Free Seven Archangels: Annihilation by Jane Lebak Page A

unpacked a beige cloth, smoothed the cloth into a square, and set out cups, a thermos, muffins, butter and knives, another thermos, bowls, and cookies.
    "Perhaps you recall," Uriel said mildly, "that angels don't eat?"
    "Joseph and I got tired of praying ceaselessly with words and scriptures, so I prayed with cookies." Mary poured a cup of tea from the first thermos, handed it to a suddenly-solid Uriel, then wrapped two cookies in a napkin and passed those over as well. "Peter has every human he can in prayer right now, and Paul organized folks to visit churches on Earth and get them praying for healing, although clearly we can't specify for whom. But me, I baked cookies."
    "It's good to know some things never change," Uriel said.
    Mary looked up from pouring herself a cup of tea. "How so?"
    "Remember when Elizabeth was giving birth to John? How many loaves of bread did you bake?"
    Mary closed the top on the thermos. "It wasn't the bread that was a problem. It was the fish."
    Uriel laughed out loud. "I'd totally forgotten the fish!"
    "How could you forget the fish? I was still morning sick all the time, and the fish reeked like crazy."
    Uriel chuckled behind one hand. "That's the thing I never expected about being a guardian angel—the way humans push yourselves rather than admit defeat."
    "Someone had to cook the fish." Mary cocked her head. "Well, fair's fair. I never expected angels to be anything like you are either." When Uriel looked puzzled, Mary continued, "I figured that beings with a perfect understanding of God would never disagree and would live in perfect harmony all the time."
    Uriel squinted. "And when you find those creations perfect enough to have a perfect understanding of God, let me know!"
    "Of course only God is perfect." Mary fiddled with the handles of the basket. "I knew it said in Job that God finds fault even with his angels. I knew the Yom Kippur liturgy actually says angels sin. But even hearing in Daniel that the guardian of Persia fought with Gabriel for twenty-one days and had to be called off by Michael didn't prepare me for the idea that angels might disagree with one another."
    "Don't God's people disagree with one another?"
    "We're not angels," Mary said.
    Uriel's hands opened, forming a faceted gem which revolved slowly, splintering the light to scatter tiny rainbow dots over the walls. "None of us is big enough to contain and understand all of God, even with unclouded reasoning abilities. God designed us all a little differently from one another so that spread out over the whole of creation, eventually one of us amplifies each aspect of himself. But given that, doesn't it make sense that the angel of justice might argue with the angel of mercy? Or," Uriel added, winking, "that an angel embodying God's creativity might argue with God over a schedule?"
    The Throne made the lighted jewel disappear.
    "It makes sense. I just never expected it." Mary handed over a cookie. "Please?"
    Uriel tried a bite, then radiated approval.
    "Thanks." Mary looked at Raphael. "He pulled Gabriel out of Hell, and you helped put him back together, and I baked cookies."
    Uriel said, "Cookies solve all the world's problems."
    Mary paused. "That's not true. Some problems can only be solved with brownies."
    "Aren't brownies are a type of bar cookie?"
    "Oh, dear," Mary said. "All the world's problems can be solved with cookies." She sipped the tea and finished her cookie. "This is so much like when Jesus was a baby. You guarding me, Raphael guarding him."
    Uriel had a wistful smile. "Gestation is a hazy time. I wasn't expecting that either."
    "I've gotten to realize we're never really prepared."
    Uriel squinted, projecting assurance that God had prepared them, then added, "We just never realize it until afterward." Setting the empty cup on the bed, Uriel said, "Raphael figured out how to toughen up Gabriel's spirit to survive death. I think he was able to do that because as Jesus's guardian angel he'd witnessed him