prison two days ago. He’s already started making threats against Angels on amateur videos on the Internet, and you’ve been singled out in one of them. What do you think about that?”
Jacks felt annoyed for a split second. He put on another smile, fake this time. “Honestly, if we worried about every crackpot with a video camera, an Internet connection, and an opinion, there wouldn’t be much time for anything else, now would there?” He realized he was basically repeating what Mark had told him to say when encountering this question. Now his annoyance was directed at himself.
“I see.” Jamie glanced at her notes. “So let’s be honest, Jacks, can we? What is the best part of being an Angel? Is it the lifestyle? Is it the parties? The fame? What’s your favorite part?”
“Just having this chance,” he said after considering.
“And what chance is that?” Jamie asked.
Jacks’s blue eyes twinkled. “The chance to be a hero.”
Darcy gave a “time’s up” signal to Jamie, who thanked Jacks enthusiastically and turned back to the camera as he stepped away. He moved down the red carpet, stopping to answer questions here and there but using only half his attention. Watching the event unfold, he felt that strange sensation of disconnect overtake him once again. It was as though he wasn’t really present, as though all of this fuss, all of this grandeur, just needed a Jackson doll at its center and not him at all. He’d thought it was just his relationship with Vivian that made him think that way. But now it seemed this feeling had more widespread roots.
Jacks walked past a human being interviewed — a guy on crutches with a hip cast and a bandaged face — and guessed that he was the Protection from Mark’s save last night, soaking up the limelight that came with the territory.
Up ahead, Vivian modeled her dress for the Access Angels camera. The reporter, a girl with a fake tan who wore a sequined minidress, nearly fell out of her heels as she fawned over it. “Vivian, this dress is absolutely gorgeous!
Tell us about it!”
“Well, Courtney,” Vivian said, and spread the fabric of the skirt gracefully to give the camera a better look, “I thought this would be a great occasion to debut my new dress line. This is one of my favorites, so I’m wearing it tonight.”
“So the line is dresses?”
“Not just dresses,” Vivian corrected. “My line is the total package. I know that girls out there want to look like me not only for special occasions, but for everyday wear too.
Even if they’re, say, just going down to get a cup of coffee at Starbucks.”
“Wouldn’t we all like to look like you when we go to Starbucks!” Courtney gushed. Vivian smiled appreciatively.
“I’m also working with an amazing designer on my handbag line, which will be out in the spring.” Courtney gasped.
“Well, Vivian Holycross, have a great time tonight; you look incredible!”
“Thank you,” Vivian said, then added in a mock whisper, “I hope Jacks thinks so too.”
An all-new eruption of shouts drew the attention to an arrival at the curb and Jacks saw his sister step onto the carpet. Photographers shouted as they leaned in for the perfect angle. Chloe posed and smiled, then shifted her weight, posed and smiled again. Then she gave them an over-the-shoulder and revealed she was wearing a backless dress with her Immortal Marks showing, looking almost childlike in the flashing lights. Angels gasped. Fans screamed. Jacks ground his teeth. He couldn’t believe his mother had let Chloe wear that. One of Darcy’s assistants led Chloe quickly over to the press line.
“Chloe Godspeed, how are you?” It was ANN again.
“Are you here to support your big brother tonight?”
“Yes, of course,” Chloe chirped.
“And congratulations are due to you as well on the success of your reality show,
“Yeah!” Chloe beamed. “You can see it on Monday and Wednesday afternoons at 4 p.m. on A!”
Near the end of the carpet, Darcy pulled on Jacks’s arm; he had been watching his sister. “Talk to A! Then we’re done, okay?” she said as she led him over to Tara Reeves and her camera crew. They were broadcasting live from the event.
“And here he is, the Angel himself, Jackson Godspeed,” Tara Reeves squealed. She looked beside herself with anticipation. “Well, it’s no secret. You’re a hit with the ladies. I’m just going to come right out and say it. You’re
Jacks felt exquisitely uncomfortable. He shrugged self-deprecatingly. “Oh, come on—”
“—no really, how does it feel to know every lady Angel and woman on the carpet is worshipping you?”
“If you say so, Tara,” Jacks said.
“So, the question on everybody’s mind, and the speculation of girls and their moms across the nation, is, are you single? The big buzz this week is that you and a certain Angel are back together.”
“Well, I’m not in a relationship, if that’s what you mean.”
Tara took a quick breath. “Can you characterize your
“She’s a great Angel. I think she’ll make a wonderful Guardian.”
“But will she be wearing your Divine Ring one day?”
Jacks glanced at Darcy. She was glaring at him, stern and expectant. Tara’s eyes narrowed.
“Well, I have to get it first. Then we’ll see,” he said finally.
“So it’s still a mystery!” Tara shrieked into the camera.
“Jackson and Vivian, are they secretly back together?!”
Jacks looked back at Darcy again. Her expression had transformed into relieved approval. She gave Jacks a thumbs-up. He felt that pang again, just for a moment. As though he wasn’t even here.
Darcy led Jacks toward the throng of Angels sipping drinks, talking, and laughing in the lobby. He recognized a few of the other Angels who were going to be commissioned this week, like Milo Trinity and the Churchson twins. They’d been a class ahead of him until this year, so he didn’t know them all that well, but it seemed they had shown up at his party despite the fact that the attention around Jacks had basically taken over their own Commissionings. Jackson had just pulled out his phone to text Mitch when he saw Vivian eagerly waving to him across the room.
“Good job,” Darcy said while pounding the keys on her phone. “I’ll leave you here. Go have fun, okay?”
“I will,” he lied.
Jacks sighed as he watched Vivian walk toward him.
They entered the lobby together and Vivian took hold of Jacks’s arm. Despite his attempts to disengage, she made herself inseparable from him, and they worked the party together. They chatted with the Archangels. They posed for pictures. It looked like they had never broken up. Finally they walked out to the patio to get some air.
“I just wanted to tell you I’m glad we took this break,”
Vivian said as she led him to a quiet corner.
“Great, Viv,” Jacks said. “Me too.” Maybe he had worried unnecessarily. Maybe she was starting to move on after all. Had she started to understand how he felt about the whole thing?
“You’re young still,” he said encouragingly. “You should, you know, see what else is out there.”
Vivian stepped in front of him and put a hand on his chest, stopping him. Her flawless brow knitted together.
“I know what’s going on, Jacks.”
Jacks paused. “What do you mean?”
“I know this whole breakup thing is just for the press, a little publicity stunt before Commissioning, right? I get it.”
