Page 3 of Heaven on Earth

“Yes, I am,” I replied. “Well, a fallen angel, but it makes no difference to you humans.”

His lips parted slightly and he stared for a little longer than I was comfortable with, before turning his head to look daggers at the Librarian.

“What the fuck is this?” he asked, his voice dripping with venom. “Some kind of sick joke?” He looked back at me, eyes roving over every last bit of me and I stood, giving him a full view of whatever it was that he hated so much. “I thought your name was Ciel.”

“It is,” I answered calmly.

“And that’s not…you’re not…”

“Not what?”

“A woman.”

I laughed, hoping it would ease the tension. It did not. “No, I’m not a woman. Is that what you were expecting?”

Ryan’s hands were trembling, his eyes bright with anger. “Well, yes, because that was what I put in my application.” He turned back to look at the Librarian, who couldn’t even pretend to be busy doing something.

They stood in silence, staring at the two of us, hoping the atmosphere would change and we would sit back down. “I cannot control the match that fate dictates,” they finally said, their voice quiet and squeaky as a mouse.

“Oh, is that what it is?” Ryan asked. “Fate?”

“Ryan, please sit down,” I insisted. “We can talk things through better if we’re sitting face to face.”

“Absolutely not, and it’sMr. Adlerto you,” he spat.

He turned to leave and, without thinking, I took a step forward and grabbed his arm. “You’re lying to yourself if you think we were matched up for no reason whatsoever.”

“Ow! Get your fucking hands off of me.” He wrenched his arm away and I slackened my grip, letting him go.

“I apologize. But don’t leave now, not when you’re so visibly upset. You may do something you regret, and then where will we be?”

“Not together, at least,” he said, storming past the front desk.

I followed after him, my feet carrying me twice as fast with half the effort, and I slipped through the door even when he tried to slam it in my face.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said, stopping to face me in the parking lot, “so you might as well just go home and forget that this ever happened because that’s what I’m going to do.”

“Will you?” I asked. “Will you truly forget about it? I spent most of my life suppressing what — who — I really was, and when I finally allowed myself some freedom, they clipped my wings.”

He glanced back at said wings. “They look fine to me. Is that yet another lie that you and that goddamned Librarian conspired to tell me?”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s a metaphor. And I donotwork with the Librarian, that much you’re mistaken about.”

“Of course I am. I’m mistaken about everything, apparently. Except, I’m not gay and I’m not interested in an angel of all creatures, so please just leave me alone. Maybe that Librarian made an error or got the wrong idea, I don’t know, but what I do know is that this will never, ever work.”

He stepped away from me, breaking into a jog as he reached the road. He’d walked here, that much was obvious, but as he made to cross the street, a car came careening down the road, its headlights blazing in the darkness.

“Ryan, look out!” I cried, dashing forward to catch him before the speeding vehicle crashed directly into him.

3

RYAN

Headlights flashed in front of my eyes and the world spun into an unrecognizable blur. Something squeezed around my waist as I braced for the impact of the car. This was it.

I hit the ground, expecting to feel excruciating pain or euphoria or my consciousness slipping away from me, but there was nothing — nothing except the cold, jagged gravel along the side of the road that dug into my side.

I opened my eyes, ready for the horror to sink in, but all I saw above me was a soft white glow, like an aura surrounding me.