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In the hallway behind Shelby, a bleached-blond head hovered Shelby's ex-boyfriend His skin was ghost-white, and Shelby was right: There was so odd about his eyes How pale they were

"For the last tioodbye, Phil" Shelby quickly shut the door in his face

"Who was that?" Roland asked

"My skeeze-and-a-half ex-boyfriend"

"See at the door, distracted

"Interesting?" Shelby snorted "A restraining order would be interesting" She took one look at Luce's suitcase, then at Miles's du el, then haphazardly started throwing her belongings into a squat black trunk

Arriane threw up her hands "Can't you do anything without an entourage?" she asked Luce Then, turning to Roland, "I assume you want to take responsibility for this one, too?"

"That's the holiday spirit!" Roland laughed "We're going to the Prices' for Thanksgiving," he told Shelby, whose face lit up "The more the merrier"

Luce couldn't believe how perfectly everything orking out Thanksgiving with her family and Callie and Arriane and Roland and Shelby and Miles She couldn't have scripted this any better

Only one thing nagged at her And it seriously nagged

"What about Daniel?"

She meant: Does he know about this trip already? and What's the real story between him and Ca that Miles is co up at h he says he can't see me?

Arriane cleared her throat "Yes, what about Daniel?" she repeated quietly "Time will tell"

"So do we have plane tickets or so, I need to packpad You don't want to see me at thirty- ve thousand feet without theers

Near his feet, the shadow cast by the open door peeled itself o the hardwood planks, rising the way a trapdoor ust of cold swept up from the oor, followed by a bleak blast of darkness It smelled like wet hay as it shrank into a small, compact sphere But then, at a nod from Roland, it ballooned into a tall black portal It looked like the sort of door that would lead to a restaurant kitchen, the swinging kind with a round glassin the top Only, this one was , and all that was visible through the as a darker, swirling blackness

"That looks just like the one I read about in the book," Miles said, clearly ie was a weird sort of trapezoidal " He smiled at Luce "But we still made it work"

"Stick with me, kid," Roland said, "and you'll see what it's like to travel in style"

Arriane rolled her eyes "He's such a show-o "

Luce cocked her head at Arriane "But I thought you said--"

"I know" Arriane put up a hand "I know I repeated that whole spiel about how dangerous Announcer travel is And I don't want to be one of those sucky do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do angels But we all agreed--Francesca and Steven, Mr Cole, everyone--"

Everyone? Luce couldn't group the piece Where was Daniel in all of this?

"Besides" Arriane smiled proudly "We're in the presence of a master Ro's one of the very best Announcer travelers" And then, in a whispered aside to Roland, "Don't let it go to your head"

Roland swung open the Announcer's door It groaned and creaked on shadow hinges and swung open onto a dank, yawning pit of eain that erous?" Miles asked

Arriane pointed around the rooa ht not knohich Announcer to step through And believe us, there are always uninvited lurkers, waiting for someone to accidentally open them"

Luce remembered the sickly brown shadow she'd tripped over The uninvited lurker that had given her the nightlimpse of Ca Announcer, it's very easy to get lost," Roland explained "To not have any idea where--or when--you're stepping through to But as long as you stick with us, you don't have anything to worry about"

Nervously, Luce pointed into the belly of the Announcer She didn't re quite so murky and dark Or maybe she just hadn't known the consequences until now "We're not just going to pop up in the middle of ht pass out froue, guiding Luce, then Miles, and then Shelby to stand before the Announcer "Have a little faith" It was like pushing through a , clammy and unpleasant It slid and coiled over Luce's skin and stuck in her lungs when she breathed An echo of ceaseless white noise lled up the tunnel like a waterfall The two other ti and hurried, catapulting though darkness to coht This was di erent She'd lost track of where and when she was, even of who she was and where she was going

Then there was a strong hand yanking her out

When Roland let her go, the echoing waterfall trickled to a drip, and a whi of chlorine lled her nose A ping board A fa lined with broken stained-glass panels The sun had passed over the high s, but its light still cast faint colored pris the walls, candles ickered in stone recesses, throwing o a diymnasium anywhere

"Oh my God," Luce whispered "We're back at Sword and Cross"

Arriane scanned the room quickly and without a ection "As far as your parents are concerned when they pick us up to Got it?"

Arriane acted as if returning to Sword & Cross for the night was no di erent than checking into a nondescript motel The jolt back to this part of her life, however, hit Luce like a slap across the face She hadn't liked it here Sword & Cross was a s had happened to her She'd fallen in love here, had watched a close friend die More than anywhere else, this was a place where she had changed