"Maria?" I asked, shocked, but also smiling so wide my cheeks hurt. "Finny? How did you guys get here?"

Maria finally reached us and gave me a tight hug. Finny followed close behind her, and hugged me as well, only much more gently, as if he thought I might break. But one thing made me lose my smile: he kept his hands away from my back.

He knows.

I jerked away from him, surprising him. He jumped back a little, and I hugged myself, like I was trying to protect myself and my secrets from him. But as I looked at his face, he showed so many different emotions; he was shocked, worried, confused, and apologetic all at the same time.

"Are you alright?" he asked my gently.

I nodded, looking away for a moment. When I looked back up to meet his gaze, I asked softly, "How much do you know?"

Finny looked guilty now, and his shoulders slumped a little. "Maria filled me in. The young master wanted me to come along and try to help so he could have his butler back sooner."

I glanced at Maria, and seriously considered giving her a death glare. I decided against it. As much as I hated the fact that she went and spilled all of my secrets to this boy that I barely knew, it did save me the energy and awkwardness of telling him myself. Plus, she had done nothing but help me from the day I met her (minus the whole trying to capture me part), and Finny knowing about me and what I was was going to make our lives and this quest a whole lot easier on all of us.

"Maria," my father spoke up, "how did you get here?"

"Oh, we hitched a ride," she replied with a smile.

I noticed Finny give my dad an apologetic smile, and Dad held his head in his hand and sighed.

Suddenly, a flash of brilliant red filled my vision. I almost fell back in surprise, but Finny was there to catch me. I smiled at him in thanks, then turned to find what had caused the red flash. Turns out, it wasn't a what, but a who.

I finally saw a person standing a few feet to the right of me. They had long, flowing red hair, a red coat, and glasses with skulls on them. They also had a large chainsaw, which caused me to slowly begin to inch away from them. And as they began to smile and greet everyone, I realized that this was a man. A man with pointed teeth, like a shark's. He was tall, but not taller than my father, and his smile he kept flashing at everyone was starting to freak me out even more so than the chainsaw. Also, I thought I saw him making googly eyes at my father.

"Bassy!" he yelled, dropping his chainsaw to the ground and racing for my father. The stranger then proceeded to wrap his arms around my dad and hug him. "Oh, Bassy, it's been too long!"

Dad sighed. "Grell, it has been less than a week..."

"I know!!!" Grell cried dramatically.

Dad rolled his eyes, then after a moment punched Grell right in the face, sending him flying out of the park.

Maria and Finny gaped at him as he began speaking like nothing had happened. "Now, Selena isn't doing very well at the moment. We were about to find a hotel or something. Are you two coming?" He glanced from Maria to Finny, who was still holding onto my arm.

"Of course we are," Maria said, smiling at my father.

Dad didn't respond; he turned, took me by my free arm, and gently took me away from Finny and picked me up. He carried me all the way to a hotel, then set me down before going inside.

He easily booked us two rooms: one for me and him, and the other for Maria and Finny, Dad needed to be nearby in case I suddenly lost all of the angel left in me and went into a demon form. Maria immediately agreed, but Finny seemed a bit reluctant to leave me. I told him I would be fine. He simply nodded and went to his room with Maria.

Once my father and I were in our room and the door was closed, I immediately went over to the window and opened it. The breeze that blew into the room was cool and felt perfect, fitting in with the setting sun. We had a room with a forest view, so there were no people that could see in. Perfect.

I slowly spread my wings, with the windowsill in a death grip as I tried to deal with the pain. Once the cool air hit them, though, most of the pain left them, and I relaxed in the breeze, leaning against the wall.

Dad walked over to me and started massaging my should-be angel wing, helping to dismiss almost the rest of the pain. I switched from leaning against the window frame to my father's welcoming arms, and fell asleep in his embrace.

*

I awoke the next morning in the bed by the window, which was still cracked open. I was covered with a quilt and my head was lying on a soft pillow. I almost didn't want to sit up, but I knew I had to if I ever wanted to start searching for Mom.

I sat up and looked around. My father had left the room, probably to go over and explain more to Finny or strategize with Maria.

I stood and went out into the hallway, my wings folded and pressed firmly against my back. Once out of the room, I saw my father coming back down the hallway, with the red man clinging to him for dear life. I sighed, then face palmed.

"But Bassy, why are you going to see some girl when I'm here? I'm prettier than she is!" Grell complained, then noticed me staring at him. "Well, it's true," he said to me.

"Grell, stop," Dad said calmly, trying to shake Grell off of him.

"Anything you say, Bassy!" Grell answered loudly.

"Dad, why is he back? He's really annoying," I complained.

Grell looked to me, then to my father, then back to me, then back to Dad again. "'Dad'? Bassy, what is she talking about?"

Dad sighed. "Selena, I wish I could get rid of him, but he seems to follow me everywhere. And Grell, this is my daughter, Selena. I was going back to her room to check on her."

"'Daughter'?" Grell gasped.

"Yeah, now go away, Grell," I said, trying to ignoring the growing pain in my wings and my head.

"But Bassy, I was supposed to bear your children! When did she happen?"

"About 16 years ago, Grell, now get off of me!" My father then threw Grell out an open window in the hallway, closed it, then smiled at me. "Much better, right?"

I nodded tiredly. "Do we have a plan yet?"

"I was just coming back to bring you to Maria and Finny's room so we can discuss it. Shall we go?"

I nodded again, and then let my father lead the way.