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"What was it like?"

Daniel looked away "It was the first official covenant with man Before then, covenants had taken place only between God and the angels Soels felt betrayed, that it disrupted the natural order of things

Others thought we’d brought it on ourselves, that it was a natural progression"

The violet in his eyes blazed a little brighter for a moment "The others must be on their way" He turned to face the Outcasts, whose dark silhouettes were outlined by the growing light in the east "Will you stand guard until they arrive?"

Phil bowed The other four Outcasts stood behind hi in the wind

Daniel drew his left wing across hi his body froician reaching into his cape

"Daniel?" she asked, stepping closer to hi?"

Teeth bared, Daniel shook his head at her Then he flinched and cried out in pain, which Luce had never witnessed before Her body tensed

"Daniel?"

When he relaxed and extended his wing again, he held so in his hand

"I should have done this sooner," he said

It looked like a strip of fabric, as s and several inches wide, and it quivered in the cold breeze Luce stared at it Was that a strip of wing that Daniel had torn from himself? She cried out in horror and reached for it without thinking

It was a feather!

To look at Daniel’s wings, to be wrapped up in theet they were made up of individual feathers

Luce had always assumed that their composition was mysterious and otherworldly, the stuff of God’s dreams

But then, this was unlike any feather Luce had seen before: broad, densely pluh Daniel

Between her fingers, it was the softest yet strongest thing Luce had ever touched, and the most beautiful--until her eyes flew to the flow of blood from the spot where Daniel had plucked the feather

"Why did you do that?" she asked

Daniel handed the feather to Phil, who tucked it into the lapel of his trench coat without hesitation

"It is a pennon," Daniel said, glancing at the bloody portion of his ithout concern "If by chance the others arrive alone, they will know the Outcasts are friends" His eyes followed her ohich ith worry, to the bloody region of his wing "Don’t worry about ?" Luce asked

"The sun’s about to rise," Daniel said, taking a sure you "

Luce hadn’t realized it, but she was

"I thought we could steal a moment before anyone else shows up"

There was a sheer, narrow path froe down from where they’d landed

They picked their way down the jagged , Daniel coasted, always flying very low to the ground, his wings tucked close to his sides

"Don’t want to alarm the hikers," he explained

"Most places on Earth, people aren’t willing to let theli by, they convince the tricks on them But in a place like this--"

"People can see miracles," Luce finished for hi leads to wonder"

"And wonder leads to--"

"Trouble" Daniel laughed a little

Luce couldn’t help grinning, enjoying that at least for a little while, Daniel was her miracle alone

They sat down next to each other on the small flat stretch in the ranite boulder and out of sight of everyone but a pale brown partridge picking its way along the scabby rocks The viehen Luce looked past the boulder was life-altering: a ring of ht, all of thehter with each second that passed as the sun crested over the pink horizon

Daniel unzipped the satchel and peered inside He shook his head, laughing

"What’s funny? What’s in there?" Luce asked

"Before we left Venice, I asked Phil to pack a few things from his cupboard Leave it to a blind Outcast to prepare a nutritious les, a red bag of Maltesers, a handful of blue-foil-wrapped Baci chocolates, a pack of Day-gum, several small bottles of diet soda, and a few sleeves of powdered-espresso packets