Scott Speer: Immortal City

“Well, if you want to come, I can give you directions,” Ethan said.

“Maybe she should get your number?” Gwen offered.

Simon and Tyler slightly snickered under their breaths.

Now Maddy was sure she was bright red.

“Yeah, totally.”

Maddy fumbled in her bag for her old phone as Ethan slipped his iPhone out of his pocket. The two exchanged information, Maddy awkwardly asking Ethan to spell his last name, McKinley, while the other boys stood there watching.

Maddy couldn’t believe how embarrassed she felt. “The party should be cool,” Ethan said as he slid his phone back in his pocket.

“Um. . okay,” she said. “Thanks?”

“Keep it quiet, though, he doesn’t want the whole school coming, you know?” Kyle added. Maddy could’ve sworn he winked at her. “See you guys later.”

“See you Friday,” Ethan said.

Simon and Tyler also said goodbye, and the group of senior guys strolled casually down the hallway. Ethan gave her a final smile over his shoulder.

“OMG,” Gwen breathed.

“OMG?”

“OMF-ing G!” Gwen could hardly contain herself.

“You know him?”

“Kind of,” Maddy said, tossing another book in her locker and untucking her hair from behind her ears. “He comes in to eat at the diner.”

“That’s the new guy everyone is talking about. I guess he moved to Angel City with his mom and she wanted him to do his senior year in public school or something, but word on the street is he’s totally loaded. He even did an around-the-world trip earlier this summer. And the big rumor is that he knows the Angels,” Gwen continued excitedly. “He sometimes surfs with them off Malibu. He might be the only student at school who will get an actual Guardian ; they just haven’t announced the Protections yet, not till Friday . And, of course, he’s gorgeous.”

“Well, I don’t know why you said I could go. Because you know I can’t,” Maddy said.

“What?” Gwen gasped. “We’re going and I’m your wingman!”

“I still need to finish my apps, and you should see those financial aid packets. They’re like books. Besides, Kevin would kill me. He always says parties are dangerous, you know, dumb kids and alcohol, that whole thing.”

“Maddy,” Gwen said sternly. “Don’t you realize you guys just had the moment?”

“The moment ?” Maddy asked.

“Of course,” Gwen said, explaining: “That’s when a boy sees you in the perfect outfit, and the light is falling on you just right, and you’re laughing or smiling, and everything about the moment is so perfect that he falls in love with you. I mean, he’s seen you at the diner, of course, but he hasn’t seen you-seen you until right now!”

Maddy looked down at her jeans and hoodie. “Gwen, I barely said anything to him,” she protested. Besides, what was up with Kyle giving her that wink? Gwen hadn’t seemed to see it, thankfully.

“Trust me,” Gwen said with a knowing smile. “You guys just had your moment .”

Maddy looked down the hall in the direction Ethan had walked. He’d always been totally friendly when they’d interacted at the diner, but she couldn’t remember having felt, like, sparks. Still, he was definitely nice-looking.

“Maddy,” Gwen said, her tone suddenly pleading,

“You’ve never had a boyfriend; you’ve never even been on a real date. Please, you can’t let me down now.”

Maddy looked into Gwen’s eyes and sighed. This wasn’t a battle she was going to win today.

“Okay,” she said, “I’ll think about it.”

“Perf!” Gwen squealed.

Maddy turned back to her locker — and froze. She stood there, trying to figure out why her mood had suddenly flipped to a feeling of suffocating dread. She glanced down the hallway. Next to her, Gwen typed away on her phone, not seeming to notice that anything was wrong. But to Maddy the corridor seemed gaping and haunted. Distorted sounds echoed through it. Maddy had experienced this before — a bad feeling coming out of nowhere — but never this strong. Never this vivid. She forced herself to take a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she reopened them, the hallway was once again normal. The banks of lockers, the scuffed linoleum, the yellowed ceiling tiles — it was all as it should be. She shook the lingering feelings away.

The bell rang, a nasal monotone drone, and students scrambled into their classrooms. Gwen gave Maddy a hug, then skipped away down the hall. Maddy affectionately watched her go and wondered what it must feel like to be so bubbly and blissfully happy all the time. Then she grabbed her backpack and closed her locker with a metallic click.

Jackson Godspeed was still asleep when his maid, Lola, came into the room.

“Time to get up, Jackson,” she said in her warm Latin accent. “Breakfast will be served in five minutes.”

Half-unconscious under the sheets, Jacks reached a hand out and fumbled for the remote on the nightstand. His fingers found the thing and powered on a sixty-inch plasma television, which descended from the ceiling. The sounds of Angel Television, or A! as it was simply known, came over the speakers. Tara Reeves, the morning anchor who always wore spaghetti-strap minidresses and too much makeup, was unusually energized as she announced the day’s top story.

“Brace yourselves, ladies, this is the week you’ve all been waiting for! Angel superstar Jackson Godspeed will be Commissioned as a Guardian this Friday, making history as the youngest, and some say hottest, Guardian Angel ever! That’s right, it’s Commissioning Week in Angel City, and we will have your live, breaking coverage of all the Angels right here!”

Groggily, Jacks began to wake up. He’d had his final Guardian test the day before and afterward had gone out to celebrate with his best friend, Mitch. Lola went to the window and pulled back the curtains, revealing a panoramic view of Angel City, downtown Los Angeles, and the ocean beyond. She went to the closet and laid out Jackson’s clothes for the day: a Calvin Klein suit, YSL shoes, and Ray-Ban sunglasses. Meanwhile, Tara continued excitedly on the plasma.

“Of course the questions on everyone’s mind are, will Jacks be able to live up to the pressure at his age? Can he step into the shoes of the glamorous Godspeed Guardians? And maybe most important of all, who will be Jackson’s first Protection? Guesses include presidential daughters, pop stars, and even Bill Gates’s oldest daughter. Thousands of girls across the nation will undoubtedly be hoping — or maybe just wishing — that it will be them, and who can blame them? Who wouldn’t want to wake up in Jackson Godspeed’s arms as his first save?!”

Jacks sat up in bed, his broad chest and chiseled mid-section framed in the shaft of light from the window. With flawless model-like features and pale blue eyes, Jacks was the image of perfection, Angel or otherwise. Reaching out his arms, he spread his wings in a sudden, dramatic motion, stretching after a night of deep sleep. Not the fluffy white wings of Renaissance paintings, Jackson’s wings were sleek and muscular, with feathers sharp enough to cut. A warm blue glow lingered around them, a glow that grew astonishing at night. No other Angel had wings with this luminescence. Each Angel was born with his or her own signature wings, with special features and marks. But nothing like this . The wings were just as famous as his face. Many breathless commentators said they marked Jacks out for something even more special than just being the youngest Angel ever to reach Guardian status. The mania surrounding Jacks’s Commissioning had all but drowned out the coverage of the other Angels unfortunate enough to have to share the spotlight this year with the Jackson Godspeed as they were commissioned too.