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“Maddy tells me you two are . . . friends?” Jacks said.
Ethan nodded. “And you two are . . . ?”
“Friends,” Maddy said quickly. She could only imagine what was happening under Ethan’s controlled exterior. She wondered what she must be putting him through by inviting an Angel into his house.
“Come in,” Ethan said at last.
Ethan led them down the hallway toward the kitchen. He had cleaned up everything since the party.
“I wish I had something to offer,” Ethan said as they walked. “But there isn’t really anything left. There’s some old Chinese food in the fridge, I think.”
“It’s okay,” Maddy said. They came into the kitchen and Ethan leaned against the counter.
“So,” he said. “How can I help?”
“Ethan, we need . . . a place to hide.” Maddy paused. “I was hoping we could stay with you.”
Ethan looked between Maddy and Jacks. “Look, Maddy,” he said honestly, “I’d let you stay here, but you can’t. And it’s not because I don’t want you to.”
Maddy bent her head.
“They’ve already been here,” Ethan said. Maddy’s heart hammered against her chest.
“Who?” Jacks asked, alarmed.
“The Angels. They left, but I’m sure they’ll be back. They were looking for you and for . . . him.” Ethan motioned to Jackson.
“Ethan, please,” Maddy said. “Jacks saved my life.”
“He saved your life?” Ethan said, incredulous. “That’s not what I heard.”
“What do you mean?” Maddy said, her eyebrows pulling together. “What have you heard?”
“That he kidnapped you, of course.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Maddy said in a low voice. “Who’s saying that?”
Ethan raised an eyebrow. “You really don’t know?” He walked over to the TV in the living room. He grabbed a remote off the couch, and clicked on the flat screen. Tara Reeves’s exhausted face filled the screen as she continued to report on the breaking news story.
“We’re bringing you the latest updates on the Jackson Godspeed situation in this continuing ANN Special Report. At this time, the hunt continues for Godspeed, who allegedly kidnapped seventeen-year-old Maddy Montgomery of Angel City earlier tonight and is now believed to be connected to as many as three Angel disappearances over the last week.”
Maddy sat paralyzed with shock. What was going on?
“It’s already started,” Jacks murmured, as if in answer.
“What has?”
“The cover-up,” Jacks said.
“It’s worse online,” Ethan said. He nodded over to his laptop, which was sitting open on the kitchen counter. Maddy went to the computer. She tapped the space bar to wake up the machine, and there it was: Ethan’s browser was open to all the most popular Angel blogs, with bold headlines like “COMMISSIONING GONE WRONG,” “ONE DISTURBED ANGEL,” and “SCANDAL IN THE IMMORTAL CITY!” She clicked through the various sites. They all had their own spin on the same basic story—how Jacks had disappeared from his own Commissioning, and allegedly kidnapped her, and was behind the Angel murders. There were even some rumors that he was working with the extremists HDF to bring down the Angels.
“But none of this is true,” she said, her eyes darting across the screen. “This isn’t fair; Jacks didn’t kill anyone. And I wasn’t kidnapped.”
“Well, that’s not what you’re telling everyone.”
“What?” Maddy gasped. “How?”
“You’ve been updating your Facebook page.”
