The golden stone swung open with a scraping sound and the guy in black and white went into the cave. It banged shut behind him. There was no one left between me and Cherie and the god drop.

She looked at me, her dark eyes shining with excitement and anticipation and still a little bit of that fear of being rejected by the gods. Her white lashes fluttered, and her soft body shivered. She took a deep breath, but she couldn’t say anything.

I hugged her.

Over Cherie’s wing, the woman in the long button-up coat looked disgusted. I gave her a nasty leer, and she turned away, nose in the air.

Too easy. Nobody was going to look disgusted at my girl.

I kept one arm around Cherie’s waist and reached out to touch those gold upside-down angels surrounding the golden stone, curious what they felt like.

The gold looked like it should be warm from the sun, but the upside-down angels were cold. There weren’t any bumps or rough patches. Like a rock in the river or the front of Cherie’s square piece of plastic, but even smoother. So smooth it made my fingertips feel oily.

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I was going to tell Cherie, but when I looked at her face, I could see she didn’t want to talk. We were too close to the thing she’d been waiting for her whole life. She might be scared, but she was also thrilled, and she just wanted to feel that thrill.

She was beautiful.

When she saw the way I was smiling at her, she grinned and leaned into my side, folding one of her soft white wings around my back.

The golden stone swung open.

Cherie made an awed cooing sound deep in her throat.

I couldn’t talk or breathe, I just stared.

Golden light shined out of the cave, making the upside-down angels on either side of the swinging stone glint brighter than the meanest rays of sunlight.

Somewhere past the paralyzing wonder, a part of me thought, But they’re still cold. Touch them. They’ll feel as cold as ice on the creek. And slipperier.

I rubbed my thumb over my fingertips again, remembering that oily feeling.

Without looking away from that golden light, Cherie laced her fingers through mine. She took a deep breath, straightened her clothes, set her wings and shoulders, and stepped toward the open stone.

Together, we walked inside.