Immortal City

  “Do you trust me?” Jacks yelled. Maddy pressed her lips against his ear.

  “Yes!”

  In an instant, Jacks rolled so they were flying flat against the ceiling. Maddy pressed her body against Jacks’s chest, knowing that if she moved, she would be killed. They slipped over the top of the truck, instant death mere inches away. Maddy felt, more than heard, the impact behind them as the agent collided with the semi. The shock of the Angel’s body against the windshield clapped her ears like a bomb.

  Jacks rolled level as they soared over the tops of the cars behind the semi. They approached the end of the tunnel, the damp night air getting closer.

  Two down.

  Maddy looked back. Nothing.

  “I don’t see anyone!”

  “What?!” Jacks yelled.

  Maddy squinted to be sure.

  Before Maddy could respond, she felt the crushing impact from above.

  He must have gone around the tunnel.

  A gloved hand wrapped around Maddy’s wrist. The crackling voice was older and surprisingly genteel through the black mask.

  “Hello, Madison.”

  Jacks thrashed his wings and rammed hard against the Angel, then dove. The agent’s grip on Maddy’s arm ripped loose painfully, and he fell back behind them. As he flew in evasive maneuvers, Jacks’s eyes scanned the sky, his head darting back and forth, until he trained on a hazy, blinking light above them. A chance.

  “Maddy,” he yelled, banking sharply and preparing to climb. “I need you to hang on for me one more time. Will you do it for me?”

  “I’ll try,” she said weakly.

  Jacks wrapped her arms in his vise-like grip and, using his last ounce of strength, climbed straight up like a rocket into the night sky. The weight of the acceleration was crushing against Maddy’s small frame. Faster. Higher. Her eyes became long tunnels as the blood rushed out of her head.

  “Just hang on, Maddy! Hang on!”

  Jacks’s voice echoed somewhere far away.

  She simply didn’t have any more strength in her fingers as they began slipping. The world began to recede. Her eyes closed as the blackout swept over her. She barely heard the sound of the jet engines growing closer or felt the sizzling heat as they passed through the jet wash. The next thing Maddy knew, she could feel metal below her feet.

  Groggy, she opened her eyes. She saw riveted metal and glowing, round windows. They were on the wing of an airliner. Jacks maintained balance on the wing as the 747 banked to land at LAX. He pulled Maddy close against the side and they waited there, unmoving. The metal of the roaring aircraft was frigid against Maddy’s skin. She watched a woman inside the plane as she glanced out her window. The passenger’s eyes grew wide, and her mouth hung open as she took in the image of the two of them on the wing.

  They left the airliner moments before the 747 touched down. Jacks flew them low over the palm trees until black, silent canals came into view. The pungent smell of stagnant water filled Maddy’s nostrils as they landed and Jacks pulled her under a white footbridge. They sat there next to the water, listening for anything. The lap of the canal was the only sound. Otherwise it was silent. Nothing.

  For the moment, they were safe.

  “Are you okay?” Jacks asked, panting, exhausted.

  “I think so. What about you?” Maddy asked.

  “I will be.”

  “Was that . . . ?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Those were Council Disciplinary Agents.”

  “This is all my fault,” Maddy said quietly.

  “No, it’s not. You had no idea.”

  “I forced you to go to see my uncle when you knew the danger, and now”— her breath caught—“I’ve put him in danger too.”

  “He’ll be okay, Maddy.”

  They sat there listening to the lap of the water.

  “What do we do now?” Maddy said.

  “Hide. Find someplace safe and dry where I can recover my strength. I can’t trust any Angels. Not even my stepfather. We need someplace they won’t be looking.”

  Maddy thought of the one place she had known as safe her whole life. The image of Uncle Kevin crouching in the kitchen as the ADC tore into her house made her shudder. There was Gwen’s. But that was just down the block from her home, and her friend’s entire family would be there. And for all Maddy knew, the Angels would be watching her best friend too.

  After a moment, Maddy thought of it. It was far from ideal. But under the circumstances, it was the only place they could go.

  “I know somewhere. We’ll be safe there, I think.”

  “Where?”

