I fly over a city, the scenery lit by flickering lights, bow and arrows trailing behind me. Looking down at a quiet street I spot a man and a woman, each walking in different directions down the street, oblivious to each other. I smile. Targets located. I swoop down closer to observe the two, my white wings glistening in the moonlight. Sure enough, their faces match those of the destined lovers in my assignment. I aim my bow for the woman. Pushing a strand of my blonde hair behind my ear, I draw back the arrow.

“Ladies first!” I whisper as I let go of the arrow, watching it whirl towards its target.

The woman stopped and looked around. With accurate precision, I fire the second arrow into the man’s back. The ends of each arrow sent out an invisible gold thread and I watch in glee as the two strands met and entangled. The man and woman turned around and their eyes met, where they would meet for eternity. As they began to chat, I flew away, a smile on my face. My job was done.

My name is Angela and I’m a cupid. I fly around Earth pairing up those destined to be together. What I really want, though, is to be a long-term cupid. A long-term cupid is a cupid who is especially assigned a person who needs a ‘guardian angel’. They keep the human safe until they find their destined one. Being a long-term angel is a job for only the best and brightest cupids as they sometimes encounter problems. Even so, my dream is to one day become a long-term cupid, and I’ve been working towards it since I was a mere cherub.

I fly up higher and higher until I reach the beautiful city Evestania in the clouds. The architecture is simple yet elegant, with a beautiful palace in the center. This is Cupid’s palace. The city below is full of bustling angels, their chatter and laughter bringing a smile to my face. I walked through the gates of Cupid’s palace where a girl sporting glasses and long, straight hair was reading a thick book.

“Angela!” she greeted as she noticed me, “Welcome back!”

“Thanks Janet! The assignment went off without a hitch!”

Janet and I begin to walk to the cafeteria. “So hey this book I’m reading says that as you know, cupids are invisible to humans but they can see us if they are destined to be alone or know about them. “

“How could they know about us? So anyway, how was wing therapy?” I ask Janet carefully. Her shoulders drooped and she began to play with her hair.

“The new treatment they thought would work failed again.” Janet replied stroking her still light grey plumes. Janet was created with wings, but her wings have never worked. Regardless, she spends her time learning everything she can about cupids and human love. Although she never shows it, I know that she wants to fly more then anything. I’ve caught her in the library in the early morning, trying to find some way to recover her unique inability to fly.

As we walk, a flying scroll hits me on the head and lands on the ground.

“A new assignment already?” Janet asked, reading over my shoulder while brushing her black hair out of her face, “You just got back!”

“It must be important. You know what this means!” I reply, a smile on my face. I read on, scanning the faces of the destined ones and read a small note on the bottom out loud:

“Angela, if you can bring this last couple together, you will be considered for a long-term cupid. This is a one-time thing, so do your best! Signed, Cupid.” I read excitedly, “This means that if I can be a long-term cupid in no time!” I continue chattering until I realize that Janet didn’t share my enthusiasm.

“Th- that’s great.” Janet said, playing with a strand of her hair.

I began to apologize. “Janet, I’m so sorry! I wish I-“

“You can’t do anything. This assignment is marked as immediate. See you soon.” She said coldly as she ran to the dorms.

“Janet!” I cried after her. I sigh and walk back towards the gates, knowing Janet wouldn’t talk to me now. Taking off into the air again, I lazily fly down to Earth again.

A few hours later, I find the man in question sitting outside of a little French café, nose buried in a book. I land beside him and look around.

“OH MY GOD, THAT GIRL HAS WINGS!” the man shouts as he drops his book in shock. He stares at me. I stare back, very confused.

“Oh my god, you’re a cupid! I’ve always wanted to see a real one!” he enthusiastically shouts, earning looks of concern from pedestrians. He hastily picks up his dropped book and flips through the pages to a section labeled Cupids.

“My name is Scott by the way,” he added.

“Angela. May I see that?” I asked, taking the book from his hands. I flipped through the pages is awe. They knew so much about our lives and traditions!

“Where did you get this?” I asked in awe, eyes glued to the book.

“Well, you see it’s been in my family for generations! We all add things and so one day we might be able to know so much about your kind!” I continued reading as he rambled. I skimmed the text until I found a section labeled ”Cupid and their Hierarchy”. It read:

“Cupid, the bringer of love, sends other cupids out across the world to spread love to humans. As far as we know, cupids are organized into a hierarchy (from lowest to highest): cherubs, messengers, cupids, long-term cupids, angels and Cupid. Obviously the god Cupid is the only being in his rank. Cupid has the power to grant wishes to humans in exchange for something of value.”

