Natural Born Angel (15 page)

MADDY!

A reporter for a popular blog was doing a video segment outside Urth when he saw Jacks and Maddy arrive. “And just showing up at Urth Caffé is Angel City ‘It’ couple Maddy Montgomery and Jackson Godspeed.”

Jacks winced before he could help himself. Normally it was “‘it’ couple Jackson Godspeed and Maddy Montgomery” – not the other way around.

A girl, maybe sixteen, called out in a shriek: “Maddy! Can I just get your autograph??”

Maddy paused with one foot on the steps. Jacks watched her, curious to see what she’d do. She turned and walked up to the girl.

“Sure,” she said, smiling, taking the pen and paper that the girl held outstretched in her hand.

Another teenage girl ran up on the other side of Jacks. “Excuse me, Jackson?”

Jacks turned. The girl held a digital camera in her shaking hands, her eyes wide and Angelstruck. Security raised an eyebrow at Jacks, but he shook his head at him, letting him know it was OK.

Jacks smiled warmly at the teenager. “Would you like to take a picture with me?”

The girl’s eyes darted quickly to Maddy, then back.

“Actually, well, do you mind taking a picture of me with Maddy?”

The edges of Jacks’s smile faded almost imperceptibly, the mask of his face tightening as he tried to hide his surprise and the dawning feeling of . . . what was it?

“S-sure,” he said, his lips translating more than he would have liked the colliding emotions inside him. The girl flashed a bright smile and skipped over to Maddy, who was signing an autograph for another girl.

“Um, she wants a picture with you,” Jacks said flatly.

“Oh, OK,” Maddy said, distracted by the pen and paper still in her hand. “Just give me a second.” She finished signing another autograph, then stood with her arm around the girl, and Jacks took the picture.

“
Thankyousomuch!
” the teenager sputtered. She and her friend started walking away down the pavement, then shrieked in glee together as they realized what had just happened. Their voices were clearly audible to both Jacks and Maddy.

“Oh-my-God-I-just-got-Maddy-Montgomery’s-autograph!”

Jacks turned to Maddy abruptly. “Are you ready?”

“Oh yeah, sure, let’s go in.”

The café was filled with Angels, Protections, and all their hangers-on. All eyes turned to Maddy and Jacks as they entered the outdoor seating area. A low buzz started as people began talking excitedly. The whole energy in the space changed as soon as they came in.

Jacks and Maddy sat down at a table near the corner. All of a sudden there was the screech of chairs being pushed back, as two people got up across the outdoor seating area. In an instant, Jackson recognized Vivian Holycross, along with Emily Brightchurch. He stiffened, hoping they’d just leave without making a scene.

“What are
they
doing together?” Maddy said, preparing for the worst.

But the gorgeous Angel girls made their way out without approaching Maddy and Jacks, though they did whisper together and laugh while looking in Maddy’s direction.

“Well, I guess that wasn’t too bad. Emily at least didn’t stab me or anything,” Maddy said, laughing a little bit. “Although I bet she and Viv have a lot to talk about.” Maddy was in good spirits after the TV taping. She looked at Jacks, who was silent, seemingly staring off into space. “Jacks? Are you OK? I mean, I know my joke wasn’t that funny, but. . .”

Jacks looked around the café at the other Angels sipping their lattes, eating their salads, chatting, flirting, laughing. He’d been at that café more times than he could count. He knew so many of the people sitting just a little way away, Angels he’d come of age with, and he was here with Maddy. But right then he just felt . . . empty. Alone. He couldn’t explain it. It was like how he had felt when he had gone on stage at the taping. It just happened upon him. And he felt afraid.

Jackson Godspeed wasn’t used to feeling afraid. He began to really, truly think about the possibility his wings might never be fixed. A cold hole opened in his stomach.

“Jacks?” Maddy leaned forward across the table and took his hand in hers.

“I’m fine,” Jacks said, snapping out of his reverie.

Maddy looked at him with concern, squeezing his hand. “Are you sure? You seemed a little off this morning, too. Is there anything I can do?”

“It’s nothing!” Jacks said, his voice rising. A few customers at the other tables turned their heads towards their table, noticing, and began whispering under their breaths.

