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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 froo 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 frouy 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 ceht be worth surviving

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

She hadn't realized it until now, but a part of her had wondered whether she'd ever see hiht have been a dream The love she felt, the love that Daniel reciprocated, all still felt so surreal

Still caught up in his kiss, Luce lightly pinched his bicep Not a drea, she felt like she was home

"You're here," he whispered into her ear

"You're here"

"We're both here"

They laughed, still kissing, eating up every bit of the sweet aardness at seeing each other again But when Luce was least expecting it, her laugh turned into a sni e She was looking for a way to say how hard the last few days had been for her--without hiily aware that everything had changed--but in Daniel's arms now, she failed to nd the words

"I know," he said "Let's get your bag and get out of here"

Luce turned toward the baggage carousel and found her neighbor froe du el gripped in his hands "I saw this go by," he said, a forced sood intentions "It's yours, isn't it?"

Before Luce had ti, using only one hand "Thanks, h to end the conversation

The guy watched as Daniel slid his other hand around Luce's waist and steered her away This was the rst time since Sword & Cross that Luce had been able to see Daniel as the world did, her rst chance to wonder whether other people could tell, just by looking, that there was so extraordinary about hilass doors and she took her rst real breath of the West Coast The early-Novey and chilled like the Savannah air this afternoon when her plane had taken oThe sky was a brilliant bright blue, no clouds on the horizon Everything looked new- lot held row after row of recently washed cars A line of reen trees, one hill rolling into the next

She was not in Georgia anymore

"I can't decide whether to be surprised," Daniel teased "I let you out frouy swoops in"

Luce rolled her eyes "Coht" She nudged hi of you"