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Prologue

EIGHTEEN DAYS

Luce planned on keeping her eyes closed all six hours of the cross-country ight froht up until the moment when the wheels of the plane touched down in San Francisco Half asleep, she found it so much easier to pretend she was already reunited with Daniel

It felt like a lifetih it had really only been a few days Ever since they’d said goodbye at Sword & Cross on Friday y The absence of his voice, his wars: it had sunk into her bones, like a strange illness

An arainst hers, and Luce opened her eyes She was face to face with a wide-eyed, brown-haired guy a few years older than her

"Sorry," they both said at the sa a few inches on either side of the plane’s ar The plane wasits descent into San Francisco, and Luce had never seen anything like it before As they traced the south side of the bay, a winding blue tributary seeh the earth on its way to the sea The streareen eld on one side froht red and white on the other She pressed her forehead to the double plastic pane and tried to get a better view

"What is that?" she wondered aloud

"Salt," the guy answered, pointing He leaned in closer "They mine it out of the Paci c"

The ansas so simple, sohuman Almost a surprise after the time she’d spent with Daniel and the other--she was still unpracticed at using the terels and deht-blue water, which seemed to stretch forever west Sun-over-water had alwaysto Atlantic coast?raised Luce But out here, it was alht

"You’re not from around here, are you?" her seatue She kept staring out theBefore she’d left Georgia thisa low pro le The other teachers had been told that Luce’s parents had requested a transfer It was a lie As far as Luce’s parents, Callie, and anyone else knew, she was still enrolled at Sword & Cross

A feeeks before, this would have infuriated her But the things that had happened in those nal days at Sword & Cross had left Luce a person who took the world limpsed a snapshot of another life--one of so many she’d shared with Daniel before She’d discovered a love ht possible And then she’d seen all of that threatened by a crazy, dagger- wielding old woht she could trust

There were more out there like Miss Sophia, that Luce knew But no one had told her how to recognize them Miss Sophia had seemed normal, up until the end Could the others look as innocent asthis brown-haired guy sitting next to her? Luce sed, folded her hands on her lap, and tried to think about Daniel

Daniel was taking her so for her in one of those gray plastic airport chairs, elbows on knees, his blond head tucked between his shoulders Rocking back and forth in his black Converse sneakers Standing up every few e carousel

There was a jolt as the plane touched down Suddenly she was nervous Would he be as happy to see her as she was to see hie pattern on the cloth seat in front of her Her neck felt sti froht and her clothes had a stale, stu y airline sround crew outside thesee time to direct the plane to its Jetway Her knees bobbed with i in California for a while?" The guy next to her o ered a lazy set up

"Why would you say that?" she asked quickly "What would e red du el bag and all"

Luce inched away frouy until two o when he’d jarred her awake How did he know about her luggage?

"Hey, nothing creepy" He shot her a strange look "I was just standing behind you in line when you checked in"

Luce smiled aardly "I have a boyfriend" streamed from her uy coughed "Got it"

Luce grimaced She didn’t knohy she’d said that She didn’t want to be rude, but the seat belt light went o and all she wanted to do was barrel past this guy and right o the plane He ed backward in the aisle and swept his hand forward As politely as she could, Luce pushed past and bounded toward the exit

Only to get caught in a bottleneck of agonizing slowness on the Jetway Silently cursing all the casual Californians shu ing in front of her, Luce stood on her toes and shifted from foot to foot By the time she stepped into the terminal, she’d driven herself half insane with impatience

Finally, she could ot all about the guy she’d just ot to feel nervous that she’d never been to California in her life--never been further west than Branson, Missouri, that ti standup And for the rst tis she’d seen at Sword & Cross She was headed toward the only thing in the world that had the power tothat could h--all the shadows, that unreal battle in the cemetery, and worst of all, the heartbreak of Penn’s death--

There he was

Sitting exactly as she’d iray chairs, next to an auto behind him For a second, Luce stood still and just enjoyed the view closing behind him For a second, Luce stood still and just enjoyed the view

Daniel earing ip- ops and dark jeans she’d never seen before, and a stretched-out red T-shirt that was ripped near the front pocket He looked the same, yet sooodbye the other day And was it just that she’d missed him so much, or was his skin even more radiant than she remembered? He looked up and nally saw her His s toward him Within a second, his arms were around her, her face buried in his chest, and Luce let out the longest, deepest breath Her mouth found his and they sank into a kiss She went slack and happy in his arms