Page 2 (1/2)

Never, never, never Luce had too reen backpack she used to take to summer camp, Luce found her favorite pair of pajamas--

the red-and-white-striped flannel set--neatly folded, with the ," Luce said "What do I need pajalance, and this tih

"Just trust us," Roland said

After she was dressed, Luce followed Daniel out of the cabin, letting his broad shoulders buffet the wind as they walked down the pebbly shore to the water

The tiny island off of Tybee was about a mile from the Savannah coastline Across that stretch of sea, Roland had pros were concealed, but hethe place where they unfurled fro is in order, we’ll fly wherever we have to go to stop Lucifer Until then it’s better to stay low to the ground"

"Okay," Luce said

"Race you to the other side?"

Her breath frosted the air "You know I’d beat you"

"True" He slipped an ar her "Maybe we’d better take the boat, then Protect my famous pride"

She watched hiht on the water made her think back to the day they’d raced across the secret lake at Sword & Cross His skin had glistened as they had pulled themselves up to the flat rock in the center to catch their breath, then had lain on the sun-war the day’s heat dry their bodies She’d barely known Daniel then--she hadn’t known he was an angel--and already she’d been dangerously in love with hiether in my lifetime in Tahiti, didn’t we?" she asked, surprised to relisten ater

Daniel stared at her and she kne much it meant to him finally to be able to share some of his ht he ht cry

Instead he kissed her forehead tenderly and said,

"You beat me all those times, too, Lulu" They didn’t talk h for Luce just to watch the way histhe oars dip into and out of the cold water, breathing in the brine of the ocean The sun was rising over her shoulders, war the back of her neck, but as they approached thethat sent a shiver down her spine

She recognized the white 1993 Taurus i?" Daniel noticed Luce’s posture stiffen as the rowboat touched the shore "Oh That" He sounded unconcerned as he hopped out of the boat and held out a hand to Luce The ground wasIt reia forests in the fall, luxuriating in the anticipation of mischief and adventure

"It’s not what you think," Daniel said "When Sophia fled Sword & Cross, after"--Luce waited, wincing, hoping Daniel wouldn’t say after she els confiscated her car" His face hardened "She owes us that ht of Penn’s white face, the life draining from it "Where is Sophia now?"

Daniel shook his head "I don’t know Unfortunately, we’ll probably soon find out I have a feeling she’ll worm her way into our plans" He drew the keys froer door

"But that’s not what you should be worried about right now"

Luce looked at hiray cloth seat "So what should I be worried about right now?" Daniel turned the key, and the car shuddered slowly to life The last ti alone with hiht they’d ever kissed--as far as she’d known then, anyway

Luce was stabbing the seat belt into its buckle when she felt Daniel’s fingers over hers "Re over to buckle her seat belt, letting his hands linger over hers "There’s a trick" He kissed her cheek, then put the car in reverse and peeled out of the oods onto a narroo-lane blacktop They were the only ones on the road

"Daniel?" Luce asked again "What else should I be worried about?"

He glanced at Luce’s paja sick?"

The white Taurus idled in the alley behind her parents’ house as Luce crept past the three azalea trees beside her bedroo out of the black soil, but in winter, the side yard looked barren and dreary and not very much like home She couldn’t remember the last time she’d stood out here She’d sneaked out of three different boarding schools before, but never out of her own parents’ house Now she was sneaking in and she didn’t kno her orked Luce looked around at her sleepy neighborhood, at the e of her parents’ lawn, at the old, netless basketball hoop in the Johnsons’ driveway across the street Nothing had changed since she’d been gone Nothing had changed except Luce If Bill succeeded, would this neighborhood vanish, too?

She gave one last wave to Daniel, watching from the car, took a deep breath, and used her thu blue paint of the sill

It slid right up Someone inside had already popped out the screen Luce paused, stunned as the white muslin curtains parted and the half-blond, half-black head of her onetime enemy Molly Zane filled the open space

"’Sup, Meatloaf"

Luce bristled at the nickname she’d earned on her first day of Sword & Cross This hat Daniel and Roland s at ho here, Molly?"