  “A . . . friend. He might not be all that excited to see you, but I think he’ll help me.”

  Jacks looked at her. “Who?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  They worked their way up the streets, taking care to stay out of the cones of streetlight. Maddy’s injuries were throbbing—her shoulder and back bruise from the almost-accident and now her neck where the Angel’s hand had tried to strangle her. She noticed Jacks had begun to step unevenly. He wasn’t hurt exactly—she didn’t even know if Angels could get hurt—but his strength had left him for the moment. They both needed somewhere dry and safe to rest.

  By the time they reached the residential street, the fog had lifted. The air was clear and cold. Puddles of rainwater stood eerily still as they reflected the streetlamps overhead. They stopped in the shadow of a parked car and looked at the large, rustic home.

  The house was now dark and quiet. A few red cups littered the lawn as the only evidence of the party earlier that night. To Maddy, it already seemed like a distant past. Like a memory from another life.

  “Who is this person again?” Jacks said, scrutinizing the house.

  “Um . . . a friend,” Maddy repeated, keeping her tone neutral.

  He turned to her and searched her gaze. In the cast of the streetlight he looked like an old-time superhero. Once again she hated herself for finding him so attractive, even when he was exhausted, beat up, and on the run.

  “Can we trust him?” Jacks said.

  Maddy considered. “I know he would never do anything to hurt me,” she said finally. The answer didn’t quite seem to satisfy Jacks, but he nodded. They made their way around to the side of the house, slipping on the leafy hillside, until they came to a dimly lit window. Maddy peered in.

  Ethan sat against the wall in the soft glow of a desk lamp. The box of photos sat next to him. He was looking at the pictures.

  Maddy recognized the room, of course. It was where they had nearly kissed. She found herself thinking about how his lips had felt as they brushed against hers. Then she thought about their last conversation, when he told her how his father had died. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all, she thought, but it was too late to turn back now. She reached a hand up and tapped on the glass.

  Ethan jumped, then looked over at the window.

  “Ethan!” Maddy hissed in a loud whisper. “Over here.”

  He stared out at the darkness for a moment, then cautiously rose and came over to the glass.

  “Ethan, it’s me,” Maddy whispered.

  “Maddy?” He slid the window open and looked at her with wide eyes.

  “Can I—we—come in?”

  “We?” He looked into the shadows behind her and saw Jacks. His expression hardened.

  “Please,” Maddy said, searching his hazel eyes. “I didn’t know who else to turn to.”

  Ethan hesitated as he considered. “Go around to the back,” he said. “I’ll meet you there.”

  Ethan let them in through a sliding glass door at the back of the house. He was still wearing his ripped jeans and sandals from the party, but he had thrown on a white thermal under his plaid shirt and corralled his hair under a backwards baseball cap.

  “Thank you,” Maddy said as she came in the door.

  “I’m so glad you’re okay,” Ethan said, genuine relief in his voice. “You left the party and I hear
d those two idiots racing down the street. I should have never let you leave like that.”

  “No, you shouldn’t have,” Jacks said. His eyes were flinty. Ethan flinched at the Angel’s words.

  “Ethan, this is—”

  “Yeah, I know,” Ethan said. He studied the Angel before him.

  “Maddy tells me you two are . . . friends?” Jacks said.

  Ethan nodded. “And you two are . . . ?”

  “Friends,” Maddy said quickly. She could only imagine what was happening under Ethan’s controlled exterior. She wondered what she must be putting him through by inviting an Angel into his house.

  “Come in,” Ethan said at last.

  Ethan led them down the hallway toward the kitchen. He had cleaned up everything since the party.

  “I wish I had something to offer,” Ethan said as they walked. “But there isn’t really anything left. There’s some old Chinese food in the fridge, I think.”

  “It’s okay,” Maddy said. They came into the kitchen and Ethan leaned against the counter.

  “So,” he said. “How can I help?”

  “Ethan, we need . . . a place to hide.” Maddy paused. “I was hoping we could stay with you.”

  Ethan looked between Maddy and Jacks. “Look, Maddy,” he said honestly, “I’d let you stay here, but you can’t. And it’s not because I don’t want you to.”

