Here we were, standing under the hot afternoon sun, looking for Echoes. At the very least, I was in my Imago, which actually appreciated the heat. It was weird being cold-blooded; you could feel your metabolism speeding up as the sun warmed you. Just as the cold had been biting and tedious, the warmth was energizing. Empowering. I could walk with a spring in my step, now. Or, at least, I would, if it weren’t for who I was stuck with.

Miriam had divided the class into groups of five. And I was stuck with what was quite possibly the worst group imaginable. She’d put me with those three women in Flight Magister: Melody, Joy, and Russula. Though they’d been happy to have me in their group, there was, of course, our fifth member.

Carmen.

I, of course, was happy to be in a group with her. And she didn’t seem to be bothered much. But the three of them stayed far away from us, transformed into their Imagos and flying just above eye level to survey the open landscape. Miriam had given each of the groups directions and was flying between them to give her advice. If anything came up, we were all within earshot of each other, but still far enough away to be out of sight of each other. Behind us was the stone circle that protected the classroom, and ahead was a seemingly endless expanse of dry brush with scattered trees.

Carmen was not in her Imago, for some reason. When asked, she had no comment, but her symbiote volunteered an answer. “She doesn’t want to transform. Do not make her. She is comfortable as she is.” The swallowtail butterfly landed on my hand. “I am Papilio. Carmen is my host.”

“Nice to meet you, I guess,” I said. The butterfly took off and landed back on Carmen’s head. She was covering it, now that we were outside, a dark red shawl that matched her uniform and protected her from the harsh sunlight. Her eyes met mine and she looked away. Was she... afraid? I stepped closer. “Carmen?”

She jumped back. “Sorry. Quinn. I, um, I’m... I’m not very good with... with...” She pointed at Vespa.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m just... let’s keep going. Let’s find the Echoes that we’re looking for.”

Right. The Echoes. I still wasn’t sure if this was planned or not, but Miriam had said that we were looking for them. I supposed it didn’t really matter. We walked across the landscape, trailing behind the other three. I watched their figures flying, admiring their Imagos as we went. They were at least more interesting than the wispy scrub that surrounded us.

Melody was leading them. She was patterned like a typical honeybee, bright yellow-and-black in alternating horizontal stripes down her body. Two pairs of cloudy amber wings beat steadily behind her, keeping her in the air as she darted to and fro at the front, haphazardly checking everything that moved.

Russula was much more laid-back. Her imago was uniform, all golden-bronze with black accents. Her wings were longer and narrower than Melody’s, making an x-shape as she hovered forward.

And Joy... was shining green and magenta all over, bright colours that contrasted immensely against the sandy browns and greens of our environment. Her torso and head were mostly greenish, while from the hips down the carapace was brilliant magenta. Smoky-gray wings emerged from her back. She looked... familiar? A shiny green Imago... she was... “She was the one who ran out of the citadel, right?” I asked Vespa. “Before we went to meet with the Archangels?”

“Which one? The one in green?”

“Yes.”

“That is correct,” Vespa confirmed.

In that case... I was curious. My chest hummed in a familiar cadence as my wings warmed up and eventually carried me into the sky. It was so easy here, with the hot sun beating down upon me and energizing my every move. The three of them heard me approach and turned to face me.

“Oh, so you finally decided to join us,” said Russula.

“You can help me search,” said Melody.

Joy said nothing, continuing to fly as if in a daze. I went up to her, unsure how best to start. From up close, she seemed even more stunning. I remembered why I’d been so awestruck when I’d first seen her. The shining greens and pinks were grainy, like glitter, and separated by thin connections of matte black. Her curly black antennae rose our from the front of her face, a shiny black visor where her eyes used to be.

“Um... please don’t stare,” she said.

“Sorry.”

“I... don’t worry, I get that a lot. It’s my shiny Imago, isn’t it?”

“It’s very pretty.”

“Thanks.”

“Thanks,” said her symbiote. “Why should she get the credit?”

“Chrysis...” she said. “Come on, don’t be like that.”

“What, do you want a do over? That can be arranged...” The little greenish wasp flew very close to my face. For such a tiny insect, he had a very big mouth.

“Chrysis! Not appropriate.” The wasp flew back to her. “I’m so osrry, Quinn,” she said. “He can be... a bit of a handful sometimes. You’d think that a symbiote with mind-altering powers would be a little more careful with... with all that.” She chuckled.

“Mind-altering powers?”

“Oh, I don’t want to be a bore, Quinn... I know you probably already know all this stuff. Chrysis is... well... we have a very particular sting.” Joy’s weapon materialized, a long spear with a tapered, triangular point. “It can alter or erase memories. A key tool of discipline and order within the Angels. Chrysis takes it very lightly, but I... I understand the gravity of my responsibility.”

“Responsibility?”

“Well, for those who fail, or have things they want to or need to forget, or when there are... mistakes that are made and things that leak to the public... that sort of thing,” she said. “Sorry to ramble on.”

“It’s really no bother. I didn’t know about that.”

“Is that so? I figured that, since you’d already gone and stopped Ecto, back in Vancouver, that you... that you knew so much more than us. I mean, you’d been under direct instruction from Angel Nep, and... to be honest, when I saw you in the class, I was wondering why you needed to be here at all.”

“No, that’s... I still have a lot to learn,” I said.

“I didn’t realize that.” She chuckled.

“I was going to ask you if... um... you ran out from the citadel after talking with the Archangels. A few days ago, just before this class started.”

She seemed to hesitate before responding. “I don’t recall that. Maybe it was another Angel that you saw.”

