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Heartbreak is its own form of amnesia"

"You know about the wo that Daniel had told her never to mention it

Dee frowned, nodded, and pointed to the yellow arrow in the n?"

"I think it’s beautiful," Luce said

"I do, too," Dee said "I have a si, Dee unbuttoned the top two buttons of her cardigan to reveal a yellow camisole She drew the neckline down a couple of inches, exposing the pale skin of her chest At last, she pointed to a black tattoo over her breast It was precisely the saround

"What does it mean?" Luce asked

Dee patted the skin beneath the tattoo and pulled her camisole back up "I can’t wait to tell you"--she s to face the slope of rock behind the!" The angels and Outcasts had cleared away a portion of the exterior of the rockslide The right angle of two old brick walls rose several feet out of the debris They were badly daed, unintended s sone Sootten fire

Others lookedfroular shape of the for to beco the woress

Luce returned to Daniel’s side In the ti pile of rock and stacked it neatly to the right of the slope She felt bad that she was barely helping She picked up the pickax again

They worked for hours It ell after ht by the time they’d cleared half the slope Dee’s lanterns lit thethe unique glow of his wings to see Her jaw ached from the tension in her face Her shoulders were sore and her eyes stung But she didn’t stop She didn’t co at a square of pink stone exposed by a boulder Daniel had just relance off solid rock Instead, she sliced into so soft Luce dropped her ax and burroith her hands into this surprisingly claylike patch She’d reached a layer of sandstone so cruer She et a better look as she tore away large chunks Underneath several inches of clay she felt so!" The others circled around as Luce wiped her hands on her jeans and used her fingers to brush clean a square tile about two feet in diameter Once, it must have been completely painted, but all that was visible noas a thin outline of ahis head

"Is this it?" she asked, excited

Dee’s shoulder brushed against Luce’s She touched the tile with her thumb "I’m afraid not, dear This is just a depiction of our friend Jesus We have to go further back than him"

"Further back?" Luce asked

"All the way inside" Dee knocked on the tile "This is the façade of the most recent sanctuary, a medievaldown to the original structure, behind this wall" She noticed Luce’s hesitation "Don’t be afraid to destroy ancient iconography," Dee said "It et to what’s really old" She looked at the sky, as if searching for the sun, but it had long sunk below the flat drop of horizon behind them The stars were out "Oh dear Ti fine!"

Finally, Phil stepped forith his crowbar and bashed through the Jesus tile It left a hole, and the space behind it was hollow and dark and se and musky and old

The Outcasts leaped on the busted tile, widening the crevice so they could dig deeper inside They were hard workers, efficient in their destruction They found that without a roof over the sanctuary, the rockslide had filled the interior, as well The Outcasts took turns tearing the wall away and casting aside the boulders flowing out froroup, in a darkened corner of the enclosed plateau, kicking a pile of rocks as if trying to start a laer Luce walked over to her

"Hey," Luce said "You okay?"

Arriane looked up, thu the straps of her overalls A crazy smile flashed across her face "Reether? They ot paired together, scrubbing that angel?"

"Of course" Luce had been miserable that day--

chewed out by Molly, anxious about and infatuated with Daniel, and, come to think of it, unsure whether Arriane liked her or was si pity on her

"That was fun, wasn’t it?" Arriane’s voice sounded distant "I’ to remember that"

"Arriane," Luce said, "that’s not what you’re really thinking about right now, is it? What is it about this place that’syou hide over here?"

Arriane stood with her feet balanced on her shovel and swayed back and forth She watched the Outcasts and the other angels unearthing a tall interior column from the rocks

Finally, Arriane closed her eyes and blurted out, "I’m the reason this sanctuary doesn’t exist anymore I’m the reason it’s bad luck"

"But--Dee said it wasn’t anyone’s fault What happened?"