“Yes. . . ?”
“Nothing,” Maddy said after a moment, remembering what Kreuz had said to her and resolving not to show them any weakness. “I just remembered I do have a calculator on my phone. I don’t like to use the ones on these computers. Thanks!”
Smiling tightly, Philip left the room.
With a sigh, Maddy opened the book. She looked at the copyright page: 1957. The book was older than Uncle Kevin! This was a far cry from the sexy and flashy Guardian training she’d thought she was going to encounter on her first day.
Maddy started work, and although the text was dense, she was surprised to see that some of the formulas weren’t as difficult as she had first thought. She had always been near the head of the pack in her maths classes, and she’d aced the AP calculus exam.
She had barely done the first exercise in the chapter when her iPhone buzzed in her bag. Pulling it out, she saw it was a text from Jacks. It read: “Angel Aerodynamics?”
Fingers flying, Maddy wrote back: “How’d you know?”
Jackson: “Haha, everybody gets that first. Don’t worry, it gets better! J Can I take you to dinner after in celebration of your first day?”
Maddy thought for a moment, wondering if she wouldn’t have too much homework to do after her first day. She remembered Jackson’s advice to her the night he had come to her room to take her flying when they had first met: “Just do it to do something.”
Maddy: “OK. As long as you aren’t embarrassed by a date who’s doing square root calculations during dessert.”
Jackson: “Pick you up at seven.”
Maddy flipped the phone to silent and went back to work.
Three hours later, when Philip came back, Maddy still had the Angel Aerodynamics book open and was writing in her notebook. The jacketed Angel raised an eyebrow and smiled mercilessly as he eyed Maddy. “Still working, I see? Don’t worry, this is difficult for even our most . . . practised Angels.”
Maddy put her pencil down and closed the massive textbook. She looked up at Philip.
“Oh, I just finished early so I thought I’d do chapters four and five, too – I like to work ahead. I was just starting chapter six when you walked in, but I can do that next time.”
She smiled sweetly at Philip.
At that moment Sadie arrived and whisked Maddy away to her next class. She had a stack of other books for Maddy, including Practical Flying for Guardians, Second Edition; Time Manipulation in Guardianship; as well as The Book of Angels, a biblical-era book. Maddy thought it was a strange choice, but apparently it played into an Angel history class – which she would be taking for a second time, having been forced to study Angel history at ACHS.
As they stepped out into the blinding sunshine, Maddy saw a group of beautiful young Immortals walking together towards a canteen on the grounds. She could’ve sworn they looked over at her, followed by a snatch of laughter. Sadie glanced at the Angels from the corner of her eye.
“If you’re wondering about lunch, you just tell me what you want and I’ll have it delivered to the class. Mr Kreuz feels it would be best if you have working lunches, at least at first, since you have so much ground to cover.”
Maddy didn’t respond. She thought about the cigar-chomping boss, and anger flushed through her – he was trying to keep her away from the other Guardians in training! She pushed the thought from her mind, trying to focus on the task at hand: surviving her next class. She wondered what boring thing they’d try to throw at her this time: translating ancient Angel texts from Latin into modern English? Memorizing every Archangel since 1910? Reciting the NAS’s charter and constitutional amendments, year by year?
Caught in this storm of thoughts, Maddy turned the corner and almost ran directly into a female Angel who was in the middle of a sentence. Her Australian accent was unmistakable: “. . .even believe what’s going on here now? Next thing you know we’ll be taking applications from anybody off the street who thinks— ”
The beautiful, lithe Angel, who was walking with another potential Guardian, stopped short. “Oh, hi, Sadie,” Emily Brightchurch said.
Sadie cleared her throat. “Emily, this is Maddy Montgomery. You’ll be seeing a lot of her around here.”
Maddy, flustered, stumbled on her words. “Nice to meet you, Emily.” Of course she knew who Emily was – an Australian Angel transplant who had come to Angel City that year to finish her training – though they’d never officially met. Emily was one of the most gossiped-about Angels in this year’s nominee class, and her earthy sex appeal was undeniable. She had caused a scandal by appearing in a series of arty, provocative black-and-white Bulgari ads on billboards along the Halo Strip, just across from the Chateau Marmont. She had flaunted the jewellery and her Immortal Marks – and nothing else – in the ads, and the billboards had caused more than their share of near-accidents on that stretch of Sunset Boulevard. She had deep-red hair, the hint of a few sun freckles and an absolutely perfect complexion.
The sexy Angel looked Maddy fully up and down, and gave her a plastic smile that wasn’t meant to fool anyone.
“Hi, Maddy. Hope you’re getting settled in. We’re so happy you’re joining us, even though it’s at such a late, late stage.” Emily flashed the fake smile even brighter. “Everyone is so impressed that you’re willing to try despite your . . . difficulties . . . to be a Guardian when the rest of us have been training for so long.”
Totally taken aback, Maddy stuttered out a few shocked words. Why was the privileged Angel being so . . . snotty? Maddy had never done a thing to her!
“Be a sweetheart and say hi to Jacks for me, would you?” the Aussie Angel added. “Ta!” Emily turned to her companion Angel, who was eyeing Maddy with thinly veiled disdain. “Let’s go, Zoe. The others are waiting.”
The two female Guardian trainees whisked away into the sunny afternoon, leaving Maddy speechless in their wake.
“So glad you’re getting to know some of the other Angels,” Sadie said as they stepped into the golf cart.