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It was calling to her

She answered, reaching inside herself, drawing on that glow to guide the shadow up off the ground

The shard of darkness peeled itself off the white snow and took shape as itall around her, and it swept toward Luce like a giant, dark sheet of paper Her fingers were cracked and nuer, controlled shape It e wind from its core The portal ide and stable before Luce realized she was out of breath

You're getting good at this, Bill said There was a strange edge to his voice that Luce didn't waste ti proud of herself--though sonize that if Miles or Shelby had been here, they'd have been doing cartwheels right now It was by far the best su she'd ever done on her own

But they weren't here Luce was on her own, so all she could do was move on to the next life, observebegan to es for a latch or a knob, just some way in Finally, the Announcer creaked open

Luce took a deep breath She looked back at Bill Are you corabbed hold of her lapel like the reins on a horse, and the two of theh

LHASA, TIBET ? APRIL 30, 1740

Luce gasped for breath

She'd come out of the dark of the Announcer into a swirl of fast-ful stabbed at her chest She couldn't see's cool white vapor blew her hair back, rode along her open arone

Luce saw that she was standing at the edge of the highest cliff she'd ever seen She wobbled and staggered back, dizzy when she saw her feet dislodge a pebble It rolled forward a few inches and over the edge, pluain, this tihts

Breathe, Bill coached her More people pass out up here froen than froen

Luce inhaled carefully That was slightly better She lowered the dirty mink on her shoulders and enjoyed the sun on her face But she still couldn't get used to the view

Stretching away fro valley spotted hat looked like far intoht into one of the steep mountainsides, was a formidable palace Majestically white and capped by deep-red roofs, its outer walls were festooned with more staircases than she could count The palace looked like so out of an ancient fairy tale

What is this place? Are we in China? she asked

If we stood here long enough, ould be, Bill said But right now, it's Tibet, thanks to the Dalai Lama That's his pad over there He pointed at the monster palace Swanky, eh?

But Luce wasn't following his finger She'd heard a laugh from somewhere nearby and had turned to seek out its source

Her laugh The soft, happy laugh she hadn't knoas hers until she'd ures a few hundred yards away along the cliff She'd have to claet closer, but it wouldn't be that difficult She hunched in her h the snoard the sound

Whoa there Bill grabbed her by the collar of the coat Do you see any place for us to take cover?

Luce looked around the bare landscape: all rocky drop-offs and open spaces Nothing even to serve as shelter from the wind

We're above the tree line, pal And you're s back here

But I can't see a thing--

Coat pocket, Bill said You're welcome She felt around in the pocket of the coat--the sa at the funeral in Prussia--and pulled out a brand-new, very expensive-looking pair of opera glasses She didn't bother asking Bill where or when he'd got them, she just held them up to her eyes and twisted the focus

There

The two of the each other, several feet apart Her past self's black hair was knotted in a girlish bun, and her woven linen dress was the pink of an orchid She looked young and innocent She was s back and forth on her feet like she was nervous, watching his everylook in them; a bunch of round white peonies were in his ar her laugh harder each tilasses, Luce noticed that their fingers never touched They kept a certain distance fro

In the other lives she'd spied upon, Luce had seen so er But here, it was different Luce's body began to buzz, eager for just one moment of physical connection between them If she couldn't touch Daniel, at least her old self could

But they were just standing there, noalking in circles Never getting any closer to each other or any farther apart

Every once in a while, their laughter would carry over to Luce again

Well? Bill kept trying to squish his little face next to Luce's so he could look through one of the lenses of the opera glasses What's the word?

They're just talking They're flirting kind of like they're strangers, but at the same tiet it

So they're taking it slow What's wrong with that? Bill asked Kids today, they just want things to go fast--boo it slow, I just-- Luce broke off

Her past self fell to her knees She began to rock back and forth, holding her head, then her heart A horrified look crossed Daniel's face He looked so stiff in his white pants and tunic, like a statue of hi at the sky, his lips irl's hazel eyes had gone wild and fiery, like soh-pitched screaround and buried his face in his hands He reached out for her, but his hand hung in the air without ever connecting with her skin His body crumpled and quaked, and when it mattered most, he looked away

Luce was the only one watching as the girl became, out of nowhere, a column of fire So fast

The acrid slistened--ith tears He looked as miserable as he had looked every other time she'd watched him watch her die But this ti was different So