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When Caer-side door, Luce's jaw dropped She peered in through the openand watched hiet in soht after I watched you murder someone?"

"If I hadn't killed her"--he fu wheel--"she would have killed you, okay? Who do you think sent you that note? You were lured out of school to be o down any easier?"

Luce leaned against the hood of the truck, not knohat to do She thought back to the conversation she'd had with Daniel, Arriane, and Gabbe right before she'd left Sword & Cross They'd said Miss Sophia and the others in her sect ht come after her "But she didn't look like--are the Outcasts part of the Elders?"

By then Ca He quickly hopped out, walked around, and hustled Luce into the passenger seat "Move along, chop-chop This is like herding a cat" Finally he had her sitting and pulled her seat belt around her "Unfortunately, Luce, you've gotyou back to school where it's safe Right Now"

She didn't think it would be smart to be alone in a car with Ca here on her oas any smarter "Wait a minute," she said as he turned back toward Shoreline "If these Outcasts aren't part of Heaven or Hell, whose side are they on?" she said as he turned back toward Shoreline "If these Outcasts aren't part of Heaven or Hell, whose side are they on?"

"The Outcasts are a sickening shade of gray In case you hadn't noticed, there are worse things out there than me"

Luce folded her hands on her lap, anxious to get back to her dorm room, where she could feel--or at least pretend to feel--safe Why should she believe Cam? She'd fallen for his lies tooworse than you What you wantwhat you tried to do at Sword and Cross was horrible and wrong" She shook her head "You're just trying to trick uhtful, even glu, arched driveway "I never wanted to hurt you, Luce, never"

"Is that why you called all those shadows to battle when I was in the cemetery?"

"Good and evil aren't as clear-cut as you think" He looked out the ard the Shoreline buildings, which appeared dark and uninhabited "You're froht? This time around, anyway So you should understand the freedom that the victors have to rewrite history Semantics, Luce What you think of as evil--well, to my kind, it's a simple problem of connotation"

"Daniel doesn't think so" Luce wished she could have said she didn't think so, but she didn't know enough yet She still felt like she was taking so much of Daniel's explanations on faith

Caot out, and walked around to open the passenger door "Daniel and I are two sides of the sanored him "It must pain you to hear that"

She wanted to say it couldn't possibly be true, that there were no similarities between Cas But in the week she'd been at Shoreline, Luce had seen and heard things that con icted hat she'd once believed She thought of Francesca and Steven They were born of the same place: Once upon a time, before the war and the Fall, there had only been one side Caels and deht was on in herLuce is crossed in the lotus position, o in and pretend she hadn't just seen an angel die? Or that everything that had happened this week hadn't left her riddled with doubts?

"Let's keep this evening's happenings between us, shall we?" Ca forward, do us all a favor and stay on caet into trouble"

She pushed past hihts and into the shadows cloaking the walls of her dorine obnoxiously But before he pulled away, he rolled down theand called out to Luce, "You're welcome"

She turned around "For what?"

He grinned and hit the gas "For saving your life"

Chapter Six

THIRTEEN DAYS

"It's here," a loud voice sang outside Luce's door early the next"It's nally here!"

The knocking grew more insistent Luce didn't knohat ti she could hear on the other side of the door

"Your friends," Shelby called froroaned and slid out of bed She glanced up at Shelby, as propped up on her stomach on the top bunk, already fully dressed in jeans and a pu y red vest, doing the Saturday crossword

"Do you ever sleep?" Luceinto her closet to yank on the purple tartan robe her mother had sewn for her thirteenth birthday It still t her--sort of

She pressed her face against the peephole and saw the convex seared up with bright scarves and fuzzy earmu s Jasmine raised a cup holder with four co ees as Daho had a large brown paper bag in her hand, knocked again