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They were h heels, and tied at the ankle with an elegant silver bow

What had she done?

Then she realized what Bill hadthree-D

She had literally stepped into Lys's body

Luce glanced around her, terrified To her horror, all the other girls in line were motionless In fact, everyone Luce looked at was frozen stiff It was if the entire party had been put on Pause

See? Bill's voice caht?

What's happening, Bill? Her voice was rising

Right now, not a whole lot I had to put the brakes on the party, lest you freak out Once we're straight on the three-D business, I'll start it back up again

Sono one can see this right now? Luce asked, waving her hand slowly in front of the face of the pretty brunette girl who'd been standing in front of Lys The girl didn't flinch She didn't blink Her face was frozen in an unending open his tongue near the ear of an older ers, inches froers

Luce exhaled, onceBill's help She needed a few et used to the idea that she as she really-- I'm inside my past self, she said

Yes

Then where did I go? Where's my body?

You're in there soain when--Well, when the tiht But for now, you've slipped entirely inside your past Like a cute little turtle in a borrowed shell Except it's s are entwined, so all sorts of good stuff coe Her memories, her passions, her rapple with her shortcos This one, if I recall, puts her foot in her , Luce whispered So if I could just find Daniel, I'd be able to feel exactly what she feels toward hiuess, but you do realize that once I snap ations at this ball that don't include Daniel This isn't really his scene, and by that I uards would let a poor stable boy in here

Luce didn't care about any of that Poor stable boy or not, she would find him She couldn't wait Inside Lys's body she could even hold him, maybe even kiss hi

Hello? Bill flicked a hard finger against her temple You ready yet? Get in there, see what you can see--then get out while the getting's good, if you knohat I own and held her head a little higher Snap to it

Andgo Bill snapped his fingers

For a split second, the party snagged like a scratched record Then everycarried through the air, every drop of punch sliding down every bejeweled throat, every note of music from every player in the orchestra, picked up, s in the world had happened

Only Luce had changed Her es A sprawling thatch-roofed country house in the foothills of the Alps A chestnut-colored horse na-stemmed white peony laid across her pillow And Daniel Daniel Daniel Co back from the ith four heavy buckets of water balanced fro Gauche first thing everyso Lys could take him for a ride When it ca Daniel overlooked, even in the midst of all the labor he did for her father His violet eyes finding her always Daniel in her dreams, in her heart, in her arms It was like the flashes of Luschka's memories that had coate--but stronger, , intrinsically a part of her

Daniel was here In the stables or the servants' quarters He was here And she would find hi rustled near Luce's neck She jumped

Just reat

The great golden doors at the head of the room were eased open by two footirls in line in front of Luce began to titter with excitement, and then a hush swept the roo for the fastest way out of here and into Daniel's ar her mind You're about to be called into duty

The strings of the orchestra began playing the baroque opening chords of the Ballet de Jeunesse, and the whole rooaze and gasped: She recognized theout at the party with a patch over one eye

It was the Duc de Bourbon, the cousin of the king

He was tall and skinny, as wilted as a bean plant in a drought His ill-fitting blue velvet suit was ornas on his twig-thin legs His ostentatious powdered wig and his ly