Battle Angel

by Scott Speer

  At least she had done it. She had to focus on that. She could hold on to that, couldn’t she? She had come here today to tell Jacks it was all over, that it was Tom who had stolen her heart, whom she had fallen in love with. She had told Jacks she didn’t love him anymore. She had done it.

  So what if it wasn’t true?

  CHAPTER THREE

  In the car, the tears came again. She still hated the feeling of the hot liquid spilling over her cheeks, the quiet dap dap as the tears found her jeans. Crying made her feel weak. But she couldn’t do anything to stop it. Holding on to the wheel with one hand, she pulled her sleeve over her palm and wiped her face with the other. This, she thought, was a very human moment: driving and crying at the same time. She wondered how many trips people had taken in tears, having to balance those two things, steering with one hand and wiping with the other. It should be called cryving, Maddy thought. She should trademark it. She gave a crooked half-smile through her tears.

  Maddy turned onto an on-ramp to send her gleaming Audi racing down to the freeway. But she was stopped at the entrance by a National Guard roadblock.

  Two soldiers holding machine guns and wearing Kevlar helmets stood there in front of a Humvee.

  “I’m sorry, miss, but by order of the governor we have closed off all freeways to all nonemergency vehicles. Any citizens who are still in the area are advised to seek shelter and await further instructions.”

  Maddy pulled her sunglasses off and tried to smile at the soldier. It was funny; she had always thought using the Do you know who I am? move to get something you want was a terrible abuse of Angel celebrity, but she needed to get back to Kevin.

  And it worked; another soldier off to the side lit up in recognition.

  “It’s Maddy Montgomery!” the soldier said.

  “I just got here,” Maddy said. “I need to get back to Angel City. How could I know you’d be blocking the freeways?”

  The first soldier looked unsure, but the second one, who was obviously an Angel fan, approached and intervened.

  “Let her through, Ernesto,” the second soldier said. Maddy tried to maintain the smile, even though on the inside she was crumbling with sadness and fear.

  “I don’t know . . . ,” the first soldier, Ernesto, said. But the second soldier was already moving the barricade.

  Maddy shot him a thank you wave and stepped on the gas pedal before the soldier could change his mind. As she zipped down the on-ramp, she peered out the windshield at a sight she had never seen before. The Angel City Freeway was completely empty. It was eerie. And just another reminder that this was not a normal day. Because normal days were over. The massive five-lane freeway looked naked with no traffic, no honking drivers, no cars changing lanes without signaling first. Deserted, Maddy thought, just like the humans. And empty, just like she felt. There was a strange silence to driving down this empty open stretch, with only the hum of her car and the whistle of the wind to remind her she was alive. If she closed her eyes, she would be able to convince herself she wasn’t driving at all. She could be running. Nowhere in particular, just running away.

  She switched on the radio and heard nothing but a long, monotonous tone for several seconds before a voice broke in.

  “This is not a test,” an electronic female voice announced. “This is the Emergency Broadcast System. A state of emergency has been declared. All residents of Angel City and immediate areas are ordered to stay indoors at this time. A citywide curfew has been put in place—”

  Maddy switched the station. The message continued. “I repeat, this is not a test. Emergency shelters are located at—”

  Maddy switched the station again. Same thing. Every station was broadcasting it. When the message ended, it simply started over again. Something about that message made this whole situation even more real. Made it worse. She listened to the robotic voice play again and again. This is not a test. This is not a test. She glanced up at the sky, which was beginning to darken. The sunny day was growing dim as a gray blanket of clouds stretched over the city. Wind gusts shot past the Audi now, almost shrieking. What was going to happen? What kind of hell were they in for? Gradually Maddy began to recognize her all-too-familiar surroundings. She was headed toward the heart of Angel City—home. She pulled her fingers through her hair and wiped her puffy eyes. The exit for Angel Boulevard approached, and she pulled onto the off-ramp.

