Immortal City

“What has?”

“The cover-up,” Jacks said.

“It’s worse online,” Ethan said. He nodded over to his laptop, which was sitting open on the kitchen counter.

Maddy went to the computer. She tapped the space bar to wake up the machine, and there it was: Ethan’s browser was open to all the most popular Angel blogs, with bold headlines like “COMMISSIONING GONE WRONG,” “ONE DISTURBED ANGEL,” and “SCANDAL IN THE IMMORTAL CITY!” She clicked through the various sites.

They all had their own spin on the same basic story — how Jacks had disappeared from his own Commissioning, and allegedly kidnapped her, and was behind the Angel murders. There were even some rumors that he was working with the extremists HDF to bring down the Angels.

“But none of this is true,” she said, her eyes darting across the screen. “This isn’t fair; Jacks didn’t kill anyone.

And I wasn’t kidnapped.”

“Well, that’s not what you’re telling everyone.”

“What?” Maddy gasped. “How?”

“You’ve been updating your Facebook page.”

Maddy’s eyes narrowed.

“Facebook? I don’t have a Facebook page.”

Ethan went over to her and, reaching his arms around her, navigated to Facebook and typed in Maddy’s name.

There she was. Her profile picture was her hideous junior-year school photo, and the pictures in her album were paparazzi shots from the diner, the party with Jacks, and the walk to school the day after. Her status was listed as It’s complicated, and her wall was filled with sympathetic comments from “friends,” of which she saw she currently had 560. Under What’s on your mind? she had written. Getting kidnapped by Jackson Godspeed.

Maddy couldn’t help but lean her back against Ethan’s chest as she absorbed the shock. Jacks came up behind them, noticing and unhappy.

“Oh, you’re on Twitter too,” Ethan said. He navigated to the Twitter home page, typed in her name, and there she was again. Her most recent tweet was only fifteen minutes old:

Everything okay, will get back to everyone soon.

Thanks for all the love and support!

“They’re even selling T-shirts,” Ethan said. He quickly typed in celebritytee.com. Maddy’s mouth dropped open.

There was a shirt for sale with her face on it. “‘Team Maddy’

or ‘Team Jacks,’” he said, reading off the site. “So I guess you get to pick what side you’re on. There’s also ‘Team Macks’ if you can’t decide or are rooting for you both, I guess.”

“All this happened. . tonight?” Maddy asked in disbelief.

“It’s the world we live in now,” Ethan said. He stepped back and leaned against the counter again.

“Congratulations, Maddy, you’re a celebrity now.”

“And now they’re hunting me,” Jacks said, almost to himself. “Whoever, whatever is really out there killing Angels is just getting a pass so the Archangels can cover up their dirt.” He turned to Maddy. “He’s right. We can’t stay here. If they’ve been here looking for us once, they’ll return.”

Maddy thought about the Angels coming through the windows of her house. It was an image she never wanted to see again. Ethan turned to her.

“Maybe it’s none of my business, Maddy, but is staying with Jackson really such a good idea right now?” Ethan murmured.

“That is none of your business,” Jacks said, his jaw set.

“As her friend, Maddy’s safety is my business,” Ethan countered icily. Jacks turned away from him.

“Let me check the street outside, then we’ll go.” The Angel walked quickly down the hallway. Maddy wondered if he didn’t want to leave her with Ethan. Was he actually. .

jealous?

Ethan and Maddy stood in the silence that followed.

“I know what you must be thinking,” Maddy said finally. “But if it wasn’t for Jacks, I’d be dead right now. He saved my life, Ethan, more than once tonight. Things are just different from what I thought.”

Ethan’s eyes flashed to her. They were vulnerable, almost hurt.

“I know, things are different,” Ethan said. “Like I said before, you just don’t seem like the kind of girl who gets mixed up with these guys.” He looked sad and tired. “But I guess I was wrong.”

She bit her lip. She didn’t know what hurt more, her injuries or her friend’s disappointment in her. Jacks came back into the room.

“Okay, we should go.”

“Where?”

“Anywhere but here. They’ll be back, I guarantee it.”

Jacks started toward the front door. Ethan watched them. Then he sighed and pulled a ring of keys from a drawer.

“I told you to borrow this whenever you wanted, so you might as well borrow it now. It might not be the most comfortable place in the world,” he said, peeling off one of the keys. “But it’s dry, and I don’t think anyone will think to check it. I mean, besides you, Tyler’s the only person who even knows I have these, and he’s sleeping it off in my bedroom.” He walked over to Maddy. “This opens the maintenance door on the east side; do you know it?”

“. . Yes,” Maddy said, realizing what he was talking about.

Ethan looked down at the key, then up at Jacks, regarding him coldly.

“I’m sorry, Maddy, I don’t trust him. But if this is your decision, I’ll do everything I can to help.” He turned to her.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” As he spoke, he stepped in to her. Close. Jacks’s eyes flashed with that same anger.

“Yes,” she said, blushing. “And thank you.”

“Anything for you, Maddy,” Ethan replied quietly.

“Let’s go,” Jacks said gruffly.

They made their way carefully down the sleepy street.

Maddy looked back over her shoulder. The windows of the house were dark, but she could see Ethan’s silhouette standing there, still, as he watched them go. His idea was a good one. No one would ever think to look for them there. He was actually helping them, as much as it probably killed him inside. Ethan. Steadily there for her. She found herself wondering again what she thought about him. What would he think if she ever told him the truth about her parents?

Would he be enraged? And become as cold to her as he was to Jacks? Or would he accept her for who she was, no matter what blood was flowing in her veins? She had a feeling he would support her, no matter what. She wondered if Jacks would do the same.

Jacks turned to her at that moment with a smile that made her heart melt.

“Okay, Maddy, so where are we going?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Crickets chirped steadily in the grass. Palm trees stood motionless, watching.

“Here?” Jacks asked, looking at the slumbering Angel City High.

“Yes, here.” Maddy laughed. “I can’t imagine anyone would think to look for you at a public school.” Their feet