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Torment Lauren Kate 34150K 2023-09-02

Trying not to show that she was feeling , anything she knew anything about

Has experience su the Announcers

The shadows Daniel had told her the proper nah she'd never actually "summoned" them --they'd always just shown up--Luce did have some experience

"You can write me in there" She pointed to the bottom left corner of the paper Both Jasmine and Dawn looked up at her, a little awed but not disbelieving, beforeon to ll in the rest of their sheets Luce's heart slowed down a little Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad

In the next few minutes she met Lilith, a prim redhead as one of three Nephiliial tails," she explained "Mine's curly"); Oliver, a deep-voiced, squat boy who had visited the outerworld on sumin to tell you"); and Jack, who felt like he was on the cusp of being able to read ht if Luce wrote him down for that ("I sense that you're okay with that, aers and clicked his tongue) She had three boxes left when Shelby tugged the paper out of her hands

"I can do both of these," she said, pointing at two of the boxes "Which one do you want es or Has glimpsed a past life

"Wait a liled her eyebrows at Luce and dashed her signature into the box, adding her naoodabout all her own past lives and how frustratingly o -limits they were to her She had underestione Standing in Shelby's place was the boy she'd sat next to inside the classrooht, friendly smile, a splash of freckles on his nose, and clear blue eyes So on his pen, lookedsturdy Luce realized this was a strange word to describe someone she'd never spoken to, but she couldn't help it

"Oh, thank God" He laughed, s you have left"

" `Can re ect a e of self or others'?" Luce read slowly

He tossed his head from side to side and wrote his name in the box Miles Fisher "Real impressive to someone like you, I'm sure"

"Um Yeah" Luce turned away Someone like her, who didn't even knohat that ed her sleeve "Uh-oh You didn't catch the self-e acing joke?" When she shook her head, Miles's face fell "I just ing on The only person I've ever been able to re ect other than myself was my mom Freaked my dad out for about ten seconds, but then it faded"

"Wait" Luce blinked at Miles "You e of your mother?"

"By accident They say it's easy to do with the people you, like, love" He blushed, the faintest rosy pink across his cheekbones "Now you're going to think I'm some kind of mama's boy I just mean `easy' is about where my powers end Whereas you--you're the famous Lucinda Price" He waved his hands in a very ers

"I wish everyone would stop saying that," she snapped Then, feeling rude, she sighed and leaned against the deck's railing to look out at the water It was just so hard to process all these hints that other people here knew more about her than she knew about herself She didn't uy "I'ing on What's your story?"

"Oh, I'erated air quotes "Moenerations back, but all ly low-grade But I'm here because my parents endowed the school with, u on"

"Whoa"

"It's really not i at Shoreline You should hear the pressure I get at hohed--one of the rst real laughs she'd had in days Miles rolled his eyes good-naturedly "So, I saw you having breakfast with Shelby thisShe your rooirls," she joked

"Well, I know she's kind of, u ain "Anyway, I', but I've been around a while, and half the time I still think this place is pretty crazy So if you ever want to have a very nor--"

Luce found herself bobbing her head Normal Music to her mortal ears

"Liketoreat"

Miles grinned and waved goodbye, and Luce realized that all the other students had already gone back inside Alone for the rst ti, she looked down at the sheet of paper in her hand, unsure how to feel about the other kids at Shoreline She , she looked down at the sheet of paper in her hand, unsure how to feel about the other kids at Shoreline She missed Daniel, who could have decoded a lot of this for her if only he hadn't been--where was he, anyway? She didn't even know