Jackson stretched his hands out towards Maddy and took a few steps forward. “I’m giving you the chance to come with me. Be with me. It’s what I want. And I know it’s what you truly want, deep down.” The biotechnology circuits in Jackson’s wings glowed deeply orange as he took a breath in, then let it out.
“Lies,” Tom said, voice dripping with anger. His finger pointed accusatorily at Jackson’s impressive figure. “More Angel lies. Maddy, they’re deserting humanity in our hour of greatest need. They’d let us be exterminated by whatever things are out there, coming for us. Because we wanted to end their dishonesty – their entitlement – and democratize Protection for Pay. And you can trust what they say?” Tom snorted and looked at Jackson. “She’s smarter than that, Godspeed.”
Jacks took a threatening step towards Tom.
“DO NOT MOVE TOWARDS THE LIEUTENTANT!” a marine sharpshooter from the deck of the aircraft carrier screamed down at Jackson. Jacks looked up irritatedly at him, as you would at a persistent gnat.
“You need to forget him, Maddy,” Tom said. “It’s as much for you as for me. He’ll destroy you in the end. The Angels will never change. They’re too corrupted. I’m offering you something more. Something real. Something human. Something honest.” Tom looked into Maddy’s confused eyes, the windows into her conflicted soul. “You know that that’s what’s important in your life. What you truly want.”
The pilot’s gazed directly at her, unblinking. He reached out his hand.
All the bystanders on the dock had given them a wide berth, and sailors stood along the bridge, guns trained on Jackson. Maddy was now standing between the two young men, Tom in his olive green flight suit on one side, and Jackson in his indomitable black armour on the other, his fearsome wings curling slightly in as he waited for Maddy’s decision.
Maddy’s mind flashed to Jackson and the lookout: the site of both their first date and their last meeting. She looked at the man who had been so much a part of her life and who had driven away in heartbreak and bitterness. The pain on his face. And the pain in her heart. But also her feelings for Tom, which had swept upon her – swept upon both of them – unaware. What she felt when she was with him. And how he represented everything human about her.
And now she had to make a choice.
Between Jackson and Tom. Between Angels and humanity.
The aircraft carrier towered behind the Battle Angel and the pilot, somehow cruelly beautiful against the red-tinged clouds, as Maddy drew in a breath.
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First published in the United States of America by Penguin Young Readers Group,
Penguin Books Ltd., 2013
First published in the UK in paperback by Scholastic Ltd., 2013
This electronic edition first published in the UK by Scholastic Ltd., 2013
Text copyright © Scott Speer, 2013
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eISBN 978 1407 13524 3
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Scott Speer, Natural Born Angel
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