Actually, Seb read so much that he knew a lot more than I did about some things. I studied him, trying to picture him in high school. Like Alex, he’d have had every girl in the place after him if he’d gone. Though I had a feeling Alex would have been out on the basketball court, while Seb would have been holed up in the library somewhere.

He pushed lightly at my leg. “Anyway, I know you didn’t like school very much, but there must have been something about it you enjoyed.”

“Enjoyed” was pretty strong. I started to laugh and say Guess again – and then I remembered my art class. I’d always loved making things with my hands. When the whole Church of Angels thing happened, I’d been working on a kinetic sculpture that used pieces of old engines. If I’d managed to do it right, the different pieces were actually going to move on their own.

I described my sculpture to Seb; he listened with interest. “Yes, I can imagine you doing that.” Then he stroked his stubbled jaw, looking deep in thought. “You know, I think this means I was right,” he decided. “There is something you enjoyed.”

“Yeah, I guess,” I admitted. I glanced down at him with a smile, shaking my head. “How did you even know that?”

He gave me a smugly arch look. “Ah, you see – I know you better than you know yourself.”

And he really did sometimes; that was the funny thing. In some ways, Seb knew me better than anyone in the world, even Alex. I rested my arms on my thighs; in the background was the never-ending drone of traffic. “Can I ask you something?” I said after a moment.

“You know you can.”

I cleared my throat. I’d been dying to ask him this ever since we first met, but had felt embarrassed for some reason. “I was just wondering...if I could see your angel.”

I felt a leap of emotion from him. “I’ve been wanting to ask you that too,” he admitted. “Very much.”

Both of us were shy suddenly. My cheeks heated. I tucked back a short strand of my hair. “Um...so how should we—”

“We’ll go at the same time,” suggested Seb, straightening up.

I shifted down to the bench, and perched cross-legged, facing him. “Okay, on the count of three.”

He nodded. “One...two...three.”

I closed my eyes briefly on “three”, bringing my angel to me in a bright burst of energy. I merged with her, sent her flying gently from my human body to hover above me.

I opened my eyes. Seb was sitting beside me...and above him was his angel.