Maddy looked at him in shock – Jacks never raised his voice at her. Ever.

He glanced back and forth, realizing he was drawing attention.

“It’s nothing,” he said, more quietly this time. He pulled his hand back from Maddy’s.

A look of pain and confusion crossed Maddy’s face. Suddenly Jacks’s phone buzzed with a text. A strange look crossed his face as he read the text and then put the phone down.

“What was it?”

“Nothing.”

“Jacks,” Maddy said. “No secrets. Remember?”

He sighed. “It was from Emily.”

Anger flooded through Maddy’s veins. “Why is she texting you? How’d she even get your number?”

“I don’t know. It’s stupid. You know how girls like Vivian and Emily can get. Vivian probably gave it to her. I deleted it. I’m not writing back. They’re just trying to get at you. They knew you’d be sitting right here when I got it.”

Maddy seemed to realize her raised voice had drawn the attention of the tables of Angels and Protections around them. “She never stops.”

Jacks scanned around the courtyard of the café. He suddenly had the impulse to get away from all those eyes, the Angels watching. Even Maddy herself.

“Are you OK, Jacks?” Maddy asked.

“Sure, I’m fine,” he lied, trying to keep his voice light. She seemed to believe him.

Maddy glanced over at her phone on the table and suddenly realized what time it was. “I’m going to be late! I almost forgot – I have my first flight lesson with that pilot. Professor Archson thinks it’s going to help.”

Maddy stood up and kissed Jacks on the cheek. “I’ll talk to you after, ’K?”

“Sure,” Jacks said, his mind swirling with the day’s events. He managed a weak smile at her. “Have fun.”

Maddy slipped between the tables of beautiful Angels, towards the street. Jackson watched her go.

He let out a long sigh and looked at the menu in front of him. Although he’d been hungry just a little bit ago, now he had no appetite. A waitress showed up, eyeing the solo Jackson Godspeed.

“Just coffee for me,” he said, handing the menu to the waitress.

T
he small airstrip was on the far edge of Burbank, on the other side of the freeway from the glitzy Angel facilities. Maddy pulled in next to a guard shack, and the guard waved her through, barely looking up from his phone as he opened the gate.

Dust swirled on the old runway as she parked her Audi between an ’87 Dodge pickup and a Toyota Corolla with peeling white paint. A small hangar lay off the side of the airfield. Stepping out of her car, she realized how much hotter it was over here than in Angel City. A blazing wind rolled over the mountains that loomed behind her.

Walking towards the hangar, Maddy noticed a young man in a khaki naval-service dress uniform step out from the hangar, wearing aviator sunglasses and a stony expression. He had a striking jawline and chiselled cheekbones. He was tall and his shoulders were broad, his glossy hair dark though not as close-cropped as she thought it would be for someone in the military. The pilot was also younger than she thought he’d be – maybe just twenty-one. Maddy smiled in a friendly manner as she approached him, her heels clacking on the asphalt. His face remained unchanged. She guessed he must be her instructor.

Maddy was here on this dusty airstrip because of Susan Archson’s suggestion that she might need to learn to think like a human pilot. Maddy wasn’t entirely sure, though, how aeroplane training was going to help. She wasn’t going to be flying a plane; she was flying
herself.
But Susan had prevailed and said the young pilot was the best around and would be happy to work with Maddy.

Now, on the tarmac, she was meeting him for the first time. Reaching the boy in uniform, she put out her hand.

“Hi, you must be Tom, er, Lieutenant Cooper. I’m Maddy Mo—”

“You’re late,” the pilot said, looking down at his watch. His voice was deep and direct. Almost cold. He examined her outfit incredulously: heels and a skirt and a flirty top she’d had her stylist pick out for her since she had an appearance later.

“I, uh,” Maddy floundered. She checked her phone; she hadn’t realized she’d been running so late. There had been so much to take care of before this appearance later tonight that she’d let the time get away from her. . .

“I’m sorry, I had to meet with Darcy before, and she was stuck at an event with another client, and— ”

“Darcy?” The pilot raised an eyebrow above his aviator shades. “Who the hell is Darcy, and what does she have to do with your flight training?”

Maddy looked at him, speechless.

Tom examined the expression on Maddy’s face. “Yes?”

