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"I thought I'd nd you here"

Shelby Luce shook her head and blinked a few times Not just Shelby, but Miles, too Both of thelanced at her watch, not surprised by now to see how long she'd spent gli What were Miles and Shelby still doing up?

"Wh-Whatere you trying to ," Miles sta at the place where the Announcer had been She looked over her shoulder It had splintered into hundreds of shadowy pine needles that rained down, brittle enough to turn to ash where they landed

"I think I' to the side and ai cauilt She'd been too weak and too late to save herself

A cool hand reached around and pulled her short blond waves back froa pants and ip- opped feet and felt a wave of gratitude

"Thanks," she said After a long ot to her feet "Are you ured it out Why do you even need so

"Shelby--"

"No, I'll tell you why you need me," Shelby blurted "To keep you out of catastrophes like the one you alht I add What were you trying to do? Do you knohat happens to people who go inside Announcers?"

Luce shook her head

"Me neither, but I doubt it's pretty!"

"You just have to knohat you're doing," Miles said suddenly from behind them His face looked paler than normal Luce must really have shaken him up

"Oh, and I presued

"No," he mumbled "But one suel who kne, okay?" He turned to Luce "And the way you were doing it? Wasn't even close You really scared me, Luce"

"I' like she'd betrayed the to the caoing," Shelby shot back "We were there for a while, but then Jas about hon had disappeared, and the teachers got all weird, especially when they realized you weretoo, so the party kinda broke up So then I mention casually to Miles that I kind of sort of have an idea what you ht be up to and that I'lue--" Miles that I kind of sort of have an idea what you ht be up to and that I'lue--"

"Wait a minute," Luce broke in "Dawn disappeared?"

"Probably not," Miles o ered "I hty"

"But it was her party," Luce said "She wouldn't miss her own party"

"That hat Jas," Miles o ered "She didn't co, so nally Frankie and Steven instructed us all to go back to the dor doith soreaseball in the woods around here" Shelby rolled her eyes

"No" Luce had a bad feeling about this Dawn had been so excited about the cah there was no way in the world she'd be able to convince any of the Nephilim kids to wear them She wouldn't just disappear--not of her own volition "How long has she been gone?"

When the three of them came out of the woods, Luce was even more shaken up And not just about Dawn She was shaken by what she'd seen in the Announcer Watching death close in on her forony, and this was the rst time she had seen it Daniel, on the other hand, had had to watch it hundreds of times Only now could she understand why he'd been so cold to her when they rst ruesoan to overwhel the lawn to the dorhts were sweeping over the caht tracing the shoreline, sweeping back and forth along the beach A wide line ofthe path froround

Miles said, "That's standard forround uncovered"

"Oh God," Luce said under her breath

"She really is ood kar toward the Nephilie Miles and Shelby followed The path, decked with owers and so pretty in the daylight, now looked overgroith shadow Ahead of the ee, inside each of the two stories, and all around the deck The great A-fraht

Luce could see the scared faces of a lot of the Nephili on the benches around the deck Jased low on her head She was holding Lilith's sti hand for support as two cops with notebooks ran through a bunch of questions Luce's heart went out to the girl She kne horri c that process could be

The cops swar out blown-up black-and-white photocopies of a recent photograph of Dawn that so down at the low-resolution ie, Luce was surprised to see how much Dawn did resemble her--at least, before she'd dyed her hair She re after she'd done it, hon kept joking about their not being Twinkies anyasp with her hand Her head hurt as she began to add up so s that hadn't made sense Until now

The awfulit a secret Daniel's paranoia about "dangers" he'd never explained to Luce The Outcast who'd lured her o campus, the threat that Cam had destroyed in the forest The way Dawn looked so raph

Whoever took Dawn had been mistaken It was Luce they wanted