Maddy had always thought it was kind of silly when people talked to tombstones; she remembered from her AP English class that it was called apostrophe when somebody did that in a book or poem—but right now she was going to stop her scoffing. She looked at the picture, the jacket, the flowers, the candles. She found herself, desperately, moved to speak.
“Talk to me, Tom. What should I do? What’s the best thing for me? Please tell me. You must have some insight there, where you are. . . .”
Just a few yards away she saw a small child with a teenage girl. The child was lighting a candle and weeping before a picture of a couple, most likely their lost parents. Maddy’s heart panged for them.
The girl turned and looked at Maddy. Her face looked beautiful lit up by the candle. Tears streamed down her face.
The teen and the child exchanged a few hushed words before cautiously approaching Maddy.
“I’m sorry for bothering you, Maddy. But my brother and I just wanted to say thank you,” the girl said. “I’m so sorry about your friend. I saw it on the news. But it means a lot to us that you Angels know what we’re going through, too. And that you’ll be working with the president to help.”
“This is for you,” the small boy said. “You can use it for your friend. My mom and dad already have one.” He handed Maddy the candle.
“Thank you,” Maddy said, flooded with feeling. “Truly.” She waved through tears as the boy and his sister walked away down the boulevard.
• • •
Maddy arranged to meet Jackson at the sea. Just west of Santa Monica, near the state park, the area hadn’t suffered any destruction. Tall, stony bluffs rose up from the sea as the waves rolled in against the rocks, sending fine sea spray up into the air. She wanted to clear her head, outside of Angel City.
She arrived there early, and found that hers was the only car in the parking lot. Wisps of sand swirled along the asphalt in the breeze. Maddy walked to the wooden fence that stood above the waves, and then looked out upon the gorgeous emerald and blue Pacific Ocean.
She heard the thrum of a powerful engine behind her, and then Maddy saw the telltale headlights of Jackson’s black Ferrari as it whipped into the parking lot. Some things never changed, she guessed.
He stepped out of the car and walked toward her.
“Hi,” Jacks said. He leaned in, and before she knew it they were kissing there, beneath the palisades of stone and above the water. After a moment, Maddy pulled away but still stood close to him. She looked out into the ocean, where the sinkhole once had been. Nothing remained of it now; millions of gallons of ocean had just filled it in. It was as if it had never been there.
“It all seems too real now,” Maddy said after a time. “What happened. We’ll never be the same.”
“I don’t want to be the same,” Jacks said.
“I wanted to see it today.” She motioned out to the ocean. It shimmered under a soft golden halo as the sun began to drop along the horizon. “I wanted to see it in the full light. Not under the influence of them . . .” Her mind shivered as she recalled the image of the demons invading the sky, spreading darkness, violence, death. Spilling like ink across the Immortal City from the ocean and staining everything with their evil as they attacked.
Jacks waited to let her speak. He knew her enough to know she would do so in her own time.
“Jackson, you are wonderful,” Maddy said. “You are everything and anything I could expect a man, or Angel, to be. What happened in the Temple of Angels the other night, Jacks, was beautiful,” Maddy said. “I can’t even describe it. It was one of the most beautiful things to ever happen in my life. To us.” She looked at him. “I will treasure it forever.”
Jacks took in a breath, waiting for the but.
It didn’t come. But he knew what Maddy was about to say.
“You were always stubborn,” Jackson said, with the beginnings of a wistful smile on his face. “You do understand what you’re giving up if you make the choice I think . . . I know . . . you’re making?” There was no anger in his voice, but it was clear that the last thing he wanted was to part from Maddy.
Maddy nodded, fully accepting the gravity of her choice. “Yes. I understand. But, Jacks, I can’t go with you. I belong here. I have good to do here, in Angel City.”
The waves below them rolled in, sea foam boiling up along the rocks and running back out.
“Is it because of . . . him?” Jacks asked quietly.
She looked out at the Pacific Ocean, thinking of Tom. “Maybe, partly. I can’t just leave his memory, Jackson. I’ll somehow be tied to it forever. It’s a part of me now, just like you are.”
Maddy turned away from the glittering sea and looked back toward the Immortal City.
“This city needs me, Jacks. And maybe I need it,” said Maddy. “It’s funny, I’d always dreamt of leaving. Just wanted to get away. It didn’t matter where, just not AC. But now I can’t imagine being anywhere else.” She looked at Jacks. “I’m from this world. Angel City is my home.
“President Linden has given me a chance to do good. To help the rebirth, starting from the ground up. And to help rebuild the people, too.” Maddy turned and looked back at Jacks, and then her eyes met the ground at her feet. She looked up again. “They might need me. And I need them.”
For once, Jacks didn’t try to argue or fight. He just nodded.