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He considered this for a moment "Why did you call the Announcers the shadows the other day ere talking on the boat?" He considered this for a moment "Why did you call the Announcers the shadows the other day ere talking on the boat?"

"It just slipped out When I was growing up, they alere part of the shadows They'd detach and come to me So that's what I called theed "Stupid, really"

"It's not stupid" Steven stood up and went to the farthest bookshelf He pulled down a thick book with a dusty red cover and brought it back to the desk Plato: The Republic Steven opened it to the exact page he'd been looking for, turning the book right side up in front of Luce

It was an illustration of a group ofa wall A re blazed behind the at the shadows cast on the wall by a second group of e, a caption read: The Allegory of the Cave

"What is this?" Luce asked Her knowledge of Plato started and ended with the fact that he palled around with Socrates

"Proof of why your name for the Announcers is actually quite sine that theseonly the shadows on this wall They come to understand the world and what happens in it fro what casts the shadows They don't even understand that what they are seeing are shadows"

She looked just beyond Steven's nger to the second group of men "So they can never turn around, never see the people and things creating the shadows?"

"Exactly And because they can't see what is actually casting the shadows, they assume that what they can see--these shadows on the wall--are reality They have no idea that the shadows aremuch truer andyou this?"

Luce shook her head "You wantwith the Announcers?"

Steven closed the book with a snap, then crossed to the other side of the room She felt as if she'd disappointed him somehow

"Because I don't believe you will stopwith the Announcers, even if I do ask you to But I do want you to understand what you're dealing with the next time you summon one The Announcers are shadows of past events They can be helpful, but they also contain soerous distortions There's a lot to learn A clean, safe su technique; then, of course, once you have honed your talents, the Announcer's noise can be screened out and its h--"

"You h that?"

"Never mind Not yet" Steven turned and sank his hands into his pockets "What were you and Shelby after today?"

Luce felt ushed and unco at all as she'd expected She'd thought maybe detention, so to learn et out Thankfully, Steven seemed to have no idea she had seen Cauess I should say"

"That's all?"

"A else?"

"What else would I be doing?"

It shot through herout to Daniel, trying to send hi As if she'd even kno to do that

"Su theIt was past dusk and Luce's sto down to dinner

"I--I don't know if I can"

Steven's eyes looked warmer than they had earlier, excited al a sort of wish Not a wish for anything material, but a wish to better understand the world, our role in it, and what's to becoht of Daniel, what she wanted most for their relationship She didn't feel she had much of a role in as to become of them--and she wanted one Was that why she'd been able to summon the Announcers before she'd even kno?

Nervously, she centered herself in her chair She closed her eyes She i darkness that stretched fro, lling the space of the openThen oating closer to her