"You know, you can't stay down there forever," I say.

"I know," she says.

She floats high enough for her head to be just over the water.

"Does that mean you're gonna get out of there?"

"Why don't you come and make me?"

"Um, no. That lake looks super cursed. I don't know what you did to it. I'm not going in there with you."

"Oh, hush. It won't be that bad for you. You're a goddess, so it won't be able to kill you like it does with the humans."

"Why is it even here?"

"I got bored."

"That's not a good reason to make a new world with a murder lake in it and hide there."

"Sure it is."

Maryanne

I can't believe this. I'm supposed to be an angel, an image of all that is pure and good. I'm supposed to be doing all of that good stuff, and here I am trying to track down two lost children. This is so degrading.

Maybe I should just defect over to the hell side of things. I'm never going to be an angel again anyway. Why not switch over. I bet they pay better. At least then I could have some status and not just be a pointless little fairy forever.

That would be so nice, although I would have to live in hell. That probably wouldn't be as nice.

Ava

A fairy flies up to us. You know at this point it doesn't even surprise me anymore. She's just about the size of my hand with translucent wings. You can just barely make out purple and blue throughout them. She has pointed ears and red hair tied up in a bun. There are freckles splashed across her nose underneath green and blue eyes, each one with a streak of yellow in the middle of the iris. It almost looks like she has lightning in her eyes.

"Hello girls," she says, "I have been sent by Damien and the head angel to collect you too. You are both needed in the garden and we weren't sure if you two even knew how to get out of here yourselves. Now, if the young one will kindly get out of the water, we can head back."

"What if I don't want to get out of the water?" Ariel says.

The door to the lake opens and a woman stops suddenly. She stares at us for a brief moment before running away screaming. Great.

The fairy gives me an odd look.

"I've been trying to get her to come out for about an hour, she won't come out."

"Well, if there are going to be people messing with us, then there's a good chance that we could get separated. We better get out of here before someone decides that they believe her."

"I don't care," Ariel says, "I'm staying right here and there's nothing you can do about it."

"Alright, whatever," the fairy says, "Ava, you're coming with me. I'll take you back to the garden and we can deal with the young one later."

She takes my hand and pulls a handful of dust out of a sack on her hip. She blows it over both of us and suddenly we're back in the garden.

"What are you going to do with her?" I ask.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm going to go and work for hell soon. If I do that, I'll be able to just snap my fingers and send her down there for a little bit. I'm sure the little terror would just love it down there if what I've heard about her is correct."

"Oh, I'm sure she will."