Natural Born Angel (Immortal City 2)

Trying to gain some speed, Maddy turned right again to follow the Angel City freeway as it threaded its way up the hilly Cahuenga Pass. The cars seemed miniature from this high up, mere toys. As she neared the top of the hills towards the canyons, she clumsily banked left, towards Jackson’s house. Mansions sped by underneath her, islands of light in the narrow dark canyons below. She thought she recognized the Godspeed residence as she weaved her way forward, towards Jackson’s own house in the canyon.

Soon Maddy was breathing hard, the muscles in her back beginning to ache with exertion. They grew tenser and tenser. Maddy didn’t want to turn back – the entirety of the city stretched out below her, and she could even see the dark sea beyond Venice Beach and Santa Monica, almost beckoning her. But she knew that she wouldn’t be able to last much longer flying, and she needed to get back to her house. She’d have to show Jacks another time; she wouldn’t be able to surprise him the way she’d hoped.

Sighing, Maddy looped widely left and turned back towards her house. She couldn’t think of anything she wanted to do more than continue flying in the welcoming, balmy night – except maybe fly side by side with Jacks – but she knew she’d need to get her wings in shape for longer flights, and also learn some technique. Peering into the distance, she could see the neon sign for Kevin’s Diner and set her course for it – obviously no street signs could guide her way, so she had to position herself by landmarks.

Reaching closer to home, Maddy dropped further down, towards the tops of the trees and houses. If she could help it, she didn’t want to be spotted as she came in and landed at her uncle’s. She hadn’t seen any camera flashes or heard any shouts when she left, so she was hopeful she hadn’t been seen leaving, either.

It was about then that she realized she didn’t know how to land.

Almost faster than you could keep up with, Maddy whipped over the diner and dropped down into the back garden. She dropped more quickly than she wanted, and she fell through the oak. Leaves ripped and a few branches snapped as she popped out of the bottom of the tree and landed with a thud on the grassy yard, her butt smacking the grass. It slightly knocked the wind out of her: she’d have to practise that one.

Still out of breath, but smiling in the afterglow of her first flight, Maddy stood up and dusted the leaves and grass off her behind. She began to walk into the back door of the house, but, looking up, she saw her window was still open.

Why not?

Maddy smiled to herself, and with a jump up and two inelegant pumps of her wings, she clattered in through the window. She landed just inside the sill with a whoosh as papers scattered, magazines flapping open with the gust of air. She landed slightly on her toes, and she leaned over with one hand to steady herself as she came to a rest before falling over and knocking her desk down with her.

Maddy’s chest heaved. Still doubled over, she couldn’t help stealing a quick peek at herself in the full-length mirror on the back of her door. The back of her hoodie was shredded – she was going to have to invest in a lot of new clothes. But that’s not what Maddy noticed.

She was glowing. She looked sexy. She liked it.

CHAPTER 13

Maddy was pretty sure she’d remember the next day for the rest of her life.

That’s when it really all changed.

She woke up early, earlier than usual – more like when she used to get up for shifts at the diner. Bleary-eyed, yawning, she heard a consistent low buzz of voices. Puzzled, Maddy padded her way to the front of the house on the first floor and sneaked a peek out of the window.

“Maddy!!!” Uncle Kevin yelled from downstairs.

“Uh-oh.” She suddenly remembered she now had wings.

Somebody must have got a picture.

If she had thought the paparazzi were bad before. . . It was as though Uncle Kevin’s house had come under siege overnight. She was pretty sure even the helicopters she heard were shooting overhead footage for the breathless, non-stop coverage of Maddy, the girl who had become an Angel. A chopper roared past, rattling the plates downstairs.

Maddy’s hands automatically moved to her back, but the wings were withdrawn. She knew if she looked in the mirror, she’d just see her Immortal Marks, shimmering, waiting.

“Uncle Kevin . . . something happened last night,” she loudly started explaining as she went downstairs.

*

The day was a whirlwind. Footage had cropped up on SaveTube that claimed to show Maddy flying across Angel City around the s

ame time she’d had her picture taken the night before: hand-held, fuzzy video of an Angel with oblong wings and a grey hoodie, flying across the glowing letters of the Angel City sign. The clip already had more than eleven million hits.

The video of Maddy’s wings had raced across the Internet within seconds, and every Angel fan was cooing over their unique shape and delicate, darker colouring. On Angel Boulevard, a Maddy impersonator had already created fake wings that looked like hers and was taking pictures with tourists on the Walk of Angels.

Maddy didn’t even want to look at her iPhone, which she had kept on silent – it was a minefield of missed calls and texts.

She hadn’t told Jacks before bed last night, and now she regretted it. There was just something that felt almost like gloating now that she had her wings, and Jacks couldn’t even fly. But she saw that Jackson had already sent her a message:

“Mads! You were flying! You looked great. Call me when you’re up!”

Maddy’s brow creased in thought – he wasn’t mad that she hadn’t told him before it broke on the blogs and on TV? Did he not feel like she had kept something from him? Thinking about it made Maddy’s head hurt. She told herself she’d deal with it later, when she had some time to think.

Gwen had also texted from university: “Girl, you are like SO BIG right now!”