“I know a lot of you are wondering, What can this girl teach us? And you’d be right. I can’t teach you much. You’ve had years of military training, and I’m just an Angel. Well, a half-Angel, anyway. And to many of you I’m probably just a kid.” She paused to let her words sink in. “But I know about your recent losses. The friends who died fighting in the first wave.”
And of course, just when she needed to stay focused the most, she thought of Jackson, the Angel she’d just lost.
“I know what it’s like to lose someone you care about,” Maddy continued, avoiding Tom’s conflicted gaze. Did he know whom she was talking about? “I get it. You want revenge. But that’s what the demons want you to feel. So they can feed on your anger. They’re counting on you to make mistakes in your grief. And if we make too many mistakes, they’ll win. They want to sow chaos, evil, and hatred, to make their job even easier.
“We can’t let that happen. We all bear the pain of losing someone. But we can’t let that get to us. Because by that point, they’ll have already won.
“I know I’m not one of you, not really. I don’t know how to fly an F-Eighteen. I don’t know the difference between one missile and the next. But, like the captain said, I can tell when the demons are coming, and where they’ll be coming from. I don’t know the strategies and attack methods—that’s what all of you are here for. But I can help the forces coordinate so that we can attack them before they have a chance to attack us. All I want is to help.” Maddy paused and scanned the room, making sure to meet each pilot’s gaze and show that she was sincere. “And I hope you’ll let me.”
As Maddy sat down, she was met with a room full of approving nods, and a smiling Tom giving her a thumbs-up. Well, at least she hadn’t crashed and burned.
• • •
After the briefing, Tom and Maddy made their way belowdecks. Maddy felt the rush of adrenaline dissipating in her body after having faced, and survived, the group of skeptical pilots.
“You did great, Maddy,” Tom said. “You won them over.”
Maddy tried to smile confidently.
But she still felt uneasy. Everyone had so much faith in her, more than she had in herself. What if she didn’t see the demons before they came? What if this was all part of a big joke, dressing her up in this flight suit, giving her an important title, and then all of a sudden the demons attacked and she hadn’t even had a clue?
Maddy knew she was just caught in a spiral of negative thinking and she should focus only on the task at hand. But still, she couldn’t shake it.
As if he sensed that she doubted herself, Tom said, “Maddy, you have nothing to worry about. You’re amazing. And we’re all so grateful for your help. Don’t you realize what it means to have that extra edge of time? It’s crucial. It’s the difference between life and . . . between winning and losing.”
She nodded unconvincingly, her steps slowing as they neared the end of the narrow hallway of the ship where her cabin was.
Suddenly, as they reached her cabin door, she felt something in her stomach. It wasn’t exactly a premonition. But what was it? It stayed there, lodged in her belly. Her uneasiness grew, as the carrier lurched slightly sideways in the waves.
An unexpected flash crossed her mind. An image, like a garbled message. A dark wing blotting out the sun.
“What is it?” Tom said, studying Maddy’s face, which had lost its color and turned a pale, waxy hue.
“They’re coming,” Maddy said, breathless.
Suddenly the Klaxon of an alarm began ringing across the carrier.
Maddy cursed under her breath. What good was she?
“I’m too late!” she shouted over the alarm, desperate. She started running down the hall, then stopped and looked back at Tom.
Tom put his hand to his lips and pressed it toward Maddy. With tears in her eyes she grabbed the kiss and put it to her heart. Sailors were scrambling on all sides of them, and just like that they both disappeared into the chaos of the forces getting ready, Maddy running to the bridge and Tom sprinting to the pilot ready room. Maddy bounded up the metal stairs, her feet clanging as she swung her body around a corner, gripping onto the metal railing and taking them three steps at a time.
It was madness in the control room when she arrived. People shouting coordinates, running around, radios squawking.
“Where the hell have you been?” Captain Blake yelled. “You were supposed to see this coming!”
“I—I did!” Maddy spat out.
“But not in time. We’re caught with our pants down. We’ll be lucky if we can get one bird up in the air before they reach us!”
“I—” Maddy started.
“Just stay out of the way!” the captain angrily said as he reached for his radio and intercom microphone. “That’s the least you can do.”
The captain began screaming orders over the intercom, his officers dashing around madly. Up on the deck, Maddy saw Tom emerge from below. He ran toward his jet, holding his white helmet with one hand and fastening his flight suit with the other. Spouts of steam poured out of hydraulic lifts across the chaotic deck.
Maddy looked to the horizon but could see nothing. Yet the radar clearly showed a battle line moving toward them. It was only a matter of a minute or two.