I forgot why I came! He is to find his destined one very soon, and him seeing me is not helping this! I reach into my skirt pocket to grab the assignment scroll only to find it missing. I look over at Scott to see him staring at the open scroll in his hands, mouth open in shock.

“You’re not supposed to see that!” I exclaim, trying to grab the paper. He avoids my grabs and continues to scan the scroll.

“This is why you’re here?” he asks dumfounded, “Well forget it! No one in my family marries someone a cupid chooses!”

“Well, I don’t really have a choice on who I shoot!” I mutter to myself. Hearing my words seemed to light a spark in him. He grabbed the book and furiously flipped through the pages to a section about wishes.

“It says here that for a human to have a wish granted, they have to give something of importance to Cupid.”

“Does it say anything about a cupid making a wish?”

“Um, yeah it says that to have a wish granted, a massive sacrifice must be taken.” Scott replied.

A massive sacrifice. I knew what I had to do for Janet.

“Scott, come on we’re going to Evestania.” I say.

“You’re kingdom? How is that even possible?” he replies shocked.

“You want not to be destined to someone, I want my friend to get her wings back. As for how, I’ll figure it out when I get there.” He messily packs his things into his bag. I grab his arm.

I asked, “Are you ready?” to which I got a silent nod. With that, I took off, slowed by the extra weight. I didn’t quite know if this idea would work, but I figured we should at least try. I flew higher and higher, while Scott gazed in shock at the ground shrinking below us.

When we reached Evestania, I dropped Scott on the cloudy ground while he stopped to catch his breath.

“What did you do to me?” He gasped, staring at his surroundings

“Relax,” I replied, “I just flew up here. It’s not that big of a deal!”

I walk through the gates of the palace, Scott at my side gaining many startled looks by other cupids while murmurs filled the hall. I ignored them and walked to cupids throne room, knocking sharply on the door. It opened and I forced Scott through.

"I don't know about this, Angela," Scott whispered.

"It’ll be fine Scott. Just remember why we’re here.”

We entered the throne room, Cupid draped over his massive throne that sat in the middle of the elaborately decorated hall.

"So Angela, who is this and why have you come? Aren't you supposed to be matching two destined ones?"

"Well about that..."

Scott interrupts, "My book here says that I can make a wish in return for something?"

Cupid smirks, "Well as you know, in order to make a wish, you have to trade something of value. What would that be?"

"The book, sir." I respond, gesturing to the brown leather book in Scott's arms.

“Ahhh. Now that is a deal. Very well. Scott, is it? What do you wish?”

“I wish to not have a destined one. It sounds silly, but I’d like to choose my own fate.” Scott said nervously.

“Oh, is that so? Alright then, I promise to never mess with your life.” Cupid smirked. He raised his staff and a beam of light hit Scott on the head. He laughed.
“I’m sorry, Scotty, but that is just not possible!” Cupid laughed, taking the book from Scott’s unconscious arms.

“How could you do that? You promised him that we wouldn’t meddle with his life!” I yelled.

“Angela, humans aren’t supposed to know that we exist. We come and go as needed, and we do what our jobs tell us to do. We may leave Scott alone, but he is just as eligible to become an assignment as all other humans. This talk is over.” Cupid says, sending me out and slamming the throne room door shut.

I watch as two angels pick up Scott and fly him back down to earth. He would remember nothing about me, about Evestania, about anything in that book of his. Another flying scroll hit me on the head and I cursed.

“Not again!” I groaned. I opened it and it read:

Angela, since Scott’s wish was not fulfilled, for the payment given your wish was fulfilled was instead. I suggest you seek Janet and tell her the news. ~Cupid

I threw the scroll off the balcony. I turned around only to see Janet standing in front of me, concern plastered on her face.

“Angela, I heard what happened. Are you okay?” She asked.

“Yeah, yeah Janet I’m fine,” I smile, “You, on the other hand, are not okay.”

I run towards her, grabbing her wrists, and sprinting to the balcony.

“Are you mad Angela?” she yells, fighting against my grip.

“I just might be!” I say, as we plunge to Earth below, two pairs of wings flapping in synchronization.

“What did you do?” Janet laughed, enjoying her capable wings

“Don’t thank me, thank Scott.” I exclaim, pointing at my human friend. I watched as he rubbed his head, shrugged, and began walking to destinations unknown. He’d be okay.