Maddy watched Kevin as he took out more candles from under the sink and set them around. She drew in a long, deep breath. At last her lips parted.
“My parents, Kevin,” Maddy said, her voice small but firm. “I want to know the truth.” Kevin froze where he was standing with his back to her, then struck a match and lit one of the candles.
“What do you want to know that you don’t know already?” he said, without turning.
“Jacks told me he could save me because he saw I was in danger, like a premonition. Well . . .” She took a deep breath. “I’ve had premonitions all my life, and always when something bad is about to happen.” Kevin still didn’t move, but stood listening. “I’ve always just explained it away to myself or tried to ignore it. I figured I was just, I don’t know, different. A freak.” She swallowed down the beginnings of another lump that was threatening in her throat. “Now I think maybe there’s more to it, and maybe you’ve been keeping something from me.”
“Maddy, don’t you think you might be imagining—”
“I’m not,” Maddy said sharply. “I’m done pretending it doesn’t happen, because it does. It happened today when I was almost crushed by that car. I saw it all happen in my head first, and that’s impossible.” From the corner of her eye she could see Jacks’s astonished expression. He had set down his cup and was scrutinizing her intently. “So. Who were they, really?” she asked quietly.
Kevin turned and met her gaze. Jacks’s eyes darted between them. Kevin brought one of the candles over and set it in the center of the table. Then he sat looking at the flame, his glasses reflecting the flickering light. Maddy realized she was holding her breath.
“I wondered if this day would come,” he said at last. “I thought it might, but not this soon, and certainly not under these circumstances. I told your father it wasn’t fair that I’d be the one to have to tell you, but he said he was glad it would be me. That I had always been good with you. Now, I’m not so sure.”
Maddy looked at her uncle in the dancing candlelight. There sat the man who had cared for her, and provided for her, her entire life. Suddenly she felt like she didn’t know him. Or at least didn’t know a part of him. He looked abruptly older to her. Worn somehow. His face was drawn in grim lines.
“Please,” she whispered. “I have to know.”
“Are you sure you want to hear this story?” he asked, his expression darkening. “If I tell you, I’m going to tell it to you straight. I?
??m not going to edit. And I can warn you now, it’s not always pretty.” Kevin’s glasses caught the candlelight again and gave him burning embers for eyes. Maddy considered his words and then nodded. Jacks sat still with suspense.
“Okay, then,” Kevin said. “Where do I begin? With the Angels, I guess.” Kevin rose and walked over to the cupboard as he talked.
“You should know from your history class at school about the Awakening, when Angels revealed themselves to us? And you know about the establishment of protection-for-pay and the NAS Archangels?”
“Yes, of course,” Maddy said, remembering Mr. Rankin’s tedious lecture.
Kevin had begun taking the remaining mugs out of the cupboard and setting them on the counter. Maddy wondered vaguely what he was doing. A draft blew through the house, causing the candles to flicker. As Maddy watched, Kevin removed the back of the cupboard and pulled out what looked like an old scrapbook. Maddy’s heart began to hammer relentlessly in her chest. She had never seen the book before. What was it doing hidden in the cupboard?
Kevin brought the book back to the table, sat, and set it in front of him.
“A little less than twenty years ago, a young Guardian, what they call a Born Immortal, had a radical idea. He believed the Angels had become corrupt, and the system had become corrupt along with them. He argued that Angels should return to performing miracles anonymously, and for free.”
Kevin opened the book. The binding cracked as the cover came up. He started leafing through the brittle pages. There were pictures of people Maddy had never seen before. Young, beautiful faces peering out at her from the pages. Jacks craned his head to see as well. Kevin stopped on a faded photo of a young Angel. Maddy didn’t recognize him, but she was immediately struck by him. He had kind eyes and a striking, statuesque figure.
“This is him?” Maddy asked, tapping the photo.
“Yes, this is him,” Kevin said. “This is Jacob Godright.” Kevin pointed to a handsome man in his twenties standing next to him. “And this is a young human activist named Teddy Linden.”
“The senator?” Jacks asked in disbelief. “He hates Angels.”
“Or hates what they have become. That was another place and another time. You see, Jacob Godright and his followers were convinced that Angels and humans could live together as equals, work together, and even have families together. To prove his point, he secretly married a beautiful, brilliant human girl he had fallen in love with.” Kevin’s voice wavered under the weight of the words. “That girl was my sister, Maddy. She was your mother. Montgomery is your mother’s maiden name. Your real name is Madison Godright.”
He paused.
“Your father was an Angel.”
It was a full ten seconds before Maddy could speak. Or move. Or even breathe. Her galloping heart threatened to tear through her chest. She heard her uncle’s words ringing in her head.
“That’s . . . impossible.” She hadn’t meant to say it aloud, but the word broke through her paralyzing shock. She became aware of Jacks sitting like a sculpture next to her, his face a stony mask of disbelief.
“I’m so sorry I haven’t been able to tell you until now,” Kevin said. “I can’t tell you how much I wish things were different. How much I miss my sister.”
“But I’m not an Angel,” Maddy managed to get out.
“No,” Kevin said, “you’re not. You are human, but you have Angel blood flowing in your veins. You are one of a kind, Maddy, unique in all the world.” He smiled and gave her a quick squeeze on the shoulder. Then his face darkened. “Your birth, which was thought to be impossible, became the catalyst for everything. Your parents said you were a miracle, and a sign, but the NAS called you a bastard, a half blood, and”— he paused on the word—“an abomination.” Kevin’s eyes were apologetic, but his tone was cuttingly honest. “And so, a power struggle began within the Angels.”