"Okay, the call is live now," Aria told Calypso, stepping away from the camera. "It's all you, once they join."
"I wonder who it will be," Calypso pondered as she waited. The people who would be joining had listed emails or pseudonyms in place of names.
A moment later, the first person joined. It was a dark haired man who looked to be in his early twenties. When he saw Calypso, his eyes went wide.
"Hello, Jason," Calypso greeted him with a warm smile. "It's been nearly thirteen years since I've seen you. How are you?"
Jason goggled as he stared at someone he thought he would never see again. He stared in awe as her riveting eyes swirled with violet galaxies.
She waited patiently for him to calm down. He took a deep breath, his eyes still wide in disbelief.
"Calypso!" Jason gasped, eyes wide in amazement. "I had no idea you were the one I was meeting with."
"My friend, Aria, is the one who set up the calls," Calypso informed him with another warm smile. "So how are you? What have you done with yourself?"
"I'm good!" he exclaimed with manic enthusiasm, his grin splitting his face. "I'm at MIT studying cyber security. I can't wait to tell my parents that I actually got to talk to you!"
Calypso laughed indulgently at his enthusiasm. "How are Mark and Lisa? The last time I saw them they were sick with worry."
Jason laughed nervously. "They are both doing well. We all knew you were NOTESTOREMEMBER, but we kept our mouths shut and didn't give it away."
Calypso let out an embarrassed cough, her swirling eyes managing to look sheepish. "Um, I actually didn't even know my NOTESTOREMEMBER channel was known. I'm kind of oblivious to anything but music, and I used to just upload the things I put together at night to that channel for safe keeping. It wasn't until Aria and Clarice came back to the hospital to see me a few days ago that I discovered that it was a popular channel."
"Seriously?" Jason exclaimed, his eyes filled with amusement. "You didn't even know that you were the most popular musician in the world?"
"I had no idea," Calypso laughed self-deprecatingly. "Like I said, I've kind of been oblivious to anything except my music and the children at the hospitals. Aria and Clarice showed up at my house as soon as the news broke and helped me escape from the media and clandestine agencies."
"Holy cow, that is wild," Jason breathed in amazement. "The world owes those two our thanks for keeping you safe then. I saw them in the news when you brought that guy back to life." He suddenly frowned worriedly, his eyes flickering uneasily. "Are you sure it is safe to be using video chat like this? Those shadow agencies that you mentioned can probably track your location."
"Aria and Clarice have an uncle who contracted to that agency before, and he knew how to hide me from them," Calypso explained reassuringly. "He's using some kind of special technology to keep them from tracking me."
"What can I do to help?" Jason asked intently, his brown eyes wide and eager. "I owe you my life, and I've always wanted to go back and thank you in person. I'm ready and willing to do whatever I can."
Calypso's grateful smile probably melted his knees. "Thank you so much, Jason. We are trying to form a network with former patients that can help create diversions and cover for my movements when we leave our hideout. There is a group called the agency that controls most of the clandestine operations in the world. They inject their operatives with nanobots that kill them if they disagree or disclose anything about the agency. There are a lot of contractors and operatives who have become disenfranchised with the agency but can't do anything without the nanobots killing them. I can cleanse people of the nanobots if I host a live event on my YouTube channel and they watch it. However, we want to ensure that as many people in the agency watch it as possible. We believe the agency can shut down most of the internet if they realize they are threatened. We need people who are experts in the field of cyber security and cyber espionage. Eventually, they'll figure out where we are, and we will need to have a safe place to move to that is outside of their surveillance network. I do not want to stop helping children who are sick, but I will need to have a way to play live music for them without being traced. However, our first task should really be to cleanse people of the nanobots. We need ideas on how to make as many people tune into the channel as possible that are under the control of these nanobots. We were hoping we could rely on you to help us organize a network to come up with ideas for how to do this."
Jason leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling thoughtfully. After a short time, he leaned forward again. "I can help recruit people, but would it be possible for you to appear in video chat when we need to convince people that we really are working with you, and aren't just claiming to be?"
"That would not be a problem," Calypso assured him with a dimpled smile.
"Right off of the top of my head I have a few ideas," Jason told her intently, rubbing his hands together excitedly. "We could implement a massive hack on digital billboards, screens in places like Central Square, any smart tv connected to the internet, and cellphones. We could have them broadcast your YouTube channel at the time of your live event. I'm sure with a larger group to brainstorm with we can come up with even more ideas."
"Wonderful," Calypso smiled encouragingly. "You can contact this profile that Aria made any time you need a video conference. We are available 24/7."
"Don't you sleep?" he asked wryly, still grinning manically.
"No, I do not need sleep," Calypso confirmed with an amused twitch of her lips. "That's why the NOTESTOREMEMBER channel exists. I spent my nights creating ideas for songs."
"Jesus, you really don't sleep?" Jason asked in shock, leaning forward. "Like ever?"
"Ever," Calypso confirmed again, her swirling violet nebulas making her claim more believable. "I also wish to continue helping children at hospitals. I have learned some new skills and think I may be able to do it through a live video conference. If we could somehow arrange for there to be a screen at as many children's hospitals as possible I would be able to help a lot more children at once."
"Seriously?" Jason said, his voice filled with awe. "That would be epic. Probably the most epic thing in history."
