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Unlike the Outcast Daedalus, the angels didn’t have to close their eyes and go to sleep after they’d downed the transformed soda Maybe because they weren’t as badly beaten, or her tolerance Nonetheless, the drink calesture, Roland clapped his hands, igniting a powerful flame between the their plaster coating,it harder to escape than their cloaks

When he was finished, Roland, Arriane, Annabelle, and Luce sat down on one of the tall tables facing Daniel

Daniel reached for the satchel and unzipped it to show the others the halo

Arriane gasped in awe and reached out to touch it

"You found it" Annabelle winked at Luce "Proper!"

"What about the second relic?" Daniel asked "Did you get it? Did the Scale take it from you?" Annabelle shook her head "We never found it"

"We sure fooled the her eyes in the direction of the Scale "They thought they could beat it out of us"

"Your book is too vague, Daniel," Roland said "We ca for a list"

"The desideratum," Daniel said "I know"

"But that was all we knew In the hours between our arrival and our capture by the Scale, ent to seven different city archives and found nothing It was foolish

We attracted too much attention"

"It’s my fault," Daniel muttered "I should have uncovered o I was too impulsive and impatient in that era Now I can’t recall what led me to the desideratued "It ht not have mattered anyway The city was a minefield by the time we arrived If we’d had the desideratum, they would have only taken it away They would have destroyed it, the way they’ve caused the destruction of this art"

"Most of these pieces were forgeries anyway," Daniel said, uilty about what they’d done to the museum "And for now the Outcasts can handle the Scale The rest of us must hurry to find the desideratu Library?"

Roland nodded

"What about the university library?"

"Um, yeah," Annabelle said, "and we probably shouldn’t show our faces there anytime soon Arriane destroyed several very valuable parchment scrolls in their Special Collections--"

"Hey," Arriane snapped, indignant "I glued theether!"

A thunder of footfalls sounded in the hallway and all heads shot toward the open archway At least twentyto fly into the room, but the Outcasts held them at the doorith their starshots

One of theasped "They have stolen the first relic"

"And they are working together! Angels and demons and"--narrowed eyes fell on Luce--"those who do not know their place, all working together for an impure cause The Throne does not endorse this You will never find the desiderata!"

"Desiderata," Luce said, faintly recalling a long boring lesson in her Latin class at Dover "That’ssingular" She spun around to face Daniel "You said desideratu," Daniel whispered His violet eyes began to pulse, and soon his entire being seenition spread across his face

"It’s just one thing That’s right"

Then the deep gong of a church tower clock sounded soht

Lucifer was another day closer Six days to go

"Daniel Grigori," Phil shouted over the bells, "we cannot hold theo"

"We’re leaving," Daniel called back "Thank you" He faced the angels "We will visit every library, every archive in this city until--"

Roland looked doubtful "There must be hundreds of libraries in Vienna"

"And maybe let’s try not to be so destructive in the her head at Arriane

"Mortals care about their pasts, too" Yes, Luce thought, mortals cared veryto her els readied their wings to fly, Luce stood still, de-bilitated by the most intense flashback

Crimson hair ribbons Daniel and the Christmas market A slushy rainstorm and she hadn’t had a coat The last time she’d been in Viennathere had beenelsea doorbell--

"Daniel" Luce gripped his shoulder "What about the library you tookso h a memory buried shallowly in her brain "We came to Vienna for the weekendI don’t reic Fluteat the Theater an der Wien? You wanted to see this friend of yours orked at some old library, his name was--"

She broke off, because when she opened her eyes, the others were staring at her, incredulous No one, least of all Luce, had expected her to be the one to remember where they would find the desiderata

Daniel recovered first He flashed her a funny smile Luce kneas full of pride But Arriane, Roland, and Annabelle continued to gape at her as if they’d suddenly learned she spoke Chinese Which, coer around inside her ear "Do I need to ease up on the psychedelics, or did LP just recall one of her past lives unprompted at the enius," Daniel said, leaning forward and kissing her deeply

Luce blushed and leaned in to extend the kiss a little longer, but then heard a cough

"Seriously, you two," Annabelle said "There will be tis if we pull this off"