“Hello?”
“Maddy?” said the voice on the other end. “You’re there? You’re really there?”
“Tom,” she said in a rush of relief. “You’re all right.”
“I’m okay. I’m okay,” Tom said. “I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for so long, Maddy.”
Maddy let the relief bleed through her body. Tom was alive. He was right there.
“I . . . I can’t tell you how much I’ve been thinking about you,” Maddy said, her voice starting to break up with emotion. “Wanting just to hear your voice.”
There was a moment of silence on his end of the line.
“I miss you, Maddy. I miss you so much. It means everything to me to hear you say that. Just to know that you’re out there, safe . . .”
“Of course I am, Tom,” Maddy said, still tingling with relief. “I’m here for you.”
“Maddy . . . I don’t know what’s going to happen. There were casualties.”
Tears streamed down Maddy’s face as she held the phone to her ear. “Don’t say that, Tom. I know exactly what’s going to happen. You’re going to beat back the demons and be safe. . . .”
“And come back to you,” Tom said.
“Yes,” Maddy said. “And come back to me.”
But even as she said it, Maddy knew that they were each just pretending to be strong for the other, that the Dark Angels were even more powerful than they could have ever imagined. They were a force of evil hell-bent on dominating humanity, and enslaving those it didn’t kill.
Maddy heard an air raid siren blare in the background on Tom’s end.
“Tom? What’s going on?” she asked, gripped by fear. As the siren continued to sound, their connection became worse and worse. . . .
“It’s okay, I’m okay. It’s just a drill,” Tom shouted over the noise. The poor connection made his voice crackle. “But I do have to go now.”
“Okay. I’m just so happy to know you’re all right,” Maddy said, tears still dripping down her face as she tried to be strong. “And you’ll stay that way, too. You’re going to be back here safe. Really soon.”
Tom spoke, but she could barely hear him.
“Maddy, I lo—”
The line went dead.
“Tom? Tom?” Maddy’s voice sounded small and lonely, echoing into emptiness.
He was gone.
Maddy carefully placed the ancient phone back into its cradle. She felt detached from her body and found herself once again questioning her true feelings for Tom. How was it possible she didn’t know by now? And how could she ever sort them out?
And how could she ever believe that she could forget about Jackson so quickly?
Angel City under siege, Jackson, Tom, the whirlwind surrounding her illegal save and her consequential loss of celebrity . . . it was all just too much.
Maddy’s cheeks were still wet with tears when the landline rang again.
“Tom?” Maddy said, hopeful.
“Madison Montgomery Godright?” a stern voice asked on the other end.
Definitely not Tom. “Yes?” she said tentatively.