Immortal City

“The park,” Jacks said.

“I can see it. I’m looking at it now. I can see my parents; they’re beautiful, Jacks. I think I’m going there now.

And if I’m lucky, they’ll let me stay with them. Forever.”

Tears spilled over Jacks’s eyes. “I’ll wait for you, Jacks,”

Maddy whispered. “I’ll be waiting for you there.”

Her eyes closed. She felt Jacks’s hands reach down and unclasp something from around her neck. Then she felt the cold, hard weight of a ring on her finger.

“You are my Guardian Angel, Maddy,” a voice said, but it was far away from her.

Everything was far away now. She tried to smile, but her body was no longer obeying her commands. It was all happening so fast. Then the darkness came and took her.

Jacks collapsed next to Maddy. They lay there, side by side on the cold rooftop. The paramedics descended on them. Maddy was no longer breathing, but Jacks thought she could still see him. A medic unclasped their hands.

He watched as they shocked her again and again. If he could’ve talked, he would have begged them to stop. But he couldn’t. The strength had gone out of him. He watched Maddy’s eyes empty of life, but she still lay there looking at him, somehow seeing him. She seemed happy to be with her Angel, finally at peace.

“Call it,” he heard one of the paramedics say. Then they stopped shocking her and, finally, let her be.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Beep. Beep. The sound at first was distant, then came closer. It grew clearer. Beep.

Jacks faintly moaned. The sound of his own voice seemed strange. He tried to swallow, but his tongue felt numb and paralyzed. Struggling to open his eyes, he made out a gauzy shape to his left. He was lying on his side. Then his eyes closed shut, the effort too much. He groaned slightly again. Consciousness began slipping away.

“Jacks? Can you hear me?” a voice said. Beep. Beep.

Jacks made another effort to open his eyes and was more successful this time. He saw a white curtain and gray, blinking machines. The blur took shape as he focused. It was his mother, Kris. She moved in and out of focus. He felt her take hold of his hand.

“Hi, darling,” she said.

As if from an electric shock, Jacks jolted up, reaching for his back in an attempt to push away Ethan’s plunging knife. His mind swirled in panic. It took Kris and three nurses to restrain him, ultimately getting him to lie down on his side again. Jacks reached back and touched the place where the knife had severed the wing. Instead of an Immortal Mark, he now felt only a mass of destroyed flesh and bandages. He lay there trembling as the awful memories returned to him. The demon. That boy Ethan. And Maddy’s glassy, lifeless eyes.

“Maddy,” Jacks whispered.

“Rest, Jacks,” Kris said and squeezed his hand. Moving his head as best he could, he realized he was in a hospital bed. The room was clean and impossibly white.

“You were. . hurt,” Kris said. “The doctors were worried. But everything’s going to be okay. You’re going to be fine. They’ve performed emergency surgery on your wing.”

Jacks looked at his body. He was covered in bandages.

He forced air in and out of his nostrils, trying to keep consciousness, trying to keep the one thing at the top of his mind from overwhelming him. The girl who had died in his arms.

“That boy,” Kris said.

“I know,” Jacks rasped.

“He was troubled. It seems his father died in an accident in which a Protection was saved. He used the father’s life insurance money to travel the world in search of. .

revenge.”

“The Dark Angel,” Jacks said.

Kris nodded.

“It appears his mother didn’t even live with him. She had been institutionalized ever since her son’s return. When she saw what he became.”

Jacks heard the hallway door open, and a familiar voice spoke.

“The demon should have known it would take more than that to mortalize a Godspeed.”

Jacks turned his head stiffly.

It was Mark.

Jacks tried to sit up again, the cords of the monitors tangling around him.

“Get out,” Jacks croaked. “I know what you did. All of it. Get out.”

His stepfather didn’t move, although something unreadable flickered in his eyes.

“I will. Just as soon as I tell you something.”

He took a step into the room.

“The NAS and the Council have dropped their case against you. I made a personal plea that, based on special circumstances, you had done nothing wrong.”

“Nothing wrong?” Jacks said incredulously, rage edging his weakened voice. “She’s dead.”

Kris put a hand on Jacks to calm him.

“Maddy is dead because of me,” Jacks said again, his voice cracked with misery.

Mark just smiled. For an instant Jacks hated him.

“Only an Angel can kill another Angel, Jackson.”

Tears welled in Kris’s eyes as she looked at her son.

Mark stepped forward and pulled the curtains aside.

Maddy lay in the next bed. Her breaths were long and deliberate, her vitals steady. Kevin sat asleep in the chair next to her. A magazine was open on his lap, facedown. The sound of the curtain woke him. His eyes were red and bleary from keeping watch over his niece, but he smiled when he saw Jacks awake.

“It’s good to see you up,” Kevin said. He gently rubbed Maddy’s arm.

Maddy’s eyes fluttered open. She lay there blinking at her uncle for a moment, then turned her head and saw Jacks.

“Hey,” she breathed.

Jacks attempted to get up, cables and tubes tangling up as he went. His foot touched the ground and he almost crumpled. He was much weaker than he had thought. Kris helped him back into bed.

“I thought I had lost you,” Jacks said, his voice saturated with relief.

Maddy just looked at him, tired but radiant, her eyes never leaving Jacks’s. He felt like he could live in those eyes forever.

“I’ve taken care of all Maddy’s recovery costs,” Mark said. “The doctors assure me she’s going to be just fine. Apparently there’s more Angel in her than we first thought. .

More than anyone thought. Because she’s half human, though, her Angel traits have only begun to develop in the past few years. So that’s what I argued to the other Archangels. Technically it wasn’t an illegal save, Angel saving Angel. There’s a lot to talk about, but it can all wait for later.”

Jacks took his gaze off Maddy long enough to see Kevin eye Mark coolly.

There was a light knock at the door. It opened, and Mitch stuck his head in.

“Are we interrupting?”

Jacks smiled.

“Come in, Mitch.”

“You’re awake, man!” Mitch beamed. He stepped into the room. Just behind him followed Gwen. They both carried cups of coffee from the hospital cafeteria.

“This is Maddy’s friend Gwen,” Mitch said.