Rekker gave a short sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, right.” Rekker knew Ace knew about all the kisses Ace had given Rekker.
Nehemiah and Thomas chuckled. They laid off. No more jokes about mints or kisses.
Rekker, Nehemiah, and Thomas all fell into a comfortable silence, only making small talk here and there, but for the most part just focused on flying and following Rekker.
Two hours later, the group came up on a quiet seaside town. Rekker went over it and headed for the cliffs the lined the shore nearby. He landed on a wide ledge next to opening in the cliff’s wall that was covered by some curtain. He waited for the others.
Thomas helped Ace land so that the younger angel wouldn’t hurt himself again. Nehemiah hovered until there was room for his feet on the ledge.
Rekker pushed the curtains aside and ducked in. He frowned. Something wasn’t right. Dorothy, his cat, usually bounded right up to him whenever he returned. She was nowhere in sight. Rekker worried. Maybe she’d gotten out? She never wandered too far out on the ledge, but maybe she had while he was gone and slipped. Rekker hoped not.
Something else was off, too. His blankets that were usually spread out somewhat neatly over his mat were all bundled up around something. Rekker feathers bristled. Something was definitely in his home.
He walked up and carefully pulled some of the blanket back so he could maybe catch a glimpse of what was underneath. It kind of hard to see because it was still dark, but regardless, Rekker felt he had a good idea of what it was. He scowled.
He straightened up and gave the thing under that blanket a kick. A hard kick.
“I should have known you were a cave hobo,” Ace said when they landed. “It’s just like your personality.”
Ace followed Rekker into the cave, and saw him kick the figure wrapped in blankets. His feathers puffed out momentarily, thinking maybe it was more demons or a real cave hobo.
A yelp came from under the blankets, and the figure sat up and scooted up against the wall as fast as possible. The creature was another angel, all four wings spread out and feathers standing on end. In his arms was the cat, who had been sleeping comfortably until now.
Rekker knew this angel, and so would Nehemiah, and possibly Thomas if he hadn’t forgotten. It was Hank, a Councilman from Aberle.
“I-I, oh no, I fell asleep,” he muttered to himself. Then he spoke up. “I-I was just going to check on you s-since it’s Halloween and all but, I-I got distracted by your cat, please don’t kill me.”