Immortal City (Immortal City 1)

“This thing really works, right?” They took the turn onto Outpost Road from Franklin and wound their way up into the Angel City Hills.

“And how did you even know about those shirts anyway?” Maddy asked, looking again at Gwen’s outfit.

“Duh!” Gwen chirped. “You tweeted about it.”

“That’s not me, Gwen.” Maddy groaned. “It’s someone pretending to be me.”

“Really? OMG, you have, like, impersonators? That is so cool!”

As Gwen navigated with the map, Maddy took out the envelope and placed the note in it. She unclasped her mom’s necklace from around her neck and slid the heavy ring off it.

“Is that a Divine Ring?” Gwen gasped in disbelief.

“I’m returning it,” Maddy said, dropping the ring in the envelope. “I’m just going to leave it at the front gate.” Gwen looked like she might hyperventilate, but seeing Maddy’s expression, she did her best to stifle her excitement and nodded solemnly. Maddy turned the envelope over and wrote JACKS on it.

They had nearly reached the top of the hill when a tall, ivy-covered fence came into view. Beyond it, Maddy could just see the spires of a breathtaking mansion. The fence ran almost a full block before a gated drive appeared. Gwen looked at the map, then squinted out the windshield.

“I think we’re here.”

They parked, and Gwen cut the engine. Being so close to Jacks again, Maddy was surprised she didn’t feel the painful emotions she was expecting. She still sensed the despair and the regret, the pain of what had happened, but these were crowded out by an altogether different, new emotion. She was uneasy. She had expected to find the street full of people by now, swarms of paparazzi and live television reports, a grand homecoming for the prodigal son. Instead, the street was empty, almost eerily so. Had Darcy forgotten to tip off the media that Jacks was coming home? It was possible, but still, it bothered Maddy.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Gwen asked. Maddy shook off her anxiety.

“That would be great, thanks.”

Getting out of the car, they walked toward the looming gate. It was quiet. Maddy reached the mailbox and discovered it was locked. She should have figured that. What now? She looked at the gate, not really expecting to find any solution there, and paused. She stared. The gate had been left open. Maddy’s intuition flickered again. Why would the gate be open? Someone could have forgotten to close it, but that was silly. She was sure Jacks’s family had a staff that monitored the grounds.

Maddy walked toward the gap between the ironwork doors and peered through it. It must have been left open on purpose, she thought. But why would you leave a security gate open? The answer came quickly: so someone could get in.

“Just leave it inside the gate, Maddy, and let’s go.”

Maddy looked at the envelope in her hands.

“I’m sorry, Jacks,” she whispered. “Goodbye.”

That’s when she heard the scream.

It echoed down the long drive and seemed to die just inside the gate. Had she not been standing so close, she was sure she wouldn’t have heard it at all. It was a woman’s scream, one of sorrow, not of pain. A wretched sound that sent a shiver down Maddy’s spine.

“Did you hear that?” Gwen asked, startled.

Maddy hesitated only a moment before squeezing through the gate and motioning to Gwen.

“Come on,” she whispered. “Follow me, and stay quiet.”

They stayed low against the wall of the driveway and crept noiselessly up the curving drive.

“Wait,” Maddy whispered, and pulled Jacks’s Divine Ring out of the envelope and threaded it back around her neck for safekeeping. They moved forward, and the spectacular estate came into view, nestled in immaculately manicured gardens.

“OMG, his house is amazing, right?” Gwen whispered behind her.

“Shhh!” Maddy hissed. She stopped where the wall was just high enough to conceal them and looked at the house. Jacks’s Ferrari was in the driveway, but there were also three black Escalades with tinted windows parked in front of the house. They stood, ominous. The front door to the house had been left open. She could hear an argument coming from somewhere inside.

“I need to get closer,” Maddy whispered. Scrambling forward, she ducked down behind a circular fountain next to the SUVs that sat directly in front of the house. Maddy could make out the words of the argument now. She flinched at their hostility, their agony.

“It was the only way to bring him in quietly,” a deep, authoritative voice barked.

“He’s your son! You promised! Do something!” It was the woman again, her voice jagged like broken glass.