"My main concern is that it gets shut down by the agency during broadcast, so we would want to make sure that it remains completely secret until the event," Calypso told him gravely. She suddenly smiled, her dimples reappearing as she beamed at him. "I really can't express my gratitude enough for your help, Jason."
"I owe you my life, Calypso," Jason said firmly, his brown eyes sincere. "Anything you need from me, all you have to do is ask."
Calypso smiled a dazzling smile at him. "Thank you, Jason."
"I do have one question," Jason spoke hesitantly, his face a mixture of awe and doubt. "Did you really remember my name from all of those years ago?"
"I remember everyone's name," Calypso told him gently, eyeing him fondly. "It's written on your aura, and I never forget anything."
"I've heard some pretty wild things out there on the web," Jason admitted slowly, his eyes searching. "Like that you are really an angel. I know it sounds crazy, but I have to ask. Is there any truth to that claim?"
"I am of the angel race," Calypso confirmed with a nod. "I am not like the angels as they are depicted in the bible though. I want to distance myself from such claims because the repercussions from the world religions would be massive, as you might guess."
"Wait, what?" Jason leaned forward so quickly that he almost lost his seat. "You really are an angel?"
"Yes," Calypso said simply.
"Oh man," Jason stammered, running his hands through his hair nervously. "I've tried to live a pretty good life. Any idea if I'll make it through the pearly gates?"
Calypso blinked, then sighed. "I'm sorry, Jason. I am not an angel in the religious sense. Angels have visited this world before, but religions have tainted the truth of what we are. We do not work for a god in heaven. We are just another species. We have many abilities that would seem wonderous to humans. However, we are not servants of a god. The religions of this world have fabricated most of the information regarding angels. As I had to embarrassingly reassure Aria, we are not genderless. We are just different from humans. I am driven by my desire to help sick children. My music and my children are all that matter to me, personally. It is not in the service of a deity."
"Oh, thank god," Jason laughed in relief, slumping back into his chair. "I was terrified that all of that mumbo jumbo in the bible might have been real if angels were real. That's a huge relief."
Calypso broke into silver peals of laughter. Jason felt the air around him charge with positivity as her laugh warped the space around him. He suddenly felt happier than he had ever felt as he looked into the mirthful eyes of an angel.
"Do you have any other questions or suggestions?" Calypso asked him affectionately, her lips still twitching with mirth.
"Man, now I'm on the spot and I can't think of anything," Jason stressed, running his fingers through his short hair again. "I know I'm going to be kicking myself in an hour for all of the things I should have asked."
"We will talk again soon," Calypso assured him with a warm smile.
Jason felt like he had been wrapped in love, just like the time she had embraced him in the hospital so many years ago. "I can't tell you how much I look forward to it," Jason grinned widely. "Goodbye for now, Calypso."
"Goodbye, Jason," Calypso replied, smiling winsomely before ending the call.
Aria walked up to where Calypso was sitting in front of the computer.
"Well, that went well," Aria congratulated Calypso, resting her hand affectionately on her shoulder. "He turned out pretty well, didn't he?"
"Yes, he did," Calypso agreed fondly, her luminous eyes filled with affection. "He was so scared when I first met him. He was convinced he was going to die. I gave him a hug and promised him that his time of fear and pain was over."
Aria felt something trickle down her cheek. She reached up and brushed a quicksilver tear away. "Now look what you've done," she scolded Calypso accusingly. "You've gone and made me cry."
Calypso stood up and embraced her tightly. Aria felt the meridians inside her body begin exchanging energy with the meridians in Calypso as they held each other. The exchange felt oddly intimate as she felt Calypso's unique energy flood her meridians while her energy did the same to Calypso.
"Hugging another angel is almost as intimate as kissing," Calypso noted with a delighted shiver. "I know I've said this before, but I'm so thankful that I met you and Clarice again. I am so glad that you two have become angels as well, and that I'm not alone anymore."
Aria felt Calypso tremble with the power of her emotions. She brought her hand up Calypso's back and began combing her fingers through her long, brilliantly blonde hair. Calypso melted into her as she continued stroking her hair lovingly.
"I'm so glad that we came back to you too," Aria whispered fervently, her angelic voice caressing Calypso's soul. "I feel like a piece of my heart that was missing has finally been found."
Aria lost track of time as she embraced Calypso. Calypso seemed to have no intention of letting go any time soon. With their enhanced bodies, discomfort from standing in one position too long was a thing of the past. The concept of time had been subtly but steadily changing in Aria's consciousness since the time of her transformation. She no longer needed sleep, opening up another eight hours to her day. She could feel her immortality and knew that she was no longer bound to the treadmill of time. Standing in a loving embrace for an hour seemed like no time at all to her altered perception. She wasn't sure how long they would have stayed like that if they hadn't been interrupted.
"Do I need to fetch a prybar?" Clarice asked wryly as she walked into the library. "I think you two may have fused together."
"We have," Aria murmured, not releasing Calypso. "But a prybar won't work."
"I wonder if we take damage like humans do," Clarice pondered aloud as she stopped right next to them. "We'll have to do some tests to see how we react to sharp objects and blunt force trauma."
"I nominate you to be the one to get run over by the car," Aria said humorously.
"I was in a car accident once," Calypso spoke up, her head still resting on Aria's shoulder. "A semi-truck lost control of his brakes on a steep hill and ran into my car. It went into a canyon next to the road about fifty feet below. My poor car was totaled, along with one of my favorite harps. I was fine though. I didn't suffer any injuries. I had to push the roof off to get out because the car was squished so tightly. I suppose I should have realized that humans wouldn't have walked away from something like that, but I just thought I was lucky."
