“It wouldn’t have mattered,” she said with a confident shake of her head. “The angels would have known eons before she chose a name which one she’d go with. That’s the name they said you’d use.”

“The angels. They really talk to you.”

She snorted and her hands covered her mouth self-consciously. “I apologize. Sometimes my manners are not what they should be.”

“Not at all.”

“Actually, the angels don’t talk to me. I’m not even sure they know I can hear them.” When I raised my brows in question, she said, “What I do is more like eavesdropping.”

“On angels?” I asked.

“I’ve just always been able to hear them. Ever since I can remember.”

“Wow, that’s really interesting. You know, my friend Pari did something similar when she had been pronounced legally dead for a few minutes. On her way back to Earth, she heard the angels talking.”

Mary Elizabeth giggled. “That happens. It’s the same thing, only I hear them constantly.” She leaned in as if to trust us with some sacred secret. “It’s actually quite annoying at times. They never shut up.”

“Yeah, I guess it would be,” I said with a grin. “So, you knew what name I’d use, but how did you find me from there?”

“Um, connections.” She scooted back in her chair, a guilty expression on her face.

“Are those connections, mayhap, illegal?”

She gasped. “No! Well, okay, I’m not entirely certain. I know a guy who knows a guy.”

Coming from anyone else … “So, he…?”

“Traced your IP address.”

“Wow.” I was a little impressed. “And you built that website with the database about angels and demons?”

She nodded.

“And you heard Charley’s fake name from the angels?” Cookie asked.

“Yes, I hear all kinds of things. You would not believe what is going to happen next week if something isn’t done.” She rolled her eyes. “Which it won’t be. It never is. Nobody ever listens.”

“You’re a prophet,” I said, a little floored.

“Oh, pfft.” She waved away the notion with a hand. “Not really. Not in the traditional sense. I mean, I don’t prophesy. I just listen to those who do. It’s rather naughty, if you think about it.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “I am just so floored.”

“Me, too,” Cookie said. “I mean, you’re just not what we were expecting.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot. But the sisters want to know all about you. Oh, and Reyes, of course.”

Uh-oh. “So, how much do you know about Reyes?”

“Well, let me think. He is the son of Satan who was born on Earth to be with you, the grim reaper, though the sisters don’t really like that label. They feel it limits you. Anyway, his name is really Rey’aziel, which means ‘the beautiful one.’ He is also a portal, like you. Oh!” She bounced back to us. “And he is powerful enough to bring about the apocalypse.”

“You’re very informed.”

“Yeah, like I said, blah, blah, blah.” She opened and closed her hand like someone talking nonstop. It was too funny. “So you know he can end the world?” she asked.

“Yeah, I got the memo.”

“But … I don’t understand.” Her brows cinched together. “You saved his life when the demons were going to kill him, and again when he was going to take his own life. Then you bound him to this plane, locked him on to it.”

“Yeah, I did, huh?” After I’d vanquished the demons torturing Reyes by tapping into my inner floodlight—apparently demons are allergic—Reyes decided to take his own life to make himself less vulnerable. I stopped him, then bound him inside his physical body. But the fact that Sister Mary Elizabeth knew what I’d done, knew anything about me or Reyes, was a tad unsettling.

“I mean, the reasons are all there,” she continued. “I’m just still a little surprised that you’d save his life knowing what you know.”

“What reasons?”

“You two. You and Rey’aziel. You’re magnets. Literally.” She held up two index fingers to demonstrate. “You’re drawn together by sheer force of will.”

“Oh, that.”

“I mean, it was written. It’s not like I didn’t know you would do it. It’s just, if the demons get ahold of you…”

“Yes, I’ve heard. Very bad,” I said, ignoring the tightening in my stomach.

“Very bad indeed, but don’t worry, they’re going to send you a guardian right after a time of great suffering for you.”

“Suffering?”

“Yes,” she said with a nod.

“I’m not really that into suffering. Will it be bad?”

“Suffering usually is. Especially when the angels prophesy about it.”

“That sounds horridly unpleasant. And they’re going to send me a guardian? But, I thought Reyes was my guardian.”

She snorted. “Rey’aziel? Your guardian?”

“Yes,” I said, a little taken aback. “He’s always been there for me. He’s watched over me and saved my life several times.”

“Well, that’s true, but he’s not your guardian. He’s … I don’t think you understand the situation.”