  Angel City, Maddy thought darkly. It was both the place she had always dreamed of leaving and the place that seemed destined to keep her. Every time she had tried to escape it, something about it only drew her back in. She felt caught in its web of crisscrossing streets, the allure of its bright downtown lights. It was capital city to the Immortals, and the unrivaled symbol of Angels and their power around the world. More than a city, it was an idea. It was synonymous with wealth, celebrity, and power—the perfect icon to represent the lavish Angel lifestyle that most of the world envied and craved. Maddy swung down Highland, passing under glowing billboards showing famous Angels selling handbags, cars, and perfume. On one of the billboards was her own face, smiling seductively and holding a bottle of Chanel perfume. Maddy felt her stomach turn. On any other day, she wouldn’t have been able to bear looking at it, but now she couldn’t look away. Someone had spray-painted TRAITOR over her face in an angry red scrawl.

  She drove down the world-famous Angel Boulevard, past the tourist shops and the Walk of Angels. Angel Stars blurred by on the pavement. How many millions of people had come from all over the world to pose next to those stars and take pictures with them? She used to weave around those tourists on her way to school, wondering how anyone could care so much about a sidewalk. Now she had an Angel Star of her own; now her name was etched in gleaming gold in the ground. It still felt strange. She was a famous Guardian Angel. The most famous Guardian Angel. She shook her head, thinking of how much she had wanted to just leave two years ago. Would she ever get out of this city? Maybe the bigger question was, would she ever get Angel City out of her? She used to think so, but now she wasn’t so sure. Just as the ground had been etched with her name, she felt the city had been etched on her, too. As permanently as a tattoo. The tourist shops were all closed up now. No plastic wings for sale. No T-shirts with slogans like SAVE ME! or PROTECTION. The metal doors were all rolled shut.

  Maddy squinted as she looked down the street through her windshield. There was life up ahead, a crowd gathered around the Temple of Angels. The last thing Maddy wanted right now was to be recognized. She sank down in her seat as she approached, but she couldn’t help but ease up on the gas and look as she passed. In spite of the danger that was close at hand, a grab bag of fans, thrill seekers, and stranded tourists had gathered outside the temple in a bizarre, circus-like display. Several people stood in a huddle, holding a candlelight vigil. Others danced. Still others fought. There were young Angel-crazy girls, Angel experts, and families. There was even a man wearing nothing but a white loincloth, Rollerblades, and neon sunglasses. He had taped styrofoam wings to his back and rolled around the crowd while others tried not to stare at his loincloth. It seemed the die-hard Angel fans had already managed to splinter themselves into even smaller categories. One group appeared to be anti-Maddy, calling her a traitor to the Angels, while another equally sized group held up signs that glorified Maddy and praised her for being a “true” Angel. Maddy groaned. It was worse than she’d thought. She cut the wheel and swung up a side street to avoid the rest of it.

  As she turned off Angel Boulevard, a familiar sign came into view. Although it was off, she could still make out the neon lettering against the fading paint. Kevin’s. Her uncle’s diner, where she had worked all through high school. And the place where she had met Jacks. It was dark inside now. No one sat in the booths; no food was being served. How could it have been just two years ago that she was a waitress there? It felt like another lifetime. She pulled past the diner and into the driveway of her
uncle’s house just past the restaurant. She looked up at the small, two-story bungalow where she grew up. The simple, aging house stood bravely in the gusts of the oncoming weather. With all that had changed in her life, there had always been this dependable house. A companion. A friend. An island of consistency in the ever-changing sea of time. She cut the Audi’s engine and stepped out.

  There was Kevin, standing in the doorway, his face creased with concern. He wore old jeans and a worn, flannel shirt—his uniform.

  “You’re back,” he said, and Maddy could tell he was trying not to appear like he had worried too much. He searched Maddy’s face with his intelligent gray eyes. “And . . . Tom?”

  “He’s gone,” Maddy said, trying to keep her voice steady. “The fleet is going to fight.”

  Kevin’s face darkened. After a moment, he nodded.

  “Jacks was there, too,” Maddy added.