"I guess that answers that question," Clarice murmured, resting a hand on Calypso's shoulder comfortingly. "That must have been terrifying."
"It was," Calypso admitted with a small shiver. "I thought I was finished. When the police arrived, they couldn't figure out how I was uninjured, given the state of the car."
"There's another video call in two minutes," Clarice informed them, her voice growing playful. "Did you want to give them a little cuddle show?"
Aria sighed and finally released Calypso reluctantly. The energy exchange ended as they stepped away from each other.
"I wonder who this will be," Calypso murmured as she sat down in the chair in front of the computer. "We really lucked out with Jason already being in the cyber security field."
"Yeah, that was a stroke of luck," Aria agreed brightly, her glowing red hair enhancing her ethereal beauty. "I'm excited to see what this next one turns out to be."
Calypso started the call and waited for the other party to join. They didn't have to wait long. A woman in her forties with a familiar motherly face appeared on the screen, with a few other people in the background.
Julia gaped when she saw Calypso, then her face brightened with a thousand watt smile.
"It's so good to see you again, Julia," Calypso said, her voice suddenly catching as she stared at one of the people she had interacted with the most over the past fifteen years. A single quicksilver tear appeared in her eye and ran down her cheek. "I can't believe it's you."
"Calypso!" Julia cried delightedly, her own eyes shining with tears. "I had no idea that you were the one we would be meeting with. It's so good to see you! Are you safe?"
Calypso laughed joyfully and the people on the screen's eyes widened as they felt the mood around them brighten considerably as warmth suffused them. "Aria and Clarice had an uncle with a safehouse where we can communicate without fear of discovery. Apparently, there are some shadow organizations that want me dead, so we are playing it safe."
"I saw Aria and Clarice's apartment in the news and just knew it wasn't a gas leak that caused that explosion," Julia stated vehemently.
"We have a plan to deal with the people who are trying to kill us," Calypso said confidently. "We were hoping to connect with former patients that I have worked with and form a kind of network. We will need some kind of support structure in order to continue helping sick people without getting caught in the crosshairs of these shadow agencies."
"Say no more," Julia smiled widely. "I have all of the records of the former patients for our hospital, and I guarantee that I can get my hands on the other hospitals' records as well."
"Julia, you are a lifesaver," Calypso breathed gratefully. "I'm pretty sure I can heal people over live broadcasts, but we would need people to help coordinate things at the hospitals so that people are watching during the broadcast. We want to do it with as many places as possible the first time since it won't go unnoticed. The shadow agency will probably try to interfere in future attempts. We've spoken with one former patient already who is at MIT and specializes in cyber security. He is also going to be working on network building so we'll put you in contact with each other."
"You could really heal them over a live broadcast?" Julia asked in awe. "That would be amazing. You know, I had suspected you were the reason so many children were suddenly recovering for a few years now. You really are an angel, Calypso."
"Um, about that," Calypso began hesitantly, her eyes suddenly growing more intense. "I don't want to officially announce it to the world due to the problems it would cause with religions, but I actually am an angel."
Julia stared into her swirling orbs in silence for several seconds as the people behind her stared on in disbelief or amazement.
"The stories about us from religious texts are highly inaccurate," Calypso said quickly into the shocked silence. "We don't serve a deity. We are just a different race than humans. We have some abilities and physiological differences that set us apart, but we are not divine messengers."
"What kind of abilities," a middle-aged man in the background asked curiously.
"Well, we are more durable for one," Calypso answered, pursing her lips as she thought. "We don't sleep or eat. Our senses are more enhanced and we don't age. And no, we are not genderless."
Julia laughed as Calypso finished. "I have a feeling that will be one of the first questions people ask when they find out."
"We are okay with people finding out," Calypso went on, her lips turning up slightly at Julia's mirth. "We just don't want to officially admit it. Clarice thinks it would cause a lot of trouble with the world religions if we confirmed it."
"I agree with that assessment," Julia nodded, her eyes clouded. "The major religions will probably not get involved if it is just hearsay, but if it is openly admitted then they would either have to declare support or claim you are demons in disguise; especially after revealing you don't serve a deity."
"They would probably claim you belong to the third of the hosts of heaven that were cast out, and that you are fallen angels," the middle-aged man commented, shaking his head.
"You said we," an older woman with long grey hair noted with a raised eyebrow. "Does that mean there are other angels around?"
Calypso hesitated, glancing over at Aria and Clarice with questioning eyes.
"Just two, that you know of," Clarice whispered quietly.
"I only know of two others," Calypso answered, her eyes flickering back to the screen. "I don't know if there are more out there. It would be nice to know for sure though."
"How are Clarice and Aria doing, anyway?" Julia asked, her motherly face full of kind concern.
"They are my angels," Calypso smiled affectionately, causing the ambient levels of positivity to rise by several units. "They really saved me from a lot of trouble. I'm eternally grateful to have met them. I've spent my entire life dedicated to music and healing. I'm very ignorant about so much about this world that I would probably be in a lab getting dissected right now without them."
Julia's face paled at Calypso's words. "I feel sick even thinking of such an evil act," Julia declared fiercely, her motherly features stern. "Those two have my gratitude as well. I'm sure that sentiment is practically universal at this point."
