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Shelby h the long, clawlike leaves of the vine iant fern

It was dark under the redwoods, and Luce was glad of Shelby's coht back to the other day, how quickly ti nowhere Suddenly she felt overwhelmed

"If we can nd and catch an Announcer, and if we can even get a gli to work," she said, "what do you think the chances are that the Announcer will have anything to show about et another awful Bible scene likein class?"

Shelby shook her head "Daniel I don't know about But if we can sulimpse an Announcer, then it will have to do with you They're supposed to be suh you won't always be interested in what they have to say Like how you get junk mail mixed with your important mail, but it's still addressed to you"

"How can they besummoner-speci c? That would mean Francesca and Steven were at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah"

"Well, yeah They have been around forever Rumor has it their r?sum?s are pretty i eyes back in your head How else do you think they scored jobs at Shoreline? This is a really good school"

So dark and slipperysleepily in the lengthening shadows from the limb of a redwood tree

"There" Luce pointed, not wasting any ti herself up onto a low branch that stretched behind Shelby Luce had to balance on one foot and lean out all the way to the left just to graze the Announcer with her ngertips "I can't reach it"

Shelby picked up a pinecone and pitched it at the center of the shadohere it draped down from the branch

"Don't!" Luce whispered "You'll piss it o "

"It's pissingso coy Just hold out your hand"

Gri, Luce did as she was told

She watched the pinecone ricochet o the shadow's exposed side, then heard the soft swishing sound that used to ll her ears with dread One side of the shadoas sliding, very slowly, away fro extended arers

Luce hopped o the branch where she'd been standing and approached Shelby, her cold,in her hands

"Here," Shelby said "I'll take half and you take half, just likein class Ew, it's squishy Okayloosen your grip, he's not going anywhere Let him just kind of chill and take shape"

It see at all Luce felt al with the old Ouija board she'd had as a kid An inexplicable energy on the tips of her ngers The feeling of slight, continual movement before she could see any di erence in the Announcer's shape

Then there was a whoosh: It was contracting, folding slowly in on its dark self Soon the whole thing had taken on the size and shape of a large box It hovered just above their ngertips

"Do you see that?" Shelby gasped Her voice was al sound of the shadow "Look, there in theclass, a dark veil see burst of color Luce shielded her eyes, watching as the bright light seey out-of-focus ie Then, nally, into distinct shapes inroom The back of a blue plaid recliner with the footrest kicked up and a badly fraying botto a rerun of Mork & Mindy with the volume oA fat Jack Russell terrier curled on a round patchwork rug

Luce watched a swinging door push open frorand a pink-and-white patterned dress, heavy white tennis shoes, and thick glasses on a string around her neck She was carrying a tray of cut fruit

"Who are these people?" Luce wondered aloud

When the old woman put down the tray on the co ee table, a liver-spotted hand extended from around the chair and selected a chunk of banana

Luce leaned in to see e shifted with her Like a 3-D panora in the recliner He was frail, with a few thin patches of white hair and age spots all over his forehead HisA row of framed pictures lined thein Luce's ears got louder, so loud itother than wonder about those pictures, the Announcer's i of whiplash--and an extreold-plated fraraph had a ne scalloped border around a yellowing black-and- white iraph: Hers and Daniel's

Holding her breath, she studied her own face, which looked just a little younger than it did now Dark shoulder-length hair set in pincurls A white blouse with a Peter Pan collar A wide A-line skirt brushing theDaniel's He was looking directly at her, s, then quaking; then the ie inside started to icker and fade away

"No," Luce called, ready to lunge inside Her shoulders connected with the edge of the Announcer, but that was as far as she got A brush of bitter cold pushed her back and left her skin feeling daet any wild ideas," Shelby warned "Don't get any wild ideas," Shelby warned

Too late

The screen went black and the Announcer dropped fro into pieces like broken black glass Luce suppressed a whimper Her chest heaved She felt like a part of her had died