“Nothing. I just expected someone a little more . . . courteous,” Maddy said, standing taller, looking directly into the glinting mirrored glass of the pilot’s shades.

A tight smile spread across his face. “You’re the one who’s late and you’re talking to me about courtesy?” Tom said, shaking his head. “
Angels
,” he said, as if to himself, in disbelief. He turned to the hangar. “Now come on, we can stand out here in the sun all day or get to work. You’ve wasted enough of our time.”

“Bu— ” The pilot had already turned and was walking back into the hangar. Flustered, Maddy called to him: “You’ll get paid the same no matter how late I am.”

He spun on his heels, an insulted look crossing his face. “Paid? Ms Montgomery, this isn’t for money.”

The pilot led her to a chipped metal table off to the side of the hangar. An old chalkboard was set up next to it on a rolling stand. The old desk chair squeaked when Maddy sat in it. The young man sat down opposite her at the desk and took his sunglasses off. Maddy was immediately struck by his eyes – they were a deep green. He didn’t blink.

Maddy glanced over at the single-engine Cessna next to them just inside the hangar.

“Is this your plane?” she asked.

“I’m allowed to use it, yes. My normal aircraft is a little . . . faster.”

“So when do I fly?” Maddy smiled, trying to start their relationship over on the right foot.

“
You
don’t.”

Maddy froze for a moment.

“Not yet,” the pilot continued. “Not until I say so.
If
I say so.”

Maddy’s eyes blazed rebelliously. Something about this pilot made her flare up inside. “And this is supposed to help me? I’m not sure I need help, anyway. I’ve just got a slow start flying is all.”

“Not from what I’ve heard.”

“Professor Archson said you were good, but I still don’t see how this is going to help me,” Maddy responded after collecting herself.

The pilot rapped his fingers lightly on the metal top of the desk. “I was one of the youngest ever to graduate the Naval Academy, got top marks across the board in all aviation categories, and finished head of my group at the elite U.S. Navy Strike Fighters Instruction Programme. I’ve flown over thirty-two F-18 missions from my aircraft carrier, which is now positioned in Angel City Bay.” His voice was calm and his gaze unwavering as he spoke. Maddy thought she remembered from a Military Channel show her uncle was watching that an F-18 was one of the military fighter jets. The most expensive and prestigious aeroplanes in the fleet.

Tom continued, “Susan apparently thinks you need to learn how a pilot sees, feels and thinks, and she believes I can help. Although, to be honest, that might be pretty hard for somebody like you.”

“You don’t know anything about me,
lieutenant
,” she said quietly.

The pilot was silent.

“What did I ever do to you?” Maddy said after a moment.

“
Do?
” Tom asked, his green eyes flecking with grey. “Do you think I want to spend my time teaching some prima donna
Angel
how to fly when I could be helping someone who actually appreciated it, needed some help? Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have a tutor on how to spend money and pose for photographers?”

Maddy eyed him. “Well then, why are you doing it?” she asked.

“Because I have to. Susan asked me. And it looks like you have to as well.”

“You
have
to? Why?”

“That’s strictly none of your business,” the pilot said.

Maddy crossed her arms. Silence hung heavy in the air between them. A fly buzzed, lazily circling up towards the ceiling.

Tom stood up and walked over to the chalkboard. He flipped it over with a squeak, revealing a side already marked up with chalk. It was covered with diagrams and equations covering aerodynamics, velocity, yaw, trim.

Maddy’s eyes narrowed at the board, her arms still crossed. “I’ve already learned this stuff.”

“Not my way, you haven’t,” Tom said, turning back to the chalkboard. “If you learn this, I can help you wrap your head around how to manoeuvre your body in the air. But if you’re going to be stubborn, you’ll always stay where you started. Which, from what I understand, isn’t the most graceful place.”

Maddy opened her mouth to come back with a snappy reply. But she stopped short as she looked into Lieutenant Cooper’s serious eyes and thought about her struggles on the training course. Maybe he was right. Maybe he could help her manoeuvre her body in the air.

“All right,” Maddy got out, fighting her rebellious streak.

“Good,” the pilot said, turning back to the chalkboard with the slightest smirk on his face. “Let’s start.”