Calypso smiled up at Aria and Clarice, her swirling eyes full of love. Julia and her companions blinked as they suddenly felt waves of overwhelming love saturate the area around them.
"Wow, you really can effect things over video calls," Julia breathed in wonder. "I thought there would be distance limitations or something."
"I'm counting on that to be the case when I do the live broadcast for the children," Calypso confessed hopefully. "I would love to have a trial run if there are any new children with you, or at one of the nearby hospitals."
"You fixed all of ours a few days ago," Julia beamed at her. "Laticia here is a nurse at New Hope hospital though, and I'll bet she can help arrange something."
"Absolutely," the older woman confirmed with a confident nod. "I will get something set up and let you know what time we can do it. Can we reach you at the same email you used for this video chat?"
"Yes, this email is just fine," Calypso confirmed with a grateful smile. "So, what do James and Malek do?"
The two men behind Julia blinked, looking nonplussed at her knowledge of their names.
"You know James and Malek?" Julia asked in surprise.
"It's written on their auras," Calypso explained, her eyes staring intently at the screen. "Oh yeah, angels don't forget anything either. I didn't realize that everyone didn't have perfect recall until Aria and Clarice told me it wasn't normal to remember everything."
"I guess that makes introductions unnecessary," Julia commented wryly, her hazel eyes a mix of awe and amusement. "James is in charge of hospital security and Malek is a retired doctor. James also discovered that you were healing the children a few years ago when he had to review the security footage for an incident in the conference hall."
"I guess I wasn't as subtle as I thought," Calypso sighed with a rueful shake of her head. "Thank you, James, for not revealing my secrets."
"I was pretty sure the healings would end if news that someone was performing miracles at our hospital became public knowledge," James replied, scowling as he continued. "As the moron that blew your cover has proven."
"When would you like to meet up again?" Julia inquired eagerly, her eyes alight with purpose.
"I can meet any time you need to talk with me," Calypso answered, smiling slightly. "I don't sleep, so night or day is fine. Maybe we could have a weekly call to keep each other updated on progress?"
"That sounds perfect," Julia approved, her face breaking into a wide smile. "It's wonderful to see you safe and well, Calypso. Just reach out to me if there is anything else we can do for you."
"Thank you," Calypso replied, her face filled with gratitude. "You are such wonderful people. I'll talk to you soon."
Julia and her companions gasped as the weight of Calypso's gratitude flooded their systems with emotion before the call ended.
"Well, that was unexpected," Aria declared brightly, her violet eyes twinkling. "Of all of the people we could have ended up meeting, it turned out to be one of the few people that you knew, Calypso."
"That was pretty bizarre," Clarice agreed, looking upwards suspiciously. "I wonder if there is some divine intervention going on here after all."
"Maybe monkey's will fly out of my butt too," Aria retorted sarcastically.
"You don't have a butt anymore, silly," Clarice reminded her with a snort of laughter. "Maybe that's why they thought angels were genderless."
"Thanks for taking the conversation to a weird place, Clarice," Aria groaned, facepalming.
"Making conversations awkward is a public service I'm always willing to perform," Clarice declared magnanimously. "We should go see if Uncle Devon has recovered from shock yet. He was pretty wild eyed when we ambushed him with our new look this morning."
Aria giggled at the memory. Their uncle had come out onto the veranda earlier that morning for some breakfast. He had found the three angels setting out the breakfast spread. Aria had offered him a coffee with a bright smile, her violet eyes vivid with her lustrous red hair. He had nearly dropped the coffee when his mind had finally registered what his eyes were seeing. Then Clarice had joined her and asked if he wanted eggs in a basket and he did drop his coffee. He had been staring at them almost constantly in awe until they left for the video call.
"We probably should have let mom warn him first," Aria murmured sympathetically.
"Screw that," Clarice sniggered with a wicked smile. "This way was a lot more fun."
"You are so bad," Aria declared, shaking her head.
"I'm an angel," Clarice objected playfully. "Angels can't be bad, or they wouldn't be angels."
"So, anything you do is good, no matter how bad because you're an angel?" Aria observed doubtfully.
"Hey, you get it," Clarice beamed approvingly, her violet eyes filled with sincerity. "We can do no evil, say no evil, and hear no evil."
Aria facepalmed and turned away. "Your too much, do you know that?"
"Too much goodness," Clarice corrected with an impish grin. "Come on, let's go talk to uncle. I want to see if we can make a trip to town today and get some additional musical instruments. We are severely lacking right now."
"I guess with no need for sleep we will have a lot more time for composing," Aria noted thoughtfully. "Okay, let's go convince him to sneak us into a music shop. I'm going to max out my credit card."
"You can't use your credit card, dummy," Clarice rebuked her sternly. "They can track any purchases we make with our credit cards."
"Oh yeah," Aria's face fell. "How are we going to pay for more instruments then?"
"We are going to practice wheedling," Clarice answered with a sly wink. "Did you forget that Uncle Devon is filthy stinking rich?"
"You are a bad angel," Aria laughed helplessly. "I don't care how much you try to pretzel the definitions of comparative morality. You are a bad angel."
"I can live with that," Clarice accepted with an impish grin. Her eyes grew challenging. "Race you to the veranda."
Aria broke into a run instead of answering.
"Cheater!" Clarice yelled as she bolted after her.
Aria grinned as she flew down the hallway at impossible speeds. She rounded the corner and ran up the stairs and into the Veranda in under three seconds. Clarice was only a split second behind her.
