Miramuel shivered. "They almost got her, Remmy."
"I know. I felt it, too."
"We could have been with her," Mir whispered. "We could have stopped them."
Remufel crouched smaller in the kitchen and hugged his knees. "But we've almost been caught down here a couple of times already. If we'd saved her, we would have showed up on Heaven's monitors for sure. And then we'd get dragged back. Maybe this near-disaster will be enough to show her that she has to leave with us."
"What if it isn't? We're running out of time. The Almighty can't stay on vacation forever. When He comes back, if we haven't won her back . . . you know what's going to happen."
"We're going to end up in Hell."
"I can hear it now. Direct contravention of orders. A couple hundred counts of physical intervention on the material plane. Fraternization with the enemy." Miramuel's face was expressionless.
"We could go back now. Ask forgiveness. We'll be dropped back a bunch of ranks, and censured—probably have to do remedial work in the files or something for a while. But we wouldn't go to Hell." Remufel didn't sound enthused about this plan. He sounded more like he was playing devil's advocate. A dangerous game in Heaven.
Miramuel looked over at him and a single tear started down one cheek. "We didn't stand behind her before. We didn't speak up for her. She's the best friend I ever had, Remmy. The best, and I stood on the side of the angels and watched her sentenced to Hell . . . and none of us spoke for her. I won't let it happen again. Not again."
"I was there, too. I know. I know. I was just saying—"
"Well, don't!" Mir glared at him. "Don't! This is the only chance we're ever going to get to rescue her. The only time when the Omnipotent One isn't watching, when we can follow our hearts and maybe bring her home. If Lucifer gets hold of her again, after what she's done this time, he'll destroy her. It will be a billion years before she pulls enough of her atoms together to even regain some awareness of what she once was . . . and she'll never be Averial as we know her again. Never. We have to make this work."
Remufel thought for a moment. Then he said, "We could tell her why we're here."
"When we didn't stand behind her before? You think she'll believe we're risking Eternity just to get her back home after all this time?"
"No." Remmy sighed. "But she's learning to love again. Surely He won't let her go back to Hell."
"She hasn't truly learned love, yet . . . and, worse, she's duplicated Lucifer's sin. She's handed them knowledge they didn't earn."
"Not because she wanted things to be easy for them!"
"You think that will matter?" Miramuel glared at him.
"I don't know."
"It won't!"
"Then we're already doomed."
"Probably. But I'm not giving up until we're in the Pit."