Another Angel? But Vespa confirmed that she was the same... “I’m pretty sure it was you.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but I really don’t remember—”

“Found them!” Melody interjected. She flew right up to us, pointing off into the distance. Through the haze and desert sands, six Echoes were walking. They looked like... like wolves? Not quite. They had long, streamlined bodies, but comically small legs, and huge heads, like alligators or something.

“Six of them,” said Russula, drawing her weapon, a long-tipped spear that was the same shining bronze as the rest of her.

“Let me get Carmen,” I said.

“She’s not going to want to come anyways,” said Joy. “But go if you want. We’ll go ahead.” The three of them dashed off towards the Echoes, and I turned back, touching down in front of Carmen.

“I see them, Quinn,” she said.

“Ready, then?” She shook her head. “At least get your weapon out?”

“She doesn’t want to,” said Papilio.

“Let her speak for herself,” I said., putting my hands on her shoulders. “Are you sure you don’t want to? Isn’t this your responsibility? You’re an Angel now, after all. You should—”

“Don’t tell me what I should and shouldn’t be doing,” she said. “I can make decisions for myself.”

Oh. I’d been lecturing. Looking down on her, even. And she was barely younger than I was... probably had been an Angel for longer than me. I was doing exactly what I’d gotten so upset at the others at Sanctuary 73 for doing. “Sorry,” I said. If she really didn’t want to, then... I guess she didn’t absolutely have to? She could take it up with Miriam later. Turning back to the desert, the Echoes were... missing?

One moment, Melody, Joy, and Russula had been flying straight for them, and then, with a sudden gust of wind and a cloud of sand, the Echoes had disappeared. The three of them touched down, investigating the area but failing to find any hints as to where they had disappeared.

“Where are they?” I wondered aloud.

“They are underground,” said Vespa.

Underground? Before I could even register the thought, the earth crumbled beneath their feet. Huge, toothy jaws snapped up from the ground and grabbed hold of Melody’s leg. Russula and Joy immediately took off, but it was too late. Two more of the Echoes breached through the surface of the sand and knocked them out of the air. They were... they were...

“They’re whales,” said Carmen. Walking whales. No wonder they’d seemed so awkward on land. Though I supposed these didn’t need water to swim.

I could already feel the tremors in the earth rushing to our location. I wrapped my arms around Carmen and lifted her into the air just as two more pairs of jaws burst from the place where we’d been standing just moments ago. We nearly cleared it, but the tip of the mandibles clipped my feet and sent us both plummeting to the ground. I wrapped myself around her to keep her safe with my carapace as we smashed into the dirt. She seemed mostly fine. After getting up, I drew my weapon and prepared to fight.

As an Angel, I could sense their presence fairly strongly. Just looking at the ground where they were sent pulses through my temples. I stabbed at the earth, but the blade just got lodged in the sand and pebbles. I needed to strike them in the moments immediately before and after they broke the surface. And I needed to be quick. Glancing over, the other three Angels seemed to be struggling to escape the Echoes, and were calling for help...

Actually, it seemed that all the groups were calling for help. Just what was happening? There was no guarantee that Miriam could get here in time. We needed to do something. “Carmen, can you transform?” I asked again.

She nodded slowly. Her transformation started and stopped abruptly. Uneven patches of emerald-green chrysalis formed over her hands and arms and neck before cracking off and falling to the ground. She was hyperventilating. It was like she hadn’t done it before.

“Calm down,” I said. “You’ve done this before. Just take deep breaths.”

“She hasn’t done it before,” her symiote said.

“What? What do you mean?”

“I can’t do it!” said Carmen. “I can’t... she’ll get mad at me.”

“Who?”

“Archangel Viviana!”

Viviana? Again? What was up with that. “There’s no time to worry about that. You need to help us out, okay?” One of the Echoes was coming round again. I could feel it approaching beneath the ground, rumbling as it swam through the sands. Just a little closer... Then, there it was. A tiny scrap of molten rock broke the surface. In that moment, I made my move.

I thrust my blade forward just as the titanic jaws reached out to bite me, running the sharp edge right down the middle. I sliced through its upper jaw right down the middle, parting the rows of molten iron teeth and showering red-hot ichor in all directions. My blade ran all the way down the midline of its head until it slammed into the creature’s skull, getting stuck in the metallic ‘skeleton’. Stuck. I tried in vain to pull out the glaive, but it was really jammed in there, and the other Echo was quickly approaching. I ditched the weapon and rolled to the side just in time to avoid its jaws...

But not fast enough to avoid the bulk of its body slamming into me and crushing my body against the ground I was extremely thankful for the toughness of my exoskeleton; I dreaded to think of what would have happened had I been in an even slightly more fragile body.

“Carmen!” I yelled. “Now would be a good time to transform. Just do something!” As she ran around, I could see her chrysalis forming and shattering over and over again. She was still too nervous. I tried to move, but the weight on my back was far too great. My arms were all pinned and essentially useless now. The thing was made of rock, after all. “Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked Vespa. “Or you could do?”

“That is really between her and Papilio,” the hornet replied.

“I... I’m trying, Quinn,” she said. Well, it wasn’t too bad, right? After all, none of the Echoes were chasing her right now. Sooner or later, Miriam would arrive to help. One of the ones here was down, and the other was... well, it was on me. The other three were... other three? Wait, weren’t there six Echoes at the start? Where was the last one?

Carmen was still hyperventilating, struggling to transform. But I was already feeling it. The ground beneath our feet was shaking again. It was coming closer, a distortion in the fabric of reality, tunnelling through the sand and dirt at a breakneck pace. My body tensed up. This was more than just an Echo. I could feel it instinctively.

A Demon was coming, too.