  Maddy bent her head.

  “They’ve already been here,” Ethan said. Maddy’s heart hammered against her chest.

  “Who?” Jacks asked, alarmed.

  “The Angels. They left, but I’m sure they’ll be back. They were looking for you and for . . . him.” Ethan motioned to Jackson.

  “Ethan, please,” Maddy said. “Jacks saved my life.”

  “He saved your life?” Ethan said, incredulous. “That’s not what I heard.”

  “What do you mean?” Maddy said, her eyebrows pulling together. “What have you heard?”

  “That he kidnapped you, of course.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Maddy said in a low voice. “Who’s saying that?”

  Ethan raised an eyebrow. “You really don’t know?” He walked over to the TV in the living room. He grabbed a remote off the couch, and clicked on the flat screen. Tara Reeves’s exhausted face filled the screen as she continued to report on the breaking news story.

  “We’re bringing you the latest updates on the Jackson Godspeed situation in this continuing ANN Special Report. At this time, the hunt continues for Godspeed, who allegedly kidnapped seventeen-year-old Maddy Montgomery of Angel City earlier tonight and is now believed to be connected to as many as three Angel disappearances over the last week.”

  Maddy sat paralyzed with shock. What was going on?

  “It’s already started,” Jacks murmured, as if in answer.

  “What has?”

  “The cover-up,” Jacks said.

  “It’s worse online,” Ethan said. He nodded over to his laptop, which was sitting open on the kitchen counter. Maddy went to the computer. She tapped the space bar to wake up the machine, and there it was: Ethan’s browser was open to all the most popular Angel blogs, with bold headlines like “COMMISSIONING GONE WRONG,” “ONE DISTURBED ANGEL,” and “SCANDAL IN THE IMMORTAL CITY!” She clicked through the various sites. They all had their own spin on the same basic story—how Jacks had disappeared from his own Commissioning, and allegedly kidnapped her, and was behind the Angel murders. There were even some rumors that he was working with the extremists HDF to bring down the Angels.

  “But none of this is true,” she said, her eyes darting across the screen. “This isn’t fair; Jacks didn’t kill anyone. And I wasn’t kidnapped.”

  “Well, that’s not what you’re telling everyone.”

  “What?” Maddy gasped. “How?”

  “You’ve been updating your Facebook page.”

  Maddy’s eyes narrowed.

  “Facebook? I don’t have a Facebook page.”

  Ethan went over to her and, reaching his arms around her, navigated to Facebook and typed in Maddy’s name. There she was. Her profile picture was her hideous junior-year school photo, and the pictures in her album were paparazzi shots from the diner, the party with Jacks, and the walk to school the day after. Her status was listed as It’s complicated, and her wall was filled with sympathetic comments from “friends,” of which she saw she currently had 560. Under What’s on your mind? she had written. Getting kidnapped by Jackson Godspeed.

  Maddy couldn’t help but lean her back against Ethan’s chest as she absorbed the shock. Jacks came up behind them, noticing and unhappy.

  “Oh, you’re on Twitter too,” Ethan said. He navigated to the Twitter home page, typed in her name, and there she was again. Her most recent tweet was only fifteen minutes old:

  Everything okay, will get back to everyone soon. Thanks for all the love and support!

  “They’re even selling T-shirts,” Ethan said. He quickly typed in celebritytee.com. Maddy’s mouth dropped open. There was a shirt for sale with her face on it. “‘Team Maddy’ or ‘Team Jacks,’” he said, reading off the site. “So I guess you get to pick what side you’re on. There’s also ‘Team Macks’ if you can’t decide or are rooting for you both, I guess.”

  “All this happened . . . tonight?” Maddy asked in disbelief.

  “It’s the world we live in now,” Ethan said. He stepped back and leaned against the counter again. “Congratulations, Maddy, you’re a celebrity now.”

  “And now they’re hunting me,” Jacks said, almost to himself. “Whoever, whatever is really out there killing Angels is just getting a pass so the Archangels can cover up their dirt.” He turned to Maddy. “He’s right. We can’t stay here. If they’ve been here looking for us once, they’ll return.”

