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They’d barely spoken since she’d coh the Announcer

"Can I talk to you?" Miles asked very quietly "Luce?" The look on his face--it was strained about so--made Luce think of those last few moments in her parents’ backyard when Miles had thrown her reflection

They’d never really talked about the kiss they’d shared on the roof outside her Shoreline dorm room

Surely Miles knew it had been ahim on every time she was nice to hi at Miles’ side "I thought I’d o visit Penn for a moment, noould be the tilanced apologetically at Miles but he just tugged his baseball cap over his eyes and turned to whisper sonantly She was standing behind Daniel, trying to read the book over his shoulder "What aboutback to Shoreline," Gabbe said, sounding more like Luce’s teachers at Shoreline than Luce had ever noticed before "We need you to alert Steven and Francesca We may need their help--and your help, too

Tell the That an endgah not as we’d expected Tell the They will knohat to do"

"Fine," Shelby said, scowling "You’re the boss"

"Yodelayhee-hooooo" Arriane cupped her palet out, soonna have to help her down fro sheepish

"I made a library book barricade near the entrance in case any of the Sword & Cross-eyeds felt inclined to disrupt us"

"Dibs" Cah the crook of Luce’s elbow She started to argue, but none of the other angels seemed to think it was a bad idea Daniel didn’t even notice

Near the back exit, Shelby and Miles both rees of fierceness

Ca warether they looked out at the carown close, where he’d tricked her into kissing him They weren’t all bad h thefirst, landing se, and he held out a hand for hers

"Milady"

His grip was strong and it htless as Cae, two stories in two seconds His wings were concealed, but he stillThey landed softly on the dewy grass

"I take it you don’t want eneral"

"Right No, thanks"

He looked away and reached into his pocket, pulled out a tiny silver bell It looked ancient, with Hebreriting on it He handed it to her "Just ring when you want a lift back up"

"Cam," Luce said "What is my role in all of this?" Cam reached out to touch her cheek, then seemed to think better of it His hand hovered in the air "Daniel’s right It isn’t our place to tell you" He didn’t wait for her response--just bent his knees and soared off the ground He didn’t even look back

Luce stared at the ca the familiar Sword & Cross humidity stick to her skin She couldn’t tell whether the diss and sad, defeated landscaping looked different or the sah the flat still grass of the coate of the ceoose bumps rise on her arms

The cemetery still looked and smelled like a sinkhole in the els’

battle had cleared It was still early enough that most of the students were asleep, and anyway, none of the the ce detention She let herself in through the gate and araves

In the far east corner lay Penn’s final resting place

Luce sat down at the foot of her friend’s plot She didn’t have flowers and she didn’t know any prayers, so she lay her hands on the cold, wet grass, closed her eyes, and sent her own kind of ht never reach her

Luce got back to the libraryfeeling irritable

She didn’t need Cae by herself

It was easy enough to scale the lowest portion of the sloped roof, and from there she could cli narrow ledge beneath the library s It was about two feet wide

As she crept along it, Ca voices wafted to her

"What if one of us were to be intercepted?" Caer united, Daniel"

"If we don’t th won’t matter We’ll be erased "

She could picture them on the other side of the wall

Ca; Daniel stolid and immovable, his arms crossed over his chest

"I don’t trust you not to act on your own behalf" Caer than your word"