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Luce cracked her knuckles Maybe Cam only liked it because its polished pinkish stone stood out aray ones? Or because of the intricate whorls in the crest along the top? She raised an eyebrow at hied "I just like how the headstone explains the way he died It's honest, you know? Usually, people don't want to go there"

Luce looked away She knew that all too well from the inscrutable epitaph on Trevor's to this place would be if everyone's cause of death was chiseled in" He pointed to a srave a few plots down from Joseph Miley's "How do you think she died?"

"U over

She traced the dates with her fingers The girl buried here had been younger than Luce when she died Luce didn't really want to think too hard about how it ht have happened

Ca "Maybe," he said "Either that or aan innocent 'nap' with the neighbor boy"

Luce started to pretend to act offended, but instead Ca tiuy Sure, this scene was a bitlot flirtations she was used to, but so were the students at Sword & Cross For better or worse, Luce was one of them now

She followed Caraveyard and the more ornate tombs and mausoleums

On the slope above, the headstones see down at them, like Luce and Calowed orange through the leaves of a giant live oak tree in the cemetery, and Luce shaded her eyes with her hands It was the hottest day they'd had all week

"Now, this guy," Cae toer

He suffocated when a beaoes to show you, never hide out from a Confederate roundup"

"Is that so?" Luce asked "Remind me what makes you the expert on all of this?" Even as she teased hied to be there with Ca

"It's just a sixth sense" He flashed her a big, innocent grin "If you like it, there's a seventh sense, and an eight sense, and a ninth sense where that came from"

"Impressive" She sht now I'"

"At your service" Ca and spread it out in a scrap of shade under the live oak tree He unscrewed a ther espresso She didn't usually drink her coffee black, but she watched as he filled a tumbler with ice, poured the espresso over it, and added just the right aar," he said

"I don't take sugar" She took a sip from the bone-dry iced latte, her first delicious sip of Sword & Cross-prohibited caffeine all week

"That's lucky," Careide as she watched hiuette, a small round of oozy cheese, a terra-cotta tub of olives, a bowl of deviled eggs, and two bright green apples It didn't see -

or that he'd been planning on eating all this food by hiet this?" Luce asked Pretending to focus on tearing off a hunk of bread, she asked,

"And who else were you planning on picnicking with before I cahed "I can hardly reave hihtest of snide looks so he'd know that she found the remark incredibly cheesy

and just a little bit chars crossed at the ankles

Ca her, and when he reached over her for the cheese knife, his arm brushed, then rested on, the knee of her black jeans He looked up at her, as if to ask, Is this okay?

When she didn't flinch, he stayed there, taking the hunk of baguette fro like a tabletop while he spread a triangle of cheese onto the bread She liked the feeling of his weight on her, and in this heat, that was saying so

"I'll start with the easier question first," he said, finally sitting back up "I help out in the kitchen a couple of days a week Part of ree back'"

He rolled his eyes "But I don't uess I like the heat That is, if you don't count the grease burns" He held out his upturned wrists to expose dozens of tiny scars on his forearms,

"Occupational hazard," he said casually "But I do get the run of the pantry"

Luce couldn't resist running her fingers along the back into his paler skin Before she could feel erabbed her hand and squeezed

Luce stared at his fingers wrapped around hers She hadn't realized before how closely the shades of their skin matched In a landscape of southern sunbathers, Luce's paleness had always , so noticeable, alht look the same to him Her shoulders shivered and she felt a little dizzy

"Are you cold?" he asked quietly

When she met his eyes, she knew he knew she wasn't cold

He scooted closer on the blanket and dropped his voice to a whisper "Now I guess you're going to want h the kitchenand packed all this up in the hopes of convincing you to skip class with me?"