Fallen 2. Torment(107)

decorating magazines covered the coffee table, favorite pages bookmarked with grocery

receipts, for the distant time when her parents' dream came true of the mortgage's being

paid off and their finally having a little extra money for remodeling. Andrew, her mom's

hysterical toy poodle, trotted over to sniff the guests and give the back of Luce's ankle a

familiar chomp.

Luce's dad set down her duffel in the foyer, draping an easy arm around her

shoulder. Luce watched their reflection in the narrow entryway mirror: father and

daughter.

His rimless glasses slipped down on his nose as he kissed the crown of her backto-black hair. "Welcome home, Lucie," he said. "We missed you around here."

Luce closed her eyes. "I missed you, too." It was the first time in weeks she hadn't

lied to her parents.

The house was warm and full of intoxicating Thanksgiving scents. She inhaled

and could instantly picture every foil-wrapped dish staying hot in the oven. Deep-fried

turkey with mushroom stuffing--her dad's specialty. Apple-cranberry sauce, light-as-air

yeast rolls, and enough pumpkin-pecan pies--her mom's--to feed the whole state. She

must have been cooking all week.

Luce's mom took hold of her wrists. Her hazel eyes were a little damp around the

edges. "How are you, Luce?" she asked. "Are you all right?"

It was such a relief to be home. Luce could feel her eyes grow damp too. She

nodded, folding into her mom for a hug.

Her mother's chin-length dark hair was sculpted and sprayed, like she'd just been

to the beauty parlor the day before. Which, knowing her, she probably had. She looked

younger and prettier than Luce remembered. Compared to the elderly parents she'd tried

to visit in Mount Shasta--even compared to Vera--Luce's mom seemed happy and alive,

untainted by sorrow.

It was because she'd never had to feel what the others had felt, losing a daughter.

Losing Luce. Her parents had made their whole life around her. It would destroy them if

she died.

She could not die the way she had in the past. She could not wreck her parents'

life this time around, now that she knew more about her past. She would do whatever it

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took to keep them happy.

Her mom gathered the coats and hats of the four other teenagers who were

standing in her foyer. "I hope your friends brought their appetites."

Shelby jerked her thumb at Miles. "Be careful what you wish for."

It was just like Luce's parents not to mind a carful of last-minute guests at their

Thanksgiving table.

When her dad's Chrysler New Yorker had rolled through Sword & Cross's tall

wrought iron gates just before noon, Luce had been waiting for him. She hadn't been able

to sleep at all the night before. Between the strangeness of being back at Sword & Cross

and her nerves about mingling such an odd Thanksgiving crew the next day--her mind

would not settle down.

Luckily, the morning had passed without incident; after giving her dad the

longest, tightest hug she'd ever given someone, she'd mentioned that she had a few

friends without places to go for the holiday.

Five minutes later, they were all in the car.

Now they were milling around Luce's childhood home, picking up framed

pictures of her at different awkward ages, gazing out the same French windows she'd

been gazing out over bowls of cereal for more than a decade. It was kind of surreal. As

Arriane bounded into the kitchen to help her mom whip some cream, Miles peppered her

dad with questions about the enormous piece-of-junk telescope in his office. Luce felt a

swell of pride in her parents for making everyone feel welcome.

The sound of a car horn outside made her jump.

She perched on the sagging couch and lifted a slat of the window blind. Outside, a

red-and-white taxi was idling in front of the house, coughing exhaust into the cold fall

air. The windows were tinted, but the passenger could be only one person.

Callie.

One of Callie's knee-high red leather boots extended from the back door, planting

itself on the concrete sidewalk. A second later, Luce's best friend's heart-shaped face

came into view. Callie's porcelain skin was flushed, her auburn hair shorter, cut at a sleek

angle close to her chin. Her pale blue eyes glittered. For some reason, she kept glancing

back inside the cab.

"Whatcha looking at?" Shelby asked, pulling up another slat so she could see.

Roland slid in on Luce's other side and looked out too.

Just in time to see Daniel slide out of the taxi-Followed by Cam, from the front seat.

Luce sucked in her breath at the sight of them.

Both guys were wearing long, dark coats, like the coats they'd worn on the shore

in the scene she'd glimpsed. Their hair gleamed in the sunlight. And for a moment, just a

moment, Luce remembered why she'd originally been intrigued by them both at Sword &