlotte. I stopped believing." Angel shook his head in bemusement, "But now that you're here, I'm forced to think that if demons exist, so must angels and Heaven, and that makes it even worse."

"How?"

"Because. If you don't believe in God or the Devil, you can curse man for his evils, but if you do believe, you have to wonder what strings they're pulling, and why. If all this suffering is 'God's work' or 'The Devil's doing', you start to question if any of it is worth it. With what happened, it was easier to just stop believing."

"What happened, Angel?"

"In time. In time, I will tell you."

Charlotte so badly wanted to know, so she could understand him so much more, but the pain in his voice grieved her heart, and she accepted his request. Leaning her head against the window, she watched the shadows and trees whisk by as they traveled off through the night.