Battle Angel Read Free Page B

waitress there? It felt like another lifetime. She pulled past the diner and into the driveway of her uncle’s house just past the restaurant. She looked up at the small, two-story bungalow where she grew up. The simple, aging house stood bravely in the gusts of the oncoming weather. With all that had changed in her life, there had always been this dependable house. A companion. A friend. An island of consistency in the ever-changing sea of time. She cut the Audi’s engine and stepped out.
    There was Kevin, standing in the doorway, his face creased with concern. He wore old jeans and a worn, flannel shirt—his uniform.
    “You’re back,” he said, and Maddy could tell he was trying not to appear like he had worried too much. He searched Maddy’s face with his intelligent gray eyes. “And . . . Tom?”
    “He’s gone,” Maddy said, trying to keep her voice steady. “The fleet is going to fight.”
    Kevin’s face darkened. After a moment, he nodded.
    “Jacks was there, too,” Maddy added.
    “What?” Kevin’s tone took on a harshness. “What did he want?” Kevin’s opinion of Jacks had been like a roller-coaster ride over the past two years. Of course, he didn’t care for Angels on principle, and had downright hated them after what happened to his sister. He had done his best to give Jacks a chance when it became clear that he was in Maddy’s life, like it or not. But now he had hardened his heart toward Immortals once again. Kevin was pro-Maddy until the bitter end. He would do his best to support her in whatever she wanted, despite his own reservations or opinions. It was the reason why Maddy loved Kevin so much.
    “He offered me a choice,” Maddy said quietly. “To go with him and the other Angels.”
    “I see. . . . Well, what did you say?”
    Maddy bit her lip. How would Kevin feel about her decision? She might be the most famous Guardian Angel in the world, but she would always care about what Uncle Kevin thought of her and her actions. She just couldn’t help it. Just like when she was a little girl, part of her always wanted his approval.
    “I’m here, aren’t I?” she said at last. Then she quickly added, “Tom asked me to wait for him.”
    Kevin paused, as if searching for the right thing to say. But when his response finally came, it was simple. And just what Maddy needed to hear.
    “It’s going to be okay,” he said. “Tom is going to be okay. We all are.”
    “Do you really believe that?” Maddy asked softly.
    “I have to, Mads.” Kevin gave his most reassuring smile. “And so should you.” Then he grinned even wider, the corners of his mouth wrinkling up in the way she knew so well. “Want some ginger tea?”
    “Okay.” Maddy smiled. She wasn’t going to argue with ginger tea. Kevin always made ginger tea for her when she was sick, or just feeling under the weather, with lemon and loads of honey.
    • • •
    Kevin headed into the kitchen, and Maddy walked into the little living room, with its secondhand furniture and the pictures of her as a kid. There were some new photos, too: pictures of Maddy from
Angels Weekly
and the newspaper, which Kevin had cut out and clumsily fit into frames. Maddy heard from the kitchen the familiar sounds of the gas stove snapping on, the whoosh of the flame, and the kettle being placed on the burner. As she listened to the heating water begin to murmur, she let herself lie back and sink into the couch. For this one small moment, there was suddenly nothing for her to do. After everything that had happened, she now found herself in a little pocket of calm. She sat quietly, just listening to her uncle make the tea. Her gaze settled on the new flat-screen TV, the only piece of furniture or technology in the house that had been manufactured after 1998. She grabbed the remote and turned it on.
    “And the question on everyone’s mind is,” said a stoic-looking woman in a blue suit, “where are the Angels? Guardian Angels in the