DAPHNE

"I don't think that's a good idea. If anyone finds out..."

It was too risky. Just because we discovered a paper in a bottle didn't mean we had to decipher the message written on it. For all we knew, it could be someone's idea of a joke. I was already devastated enough about my promotion being canceled—I didn't need to add to my problems by agreeing with Amy's ludicrous plan. I had decided I would try harder than ever before to change my boss' mind about the promotion, starting with the moment I returned home, when I would write a heartfelt letter addressed to him, expressing my deepest apologies about my unacceptable behavior.

"No way. You're crazy," Finn said with a laugh. "I'm not going on a scavenger hunt with a human and an angel."

Despite agreeing with him, I didn't appreciate the way he said 'angel', like we were complete scum. I didn't have the energy to get into a verbal spar with him, though. My head swam with thoughts of what would happen once I got home. "I'm leaving," I announced, to nobody in particular.

"No, you can't!" Instead of pleading, Amy was staring at me with an accusing glare. "I'll come with you if you do."

"Please, that's ridiculous," I scoffed. "You're a human."

"A two-thousand-year-old human, thanks to you."

It surprised me that I wasn't all that bothered. I guess I really was an opportunist, and a heartless one at that.

"That's irrelevant," I said.

"Two thousand?" Finn gasped at the same time. "But you're a human!"

"I'll live as long as she lives," Amy said with a look that portrayed the calm before a storm perfectly. If I didn't make an escape soon, I had a feeling I would get an earful of complaints and accusations.

Amy and I stared at each for a few seconds before I closed my eyes. I was sure she thought I had given up; her wide-eyed gaze was a dead giveaway when she spotted my wings. Taking advantage of her momentary surprise, I spread my wings and let the breeze carry me. I didn't look back.

When I got home, I snuck into my room and collapsed on my bed. I cried over my failure, I pondered over the cryptic message, and I felt the slightest tinge of guilt for abandoning the girl who saved me all those years ago. Once I finally fell asleep, my dreams were centered around my boss finding out about my little adventure, my parents weedling the information of my whereabouts out of me, and my sister discovering every little detail without me knowing and tattling to my parents.

All of them ended with a lifelong trip to Hell for me.

*****

My eye cracked open a millimeter. When the blinding rays of the 6AM sun didn't hit me, I instantly knew something was wrong. My room was bathed in the silvery light of the moon, while a cool breeze blew through the open window above my bed. The clock on my bedside table glowed with the numbers 5:27.

After living for a few decades longer than two thousand years, I had fallen into a routine. I always woke up at 6 o'clock. If my promotion ceremony hadn't been at the time the sun's first rays grazed the horizon, I wouldn't have needed an alarm to wake up yesterday. I never woke up earlier or later if I didn't set an alarm, and my cloud was occupied only by my sister, my parents and I, so I doubted a commotion outside was what woke me up.

The window being open and the clock displaying the time, earlier than I always woke up, were enough to keep me wide awake. I couldn't drift off again, even if I wanted to. I made my way to the bathroom, where I freshened up and changed into comfortable attire—gray sweatpants and a faded blue T-shirt. I didn't even think of touching my haphazard curls; I knew by now that brushing my bed hair would result in an afro bigger than that of Mrs. Smith, my boss preceding Mr. Frish, whose hair had never seen what a good hair day looked like.

The thought of calling Camilla, my friend, crossed my mind. But the truth was, it was the middle of the night, and we weren't close enough for me to bother her with a mere feeling I had. I mostly kept to myself, preferring to pour all my energy into work. Friends came and went. Work never stopped, although the people in the workplace did change often.

I shuddered as a sudden gust of wind hit me and shuffled to my closet, meaning to pick out a fuzzy jacket. I spotted my favorite one draped over the back of my chair and changed course to grab it. Once it was zipped up as far as it could go, my eyes trailed over my room. It was big, which was emphasized by the emptiness. My semi-double bed was the largest piece of furniture after the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that completely covered three of the four walls, save for a few feet left open for my balcony door. A round table, about the size of my wings when they were stretched, with eight light pink chairs made of hard plastic sat in the middle of the room.

Everything—the walls, the furniture, the doors—was made of one-way tinted glass, a special kind which reflected light in such a way that it appeared as close to invisible as possible to someone who didn't know it was there. The idea was first implemented more than ten billion years ago, when there weren't angels, only humans. They freely roamed the Earth, but had to keep a low profile to escape demons. When God offered them shelter and protection from demons, some became his loyal servants and no longer feared the demons.

Stories passed down from generation to generation talked about angels finally finding a purpose to live for. Although angels soon moved to Heaven, the design stuck—for memory's sake or because of its sheer beauty as it glittered beneath the sun's rays, no one knew for sure. Humans didn't continue the tradition—it was a shame, but I was also glad since it made them that much different from angels.

