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"Usually you don't even have lunch, so this should be treat."
    The dog reluctantly pried his gaze from the bag and gently snatched the burger from Aaron's hand. Hechewed once and then swallowed with a loud gulp.
    Aaron patted the dog's side. "That was pretty good, huh?"
    Gabriel licked his lips and gazed into his master's eyes.   "Any more?"
    "No," Aaron said. "I bought one for me and one for you. That's it."
    "Are you going to eat your bread?"Gabriel asked
    "Yes, I'm going to eat my bread."
    "It will make you fat."
    "You're too much, Gabriel." Aaron laughed. He took a bottle of water and poured some into a paper cup. "Here's some water to wash down your burger," he said as he set the cup on the ground in front of the dog.
    Gabriel began to lap at the cup, careful not to tip it over.   "I'm still hungry," he grumbled between laps.
    "Sorry," Aaron said, picking up his own burger and sitting down beside Camael. "Think of how good
    your supper will taste."
    The dog grunted and strolled off to sniff at an overgrown patch of grass near the edge of the parking lot.
    Aaron watched him go. He hated to be mean, but if he allowed Gabriel to eat every time he said he washungry, the dog would weight three hundred pounds. He couldn't begin to count all the overweight Labshe'd seen while working at the veterinary clinic back inLynn,Massachusetts . It was the Labradorretriever curse—they loved to eat.
    He sighed as he picked up his burger and took a bite. It was good, cooked just the way he liked it,medium rare, with lettuce, tomato, and a little mayo. He chewed for a moment, swallowed, and turned to Camael, still sitting silently and staring off into space. "What exactly are you looking at?"
    "I see a great deal," the angel replied, his voice like a far-off rumble of thunder. "A father and son fishing by a stream, an old woman hanging laundry in her yard, a female fox teaching her litter how to hunt frogs." He paused, tilting his head as if to examine something at another angle. "It is what I do not see that interests me."

    Aaron opened another bottle of water and took a sip. "Okay, what don't you see?"
    "As of now, I see no sign of pursuit."
    "And that's a good thing—right?" Aaron took another bite of his burger and reached for a cardboard container of French fries. He dumped half on the wrapper with the remains of his burger and placed the container with the rest in front of Camael.

The action broke the angel's steely stare, and he looked down on the container before him. "I told you, Ido not need to eat," he said with a hint of a scowl.
    Aaron bit half of a large fry and chewed. "You don't need to," he said. "Doesn't mean that you can't.   Tryone."
    Camael slowly placed his hands on either side of the container. "As I was saying," he said, studying the French fries as if they were new forms of life, "I have seen no trace of the Powers since leaving your cityofLynn , so it would appear that the magical wards I left to mask our passing have proven beneficial."
    "Is that what you've been doing?" Aaron asked with surprise. He consumed the last bite of his burger. "I was a little worried by how slow we've been moving. I thought you were getting a little wrapped up in the whole sight-seeing thing."
    Camael removed a French fry from the container and glared at it. "I have been on thisplanet forthousands of years, boy. The urge to 'sight-see' was purged long ago."
    And then the angel did something that Aaron imagined he'd never see. Camael popped the French fryinto his mouth and began to chew. He chewed for what seemed an insane amount of time and thenswallowed. "Adequate," he said, tilting the container toward him and reaching for another.
    Aaron took a sip of his water and smacked his lips. "Do you think these wards will be enough?" heasked. "I mean, will it keep them off our backs until we can find where they're keeping Stevie?"
    The angel was eating fries like a pro, three and four at a time. For someone who doesn't need