Battle Angel (Immortal City 3)

Maddy thought about how hopeless it all sounded. But what other plan did they have? They’d have to pin everything on Sylvester’s theory and try their best to hunt down the head demon. She nodded at Jacks, then looked up the stairs to the bridge, where the captain was commanding the carrier.

“The military won’t need me anymore,” Maddy said. “Not with you and the rest here. They don’t know it yet. But you can see when the demons will attack better than I can.”

Jacks regarded her. “Seriously?” he said. “Maddy, no one has advance premonition vision like you do. Your instructors have told you that.”

“I thought Susan was just saying that to make me feel better,” Maddy said.

“No. You’re our best chance of seeing them before they fully attack,” Jacks said.

“What if this . . . leader is somehow blocking me?” asked Maddy. “My frequencing, I mean. During the first wave I had a vision, but it was only just seconds before. And afterward, almost all I got was static when I tried to focus in on frequencies. What if I don’t see it in time?” Maddy motioned to the door that led into the living quarters. “They’re all counting on me. Their lives are dependent on it.”

“Susan said you’re the most talented she’s seen,” Jacks said. “If you’re somehow getting blocked, you’ll find a way around it. I have faith in you.”

Maddy just nodded. She was going to have to start having some faith in herself, too, she thought.

“I brought something,” Jacks said. “Something for you.”

Maddy eyed the Angel as he reached for a slim package wrapped in cloth.

“We were able to get this before we left,” Jackson said.

“What is it?”

He unrolled the fine textile before her. Suddenly her eyes were lit with the glittering of a gold-hilted sword blazing under the light. It was just like the swords all the other Angels had brought with them.

“Take it,” Jackson said. “It’s yours.”

Maddy eyed the weapon nervously—she’d never even held a sword before. But she was also inexplicably mesmerized by it, and beheld it with a great sense of wonder.

“Jacks, I never got any Battle Angel training. I don’t even know how—”

“Just take it.” Reaching forward, he placed the weapon in her tentative grasp. She felt its weight in her hands; it was heavier than it looked. Jackson watched her.

“When the time comes, it won’t feel heavy at all,” he said.

She examined one side of the blade. Fine engravings had been etched along the dark gray steel, which dazzled under the light.

“Turn it over,” Jacks said.

The golden hilt was engraved with the name GODRIGHT.

Maddy gasped, as if she’d seen a ghost. As she held the sword, she swore she could feel a strange presence.

“Why does it have my name?”

“It was your father’s, Maddy. And his father’s before him. And his before him. This sword goes back generations upon generations. Forged by the finest Angel craftsmen of the ancient times. A Divine Sword to smite evil in the world. The evil of demons. They were made for all the Angel families. For so long now they’ve mostly been used as mere showpieces, beautiful antiques, with the Dark Angels in hiding for so long. But now they are back. And now this sword is yours.”

Maddy could feel the history coursing through the steel, straight into her. She had the uncanny feeling she’d held the sword before, that it was part of her and had been missing her—that they’d been missing each other. They shouldn’t have been parted, but now they were reunited. Suddenly, she realized her Divine Ring and the sword were both glowing. Together, and in harmony.

“Are you okay?” Jacks asked. There were tears in Maddy’s eyes as she held her father’s sword in her grip. He put a hand on her shoulder, but she moved, letting it slip off.

“Jacks . . . thank you,” Maddy said. “After everything I put you through, I—”

“No regrets,” Jacks said.

Before he knew it, he was hugging her—he was just so used to it. They both tensed up, and Maddy shifted away, neither of them entirely sure how to act around each other, now that she was with Tom. Maddy wanted to make sure she wasn’t mean to Jacks, but she also wanted to be fair to Tom. She couldn’t even really tell what she was feeling; the emotions were coming on so fast and so strong. She just wanted to hold it together and, most of all, not make things worse than they already were.

After a moment Maddy spoke.