Immortal City

“I’m sorry. It doesn’t work that way, Maddy,” he murmured.

The words cut like a knife.

“It’s just not allowed,” Jacks said, carefully. “As Angels our duty is to our Protections.”

Maddy blinked back the first threat of tears.

“Protections? You mean rich people,” she muttered.

“This isn’t even up to me. It’s just the way things are,”

Jacks said.

“That’s ridiculous!” she shrieked. “It’s your choice!”

“It’s not! Look, if we just went around saving random people. .” He paused, his eyes burning. “I mean, my family has to eat too, you know!”

“Your family eats all too well,” Maddy snapped.

“Do you think this is a game?” he said, his tone low and intense. The frustration and bitterness welled up quickly. “Tomorrow I’m being Commissioned, and I’m no longer just Jackson Godspeed. Or even just an Angel. I’m a Guardian. I have people’s lives in my hands. Do you have any idea of the responsibility that comes with that? Or the pressure?”

“What I know,” Maddy said curtly, “is that if I could do what you do, I would use my power to help as many people as I could. I wouldn’t use it to get rich.” A few traitor-ous tears spilled over her cheeks, and she wiped them quickly away. “I would save people because it’s the right thing to do.” Her smile was bittersweet. “I guess that’s what makes me human.”

“Maddy,” Jacks said, his voice like stone, “you don’t know what they would do to me.”

“I don’t care,” she said hatefully. She could feel the rage welling up inside her, an uncontrollable anger, and if she didn’t get out of there quickly, who knew what might happen. With fury coursing through her veins, she made up her mind and glared at him. “I’m sorry, Jacks, I shouldn’t have come tonight. The truth is I don’t want anything to do with any of this, and that has to include you. If you were ever my friend at all, you’ll stay away from me and just leave me alone.”

“You don’t—” Jacks began to speak, his eyes in pain as he looked at the girl across from him, but then he stopped himself. He was quiet for a moment, then nodded. His face was bleak and unreadable. “You’re right,” he said. “I guess it’s for the best. To tell you the truth, I really don’t know why I bothered anyway.” His words twisted in her gut.

Maddy turned without saying anything else and ran.

She ran through the party and then out to the front of the hotel. The glamorous arrival had long since closed, and workers were now unceremoniously unstapling the red 267/587

carpet and rolling it up. Maddy spotted a lone taxi sitting along the curb and ran to it.

She waited until they had pulled away from the hotel to let the real tears flow.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Jacks walked through his darkened house, not stopping until he had reached his room and gone inside. He closed the door silently so as to not wake anyone and flipped on the light.

Mark was sitting on the edge of his bed, waiting. He still wore his suit from earlier in the day, but it was unkempt now, his jacket laid next to him on the bed, his shirt collar unbuttoned, the tie drooping in a loose knot around his neck. He had rolled his sleeves up and sat with his hands on his knees.

“Late night?” he said in a subdued tone.

Jacks came in and looked at him evenly.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he said as normally as he could manage. “I was going to head to bed.”

Mark nodded but didn’t move. The silence hung heavy between them. After a moment Jacks went around the bed to the closet and pulled off his jacket.

“I have, of course, seen the pictures from tonight,”

Mark said. “Chloe showed me, but it would be impossible to miss them, really. They’re all over the Internet, and TV too.”

He laughed a little. “I’m sure the magazines will be having a field day.”

Jacks slipped off his tie. The tie made a zip sound as it cleared his collar. Jacks hung it over the rack and turned around to face his stepfather.

“You don’t have to worry, Mark,” Jacks said. “It was nothing. And besides, it’s over now.”

Mark nodded again, thoughtfully, and moved over on the bed.

“Sit down, Jackson.” He patted the mattress next to him. Jacks came over wordlessly and sat.

Mark regarded his stepson.

“That. . girl. . you brought to the party tonight.

She’s not part of your world, Jacks. She can never be a part of your world, and you know that. You know if anything were to happen to her, anything at all, there would be nothing you could do for her.”

“I know the laws,” Jacks said.

“And there’s a good reason for those laws,” Mark said.

“It’s not a”—he paused, choosing the word—“a prejudice, Jackson. It’s a safeguard. The laws safeguard the institution of Guardianship.”

Mark rose and walked slowly to the window. He looked out at the twinkling city, the palm trees black in the night. Jacks sat on the bed, watching him. Guardianship. Duty. The words seemed empty, tied to parties and press junkets and paparazzi, all of it some kind of hollow dream being acted out in the Immortal City when he thought about how he felt standing next to Maddy. But that was over now.

He tried to cast these thoughts from his mind. He was just upset, that was all. It would pass.

“As a Guardian, Jacks, your responsibility is to your Protections. If you allow yourself to be distracted worrying about. . others, then it puts your Protections in danger.”

He turned and faced Jacks again. “If a Protection were to get hurt because a Guardian was distracted, do you have any idea the damage that would cause? What would happen to the trust placed in us as Angels? What would happen to people’s belief in the system itself?”

He walked toward Jackson, who sat motionless on the bed. Jacks thought about how he would feel if Maddy was in danger, what he would do. If he were totally honest with himself, he knew what Mark was saying was right.

“Don’t you understand? Something like what you did tonight could destroy everything. Everything the Archangels have worked for, that your mother and I have worked for, even that your father worked for”—he was inches away from him now, standing over him—“fought for, and died for. Do I need to remind you why he fought the rebels? He gave his immortal life so that the good work of the Archangels, the good work of Angels on earth could continue.”

Jacks nodded wordlessly.

“There’s been another incident on the Walk of Angels, Jacks,” Mark said, narrowing his eyes at his stepson.

“Who?”

“Ryan Templeton. I wanted you to hear it from me.

He was murdered. If this gets out into the media, they’ll blow these Angel disappearances out of proportion. There’s also a silly rumor going around that these Angels are being murdered in order of their stars. We’re sure it’s just coincid-ence. But your star would be next.”

“What?” A jolt ran through Jackson’s body. He felt something he wasn’t too familiar with: fear.

“If this gets out. . with all eyes on you, it’s more important than ever that we keep a solid front. For years, those envious anti-Angel groups have been looking for just this type of opportunity. With Ted Linden being elected, it’s only going to get worse. You’re — I mean it’s — too important to give into fear now. We are putting your star on that sidewalk in defiance of whatever or whoever is out there trying to intimidate Angels.”

“But only an Angel can kill an Angel.” Jacks’s thoughts immediately cast back to what Sierra had said to him