The doctors thought her Angelic traits were activating with the end of puberty, and that more changes could be on the way. By that, they meant the superhuman abilities of the Immortals, including, of course, wings and the ability to fly. Beyond that, she had no idea what might be lurking inside her, or how she might be changing. No one did.
Maddy sighed in relief and let the T-shirt drape back down to her waist. She wondered if the nightmares would start to taper off once she was out of Angel City. She looked at the corner of the room, where she had stacked a couple of small boxes, all ready to be taped up and sent to Northwestern University, where she was going to begin college in just a few days.
To the left of the boxes sat a suitcase. She’d packed it the night before. After cleaning and sorting through things, she was surprised by how much of her eighteen years could be condensed to a small, neat pile in a corner of her room.
She had already seen her best friend, Gwen Moore, off to university; Gwen was attending Arizona State and had left the week before. Things were changing quickly.
On the nightstand, Maddy’s phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID and saw it was Jacks.
“Hey!” she said, answering.
“Hey,” Jacks said on the other line. Even now, almost ten months after they’d first met, his voice still made her feel butterflies in her stomach. “What’s my favourite college student up to?”
“Weelll, I just woke up,” Maddy said. “And, technically, Jackson Godspeed, I’m not a student yet. Not until I register when I arrive on campus.”
“Just a technicality,” Jacks said, trying to remain light-hearted. Maddy knew it was hitting Jacks hard, her decision to pursue a degree halfway across the country.
“So. . .” Jacks said.
“So.”
“Can I take you out for ice cream later? These days are precious. Pretty soon you’ll be off in Illinois curing cancer and learning Chinese and reading philosophers and coming back cleverer than everybody.”
“Jacks, we’ll see each other once a month, like we planned,” Maddy said. “And then for summers I’ll be back. As long as I can get good internships here in Angel City.”
Below the surface of their conversation lay a complicated backstory. Ever since Jackson had walked into her uncle’s diner and given her the Archangels’ offer to become a Guardian, Maddy had known her decision was going to be one of the most difficult of her life.
Jacks had wanted her to stay in California and embrace the life of an Angel. Of course, it would probably be a dream come true for most people, to be offered the chance to become a rich and powerful Guardian Angel. But Maddy wasn’t “most people”, and the truth was that she had got into some very good universities, even getting a scholarship at her top choice, Northwestern. College had been a dream of hers ever since she could remember. Plus, if she chose to cultivate her Angelic side and explore her supernatural ability, who was to guarantee what she was capable of? Could she really save people’s lives? Was there enough of her father in her?
Would she even ever get her wings?
Maddy’s uncle Kevin, who had raised her from childhood, had been no aid at all in helping her decide. He stayed quiet, telling her she had to make her own decision. But she knew how he felt about Angels, whom he blamed for the death of his sister, Maddy’s mom, and she could imagine what he would have chosen for her.
Maddy had waited until the final weeks of her senior year at Angel City High School before making her decision. But ultimately she chose to continue with her life-long dream, her university plan. And move out of Angel City.
Whi
ch was a secret relief, as much as she was going to miss Jacks. The Angel lifestyle as she’d experienced it with Jacks was too much. The constant attention, the paparazzi camped out on the pavement outside her house, the never-ending hubbub wherever they went: Maddy had never asked for these things. Just by being around Jackson for nearly a year she’d got a good taste of what it might be like to be a Guardian.
But she and Jacks couldn’t bear to break up, not when they’d gone through so much just to be together. They were going to try to do the long-distance thing and were both hopeful it could work out, though she knew Jackson was terribly disappointed she’d be leaving.
Jacks’s voice continued on the phone: “You can’t blame me for wanting to spend as much time as I can with you before you leave on Friday, anyway. So ice cream it is?”
“That sounds good,” Maddy said, smiling. “As long as they have strawberry. Pick me up at three?”
“I have treatment until three thirty. But I can be there by four,” Jacks responded.
“How are you feeling?” Maddy asked tentatively. “Is it . . . any better?”
“No,” Jacks growled in sudden anger over the phone. “I had more tests yesterday. They’re going to try a different procedure next month.”
Jackson had almost been made mortal in a vicious attack, and his wings still hadn’t recovered. Mark Godspeed, Jacks’s stepfather, was paying for every treatment known to Angelkind; they’d reattached Jacks’s severed wing using cutting-edge surgical technology, yet Jackson was still not making much – if any – progress towards flying again.
“Sorry for getting like this . . . I’m just frustrated, that’s all,” Jacks said.
“It’s OK, Jacks. Anyone would be.” Every day that passed without being able to assume Guardianship weighed on Jacks, Maddy knew. She felt a pang.
“See you at four?”