And as our eyes met again, I saw what I already knew in his: Liz was right, too. There were just too many of them for us to fight – and from the sound of their shouts, they weren’t going to be slowed down much by warning shots. Unless we could think of something else, fast, we were going to die.

“Okay, on the count of three,” said Alex, loudly to make himself heard. The shouts were almost deafening now, the door thudding open and shut like a heartbeat. “One.”

I looked wildly around us, frantic to find something that maybe the others had missed. Like an elevator, that would be a good thing to find. My gaze came to the edge of the building, and stopped. I stared at it, my thoughts tumbling.

The unit almost hopped as it scraped forward six inches. “Two,” said Alex, his jaw tight.

My dream. The tower that I’d flown from; the way my wings had felt so heavy. Seb turned his head and stared at me as he picked up what I was thinking – and it was so completely insane that I knew it was our only chance.

“Th—”

“No, wait!” I burst out. “I’ve got an idea!”

It took an agonizing minute or so for Seb and me to prepare ourselves, while I tried not to focus on the metal unit sliding steadily backwards – the door inching open. As I concentrated, I heard the others’ grunts of effort to keep holding the door shut; beside me, Seb was straining as both our angels hovered overhead. He obviously found this just as hard as I did.

Finally I reached up and touched my angel’s foot as she looked down at me. Her face was my own, as white as a statue; her wings gently stirred the air. The foot felt cool and firm. It was a very weird sensation, to literally touch another you.

I glanced at Seb; his angel looked just as solid. He nodded. “We’re ready,” I said, lifting my voice. I managed to keep the fear out of it. If I was wrong, then we were about to plummet to our deaths.

Alex’s brow was damp as he struggled against the unit. “On the count of three, then – a good shove, and then run. One – two – three.”

We heaved hard; howls came from the door as people were shoved back. Then we raced for the edge of the building, with the two angels gliding overhead. There was a loud scraping noise as the air conditioning unit was shoved aside; then I could hear people stampeding through.

We’d already decided who should go with who. The human Seb was stronger than me, so he was going to have to hang onto two of them, and he couldn’t support both Alex and Sam – and I definitely couldn’t support the burly Sam.