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"I don't want to forget what happened," Nina said, slamming open the bookshop door and crossing the floor to stand in front of the demon puddled into Mr Fell's desk chair. He looked up at her and she had the impression of bleariness, despite his ever-present shades. The new angel had made a wounded noise when Nina was rough with the door, and now stared at her, wide-eyed, from their space behind the till.
"What does it matter?" he said, half under his breath. He snapped his fingers and drew a business card from somewhere in a better display of sleight of hand than Nina had ever seen from Mr. Fell. She took it from him.
"I'm not driving you," he said, putting his face down into the cradle of his arms.
"Fine," she said, leaving.
*
The train and then a bus took her to Tadfield. When she knocked nervously on the door, a teenage boy answered. He looked at her, cocked his head to the side, and then said, "You should come see Anathema."
He led her through town to a bucolic cottage. The woman who answered the door here was dressed all in black, her eyes owlish behind round spectacles. She looked Nina up and down, which seemed cheeky, but then she said, "You've met them -- the angel and the demon."
"Yes," Nina said, with surprise.
*
Anathema made some calls, and she made some tea. Nina usually preferred coffee, but the tea was very good. The cottage slowly filled up with people: a retired psychic and her rude husband, three more teenagers, and a gawky man who kissed Anathema hello. Also, there was a dog for some reason.
"Welcome Nina," Anathema said. "She owns the coffee shop across from Aziraphale's bookshop."
That was the strangest way Nina had ever heard Mr. Fell's name pronounced, but then again, his first name probably wasn't Angel, no matter what Crowley called him.
"That den of sin," the grumbling man in the mackintosh began, but he was persuaded to go out into the garden to play with the dog, and Nina caught Anathema's sigh of relief.
"Lovely to meet you, dearie," Madame-Tracy-call-me-Marjorie said, folding Nina into a hug before Nina could protest. "Goodness, I haven't heard from those two in ages, you'll have to catch me up."
"But how did you all meet them?" Nina said curiously. This little town seemed worlds away from London.
By the time both stories had concluded, the adults had switched from tea to wine, and Nina had several new phone numbers saved to her phone.
"We usually meet the first Sunday of the month," Anathema said. "Bring anyone else you'd like. I feel like we're going to need all hands on deck for -- " she waved a hand -- "whatever's going on now."
Nina had to agree. And it didn't seem like the supernatural beings were going to be much help this time. Good thing this odd little family was here to fill the gap.