Their uncle and mother blinked at the sudden influx of wind and the appearance of the two angels.
"I didn't say go, you cheater," Clarice chided her with a disapproving glare. "Who's the bad angel now?"
"You're just a sore loser," Aria quipped back, grinning in triumph. "Nobody likes a sore loser."
"Thems is fighten words, missy!" Clarice declared ominously, advancing on her threateningly.
"Not in the house!" Aria exclaimed quickly. "We'll break too much stuff."
"Then you're coming with me to the great outdoors," Clarice declared, chin in the air. She walked over to the edge of the veranda and jumped down the twenty foot drop.
Aria rolled her eyes but couldn't stop a grin as she followed. Being able to jump ridiculous distances and run at super speeds was exhilarating on a whole other level.
As soon as she landed in the lawn below, Clarice grabbed her by the arm and pulled hard. Aria was expecting to get pulled off of her feet. She was not expecting to get thrown fifty feet through the air and crash into an elm tree. She stood up and tried to feel the back of her shirt, where most of the impact had occurred. There was a large rip.
"You are so dead," Aria shouted grimly, her face thunderous . "This was one of my favorite shirts."
"It's going to be even more stylish when I'm finished with you," Clarice smirked as she darted across the fifty feet in a flash.
Aria wished she would have taken her martial arts classes more seriously, like Clarice had. When they had started college their mother had convinced them to take some self-defense courses because, as she put it, "they were too damn pretty". Clarice had found a Ju-jitsu instructor during her first semester that had taught them for the remainder of their college years. Clarice had been a natural fighter and climbed the ranks quickly. Aria had been mediocre at best.
Aria dropped into a low crouch as she tried to keep her eyes on Clarice's ridiculously fast form. Clarice used her momentum to skid down under Aria's waiting arms, grabbing one of her ankles as she slid past. Aria let out a yelp as she was suddenly airborne again. She tried to right herself in the air, but apparently gravity didn't work like that. She crashed into the thick branches of another tree, breaking through them with deafening cracking sounds before slamming into the ground with a thud. Her shirt had been shredded by the branches. It hung off of her in tatters, with all of the goods hanging out. Her pants weren't in much better shape.
"Not a bad look for you," Clarice sniggered as she zipped toward her at high speed.
"Seriously, Clarice?" Aria growled, snatching one of the branches that she had broken off in her flight. "Are you trying to completely undress me?"
"Maybe," Clarice grinned wickedly as she appeared in front of Aria. She reached for Aria's arm again but had to jump back when Aria swung the branch at her. It made a shrill whistling sound as it swung through the air at supersonic speeds. By the time it reached Clarice there was nothing but kindling left. She laughed and grabbed Aria's arm before she could pull it back. Aria managed to grab Clarice's arm as she was flying over her head. Instead of shooting off into the distance again, she pinwheeled around Clarice. She tucked both of her knees in front of her before making impact with Clarice's hips. They both crashed into the ground with a loud thud. Aria knew she had milliseconds to take advantage of her superior position. She grabbed Clarice by the shoulder and flipped her around so that she was face down in the dirt and put her knee in the middle of her back while holding both of her arms bent behind her back.
"You know what's funny?" Clarice said conversationally, the side of her face mashed into the dirt.
"Your face right now," Aria suggested with an insolent grin.
"This would have worked, if we were still human," Clarice said, an evil smile in her voice.
Aria frowned but wasn't quick enough. Clarice's legs whipped back further than they should have been able to go and hit her in the middle of the back. She flew forward headfirst into a tree a dozen feet away and fell unceremoniously to the ground.
Clarice was on her feet, grinning at her wolfishly. Her angelic beauty was marred slightly by the sheer amount of dirt stuck to her face and hair. "That was pretty good. You just have to remember the rules have changed now that we aren't human anymore. The same rules don't apply."
Aria let out a rueful laugh as she looked down at herself and back at Clarice. Her sister's clothes were still intact, but only barely. "Can you believe how insanely OP we are? I mean, when Calypso lifted you up easily I knew she was strong, but this is on a whole new level."
"I'm literally giggling myself silly inside at how cool this is," Clarice declared with an exuberant smile. Her eyes were filled with wonder and excitement. "The speed alone is nuts. I was trying to push myself a little, but I was definitely not going all out. If this is how powerful angels are, it's no wonder humans thought they were a step beneath gods."
"Maybe that's what the Greek gods of mythology really were," Aria suggested musingly. "To humans, we would appear to be like gods."
"That reminds me," Clarice frowned, her face becoming serious. "We know how to make new angels. That's a pretty big deal. Where would it end if we started transforming humans into angels? Think of a world with billions of angels running around, invincible for all practical purposes, and no longer beholden to food or sleep. I'm wondering if we should keep the fact that humans can become angels secret and not change anyone else. As soon as we change someone else, the choice to not make more will be out of our hands."
"What about mom and dad?" Aria asked pleadingly, her eyes wide and entreating. "If we changed them, they would be with us forever."
"Of course we would change them," Clarice replied reassuringly. "I just mean non-family. Even if we only change family, there are people they will probably want to change. I can just see it getting out of control quickly."
"Yeah," Aria agreed in a more subdued tone. "Of course, we don't even know if the same thing works with our tears. Calypso is more evolved than we are, so it might not even work for us. Hell, it might not ever work for us. Maybe Calypso is the only one that will ever be able to do it. She is definitely a little different than us."
