The gates weren't open, but the titanic gold bars were more than wide enough for a dozen people to walk through shoulder to shoulder. Beyond the gate, more of the unarmored angels waited, and they held white robes in their hands. Each person that walked between the bars and past the gate, to the stairway beyond, received a white robe from one of the angels. And each time someone put one on, they changed.

The old man Mia and David had been talking to put on the robe, and when he turned to look back at the two of them, his eyes opened wide as a glowing gold enveloped him....