It was eleven by the time the last customer left the cafe. Maeve smiled and waved goodbye, looking out at the pale light of the full moon as she wiped the tables clean. In truth, however, the smile hid feelings of despair and desperation. Ever since her father left when she was at the tender age of eleven, she and her mother had been working nonstop just to keep The Cloverblossom Cafe from complete collapse. And somehow, over the past years, they managed to do just that, barely. But now... now things had gone south and severely slow.<br/><br/>Mother had taken ill, and medical care wasn't cheap. They had dipped into whatever little savings they had just to do enough to keep her alive. As she walked up to her apartment above the restaurant, she could already picture the bills in her mind, emblazoned with angry red words like Past Due and Final Notice. Collection agents had started calling constantly, and perhaps most frightening, the bank was beginning to talk about foreclosure. Maeve wouldn't - no she<em>couldn't</em>allow that to happen. The Cloverblossom was all that she and her mother had. But she had explored every option, followed every avenue. Done everything could within reason.<br/><br/>And that only left the things outside of reason. She figured she must be truly desperate to try this, but she was now going to turn to the same website that she had copied for a rare laugh weeks ago. Summoning an angel? It was ridiculous on every level. It was the kind of thing that people did for a lark at slumber parties or after smoking the last of their marijuana. And here she was, preparing all the same. She was just that desperate.<br/><br/>The room was already covered wall to wall with butcher paper. She traced two concentric circles with meticulous care, showing that all her self-criticism was more an act than any actual disbelief. With the space between the two circles, she began inscribing symbols as the site had previously indicated, the work proceeding at a snail's pace.  By one, however, it was done, and the actual ceremony could begin. She didn't actually know how she had gotten the pigeon to stop long enough to pluck out a feather, but she persevered. She also didn't know how she scared up the courage to sneak a beer mug into a cathedral to fill it with holy water, but she managed. She now dipped the feather into the mug until it was dripping.<br/><br/>Then would come the last of it. She put the beer mug down and reached into the circle, holding the feather.<br/><br/>"I, Maeve Harrison, call thee, angel, to stand at my side from here on. Our fates and souls shall now be entwined, with hope and care, and with desire and love, with you to serve as my guide and partner. And so it shall be until I release you or until the force of death itself tear us asunder."<br/><br/>With a sigh, she dropped the feather and watched it trace a lazy path towards the center of the circle.<br/>