"We can find out with mom," Clarice suggested firmly. "Of course, she'll have to agree to it in the first place. I can't imagine that she would say no though."
"We should ask Calypso too," Aria advised, a contemplative look in her eyes. "There are three of us right now. I think we should all be in agreement on something of this magnitude."
"I think we should get Mom's opinion on living forever without asking her outright if she wants to be an angel, then see if we can find a way to get a tear onto her without telling her," Clarice proposed, her violet eyes concerned. "Then guide her into a conversation where she declares a desire to vanquish evil. That way, if it doesn't work she won't have gotten her hopes up. I would hate to put that hope in her head just to have it fail."
"That's a great idea," Aria agreed, her expression serious. "That would be a pretty big rug pull if it failed."
Clarice suddenly laughed as a thought occurred to her.
"What?" Aria prompted curiously, her lips curving slightly.
"If we changed Uncle Devon, we could just cut him loose to take care of the bad guys all by himself," Clarice laughed mischievously.
Aria smiled at the thought. "Yeah, he would be a like a juggernaut if he had the same power we do."
"I wonder what our limits are," Aria mused with a speculative look at Clarice. "What would it truly take to kill us? How indestructible are we?"
"That presents us with another problem when it comes to changing people," Clarice pointed out pensively. "What if we are truly immortal and can't ever die, even if we want to? Some people might find that frightening."
"Wow, that is kind of scary to think about," Aria agreed, her eyes distant. "What happens when the sun dies, or the planet blows up? Would we just be drifting around in space forever?"
Clarice tilted her head, a small smile appearing on her lips.
"What?" Aria asked warily.
"Do we need oxygen?" she asked reflectively. She stared at Aria, her body becoming still. Aria realized she could no longer here her sister breathing and her chest was no longer rising and falling.
Aria curiously made herself stop breathing as well, waiting for the burning sensation that signaled the last of her oxygen had been used up. It never came. She stared at Clarice wide eyed as they both continued to stand, unbreathing. After a few minutes, Clarice spoke.
"I guess we only need oxygen to vocalize," she breathed, here eyes still wide with incredulity.
"Do we though?" Aria creased her brows as she thought. "Calypso sings in harmony with herself. She's generating sound waves with something besides her vocal cords."
"Good point," Clarice nodded, her violet eyes deep in thought. "This energy matrix that replaced our insides must be capable of doing more than we understand yet. Calypso must have found a way to use that power with her music. I think we need to watch her heal someone, to see the actual energy at work."
"Interesting thought," Aria murmured, recalling the way Calypso used music to guide her healing magic. "She's using music to help her heal people. What if the music is just some kind of energy template? Like she's using it to pull the energy out of herself to use for healing, similar to guided meditation or something."
"What did she do to bring that guy back from the dead?" Clarice inquired, her eyes curious. "Did she just sing a song?"
"No, it was way different than what she did at the hospital," Aria replied intently, her now perfect memory making the event as clear as the moment it happened. "She was singing to herself, but there were words of power she was using as well. I don't know how else to describe it. The words themselves evoked a sense of power. It was actually kind of scary."
"So that begs the question of whether those words had power due to something she charged them with from her energy matrix, or if there are actually words in some divine language that have innate power," Clarice observed, her eyes filled with excitement. "We really do have a lot to discover about all of this angel stuff. Calypso has been on the cusp of understanding something lately. When I started my transformation, she said she felt like she almost knew what was going on. I'm starting to wonder if we are connected to some kind of racial network information layer as we evolve that allows us to gain knowledge directly from an ultimate source or something wild, like the Akashic Records."
Aria couldn't stop herself from laughing at Clarice's words. At her sister's questioning look, she reigned in her mirth. "I'm sorry, it's just so funny that we are talking about stuff like the Akashic Records seriously. Can you imagine if our past selves from a week ago heard us talking about energy matrices and meridians? It's still just blowing my mind how much our world view has changed in such a short time. I totally agree though; the Akashic Records seem like a much more plausible concept now that I can feel this unbelievable light suffusing my being."
Clarice smiled ironically and nodded. "Yeah, I'm getting whiplash from how fast my opinions on what's possible are changing. I feel like I have to revisit all of the nonsense I blew off as brainsick fantasies and give them another chance from this new perspective."
They both froze as their sensitive hearing detected the sound of a vehicle in the distance.
"Maybe it's just someone driving through the mountains," Aria commented as they looked down the road. Aria marveled again at the power of her vision. She could clearly see well past the driveway and down the road that led to their residence for miles. After a few more minutes a pickup truck came around a bend and into their view, still several miles away. Aria studied the driver as he slowly drew closer. His face was almost completely covered by a wild looking beard and bushy eyebrows. He was a portly man, with large jowls and little to no neck. He wore dark sunglasses and had a large cowboy hat on his dash. There were no other occupants in the cab of the truck.
"I'm guessing it's just someone going fishing or camping," Aria said, looking back at her sister with a raised eyebrow. "Maybe we should go find some new clothes before we run into a stranger and get mistaken for wild women."
Clarice snorted a short laugh as she observed Aria's almost completely naked form. The collar of her shirt had survived, and a few tatters still clung to it. Her pants had been completely torn off after her destructive flight through the branches of a tree. Her long red hair offered a small amount of concealment for her torso, but the rest of her was as bare as the day she was born. Clarice still had her clothes on, but they were torn and stained so badly that she looked like she had been put through the gears of a chocolate factory.
