“My angel self,” said Willow. “I have a – dual nature, I guess you’d call it. My angel form can appear at the same time as my human one. They’re both me, though. My angel self doesn’t have a halo. It doesn’t...feed, or anything.”

Alex could tell how bizarre Kara was finding this. “Ohh-kay,” she said. “So, you want to show me?”

Willow gave her a level look. “No, not really.”

Kara’s gaze narrowed for a second, then she shrugged. “Fair enough. But how is it that...I mean, I thought angels couldn’t breed.”

“I don’t know,” said Willow. “I’m the only one; it’s a mystery to them, too.” She managed a tight smile. “I’m just a fluke, I guess.”

Briefly, Alex explained how he and Willow had first met; how Willow had almost died trying to stop the Second Wave from arriving. He didn’t tell the final part of the story – how he’d held Willow’s lifeless body in his arms and somehow willed her back into life. It still made his stomach clench to think how close he’d come to losing her.

When he’d finished, Kara tipped her chair back as she studied Willow carefully, her dark eyebrows drawn together. “So you really are on our side, then,” she said.

Willow shrugged. “I don’t think my AK boyfriend would want to have much to do with me if I wasn’t, do you?” Kara didn’t answer. Willow went on, her voice quiet but deliberate, enunciating each word clearly: “My father destroyed my mother’s mind. She would have been normal if it wasn’t for him; instead she barely knows who I am. Of course I’m on your side – I hate what the angels are doing here.”

Her hand was clenched on the table; Alex covered it with his own.

“Okay. Got it,” said Kara after a pause. Then she frowned, and her chair legs slowly came down to touch the floor. “Wait a minute – what are you two doing down here, anyway? How did you find us?”

“Willow had a dream that we should come here,” said Alex. “She’s psychic; she knew something was going to happen in the Zócalo.”

Kara didn’t move. “Psychic,” she said finally, and Alex knew exactly what she was thinking: psychic skills were an angelic trait.

“Yes, I’ve always been psychic,” said Willow. “Even before I knew...” She shrugged her slender shoulders, looking tired suddenly. “Even before I knew,” she finished.

Alex circled her palm with his thumb. “Are you going to answer some of our questions now?” he said to Kara. “If the interrogation’s over with, that is.”

Kara rolled her eyes at the word “interrogation”. She pushed her chair back and got up. “All right, let’s just get settled first. You guys hungry? Liz likes to cook; we’ve got some leftover spaghetti I could heat up.”