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The pain on his face took hold of Luce's heart and squeezed, wringing her out completely On top of all the pain and confusion she felt, seeing his agony orse

This was how he felt every life

Every death

Over and over and over again

Luce had been wrong to iine that Daniel was selfish It wasn't that he didn't care It was that he cared so much, it wrecked him She still hated it, but she suddenly understood his bitterness, his reservations about everything Mileslike Daniel's

It never could be

Daniel! she cried, and left the shadows, racing toward him

She wanted to return all the kisses and e to her past self She knerong, that everything rong

Daniil's eyes widened A look of abject horror crossed his face

What is this? he said slowly Accusingly As if he hadn't just let his Luschka die As if Luce's being there orse than watching Luschka die He raised his hand, painted black with ash, and pointed at her What's going on?

It was agony to have him look at her this way She stopped in her tracks and blinked a tear away

Answer hiet here?

Luce would have recognized the haughty voice anywhere She didn't need to see Cam step out of the doorway of the bomb shelter

With a soft snap and rureat wings They stretched out behind hi than usual Luce couldn't keep herself frolow on the dark street

Luce squinted, trying to make sense of the scene in front of her There werein the shadows Now they all stepped forward

Gabbe Roland Molly Arriane

All of thehtly forward A shiht on the dark street They looked tense Their wing tips quivered, as if ready to spring into battle

For once, Luce didn't feel intiazes She felt disgusted

Do you all watch it every time? she asked

Luschka, Gabbe said in an even voice Just tell us what's going on

And then Daniil was there, gripping her shoulders Shaking her

Luschka!

I' away fro up a half dozen steps

She was horrified How they could live with themselves? How they could all just sit back and watch her die?

It was all too much She wasn't ready to see this

Why are you looking at me like that? Daniil asked She's not who you think she is, Daniil, Gabbe said Luschka's dead This isthis is--

"What is she?" Daniil asked How is she standing here? When--

Look at her clothes She's clearly--

Shut up, Caht not be, Arriane said, but she looked fearful, too, that Luce ht be whatever Ca fro down on the buildings across the street, deafening Luce, igniting a wooden warehouse The angels had no concern for the war going on around them, only for her There were twenty feet noeen Luce and the angels, and they looked as wary of her as she felt of theht fro, Daniil's shadoas thrown far ahead of his body She focused on su it to her Would it work? Her eyes narrowed, and every muscle in her body tensed She was still so cluet the shadow into her hands

When the dark lines began to quiver, she pounced She gripped the shadoith both hands and started twirling the dark mass into a ball, just as she'd seen her teachers, Steven and Francesca, do on one of her first days at Shoreline Just-summoned Announcers were always messy and amorphous They needed first to be spun into a distinct contour Only then could they be pulled and stretched into a larger flat surface Then the Announcer would transforlih which to step

This Announcer was sticky, but she soon pulled it apart, guided it into shape She reached inside and opened the portal

She couldn't stay here any longer She had a mission now: to find herself alive in another time and learn what price the Outcasts had referred to, and eventually, to trace the origin of the curse between Daniel and her

Then to break it

The others gasped as she manipulated the Announcer

When did you learn how to do that? Daniil whispered

Luce shook her head Her explanation would only baffle Daniil

Lucinda! The last thing she heard was his voice calling out her true naht at his stricken face but hadn't seen his lipstricks

Lucinda! he shouted oncein panic, just before Luce dove headfirst into the beckoning darkness

Chapter Two

HEAVEN SENT

MOSCOW OCTOBER 15, 1941

Lucinda! Daniel shouted again, but too late: In that instant she was gone He had only just eed into the bleak, snoept landscape He'd felt a flash of light behind him and the heat of a blaze nearby, but all he could see was Luce He rushed toward her on the darkened street corner She looked tiny in someone else's threadbare coat She looked scared He'd watched her open up a shadow and then--

No!