Maddy looked around at the sea of reporters on the street, all waiting for word from her.
“As you all know, I have roots in both the human and the Angel world. Any violence on either side would sadden me deeply. That being said, I support the abolition of Protection for Pay and a return to the Angelic ideals that preceded the National Angel Services. Angels once stood for an idea of good and justice, and they can do it again. I ask the Angels to compromise and meet with President Linden and the GAC to come to a peaceful conclusion. No blood needs to be spilled. There is time to avert catastrophe. Thank you.”
On screen, Maddy stepped away from the podium, flanked by Uncle Kevin and Tom. The reporters began shouting rabid questions at her, but Maddy paid them no mind as she re-entered the house.
Tom turned the volume down.
“What’s going to happen now?” Maddy asked uncertainly.
“No one knows,” Tom said. “We wait.”
The pilot turned to Maddy. He seemed taller and even more striking in his service dress uniform, his wings gleaming, pinned above the breast pocket of his shirt. Stepping closer, he was against Maddy. In this swirling series of events, somehow he seemed the only thing that was remaining real. Something she could count on.
“I have to go now,” Tom said. “I only had a few hours off; we’re on standby. According to my commander, the situation is expected to escalate within hours.”
“Be careful, Tom,” Maddy said.
He squeezed Maddy tightly for one brief second, and, needing the comfort, she let him.
“Mr Montgomery,” he said, nodding to Kevin as he left. The uniform made him strangely more formal.
Maddy watched him get in his pickup and leave the car park. Her heart sagged as she watched him depart, knowing the danger he might be heading into. And yet she also felt deeply sad for Jackson. She had known he was going to be angry, bitter, disappointed, but she had never imagined that he would volunteer to lead the Angels against the humans. He and she were now enemies. Maddy suddenly felt very tired.
“I’m going to go upstairs and rest for a bit,” Maddy said to her uncle.
“OK, Mads, let me know if you need anything,” Kevin said with concern.
Maddy made her way past the oak, almost bare of its leaves now, up the back path to Kevin’s house. The stairs creaked in a familiar way as she ascended them; she hadn’t realized how much she had missed the old house.
Lying on her bed, Maddy was asleep within minutes.
The window rattling woke Maddy from her slumber. First a pen, then her bottle of water, then an old framed photo of Maddy and Gwen from sophomore year slowly shook and tumbled off her desk and on to the floor with a clatter.
Maddy’s eyes opened in confusion. One, then the other. What was happening, and where was she? What time was it? Suddenly her eyes focused, and she realized she was in her old room at Kevin’s. Her entire bed was shaking. She jumped up in a panic before realizing it was a small earthquake. It slowly faded.
She’d been taking a nap. How long had she been out? It had been a strangely dreamless sleep. Clear and endless. She could’ve been asleep for hours. She checked the clock and saw it had only been a full two hours.
BZZZZ. BZZZZ.
BZZZZ. BZZZZ.
Her phone was on the bedside table, dancing and rotating as it vibrated. She fumbled for it and looked at the caller ID: TOM.
“Hello?”
Tom’s voice was quick and sharp. “Are you by a TV?”
“No . . . I mean, yes, just wait a second,” Maddy said, pushing her hair behind her ear and walking downstairs. “What’s happening?”
“I . . . I don’t know,” Tom said. “It seems so incredible.”
“Have the Angels attacked?” she asked, breathless. “Are we at war?”
Tom took a breath. “There is no Angel war any more,” he said.
She bolted up. “What?”
There was a crackle on the line. “Maddy, I think it may be worse. Something worse than we could have ever imagined. Get to a TV.”