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Maddy’s eyes flew open.
Her vision focused.
There was Jacks at the edge of the roof again. Ethan lay coughing blood where Jacks had just thrown him to the ground. Maddy stood where she had before.
“Y-yeah,” Maddy stammered. “Of course.”
Jacks was walking toward her again. Maddy’s mind crystallized around a single thought.
It was a final premonition. A premonition of Jacks’s mortal death.
The moment became impossibly clear to her. Maddy had the sensation of near-perfect clairvoyance. She felt her body and soul unite. With perfect clarity, she could make out every speck of dust on the rooftop. Her hearing registered every breath, every rustle of clothes, every gasp of wind.
She could still save Jacks.
Maddy ran. She willed her feet faster and faster. It was the fastest she’d ever run in her life. The rest of the world blurred on all sides of her as she focused on this one thing.
Jacks’s face grew confused. Maddy flew right by him. She ran at Ethan, colliding full-force as he lunged at Jacks with the knife. Maddy fell on him, and the two tumbled toward the edge of the roof.
Ethan was on top of her, gasping in surprise. Maddy felt something tugging at her side, like her clothes had snagged on something. Then a warm sensation, not altogether unpleasant. She looked down. Both her and Ethan’s hands were wrapped around the knife handle. The blade was deep in her side.
She looked at Ethan. His eyes were blind with rage. If he could pull the knife out, she thought, he would go after Jacks again. She was sure of it. She had one instant to make a decision. She closed her hands tightly around his and pushed the knife as far inside of her as it would go. Then she let out a ragged, agonized breath. The blood began to flow.
The pain was startling at first, then unbearable, and finally it engulfed her, sucking her consciousness away and closing her eyes. She heard a metallic clang as the door smashed open. Willing her eyes open for a moment, she saw Detective Sylvester burst onto the rooftop with his gun drawn, followed by a fleet of cops. Her eyes fluttered closed again. Many voices, and the pounding footsteps over the rooftop. She heard Ethan shout something as the detective drove him to the ground and handcuffed him. Then everything went black.
In the darkness of her mind, she drifted. To that first night when Jacks came into the diner. Back to the night they went flying together, and how the city had looked reflected in his eyes. To the gym, and the way his lips had felt against hers. Looking down, she realized she was floating over the rooftop now. It was quiet up here. Peaceful.
She could see her body and the dark pool growing underneath her. The police were everywhere now. She watched with detached curiosity as they pulled Ethan up and took him away. Angels began landing on the roof. She saw Mitch, wearing the black armor of the ADC, an ancient broadsword flashing in his hands. Maddy also recognized a couple other Angels as they landed, sheathing their swords. The demon must have fled.
Then she saw Jacks. He was yelling something as he knelt over her body. On his back was a bleeding, bloody stump. She saw him take her in his arms and hold her. He was calling her name over and over. I’m up here, she tried to say, but he didn’t seem to hear her. He shook her body again and again. The drone of a helicopter filled her ears, and suddenly, she felt herself being pulled back. Steadily, painfully, pulled back down toward the roof.
Her eyes opened. Jacks was holding her. A spotlight shone down on them from a chopper hovering above. Maddy squinted up at Jacks in the glare of the spotlight.
“Just hang on, they’re coming for you right now,” he said. She watched his eyes dart helplessly over her body. “They’re going to fix you, Maddy!”
She moved her lips. “I’m sorry for what I said . . . at the station. I’m sorry for being so impossible all the time. Can you . . . forgive me?”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” Jacks said urgently. “This is all my fault. If I had never convinced you to leave with me. If I had never kept bothering you. If I had never gone into your uncle’s diner.” He trailed off, his throat closing. Maddy shook her head. The pain drilled through her.
“I’m glad you did.”
The darkness took her again. She was dancing with him at the party now. Maddy couldn’t even feel her feet moving over the floor. She didn’t know how long she danced with him. It could have been minutes or only a few seconds. When she opened her eyes and found Jacks again, he was looking at her with terror-stricken eyes.
“Don’t do that,” he said. “Stay with me.”
“I’ll try,” she said. Her response was barely more than a whisper.
“Tell me how to help you, Maddy,” he said desperately. “What can I do?”
“Hold my hand.”
She felt his fingers lace into hers. Her hand was sticky against his. His hand was trembling. He leaned on one elbow. His strength was leaving him. Maddy felt the darkness coming for her again, and this time, she was sure, she would not be back. It was almost impossible to move her lips. When the words came out, they were slurred.
“Promise me something,” she said.
“Anything.”
“Be the best Guardian you can be. Save lots of people. And every time you save someone, think of me.”