  “What?” Kevin’s tone took on a harshness. “What did he want?” Kevin’s opinion of Jacks had been like a roller-coaster ride over the past two years. Of course, he didn’t care for Angels on principle, and had downright hated them after what happened to his sister. He had done his best to give Jacks a chance when it became clear that he was in Maddy’s life, like it or not. But now he had hardened his heart toward Immortals once again. Kevin was pro-Maddy until the bitter end. He would do his best to support her in whatever she wanted, despite his own reservations or opinions. It was the reason why Maddy loved Kevin so much.

  “He offered me a choice,” Maddy said quietly. “To go with him and the other Angels.”

  “I see. . . . Well, what did you say?”

  Maddy bit her lip. How would Kevin feel about her decision? She might be the most famous Guardian Angel in the world, but she would always care about what Uncle Kevin thought of her and her actions. She just couldn’t help it. Just like when she was a little girl, part of her always wanted his approval.

  “I’m here, aren’t I?” she said at last. Then she quickly added, “Tom asked me to wait for him.”

  Kevin paused, as if searching for the right thing to say. But when his response finally came, it was simple. And just what Maddy needed to hear.

  “It’s going to be okay,” he said. “Tom is going to be okay. We all are.”

  “Do you really believe that?” Maddy asked softly.

  “I have to, Mads.” Kevin gave his most reassuring smile. “And so should you.” Then he grinned even wider, the corners of his mouth wrinkling up in the way she knew so well. “Want some ginger tea?”

  “Okay.” Maddy smiled. She wasn’t going to argue with ginger tea. Kevin always made ginger tea for her when she was sick, or just feeling under the weather, with lemon and loads of honey.

  • • •

  Kevin headed into the kitchen, and Maddy walked into the little living room, with its secondhand furniture and the pictures of her as a kid. There were some new photos, too: pictures of Maddy from Angels Weekly and the newspaper, which Kevin had cut out and clumsily fit into frames. Maddy heard from the kitchen the familiar sounds of the gas stove snapping on, the whoosh of the flame, and the kettle being placed on the burner. As she listened to the heating water begin to murmur, she let herself lie back and sink into the couch. For this one small moment, there was suddenly nothing for her to do. After everything that had happened, she now found herself in a little pocket of calm. She sat quietly, just listening to her uncle make the tea. Her gaze settled on the new flat-screen TV, the only piece of furniture or technology in the house that had been manufactured after 1998. She grabbed the remote and turned it on.

  “And the question on everyone’s mind is,” said a stoic-looking woman in a blue suit, “where are the Angels? Guardian Angels in the Immortal City have disappeared overnight, leaving everyone to wonder where they have gone, and whether they will be coming back.” A graphic of an Immortal Ring appeared next to the women’s head, cueing Maddy to play with her own. “The Angels have disappeared from the glittering Immortal City, and fans willing to brave security checkpoints and the possibility of being caught in a war zone have come to the Walk of Angels to participate in a candlelight vigil in hopes that the beautiful Immortals will return.”

  Maddy changed the channel to NBC News, where she was shocked to see Tara Reeves, the usually bubbly host of A!’s morning gossip show, standing in front of the camera. Tara had finally made the switch from entertainment reporter to news journalist, covering the Angel crisis and the mysterious sinkhole threatening to swallow Angel City. It must have been more than shocking for her normal A! audience to see her now, though: Tara had switched her look from glamorous red-carpet reporter to something more like an international war correspondent. She wore smartly cut khakis and a sensible button-up shirt, and had her hair drawn back in a ponytail. Of course, her makeup was still impeccable, her high-waisted trousers were Gucci, and she totally couldn’t resist accessorizing with a Louis Vuitton field bag.

  “I’m Tara Reeves, reporting live from Angel City for NBC News,” she began in a breathless, urgent tone. “The question on everyone’s lips as Angel City faces a possible threat is, where are they? All those beautiful mansions in the Hills empty. All those glamorous cars sitting in garages instead of cruising down the freeways. Security isn’t letting anyone up near the houses, but authorities are confirming that no one is home. Where are the Angels of the Immortal City?” Tara walked her cameraman to a large crowd gathered at the Temple of Angels.

