Immortal City by Scott Speer Read Free Book Online

participate, the more likely I am to call on you.” The class let out a collective groan. Maddy might not follow the Angels, but she
had
done the required reading. However, she was always quiet in class. As Mr. Rankin got started, her eyelids grew impossibly heavy.
    “So, who can tell me about the history of Angels before the National Angel Services formed?” A hand shot up in the front. Mr. Rankin pointed.
    “Well, in the beginning, miracles were performed anonymously,” a boy said. Mr. Rankin nodded.
    “And how were Angels on Earth governed?”
    “There was a royal class?”
    “Legend has it, yes,” Mr. Rankin said. He paced down Maddy’s row. “As with much about the Angels, they will not confirm or deny many things about their existence here on Earth, including much about their early history. Some historians speculate there was even a battle long ago between the Angels and Dark Angels, or demons, for supremacy on the planet, a battle won by these royal classes.” Maddy sat up in her chair again, trying to look as awake as possible as he passed. “So the Angels were anonymous. Then what happened?”
    “The Civil War,” someone in the back called out. Maddy felt her eyelids closing.
    “The American Civil War, correct.” Mr. Rankin went to the board and wrote
Civil War.
“After the awful bloodshed of that conflict, brother killing brother, Angels decided there was no longer any point to staying hidden and serving man out of kindness.” He paused. “To put it bluntly, we didn’t deserve it. So the original Angels, the True Immortals—twelve Archangels, mostly male, but we’ll talk more about that when we discuss the suffragette movement—came forward and presented their case to the U.S. government. They were led by Gabriel and came to be known as the Council of Twelve. With the help of President Grant, Angels made their power into a service and entered American capitalism.”
    Mr. Rankin wrote
American capitalism
under
Civil War
and circled it. He began slowly pacing in front of the room again. “The Angels organized themselves into classes, formed families, and started having children. These Born Immortals matured to adulthood at a human rate, but then their aging almost came to a halt. Born Immortals do appear to slightly age over a very long span of time, although the Council officially claims they are immortal. They, in turn, had more children. As their numbers grew, the National Angel Services was formed. Now, who can tell me about the NAS?”
    No takers. Mr. Rankin’s eyes scanned the room and fell on Maddy curled up in her chair, her head nodding.
    “Maddy?”
    Maddy looked up, surprised. “Yes?”
    “We’re waiting.”
    “I’m sorry, could you repeat the question?”
    Mr. Rankin gave a tight smile and walked toward her. “Repeating the question won’t do any good if you haven’t done the reading.”
    Maddy sat up and cleared her throat. She felt confidence flare in her quiet gaze, and the small history teacher stopped walking and stood where he was.
    “The National Angel Services opened in 1910 in Angel City, and a group of Born Immortal Archangels was created to oversee it. The original Council of Twelve male True Immortals granted the NAS powers to regulate the employment of Guardian Angels all over the world, and the system was called protection-for-pay. The governing body of Archangels spread Angels across the globe, but everything stayed headquartered in Angel City.”
    Mr. Rankin’s eyebrows rose. He opened his mouth to speak, but Maddy continued: “Still, no one knew where the Angels came from. Every religion and culture has their own stories of supernatural protectors and messengers, guides. According to the Council, and then the NAS, this was who the Angels were. Beyond that, where they came from depends on what church you attend—if you attend church at all. The Council left the debate to the scholars and preachers, keeping most of their secrets from the public. Most