"Race you back," Clarice grinned, bolting before she finished the sentence. Aria rolled her eyes and took off after her. She clearly didn't want Aria getting the jump on her again.
It only took them a few seconds to get back to the large cabin. She could see her uncle on the veranda and made a detour around the cabin. She launched herself in the air outside of her bedroom and landed lightly on the three story deck outside of her room.
"I won," Clarice grinned smugly from where she stood in the doorway to her room next-door.
"I had to take a detour to avoid Uncle Devon," Aria retorted defensively.
"No, you didn't," Clarice disagreed with a smirk. "You just chose to take a detour. It's not like he would have seen you clearly at the speeds we were going."
"Quiet, you," Aria commanded imperiously. "I'm going to take a shower."
"Me too," Clarice grinned wryly. "Who would have thought angels could get so dirty."
"Fallen angels," Aria replied sardonically as she went through her bedroom door.
"You definitely fell," Clarice noted pointedly from the next room over, knowing Aria could still hear her clearly. "You fell a lot."
"I'm just going to pretend that walls still stop sound," Aria grumbled with a shake of her head.
XXXXX
After showering and getting fresh clothes, Aria went down to the veranda and joined her mother and uncle as they ate some lunch. Clarice was already there, deep in discussion with their Uncle Devon and mother.
"I don't think Calypso should go, however," Devon was saying, his face serious. "Her presence is a little too difficult to conceal. If something does happen, I don't think she would fight like I know you two would. She's a gentle soul and not cut out for a conflict if trouble finds us."
"I agree," Clarice responded firmly. "I never want to risk her being discovered."
"Do you really think you are bullet proof?" their mother asked dubiously. "That's not something we can really test."
"I threw Aria through an elm tree that tore half of the thick upper limbs off of it and she didn't have a scratch," Clarice assured her with a confident nod. "She swung a stick at me so hard that it literally dissolved into woodchips. We are essentially indestructible."
"As long as you wear the sunglasses and have Aria wear a hat to hide her hair, I don't think this should be a problem," Devon reasoned tentatively. He paused before looking at them pointedly. "And don't give anybody hugs. You don't seem to be able to stop the emotional effect that your hugs cause, and it would definitely leave an impression that could leave a trail back to you."
"It's just Clarice and me going then?" Aria inquired, glancing at her mom. For the first time in her life Aria realized her mother was getting older. She was fit and healthy for someone in her fifties, but Aria noticed the age spots, grey hairs, and careworn skin of a person well past the prime of her life. She felt a sudden urgency to try the angel tears on her mother.
"Yeah," their mother nodded with a faint smile. "I'm totally content to just relax and enjoy this beautiful cabin. I'll leave the hours of travel to the younger crowd."
Aria shared a look with Clarice, the same concern for their mother's age mirrored in her sister's eyes. They needed to speak with Calypso when they returned and see if she was okay with adding another angel or two to the group.
"Try to go the speed limit and don't attract attention with flamboyant behavior," their Uncle Devon instructed them as he pulled some keys from his pocket, followed by a large wad of cash.
"We'll be good," Aria assured him with a cheery smile.
"Cause we're angels," Clarice added with an impish grin.
Devon and their mother shared a worried look as the two angels stood up and left.
XXXXX
"Well, I guess there's nothing to do but wait and hope for the best," Emily sighed nervously. "I really hope they are indestructible. Maybe I should have tried talking them into staying for another week or two before leaving our sanctuary."
"At the speeds they can run, I don't think they'll have a lot to worry about," Devon noted reassuringly. "If they get into trouble that they don't think they can handle, they can just run away. If it wasn't so attention-grabbing, they could have just run into town instead of driving; it would have been significantly faster. I'm still having trouble believing how fast they are."
"It really makes you think about those biblical stories in a new light, knowing what we know now," Emily remarked contemplatively, absently rubbing an earlobe. "Can you imagine this kind of power in the wrong hands?"
"I can imagine it," Devon shivered, his brown eyes haunted as he frowned. "And it scares the willies out of me."
"I've seen the two of them looking at me speculatively whenever my age comes up," Emily stated wearily with a shake of her head. "I know they are thinking about trying to transform me to an angel. Probably you too. I think they have worked out what a can of worms it could open up, though. To be honest, immortality has always scared me. The idea of not having an end in sight triggers a sense of claustrophilia."
Devon nodded empathetically, rubbing his chin pensively. "I never did have a chance to have any kids," he said with a wistful smile. "Once I got wrapped up in contractor work that option went out the window. I'm pretty sure that angels don't have babies, even if they do have the equipment. Now that Calypso cleared my system of nanobots, I have the chance to have a family of my own. I don't think I want to trade that opportunity for immortality. At least, not until I've experienced being a father. Who knows? Maybe I'll change my mind down the road somewhere, but for now, I would rather not make the transformation."
"What do you think about it, Calypso?" Emily asked curiously, knowing the eldest of the angels could hear her, wherever she was in the house.
Devon looked around in surprise when he heard Emily address the angel but saw nothing. Emily tapped her ear meaningfully and he nodded his understanding. A few minutes later, Calypso entered the veranda. She was dressed in a slim skirt with emblazoned white dragons on a cream background. A sleeveless white button-up blouse with a high neck accentuated her hourglass figure. Her long bangs were pulled back over her head, leaving the rest of her brilliant blonde hair to flow down her back and shoulders. Large innocent eyes with swirling violet vortexes watched them curiously as Calypso walked toward them, an inquisitive smile on her dark lips. Emily had to continually remind herself that the beautiful woman was twice her own age. Her ignorance of so much about the world added to the youthful persona. While Clarice and Aria might look like angels, Calypso had the innocence of a true angel.
