The room was stuffy, almost confining. She threw open the window to let a breeze in as night began falling on the Immortal City, the street lights slowly flickering on along the thousands of streets, one by one. Maddy took off her shoes and lay down on her bed, toes pointing to the ceiling. Her mind moved back and forth, back and forth, over the choice that Jacks had set before her. And she knew there was no sidestepping it. She had to make the decision. Whether right or wrong. She had to make it. Across Angel City, law enforcement and military were preparing to do anything to stop Angels from breaking the law. And that could very well include her.
Raising her arm straight up above her, and then bending her wrist so her hand was parallel to the bed, she looked at the Divine Ring on her finger. As if it had its own energy source, it glowed. She pulled her father’s Divine Ring from the hollow of her neck, where it hung on her mother’s beautiful necklace that she now wore all the time. The two Divine Rings seemed to glow more strongly as they neared each other. Maddy had never noticed it before. She played with moving the rings back and forth, watching the glows change. Her father. What would he want her to do?
Maddy reached down, fishing for the Hermès bag that seemed to have replaced her old Jansport for a lot of things, including carrying books around. She found it and pulled out her father’s old leather notebook Uncle Kevin had given her. She hadn’t looked at it since she passed recommendation for Guardianship.
She flipped through the pages, marvelling at the wide range of her father’s knowledge, his passions, and his wittiness. For maybe the millionth time, she wished to herself that somehow she could have got to know him. That they could have spent time together. Maddy had a strange feeling they’d have got along just fine.
Throughout the notebook were peppered little sayings or riddles her father ha
d inscribed. Just as she was about to put the notebook away, she came across one that caught her eye.
Neither Angel nor Man Can Escape Their Destiny. That Is Both Their Gift and Their Curse.
Closing the notebook, Maddy placed it on the side table and then looked for her phone.
CHAPTER 35
The first light of day began creeping across the top of the hills, filtering on to Angel City, a purple glow that slowly grew, piercing the darkness in the still-sleeping metropolis. Fingers of red began peering over the ridges, casting Angel City in a luminous dawn light as the city slowly began to stir at its corners.
Maddy’s Audi threaded its way along the still-dark Mulholland Drive, her headlights slashing around the dark corners as the rosy morning light began filtering from above. She had been up all night; her eyes were red and weary as she drove along the windy road. She swerved to miss a jackrabbit that dashed in front of her wheels, and then was back on course. Maddy knew the way, almost by heart, although she hadn’t driven it too many times. She and Jacks had needed a place they could go where they could be alone. There were too many eager eyes and photographers out there. They needed privacy.
Gravel crunched under her wheels as she pulled off to the side of the road. Maddy turned off the engine, and all was silent. Crickets were still chirping in the sparse underbrush, although a chorus of noisy birds was signalling the coming morning.
Jacks was there already. His Ferrari was parked on the other side of the road, the side that dropped steeply off down into the lower foothills and ravines. The Angel was standing outside his car, his hands thrust in the pockets of his jacket as he waited for Maddy. He turned towards Maddy as he heard her drive up, then turned back to gazing at the view as the lights twinkling in Angel City slowly gave way to dawn.
They were at the lookout where Jacks had taken her on their first date, just before they’d gone flying. A lifetime ago. The dawn light continued stretching further across the Angel City basin, although the imposing hill behind her was still blocking the early sun. It was still quite dark. She could see Jacks standing next to the Ferrari. She could also see the bench they’d been sitting on when Jacks put his coat around her that night. Maddy crossed the dark road and approached the Angel.
“Hi,” Maddy said quietly.
“You’re late,” Jackson said.
“Not too late, Jacks,” Maddy said softly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t sleep much last night.”
“Me neither.” Jacks’s body seemed tense, coiled, waiting for Maddy to speak. He kicked a stone, and it tumbled off the precipice into the dark void that plummeted below.
Maddy stood next to the Angel at the edge of the lookout. Pockets of mist in the ravines were illuminated by the emerging rays of the dawn, and Angel City lay just beyond. An Angel City on the brink of battle.
“Who would have thought that all of this could have happened since we were first here, Jacks?”
Jackson remained silent, his neck tense, his cheekbones taut.
“I didn’t mean for things to happen this way,” Maddy said. “I really didn’t, Jacks.
“I never asked to be this, Jackson. I could have just stayed Maddy Montgomery, waitress at the diner. I never knew what was in me. You helped show me. You showed me until I believed in myself. And then, in the process, I found things I never knew I had, both good and bad. It’s true, I found my inner Angel.
“But someone very important to me once said that the strength of a hero isn’t in her weapons or abilities, but is in an idea. The idea of the right, triumphing, no matter what. He also said that in defence of this idea, she’s willing to put herself in mortal danger. After what happened two days ago, I know now more than ever what that idea was and always should be.
“I’ve always been more human than Angel. I will always be a half-human, half-Angel. The Angels will never fully welcome me into your world. You know it as much as I do. I could never betray my uncle Kevin or Gwen or my mother’s memory,” Maddy said, tears starting to well up in her eyes. “I love you, Jacks, but you have to understand – I have to choose the mortals.”
Jacks’s tense face shifted imperceptibly as Maddy’s words fell upon his ears. He closed his eyes for a moment, slowly, as if physically taking the blow.
Silence hung like a deadly snake in the space between them.
Cautiously, deliberately, Jackson’s eyelids opened. There was something newly dead and dangerous in those blue eyes. His strong hands curled into fists at his sides.
“It’s him, isn’t it?” Jacks said. His voice dripped with pain and bitterness.
“Jacks, you’re not understanding. This isn’t about Tom— ”