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"And you, Phresia You were a Lu "Weren’t you one of the Four who es They were"--she halted, feeling her expression darken at the sight of the drab broings the girl bore now--"exceptional"

Phresia straightened her sluaunt face "No one has truly seenof the Outcasts, stepped forward "And me, Lucinda Price? Do you remember me?"

Luce reached out and touched the boy’s shoulder, re how deathly sick he’d looked after the Scale had tortured hi deeper than that "You are Vincent, Angel of the North Wind"

Vincent’s blind eyes clouded, as if his soul wanted to cry but his body refused

"Phil," Luce said, gazing finally at the Outcast she’d feared so much when he came for her in her parents’

backyard His lips were taut and white, nervous "One of Monday’s Angels, weren’t you? Instilled with the Powers of the Moon"

"Thank you, Lucinda Price" Phil bowed haltingly, but graciously "The Outcasts confess, rong to try to take you away froations But we knew, as you have just proven, that you alone could see us for e used to be And that you alone could restore us to our glory"

"Yes," she said "I can see you"

"The Outcasts can see you, too," Phil said "You are radiant"

"Yes, she is"

Daniel

She turned to hi cut of his shoulders, the full lips that had brought her back to life a thousand tier than Luce had realized Their love had been strong since the early days of Heaven Their relationship spanned the entire story of existence She knehere she’d first ed fields of Troy while the angels were falling--

but there was an earlier story A different beginning to their love

When? How had it happened?

She searched for the answer in his eyes--but she knew she wouldn’t find it there She had to look back in her own soul She closed her eyes

The s had sent a web of fissures breaking through the wall between the girl Lucinda and the angel she had been before Whatever separated her froshell

Flash

Back on the Meadow, astride her silver ledge, aching for God to return Luce was looking down at the fair-haired angel, the one she’d already re for She remembered his slow, sad steps on the cloudsoil The crown of his head before he looked up

Heaven was quiet then Luce and the angel were alone for a rare moment, away from the harmony of others

He turned to look up at Lucinda He had a square face, wavy amber hair, and blue eyes the color of ice

They crinkled when he snize hinized hi before, Lucinda had loved this angel

But he wasn’t Daniel

Without knohy, Luce wanted to spin away from this memory, to pretend she hadn’t seen it, to blink back and be with Daniel on the rocky plains of Troy But her soul elded to the scene She could not turn away froel as not Daniel

He reached for her Their wings entwined He whispered in her ear:

"Our love is endless There can be nothing else" No

At last, she jolted from the memory Back at Troy

Out of breath Her eyes must have betrayed her She felt wild and panicked

"What did you see?" Annabelle whispered

Luce’s mouth opened but no words came

I betrayed him Whoever he was There was someone before Daniel, and I--

"It’s not over yet" Finally, she found her voice "The curse Even though I knoho I a else, isn’t there? Soers very lightly over the shining border of her wings She shivered, because every touch against her wings burned with the passion of a deep kiss and ignited so deep inside her Finally she knew the pleasure she brought to hilide over his "You have coo Search your past You already knohat you are looking for Find it" She closed her eyes, searching again through ht memories

The Earth dreay beneath her feet A maze of colors blurred around her, and her heart ha hite

Heaven again

It was bright with God’s return to the Throne The sky shone the color of an opal The cloudsoil was thick that day, tufts of white reaching nearly to the angels’

waists Those towering white spires to the right were trees in the Grove of Life; the silvery blossoms in full bloom to the left would soon bear the fruits of the Orchard of Knowledge The trees were taller now They’d had tirow since Luce’s last recollection

She was back in the Meadow, in the center of a great, flickering congregation of light The angels in Heaven were gathered before the Throne, which was restored to the brightness so intense Lucinda cringed to look at it

The silver ledge that had once been Lucifer’s had now been moved to the far end of the Meadow It had been lowered to an insulting level by the Throne Between Lucifer and the Throne the rest of the angels were united in a single mass--but soon, Lucinda realized, they would be partitioned off to one side or the other