Natural Born Angel (Immortal City 2)

She checked the time on her phone. He was right. “Oh. Only ten minutes, Jacks,” she said. “I had my flight lesson and it went longer than I thought.”

She opened the door and threw her bag down.

“How’s that going?” Jacks asked, following her inside.

“Good. I think. Although the pilot still won’t let me fly. And other training stuff is OK, too.” She poured herself a glass of orange juice from the fridge. “Except I can’t really bend time yet.”

Maddy cast her glance to her father’s old notebook, which was on the side table with her other books. At night she had been studying it. It was filled with useful tips and tactics for mastering the training subjects. But she’d only managed to bend time briefly, just for the slightest moment, not enough to successfully pull off a hard save under pressure. Or do anything as complicated as when Jacks froze the policeman’s bullet in Kevin’s Diner the year before.

“You won’t have that class for another couple of years, anyway. It’s very advanced,” Jacks said.

“Well, I still want to try, Jacks,” she responded, taking a gulp of her juice.

Jackson didn’t answer. He walked over and turned the TV on.

“. . . numbers for Senator Linden’s presidential bid continue to rise day by day. The increasing verbal threats from Angels have drawn more and more supporters to his camp. Self-described ‘former Angel addicts’ are flocking to the charismatic politician, who claims he will clean up the, quote, ‘Angel— ’”

The TV went black. Jacks had turned it off, shaking his head.

“I

don’t know why you watch that station sometimes,” Jacks said.

“What, PBS? I like the shows with the lords and ladies and stuff,” Maddy said defensively.

The phone in Maddy’s bag buzzed. With one hand still sipping her orange juice, she pulled it out and checked it: a text from Darcy.

“Oh no,” she said.

“What?” Jacks asked.

“I totally forgot I have the Teen Vogue gala at the museum tonight,” Maddy said.

Jacks looked at her evenly. “I told you I wanted to do something.”

“I know, I’m sorry. It’s just that this came up and it seemed like a good thing to agree to. Why don’t you come with me?”

Walking to the window and looking out, Jackson let out a long breath. “I . . . I don’t know. I don’t know if I feel like it.”

“Why not?”

Jacks spun around. “I guess I didn’t realize that events had become so important to you.”

Maddy’s face burned. “It’s not the event that’s important, it’s just part of the process. It’s part of what I have to do to get the respect of all these people whose world I’m supposed to be joining. You told me this yourself, Jacks!” Maddy was frustrated, embarrassed and angry all at once. “You wanted this for me, Jackson. Becoming a Guardian. And now it’s almost here. Isn’t this what happens?”

Jacks bit his lip and turned back towards the window. Silence lingered between them. On the horizon, an ACPD helicopter criss-crossed the sky.

At last, Jacks spoke. Bitterness and hurt edged his sardonic voice. “I didn’t get invited.”

“What? Of course you’re invited,” Maddy said, walking closer to him. “I mean, are there even invitations?”

“Yes. Everything you go to. Darcy has them. They . . . didn’t invite me.”

Maddy stepped back and leaned against the counter.

“So go as my date.”

Jacks’s face darkened. “Do you understand, Maddy? They don’t want me there. And that’s not all. Even though Mark would never come out and say it, I can just tell that he is having to fight more and more for me, the way my wings aren’t recovering. It’s being held up as proof that Angels aren’t so amazing after all. Everything’s fuelling that crackpot Ted Linden’s presidential campaign and the Immortals Bill. I bet most of the Archangels would be happy if I just disappeared.”