Ava felt the angel in the heat of the firelight before she spied him. He had come to them again as she had feared he would. She had cheated him out of his rightful prize and now he had come for Lea once more. But he hadn’t taken her when the bees had swarmed and Ava most certainly would not allow him to take her now. That was when she knew. She would not take her maker’s advice. She would not run.

Since their last encounter, Azriel could see her even though he was meant to only see mortals. Perhaps it was because she had grabbed hold of him and he now recognized her essence. Whatever the reason, he knew her and he knew what he wanted. She could not persuade him to change the course of what was meant to be, but she remembered what the doctor had told her. There was a trick mortals played, and now she would do the same.

You must be willing to change places.

She was willing.

She called for Lea to follow her.

Lea must be willing as well.

If it was possible to trick an angel, it was possible to do the same to a mortal girl.

“What could she want?” Julien asked.

“Whatever it is, I owe it to her.”

They went to a cave used by wolves when the mountains belonged to them.

“Don’t ask any questions,” Ava said. “One last time, do exactly as I say.”

They exchanged clothes. There was no reason for Ava to tell Lea why she now donned the blue dress and Lea wore the gray dress Hanni had made for the golem when she first decided she must send her daughter away. Ava wrapped a black scarf around her head to ensure that her even blacker hair didn’t show. She pulled off the rabbi’s boots and gave them to Lea, then slipped on Lea’s shoes even though they were two sizes too small.

“Don’t leave this cave until you can no longer see me. Do you hear me? Then, once I’m gone, go to the border with Julien. He’ll find the way.”

There was something unexpected in Ava’s tone. A sort of terror was folded inside the words.

“Where will you be?” Lea asked, feeling Ava’s terror.

“I will be doing what I was made to do,” Ava told her.

When she led the angel away, he would assume he was following Lea into the dark woods, and by the time he realized his mistake, it would be too late. The moment to take her would have passed.

Before Ava left, she and Lea threw their arms around each other. They didn’t need to speak.

I beg you for one thing. Love her as if she were your own.

This was how it had begun, and how it would end.