Page 24 (2/2)

She smelled the soft mildewy scent rst, almost like black olives, then opened her eyes at the brush of coolness on her cheek The terees Steven rubbed his hands together in the suddenly dao," hein the air of his o ce, thin and transparent, no bigger than a silk scarf It glided straight toward Luce, then wrapped a fuzzy tendril of nothingness around a blown-glass paperweight on the desk Luce gasped Steven was sht until it became a blank black screen

Then it was in her hands, and she began to pull The carefulto stretch out a piecrust without breaking it, so Luce had watched her mother do at least a hundred tirays; then the faintest black-and-white ile bed Luce--a for out the openShe must have been sixteen years old The door behind the bed opened, and a face, lit up by the hallway light, appeared in it The one to see with Shelby! But younger, lasses perched at the end of her nose She s, then pulled the door shut

A ripped the bottom of the pane Luce's eyes widened as the forertips strained; then a pair of hands becaht Then Daniel's glowing face as he ca She wanted to pe into the Announcer, as she'd wanted to yesterday with Shelby But then Steven clicked his ngers and the whole thing snapped up like a venetian blind rolling to the top of aframe Then it broke apart and showered down

The shadow lay in soft fragrated in her hands

Steven sat down behind his desk, probing Luce with his eyes as if to see what the glimpse had done to her It suddenly felt very private, what she'd just witnessed in the Announcer; she didn't knohether she wanted Steven to knoerfully it had rocked her After all, he was technically on the other side In the past few days she'd seen more andup until he literally steanetic and char, just like Cam--and, she relorious golden wings, too Steven was , just like Cam--and, she reminded herself, just like Ca et hurt," Steven barely whispered

"Did that really happen?"

Steven looked away "It's a representation of so And who kno distorted it is It's a shadow of a past event, not reality There is always some truth to the Announcer, but it's never the simple truth That's what erous to those without proper training" He glanced at his watch Fro on the landing Steven sti ened when he heard a quick set of high heels clicking up the stairs

Francesca

Luce tried to read Steven's face He handed her The Republic, which she slipped into her backpack Just before Francesca's beautiful face appeared in the doorway, Steven said to Luce, "The next tine research paper with citations This ti"

"I understand" Luce caught Francesca's eye in the doorway

She so dis- a little as she stood and ung her bag over her shoulder, Luceback to Steven, "Thank you"

Shelby had the re going in the hearth when Luce got back to her dorht-light and the whole room smelled like tomatoes

"We were out of mac and cheese, but I -hot bowlful, cracked soht it over to Luce, who'd collapsed on top of her bed "Was it terrible?"

Luce watched the steaure out what to say Bizarre, yes Confusing A little scary Potentiallye

But it hadn't been terrible, no

"It was okay" Steven see to allow her to continue su the Announcers And the other students seemed to trust him, even admire hiiances But with Luce he was so cryptic, so di cult to read

Luce had trusted the wrong people before A careless pursuit at best At worst, it's a good way to get yourself killed That hat Miss Sophia had said about trust the night she'd tried to murder Luce

It was Daniel who'd advised Luce to trust her instincts But her own feelings seemed the most unreliable She wondered whether Daniel had already known about Shoreline when he'd told her that, whether his advice was a way to prepare her for this long separation, when she would beco in her life Her family Her past Her future

She looked up from the bowl at Shelby "Thanks for the soup"

"Don't let Steven thwart your plans," Shelby hu ed "We should totally keep working on the Announcers I aels and demons and their power trips `Oooh, we know better than you because we're full-on angels and you're just the bastard child of sohed, but she was thinking that Steven's ht was the opposite of a power trip Of course, there was no telling Shelby that now, not when she'd dropped into her usual I'ainst-Shoreline routine on Luce's botto on with Daniel," Shelby continued, "but seriously, what good has an angel ever done for etically

"I'll tell you: nothing Nothing besides knock up my mom and then totally ditch both of us before I was born Real celestial behavior" Shelby snorted "The kicker is, rateful For what? These watered-doers and this enormous forehead I inherited froive anything to just be normal"

"Really?" Luce had spent the whole week feeling inferior to her Nephilireener, but this she couldn't believe What advantage could Shelby possibly see in not having her Nephilim powers?