Free Extinguish by J. M. Darhower Page A

customs, though, so I may be wrong. As soon as I get a grasp on them, they change."
    Serah’s brow furrowed. "What’s going on?"
    A wide grin nearly split Samuel’s face in two. "Prom."
    Hannah and Michael both stared blankly, neither knowing what Samuel meant, but that lone word told Serah all she needed to know. Prom . "Seriously?"
    "What’s a prom?" Hannah asked. "I don’t get it."
    "It’s a celebration," Serah explained. "Teenagers come together, dressed up, and dance the night away. It's kind of a human rite of passage."
    Matching expressions glazed Hannah and Michael’s faces, lingering confusion with a dash of dismay.
    "Yeah," Hannah said. "I’m out."
    Hannah vanished as Serah and Samuel turned to Michael. Serah expected him to bow out too but he remained, his perplexed appearance not lifting as he nodded across the street. "Are we staying out here, or are we joining their festivities?"
    Serah stammered as Michael stared directly at her, awaiting her answer to his question. She wasn’t quite sure what to say. Samuel let out a hearty laugh, nudging her playfully as she finally gave a non-committal shrug.
    "Come on," Samuel said. "It’s going to be totally bitchin’."
    Serah burst into laughter as Michael’s expression briefly hardened with disapproval. Samuel clapped him on the shoulder, chuckling. "Relax, it’s just something the kids say these days."
    The three descended upon the prom. Serah wasted no time immersing herself in the sea of frilly neon dresses and outrageously teased hair, twirling across the dance floor to the trendy pop song, her wings folded away as she took on her human form. She purposely remained invisible, a ruffling breeze as she passed, moving through them and around them, blending in.
    Samuel mingled through the crowd, also in undetectable human form, while Michael stood along the back, wings fully engaged like an Archangel bodyguard. The mighty warrior seemed ill at ease with the high school crowd, but he didn’t leave, instead choosing to watch, apprehension in his bright eyes as they remained affixed to the wildly dancing angel. Serah could detect his presence in the air, intense, overwhelming. How could the humans be near him, around him, brush against him, and not feel the powerful life force? It left her spellbound.
    She was swept off her feet—literally—when Samuel popped up behind her, grabbing her around the stomach and swinging her around. She spun in a circle, twisting like a tornado, and laughed when she came to a stop face-to-face with her brother.
    "Having fun?" he asked.
    She nodded, brushing the hair out of her face. "What in the world gave you this idea?"
    "You."
    Her brow furrowed. "Me? How?"
    "I guess all your talk these past few decades about these humans and helping them finally got to me," he replied. "I was in this town the other day, trailing a demon inside of a school teacher, when I overheard a boy named Nicholas say he wanted to take a girl named Samantha to the prom. Samantha liked Nicholas, but they were both too shy to even say hello."
    Serah raised her eyebrows. "So you introduced them?"
    "You could say that," he said. "I manifested for a split second and physically shoved the two of them together in the hallway. She dropped her books, he picked them up, and voila . . . they’re dancing right behind you."
    Serah turned around, so close she could practically touch the couple. They swayed to the music, his hands on her hips, her arms around his shoulders as she gently fiddled with the hair at the nape of his neck. Their eyes connected, something strong stirring in them, something pure and Heavenly.
    Love .
    A smile tugged Serah’s lips. "You did good, brother."
    "I’m not done yet," he said quietly. "You see that Archangel over there, attached to the wall? Go ask him to dance."
    Serah turne d back to her brother. "What? No way!"
    "Why not?"
    She lowered her voice to a quiet hiss. "He’s the prince, Samuel."
    "He’s just an angel—an angel that