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Teri almost jumped out of her seat. “I’ve seen that report, Will, and I wouldn’t call it ‘evidence’ as much as total speculation! Anti-Angel elements are just trying for a power play in this country, but it’s not going to work. Whipping people into a false frenzy never lasts. It’s clear you’re just a mouthpiece for Linden and his party.”
Sylvester tilted his glass back and took the final gulp of whiskey, laying down the empty glass and a few bills on the bar.
“Thanks,” he said to the bartender, pulling on his jacket as he walked to the door. Stepping onto the dormant streets of Angel City, he took in a lungful of night air. The stars high above twinkled dimly in the sky through the light clouds and pollution.
As soon as the door closed, the bartender walked to the window and turned off the neon signs, also flipping the Open sign to Closed. After bolting the door, he walked back to the bar, under the rows of dusty old Angel photos on the wall. He picked up the remote. Will, Teri, and Colonel Jessup were now near screaming at each other on-screen. He pressed the red power button and the TV switched to blackness, leaving the bar in silence as he continued sweeping under the dusty, watchful eyes of glamorous Angels past.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Maddy stumbled down the stairs with her hair still wet, pulling her hoodie over a shirt she had to resurrect from the hamper. In the aftermath of the disaster that was last night, she had forgotten to set her alarm and was late for her morning shift at the diner. Her limbs throbbed with fatigue, and her head ached with the painful memories of the party, but at least, she told herself, that was over now. No more lying. No more sneaking around. She could go back to being just plain Maddy. Beyond that, she tried not to think about it. She tried not to think about Jacks.
She grabbed her backpack from where she had left it on the floor and dropped in her shiny new BlackBerry Miracle. She would hang on to that, she decided. She’d needed a new phone anyway, and it made her feel like she at least got something out of the whole experience. She grabbed a piece of bread from a bag on the kitchen counter and, holding it in her teeth, hurried across the living room and threw open the door.
Maddy’s world went white. A barrage of camera flashes lit up the porch as a dozen voices shouted at her simultaneously.
“MADDY!” “MADDY!” “MADDY!” RIGHT HERE, MADDY!” RIGHT HERE, DARLING!” “OVER HERE, MADDY!”
Maddy had paparazzi.
They crowded together on the lawn in front of the porch steps, shutters clicking automatically, firing away at her. Still more paparazzi were running across the street, pulling their came
ras out of their bags and shooting as they ran, men with unkempt beards and unkind, sneering faces. Maddy stood there with her wet hair and the slice of bread hanging limply from her mouth. Jacks’s world had followed her home and was now standing on her front lawn.
“Maddy, how does it feel to be dating Jackson Godspeed?!” roared a heavyset pap in the back. Maddy pulled the bread from her mouth and attempted to shield her eyes with it. “How does it feel to be dating the most eligible Angel in Angel City?!” he barked again.
“We’re not dating!” Maddy shrieked. “I’m not dating anyone!” Maddy saw a few of the neighbors coming out of their homes to watch. A boy of about twelve took a picture with his phone. The humiliation was paralyzing. With her free hand Maddy groped for the doorknob and pulled the front door shut. She dropped the bread, grabbed a textbook out from her bag, and used it to cover her face.
Move, she told herself, and willed her feet forward, quickly down the front steps and walkway. Like a human tidal wave, the paparazzi followed, shuffling backward and trampling the few plants Uncle Kevin kept in the front yard. She broke into a run as she crossed the street, leading them away from the diner. Maddy couldn’t risk working the morning shift today. They kept pace with her, backpedaling or dropping their cameras to their sides and running to catch up.
“Did you meet Vivian last night?!” one of them shouted while panting. “Are you nervous she might try to steal Jacks back?”
“Just leave me alone!” Maddy yelled, fighting back tears.
“What do you think about the Angel murders? Are you worried about Jacks?”
The last question sliced through the others like a blade. Maddy froze on the sidewalk. The book dropped from her face.
“W-what?” she stammered.
“They’re finding severed wings on the Walk of Angels! The story just broke last night!” someone shouted back. She looked around the faces but saw only beady, unwelcoming eyes. She noticed one of them was recording the whole thing on a camcorder. He was grinning devilishly as he kept his eye on the device’s screen. It was such a violation. Maddy felt utterly naked.
“Angels are being killed in the order of their stars on Angel Boulevard, and they say Jacks could be next! They can’t even protect themselves! How does that make you feel, Maddy?”
Jacks could be in danger? Maddy couldn’t even let herself process this. She might be mad at him, but the thought of something happening to him made her heart clench. And what was this about a serial killer? All she could do was duck her head and walk even faster. Finally, at the corner, they left her. She hazarded a glance over her shoulder as she gasped to catch her breath. They were inspecting their cameras now, reviewing what they’d got as they hurried to their cars. The pictures would probably be on the Internet within a few minutes.
She pulled her hood tight over her head and walked briskly down Angel Boulevard, not daring to look up. She could just imagine an Angel Tours bus slamming on its brakes and the tour guide announcing, “You’re in luck, folks. If you look to your right, you’ll see Jackson Godspeed’s girlfriend!” She ignored the shops now selling T-shirts with Jacks’s face on them and the slogan Warning: Protection of Jackson Godspeed. She paid no attention to a guy dressed up like Jackson who wanted to take a picture with her. At the light at Angel and Highland she kept her head down, avoiding the screens that declared, “FULL COMMISSIONING COVERAGE” and the signs that announced, “ROAD CLOSED FOR SPECIAL EVENT.”
Then she heard a scream.
It was a girl a few years younger than she was, also standing at the corner and waiting for the light to change. She looked from Maddy, then to her iPhone, and then back to Maddy again. She gawked in amazement.
“It’s you,” she squealed hysterically. Maddy had been recognized. “OMG!” the girl gushed, sounding just like Gwen. “Can I get your autograph?”
Maddy blinked at the girl in horror. This wasn’t really happening, was it?
It was.
As she stood there, trying to use her hair to cover her face, a crowd of tourists formed. Disposable cameras flashed. A man wearing a John Deere hat yelled, “Martha, look! It’s her!”