The hair at the nape of my neck rose as I had the feeling of being watched. But there couldn't be anyone here; there was nowhere to hide. Just as I was about to leave for the kitchen, a vine of the bougainvillea hanging over my balcony door rustled in an unnatural manner. The wind had died down, and all the surrounding potted plants on the cloud floor gently swayed. I carefully approached the glass door, then opened it as silently as possible.

I looked around, but nothing other than the clouds and my mother's garden were in sight. I walked a few paces away, and there was still nothing there. My paranoia began to fade, but I nearly had a heart attack when I heard the squelching sound of shoes on glass behind me. My eyes snapped back to the house, to a ledge above my balcony door, and I couldn't help a loud scream that was abruptly cut off when I remembered my mom was asleep.

Not anymore, she isn't, I thought as Mom's thundering footsteps echoed through the house. I saw her approaching through the hall, staggering from the sleepiness but still running. Although I knew she couldn't even see my silhouette yet since the glass was completely one-way, my anxiety rose.

As the door swung open, my eyes traveled back to Finn and Amy, both crouched on the ledge above my head. Amy waved at me in an awkward manner after a few seconds, but my gaze was glued to Finn. Even if he tried to follow me here with Amy in tow, he shouldn't have been able to enter Heaven.

My mom rushed to my side, asking if everything was alright over and over again. Her jaw dropped below the clouds as she followed my gaze to the two unexpected and forbidden visitors.

"Daphne? Daphne, why is there a boy on our roof? Do you know him? And what about the girl?" Mom's voice registered somewhere at the back of my mind for me to process in a few seconds, because right now I was frozen. My mind was stuck while time seemed to hurtle by me quick as lightning. I eventually managed to drag myself out of my stupor as it occurred to me I couldn't very well remain awkwardly frozen for eternity.

But Finn was here, and my Mom was looking at him. I couldn't not be terrified for a few fleeting seconds.

Finn was a demon. 

At least he had his hoodie on, though. As far as Mom knew, he was a male angel. I would do everything I possibly could to make sure she never suspected him to be anything other than that.

"Daphne! Is everything alright? Were they harassing you? Stalking? Did they hurt you? Why did you scream?"

My mom and I had never discussed inviting boys over before. It was a rare occurrence to see a girl friend of mine in my house. Although reality was far from it, I could imagine what this may look like to her. My only saving grace was Amy—if it were just Finn on my roof, Mom would be a panicked mess now, but with a girl there the situation was manageable.

"Hi," Finn said with a smile. I inhaled sharply as he jumped down. He walked towards Mom, hand outstretched, with a bright smile on his face.

My teeth ground together. I bit my tongue, hard enough to leave a tingling sensation afterwards, when Mom looked pleasantly surprised. I resisted the urge to stalk over and rip the hood off his head, even though it resulted in my tongue nearly bleeding from the pressure. I hoped he was ready to come up with a half-decent excuse, because if he relayed the task to me I would make sure he was sent straight to High Court and then back to Hell, where he belonged.

"I'm sorry for the disturbance. I was visiting Daphne with my...cousin, and I didn't think I would startle her."

Mom's stance had relaxed, but I could tell she was not done with questioning Finn yet. It would take a lot of convincing to quench the last of her suspicions. "Why were you visiting my daughter?"

"Oh, there is something I want to tell her." I shot him a disbelieving look, which he conveniently ignored.

"In the middle of the night?"

"It's very important," he lied in a smooth tone. Or maybe he isn't completely lying.

"What exactly is your relationship with my daughter?"

Don't mess this up, don't mess this up. If he spouted nonsense about us being romantically involved—it wasn't something I would put past him as he'd probably think it would be hilarious—Mom would ground me for at least a millennia. It was only slightly comforting knowing I had information on Finn, because I would have to explain why I was in the Human Realm when I met him in the first place if I revealed he was a demon. If it came down to it, though, I would choose admitting I was on forbidden land rather than being falsely accused.

"Oh, we're very good friends," he said confidently.

I wanted to gouge my eyes out and cut my ears off so I wouldn't have to look at the barely visible smirk on his face and listen to more of his absurd lies. My head trembled as he went on to say how we met: while completing an assignment together, we apparently felt an instant connection. I opted for a non-violent approach to expressing my disgust to him, scrunching up my face and gagging. His eyes flitted behind Mom, to me, and he rolled his eyes at my theatrics.

My eyes widened when Mom turned around. Her simple glance communicating a silent question felt more like an aggressive glare demanding the truth. "Um, yeah, he's a friend," I said with an assertive nod and a huge, but fake, smile.

Mom raised an eyebrow. "A friend?"

