Nate shook his head. "The arriving angels wont be feeding just yet; this world will be totally new to them. Itll take them some time to get settled, get acclimated....Then it will start. But, yes, its still obscene--the thought of the crowd being so thrilled to see more angels arrive."

Electa frowned, trying to picture the scene. "How are they supposed to see them, if the angels arent feeding yet?"

Nate snorted. "Its a special occasion," he said. "The angels are going to lower their frequency on the ethereal plane as they fly through the cathedral--itll mean that the audience will be able to see them as they arrive. Theyre looking forward to all the cheers."

Cheers. Electa pitched the flyer onto the table, feeling sick.

"This wave, and the ones planned for following it, cant be allowed to happen," said Sophie intently, leaning forward. "We were losing ground against the angels already. If even more arrive on this scale, we wont have a chance--society as we currently know it will probably be gone in ten years."

"But what way is there to stop them? Is there, like, a leader that would need to be taken out? Or something more?"

There was a slight shift in the room as Nate and Sophie glanced at each other. Suddenly Electa knew without a doubt: she wasn't going to like whatever they suggested.

Slowly, Nate said, "Theres a thin...wall, let's call it, of energy that separates our two worlds. When it was only small numbers of angels coming across on their own, the wall remained fairly stable--its energy was briefly disturbed by those passing, but it could restore itself. However, an exodus of this scale is very different. A special opening--a gate--has to be generated, so that hundreds of thousands of angels can pass through the wall in a short time without destroying it altogether. The wall will be extremely unstable for the twenty minutes or so that it will take for them all to fly through--its a very delicate operation."

"It's planned that the gate will open in the main Church of Angels cathedral at six tomorrow night, two hours after the service starts," said Sophie, indicating the flyer. "Weve got someone inside the Church whos helping us--we know all the details, including the exact position of the gate."

"Right," said Nate. "And what we think is...if the wall is disrupted just as the gate is starting to open, itll set off a chain reaction that will make it unusable. Effectively, it will slam shut for good, keeping the remaining angels in our own world, away from this one."

He swallowed, fidgiting his fingers again. He was nervous, but still asked. "A-and how could i-it be disturbed enough?" His voice was soft and wavering.

Instead of answering, Nate reached his hand out to Vexin. "May I?" he asked.

Shaking, he nodded.

Nate closed his eyes; Electa could see faint movement behind his lids, as if the angel were watching unseen images. When he let go of Vexin's hand, he sat and gazed at him for a few moments without speaking.

"Paschar was right," he said.

Vexin was confused, but shook less. He wasn't sure what he was talking about though. "A-about what?"

"He saw that your very existence is a danger to the angels; you have the means to destroy us all. Ive just seen the same thing. Some of the images are unclear, but..." He turned to Sophie. "Its our best chance."

He was confused on how he had the means to, though.