Immortal City

“Yes,” she said simply.

Jacks nodded reluctantly. “Okay, let’s give it a try, then.”

They slipped around to the front porch and Maddy knocked quietly at the door. Kevin came at once. He was wearing his plaid robe over an undershirt and slippers.

Maddy did her best to still her shaking body. The raindrops clung to her hair.

“Hi, Kevin,” she said.

“Maddy,” he breathed. “Thank God. Come in out of the rain.”

He pushed the door open and saw the world’s most famous Angel standing on his doorstep. Anger flickered in his eyes, but not surprise. There was something else, too. A kind of deep tension Maddy had never seen in her uncle before.

Kevin looked from the Immortal to his soaked niece and back again.

“You too, young man,” he said finally.

Once they were inside, Kevin pulled Maddy quickly into an embrace. She couldn’t remember the last time they had hugged like that. Jacks waited quietly, seeming to sense the rarity of the moment.

“I was so worried,” Kevin began to growl, anger edging the relief in his voice. “Are you okay? They said that—”

“I’m fine, Kevin,” Maddy said. “I want you to meet—”

“I know who this is,” Kevin said. His tone wasn’t unkind. But it wasn’t warm either. He didn’t offer his hand.

With everything that had happened, Maddy hadn’t had much time to think about how her uncle would react. She watched nervously as Jacks smiled and said hello.

“You’ll want to get out of those wet clothes and get dry,” Kevin said. Then he turned to Jacks. “I think I have something that will fit you too. Why don’t you come with me?”

Maddy went upstairs to her room, peeled out of her sodden clothes, and showered. There was still hot water in the lines and it burned painfully — and wonderfully — against her cold skin. She thought about Jacks’s words on the rooftop again. And the kiss. Could he actually be telling the truth? Was it possible he had feelings for her? She had never allowed herself the thought, and now she tested it delicately. It felt. . wonderful. That’s what she was afraid of. It felt too good to be true.

When she got out, she lit a candle and took stock of her injuries in the mirror. She had a deep bruise forming on the shoulder where Jacks had shoved her, and she also had a raised discoloration under her shoulder blades that was tender to the touch. She must have hit the light pole harder than she thought. She dried off, put on clean jeans and a dry hoodie, and went downstairs.

Maddy sat in the living room toweling her hair dry while she waited for Jacks to emerge from the downstairs bathroom. Kevin had found something for him to put on in a box at the back of his closet and sent him to change. She looked anxiously around the room, from the embarrassing school photos on the wall, to the secondhand furniture, to the old, boxy TV. Compared to Jacks, they were staggeringly poor. She quickly got up and scooped up a pile of Kevin’s laundry that was sitting on top of the couch. She tried to ar-range the magazines on the coffee table like she had seen in fancy offices, until she noticed the magazines were Family Circle and Reader’s Digest. She sighed. It was hopeless.

Jacks came out of the bathroom wearing Kevin’s old jeans and a tattered shirt, which, on him, looked like an advertisement for worn-out vintage chic. He crossed the living room and, to her relief, passed the wall of photos without inspecting them. If she got out of tonight alive, she thought, she vowed to stash them forever.

“I like your place,” Jacks said, looking around. “It’s homey.”

“Thanks,” Maddy said sheepishly, and grabbed a stray pair of Kevin’s underwear from the couch. “Let’s go into the kitchen.”

Maddy and Jacks sat down at the table while Kevin took down three mugs from the cupboard. The gas for the stove was still flowing, and he prepared fresh cups of tea for all of them. Outside, the rain fell constantly against the roof, filing the kitchen with its soft murmur.

“Thank you, Mr. Montgomery,” Jacks said as he accepted his cup.

“It’s just Kevin,” Maddy’s uncle said. He handed Maddy a cup, then busied himself around the kitchen again.

The hot liquid scalded her tongue as she drank, and the warmth spread down through her chest.

“They’ve been calling, you know,” Kevin said.

“Who?” Maddy asked.

“Everyone. ANN, Angels Weekly, MSNBC, and some blogger. Vuitton. . something. I thought about unplugging the phone, but I was afraid you might try and get in touch. I was worried.”

“I told you, I’m fine,” Maddy said, and looked at Jacks. “He saved my life.”

“That’s not exactly what they’ve been saying,” Kevin said evenly. “But I’ve heard a lot of things tonight.”

Maddy watched Kevin as he took out more candles from under the sink and set them around. She drew in a long, deep breath. At last her lips parted.

“My parents, Kevin,” Maddy said, her voice small but firm. “I want to know the truth.” Kevin froze where he was standing with his back to her, then struck a match and lit one of the candles.

“What do you want to know that you don’t know already?” he said, without turning.

“Jacks told me he could save me because he saw I was in danger, like a premonition. Well. .” She took a deep breath. “I’ve had premonitions all my life, and always when something bad is about to happen.” Kevin still didn’t move, but stood listening. “I’ve always just explained it away to myself or tried to ignore it. I figured I was just, I don’t know, different. A freak.” She swallowed down the beginnings of another lump that was threatening in her throat. “Now I think maybe there’s more to it, and maybe you’ve been keeping something from me.”

“Maddy, don’t you think you might be imagining—”

“I’m not,” Maddy said sharply. “I’m done pretending it doesn’t happen, because it does. It happened today when I was almost crushed by that car. I saw it all happen in my head first, and that’s impossible.” From the corner of her eye she could see Jacks’s astonished expression. He had set down his cup and was scrutinizing her intently. “So. Who were they, really?” she asked quietly.

Kevin turned and met her gaze. Jacks’s eyes darted between them. Kevin brought one of the candles over and set it in the center of the table. Then he sat looking at the flame, his glasses reflecting the flickering light. Maddy realized she was holding her breath.

“I wondered if this day would come,” he said at last. “I thought it might, but not this soon, and certainly not under these circumstances. I told your father it wasn’t fair that I’d be the one to have to tell you, but he said he was glad it would be me. That I had always been good with you. Now, I’m not so sure.”

Maddy looked at her uncle in the dancing candlelight.

There sat the man who had cared for her, and provided for her, her entire life. Suddenly she felt like she didn’t know him. Or at least didn’t know a part of him. He looked abruptly older to her. Worn somehow. His face was drawn in grim lines.

“Please,” she whispered. “I have to know.”

“Are you sure you want to hear this story?” he asked, his expression darkening. “If I tell you, I’m going to tell it to you straight. I’m not going to edit. And I can warn you now, it’s not always pretty.” Kevin’s glasses caught the candlelight again and gave him burning embers for eyes. Maddy considered his words and then nodded. Jacks sat still with suspense.

“Okay, then,” Kevin said. “Where do I begin? With the Angels, I guess.” Kevin rose and walked over to the cupboard as he talked.

“You should know from your history class at school about the Awakening, when Angels revealed themselves to us? And you know about the establishment of protection-for-pay and the NAS Archangels?”

“Yes, of course,” Maddy said, remembering Mr.Rankin’s tedious lecture.

Kevin had begun taking the remaining mugs out of the cupboard and setting them on the counter. Maddy wondered vaguely what he was doing. A draft blew through the house, causing the candles to flicker. As Maddy watched, Kevin removed the back of the cupboard and pulled out what looked like an old scrapbook. Maddy’s heart began to hammer relentlessly in her chest. She had never seen the book before. What was it doing hidden in the cupboard?