Her blatant surprise made me huff. Why was it so surprising that I had a new friend? I didn't only care about my academic progress—well, mostly. I had a friend, Camilla. Why couldn't I have two? It didn't make sense for me to be so triggered, especially since 'friend' would be the exact opposite of what Finn was to me, but I hated that she thought I was incapable of being social. My Mom was a social butterfly. I could be social too.

"Actually, I was thinking of inviting Finn over tomorrow so you could meet him, but since he's here today he could stay the night," I snapped.

Wait, what?

I immediately regretted my uncontrolled outburst, not only because my stubbornness wouldn't allow me to change my mind now, but also because Finn's grin looked devilish. Stay the night? He's a demon, for God's sake! Truth was, though, I could get answers out of him. Then I could easily dump him outside the door once my Mom was asleep and I was satisfied with the knowledge I gained. I might as well take advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime situation I was in.

"As in...sleep in the same room as you?" I inwardly cringed at the implication but maintained my composure.

"Anything wrong with that?" I raised my chin defiantly. "He's a very good friend."

"Yes, something is wrong. He's a boy."

"That's too bad, bestie," I sighed, looking at Finn. "I was really looking forward to this."

"Oh, Daphne...You know what? Maybe something like this will be good for you. It might get your mind off what's been happening recently. I've changed my mind. He can stay, just as long as his cousin stays too." Mom's hesitant look didn't agree with her statement, but I didn't need it to. She had given me permission. I scolded myself for wanting her to forbid Finn to stay and to chase him out with the sturdy broom she owned. That wouldn't help me get answers to my questions. This was a good thing.

"Awesome. Finn, my amazing friend, let's go," I said in a saccharine tone. This was completely his fault—he said we were friends first. He could've said he was a stalker and left, and none of this would have happened. I grabbed Mom's shoulders and rushed inside the house.

"Tone down the contempt a little, would you?" Amy hissed into my ear as I passed by her. "We're gonna get busted."

"I'll act however I like," I retorted. "Besides, my mom is tired and in shock. She wouldn't have agreed otherwise." All I received was an eye roll and a muttered jumble of incoherent words.

*****

After conjuring a cup of tea for Mom and guiding her back to bed, I yanked open the door to my room. I pretended to slam the door shut behind me but caught it at the last second, then closed it softly behind me. My anger simmered down, the impulsive act and my two friends flinching acting as a pacifier.

I took a deep breath, but it had no effect on my turbulent emotions. "For Heaven's sake, why are you here?"

Finn stood from one of my chairs and walked over to me, halting a few paces away. "We're your friends, aren't we?" He winked.

The self-satisfied smirk on his face triggered more than annoyance and anger—I furiously stomped the two steps I needed to take so I was right in front of him, tilting my head up to look at him. When all I saw was amusement in his green eyes—eyes the color of trees in spring after it rained, when there were glistening droplets clinging to the leaves—I snapped. A downside to having a single friend and spending so much time alone was that my emotions could easily spiral out of control whenever my bubble of peace popped.

And so, my hand shot out and delivered a strong smack which wiped off his grin. He stumbled back a step, his hand rising slowly to rub his cheek.

A physical way to channel my emotions was all I needed to calm down, and the slap proved to be the perfect means of doing that. I didn't bother saying sorry. I merely smiled brightly at Finn and winked, in the same cheeky manner he had seconds before.

"You two have some serious problems," Amy said in a quiet tone.

"He deserved that," I replied, a sardonic smile on my face.

Finn's eyes hardened, and he glared at me. "Why did you slap me?"

"Are you serious right now?" I gaped.

"Yes. I never even touched you. I could've crushed you to smithereens, but I didn't."

"I'd like to see you try," I huffed.

"Is that a challenge, angel?"

"I think so, you self-centered, ungrateful, conceited demon. I bet your parents wish you didn't turn out like this."

This had proved to be a highly beneficial and stress-relieving conversation. What was left of my anger was set free with my insults. I was wrapped in my bubble of peace once again. A giddy feeling arose as I noticed I had triggered a reaction better than what I expected. His murderous glare and clenched teeth were all the confirmation I needed to conclude that his parents were a sore subject.

"Cut it out," Amy snapped before he could reply. "I can't believe you two. Daphne, aren't you curious to know how we were able to follow you?"

She had me there, and she was well aware of it. If there was one thing I would rather do than verbally annihilate Finn, it was to get my questions answered. I wasn't about to pass up an opportunity as good as this. Amy was offering to tell the truth for free—I didn't even have to ask or beg.

"Tell me," I demanded.

"Well...I would be willing to answer your question if you answer one of mine."

Maybe it wasn't so free after all. I knew exactly what she would ask for, though. It would be related to that night in 27 B.C. I weighed my options, wondering if it really mattered if she knew the whole truth now that she had found out I was an angel. Was there really much to hide from her? No, not really. It was a good deal—she'd divulge information I could never get out of Finn, and my job would be simple.

"Okay."