  Maddy thought about the Angels coming through the windows of her house. It was an image she never wanted to see again. Ethan turned to her.

  “Maybe it’s none of my business, Maddy, but is staying with Jackson really such a good idea right now?” Ethan murmured.

  “That is none of your business,” Jacks said, his jaw set.

  “As her friend, Maddy’s safety is my business,” Ethan countered icily. Jacks turned away from him.

  “Let me check the street outside, then we’ll go.” The Angel walked quickly down the hallway. Maddy wondered if he didn’t want to leave her with Ethan. Was he actually . . . jealous?

  Ethan and Maddy stood in the silence that followed.

  “I know what you must be thinking,” Maddy said finally. “But if it wasn’t for Jacks, I’d be dead right now. He saved my life, Ethan, more than once tonight. Things are just different from what I thought.”

  Ethan’s eyes flashed to her. They were vulnerable, almost hurt.

  “I know, things are different,” Ethan said. “Like I said before, you just don’t seem like the kind of girl who gets mixed up with these guys.” He looked sad and tired. “But I guess I was wrong.”

  She bit her lip. She didn’t know what hurt more, her injuries or her friend’s disappointment in her. Jacks came back into the room.

  “Okay, we should go.”

  “Where?”

  “Anywhere but here. They’ll be back, I guarantee it.”

  Jacks started toward the front door. Ethan watched them. Then he sighed and pulled a ring of keys from a drawer.

  “I told you to borrow this whenever you wanted, so you might as well borrow it now. It might not be the most comfortable place in the world,” he said, peeling off one of the keys. “But it’s dry, and I don’t think anyone will think to check it. I mean, besides you, Tyler’s the only person who even knows I have these, and he’s sleeping it off in my bedroom.” He walked over to Maddy. “This opens the maintenance door on the east side; do you know it?”

  “. . . Yes,” Maddy said, realizing what he was talking about.

  Ethan looked down at the key, then up at Jacks, regarding him coldly.

  “I’m sorry, Maddy
, I don’t trust him. But if this is your decision, I’ll do everything I can to help.” He turned to her. “Are you sure you’re okay?” As he spoke, he stepped in to her. Close. Jacks’s eyes flashed with that same anger.

  “Yes,” she said, blushing. “And thank you.”

  “Anything for you, Maddy,” Ethan replied quietly.

  “Let’s go,” Jacks said gruffly.

  They made their way carefully down the sleepy street. Maddy looked back over her shoulder. The windows of the house were dark, but she could see Ethan’s silhouette standing there, still, as he watched them go. His idea was a good one. No one would ever think to look for them there. He was actually helping them, as much as it probably killed him inside. Ethan. Steadily there for her. She found herself wondering again what she thought about him. What would he think if she ever told him the truth about her parents? Would he be enraged? And become as cold to her as he was to Jacks? Or would he accept her for who she was, no matter what blood was flowing in her veins? She had a feeling he would support her, no matter what. She wondered if Jacks would do the same.

  Jacks turned to her at that moment with a smile that made her heart melt.

  “Okay, Maddy, so where are we going?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Crickets chirped steadily in the grass. Palm trees stood motionless, watching.

  “Here?” Jacks asked, looking at the slumbering Angel City High.

  “Yes, here.” Maddy laughed. “I can’t imagine anyone would think to look for you at a public school.” Their feet squished in the wet grass as Maddy led Jacks around the classrooms to the side of the school. They came to the unmarked maintenance door, and Maddy slid Ethan’s key in the lock. Holding her breath, she turned it. She heard the click as the dead bolt retreated.

  The hallway was dark and quiet. Homecoming posters hung sleepily from the walls. The only light came from a vending machine down the corridor, a soft red and blue fluorescent glow. She looked around and got her bearings.

  “It’s this way,” she said.

  Maddy ran her hand along the banks of lockers as they walked. She had strolled down this hallway a thousand times before, but now it was different, and it wasn’t just the dark. Everything had changed. She came to her locker and paused. She thought about herself at that locker just days ago. That simple, comfortable life she’d known for so long. One day you return to your normal surroundings and everything just feels different, she thought. Except the surroundings aren’t different. You are.