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“What’s wrong?”

“If it’s all the same to you,” he said, “it might be nice to stay on the ground. I have this urge to let go of who we are. Just be two people, a boy and a girl, hanging out.”

He eyed her nervously until she let go of his wing to take his hand.

“I know what you mean. I’d love to.”

Daniel looked grateful as he rolled his shoulders forward, coaxing his enormous wings back into his shoulders. They retreated slowly, smoothly, until they’d become two small white shoots in the back of his neck. Then they were gone completely and Daniel was merely Daniel. When he smiled, Luce realized how long it had been since she’d seen him without his wings.

“It’ll be nice to keep our feet on the ground,” she said, looking down at her boots and Daniel’s sneakers, both caked with desert dust.

Daniel was looking over her shoulder, down into the dry plain below. “Or maybe just slightly off the ground.”

“What do you mean?” She spun around and stood on tiptoes to see where he was looking.

“Have you ever ridden a camel?”

“I don’t know,” she challenged him. “Have I?”

They named the camel Woody, because he looked like a 1970s Woody Allen, with his red, wavy unkempt mane—though he was seven feet tall, with a double hump and two crooked front teeth. They found him grazing at the foothills of Mount Sinai with two other less amusing camels. When Daniel laid a hand on his flank, Woody didn’t kick and snort at the invisible touch; he leaned in and nuzzled Luce’s unseen face, looking lovably paranoid.

“This is the one,” Daniel said.

“We can’t just take him! What if he belongs to someone?”

Daniel raised a hand to shield his eyes and made a show of looking across the vast ocean of sand. “We’re just borrowing him for the day.” He wove his fingers together and bent down to make a step for Luce with his hands. “Come on. Up you go.”

She laughed as she swung one leg over the camel, delighted by the feel of sliding down to the base of his back between his humps.

“How are you going to get up, normal boy?” she asked.

Daniel stared at the hump a foot over his head and scratched his chin. “Hadn’t thought of that.”

He asked for her hand and jerked himself up but lost his footing and landed on his back in the dirt.

“A temporary setback,” he grunted.

For the second attempt, he came around the other side and tried to hoist himself up like a swimmer climbing out of the deep end. He slipped and fell on his face. Woody spat.

“Okay,” Luce called, trying not to laugh. “Third time’s the charm!” The first two times had charmed her, too, and a fourth would charm her even more.

Daniel grunted again, and when he reached for her hand, Luce really put her back into pulling him up. She could feel his body rising from the ground and was surprised by how light he felt in her arms. He landed behind her, directly on the hump, in the splits, and bellowed with pain. Luce lost it.

She was laughing so hard it required an apology, which was tough to accomplish through a delirious convulsion. Daniel finally laughed when her fit of giggles almost sent her tumbling off the camel.

When they finally calmed down, Luce turned to look at Daniel. She ran a finger across his lips. “It still feels like we’re flying.”

“I guess we always are.” Daniel kissed her finger, then her lips, and without coming up for air, gave Woody a gentle kick to get him moving.

Woody wasn’t a thoroughbred. They sauntered across the plain with the distant hope of reaching the ocean. It didn’t seem likely, but it also didn’t matter. Luce thought this endless stretch of packed brown sand looked like the most beautiful place on earth.

They rode in happy silence until something struck Luce. “I don’t think I ever have been on a camel before.”

“No.” She could hear the smile creep into in his voice. “You haven’t. At least, not when I’ve been around. Were you able to pull that from the memories of your past?”

“I think so. It’s weird, I searched for it, but—recently when my mind circles around a memory and finds something I’ve done before, I feel this warmth.” She shrugged. “Since I didn’t feel anything this time, I guess it means I haven’t had this experience before.”

“I’m impressed,” Daniel said. “Now how about you tell me about something for a change? Tell me about your time at Dover.”