"Hello, Emily and Devon," Calypso greeted them warmly, filling the veranda with her loving presence. "What would happen if everyone in the world was transformed into an angel?"
Devon shared a troubled look with Emily at the odd question.
"I suppose everyone would become immortal, invincible, and resources would no longer be necessary since angels don't require sustenance," Emily answered speculatively. "But can angels have children? Would the population remain fixed at seven billion people for the remainder of time on earth?"
"You have to wonder what would happen with wars and conflict if nobody could be injured," Devon commented musingly, rubbing his chin as his eyes grew distant. "Can angels survive in space? If so, would we start colonizing other worlds?"
"Think about the economic impact of a workforce that just decided to quit work because they didn't need food, shelter, sleep, or vehicles anymore," Emily continued the thought experiment, feeling her wonder grow as they imagined the possibilities. "Manufacturing would come to a grinding halt. All of the pollution produced every day would vanish almost overnight. Technology would probably take a huge hit, without a willing workforce of grunts to do the menial work. Civilization would become far more primitive unless there was a way to motivate people to continue working."
"I guess it depends on whether angels truly are invulnerable," Devon noted with an inquisitive look at Calypso. "If there really is no way to hurt an angel, a lot of the morals people have developed would disappear in a large group of the population. People obey the law because of the consequences of breaking the law. If angels can't feel pain and have overwhelming strength, how would laws be enforced? What would happen when a sadistic sociopath decided to go on a killing spree with the animals that are mortal still, or just decided to start destroying whatever they wanted because they could? How would we stop them? I imagine rape would still be a thing, so there would have to be some way to enforce laws for immortals."
"The only real way to stop someone would be for other angels to constantly restrain them," Emily concluded with a disgruntled frown. "There would have to be angel enforcers who were willing to dedicate their time to handling the malcontents, and there would have to be enough of them to significantly outnumber the bad ones."
"It makes you wonder if that is what the war in heaven was all about," Devon speculated with a shrewd look. "Maybe this war in heaven was about a race of angels finding a way to deal with "fallen" angels. They cast them down to earth."
"Wait a minute," Emily gasped in sudden understanding. "Humans were the fallen angels! They found a way to make angels mortal and dumped them on earth."
Devon whistled as he eyed her excitedly. "Now that would be an interesting explanation for our religious history. The reason we are fixated on heaven, morality, sin, and hell. What if the angels who were cast down to earth as humans were visited by the other angels and given guidelines for a path back to becoming transcendent beings again? It's taken thousands of years for humans to develop a society of justice and ethics evolved enough that most people can live normal lives; in some parts of the world, anyway."
"That begs the question," Emily stared at Calypso, her eyes intrigued. "How did Calypso become an angel? Did one of the ascendent angels decide to see if humans had finally become civilized enough to have a chance at salvation?"
"Maybe I'm not the first angel to appear," Calypso said thoughtfully. "What if it happens every few thousand years to see if people are ready."
Emily exchanged a meaningful look with Devon. "You mean like the story of Jesus?"
Calypso shrugged, her large eyes uncertain. "He did heal a lot of people and perform miracles, like bringing people back from the dead."
"That's an interesting idea," Devon stared at Calypso intently. "He was killed though. You are pretty much invulnerable. I wonder if there is missing information about the story."
"If he really was an angel, or part angel," Emily mused quietly. "I wonder if his disciples were transformed the way Aria and Clarice were."
"There's a pretty big difference in how his apostles joined him and how your daughters joined Calypso," Devon pointed out. "Aria and Clarice were solely interested in Calypso's wellbeing and happiness. The apostles were fascinated with his abilities. They struggled to understand his philosophies for a long time. The Beatitudes were completely incomprehensible to them initially. I have a feeling that compassion wasn't very popular in that time."
"Don't let my daughters hear you refer to them as apostles," Emily laughed, her dark eyes full of mirth. "They have pretty strong opinions about religion."
"As I recall, so did Jesus," Devon noted with a smile.
"Good point," Emily nodded, her smile fading. "I would imagine that if he appeared to people today the way he appeared back then, most religions would shun him."
"Without a doubt," Devon agreed sagely. "He would be considered a bleeding hearted liberal hippy."
Calypso laughed delightedly at Devon's assessment, raising the positivity around them by an order of magnitude.
"I wonder if he was a hybrid angel of some kind," Calypso suggested after her laughter ended. "Maybe that's why he was able to be killed."
"Well, whatever he was, he certainly shared a lot of similarities with you, Calypso," Emily told the beautiful angel fondly. "The way you have dedicated your life to healing sick children is indescribably amazing. The number of parent's who still have their beautiful children because of you must number in the tens of thousands."
Calypso blushed profusely under the sincere praise, looking down at the ground demurely. "Thank you, Emily."
"Thank you, Calypso," Emily replied sincerely. "Words could never describe how thankful I am to you for saving my little girls' lives."
"You are so welcome, Emily," Calypso told her warmly, saturating the area with her affection. "I can't tell you how happy it makes me to finally see some of my little ones all grown up and happy."