  “Despite the Angels’ disappearance,” she announced with signature drama, “their true fans, as they call themselves, remain undaunted. They are determined to support their Angels, no matter what they do.” The camera panned over the crowd Maddy had seen on her drive home. Some of the fans had SAVE ME T-shirts on, while others held up signs displaying Ted Linden’s face crossed out with big red X’s. They were chanting something, but it was hard to make out what.

  “Their message?” Tara quipped as the camera scanned the scene. “Bring back our Angels. They stand in front of the Temple of Angels, the very same temple where the glamorous Commissioning takes place. The building stands silent now, no Immortals to be seen.” The report switched to interviews with several of the fans in the crowd. The first was a teenage girl with her mother. The girl was wearing an oversize shirt bearing a name that made Maddy’s stomach twist: Emily Brightchurch.

  Emily was written in seductive pink cursive, right above a picture of her face. “There’s no way the Angels won’t come,” the T-shirt girl was chirping. “They’re just trying to teach us a lesson because humans were being mean to them. If you’re out there watching, Jacks or Emily, or Chloe, or even Archangel Godspeed, please come back! We need you! OMG, we love you!” She shrieked until she was practically swooning.

  The next interview was with a middle-aged man holding a sign depicting both an Angel and a UFO, with a big green question mark painted between the two. A conspiracy theorist, Maddy figured. “Where are the demons?” he asked. “Have we actually seen them besides on specially staged television broadcasts?” He was getting more and more worked up. “This whole ‘war’ is just a diversion to distract us from what’s really going on in the government with Senator Linden. It’s a cover-up. A conspiracy to turn America against the Angels, and people are swallowing it hook, line, and sinker. Just like the supposed ‘moon landing,’ as if anyone believes that. Save the Angels!” Behind him, the group of Angel conspiracy theorists howled and cheered.

  The image cut and Tara was back, spinning toward the camera with a dramatic flourish. “Also out of the spotlight is Maddy Montgomery.” Maddy bolted upright on the couch. “Since her public announcement in support of the Immortals Bill, we have heard nothing from Angel City’s newest Guardian. What are her thoughts on the impending demon attack? Has Jackson abandoned her to be with the Immortals, wherever they are? Will we ever see those famous Maddy Montgomery wings flying over Angel City again?” Footage
of Maddy in flight, her luminous purple wings outstretched, hair cutting across her face, filled the screen, and she flipped the station.

  On the Angel News Network, a grave-looking anchor was in the middle of a story. “There are even some global experts who say that despite so-called demon sightings, the sinkhole off the coast of Angel City will not develop further.” The shot cut across the news desk to a bespectacled man in a sharp suit.

  “The Angels are playing a game of chicken. A very, very sophisticated game of chicken. It’s all about who blinks first. They’ll come to our aid, but they want to teach the entire world a lesson first. It’s not as if they would simply abandon us, would they?” He chuckled nervously, and Maddy felt bad for him.

  She flipped and flipped again, only to land on more of the same. Every channel was reporting either on the attack or on the growing crowd in front of the Temple of Angels. A! seemed to be the only network that had given up running anything about the demon attack. In fact, it had switched to a rerun of Chloe’s reality show, Seventeen and Immortal, to be followed by a marathon of old Angel Commissioning ceremonies.

  “It’s just more of the same,” Kevin said as he entered the room and handed Maddy a mug.

  “Thanks,” Maddy said, and smiled at her uncle through the steam. “This is great.” And it was. The warmth of the tea radiated through her chest as she drank. Kevin just shrugged, but Maddy could see the intensity in his face, and she could tell he wanted to say something to her. He looked down at his tea.

  “We’re all in this together, Mads,” he said, finally looking up at her. “Even if the Angels really have left us, I’m still here. And so is Tom. And President Linden. He’ll know what to do.” Maddy smiled a little and wrapped her arm around him, pressing the side of her face against his chest. She could feel his heartbeat against her cheek. She felt Kevin’s hands fumble for a hug, which was a bit awkward, but warm all the same. Suddenly Maddy felt herself being pulled back into thoughts of the pier, but she stopped herself before she could get started. There were more important things at hand, she told herself.