him a horrible shock. One that had nearly killed him. Until the joy of her resurrection.
There was still hope.
As long as he could find her.
He'd been stunned, watching Luce open up the shadow. Awed and impressed and
painfully attracted to her--but more than all of that, stunned. How many times had she
done it before without his even knowing?
"What do you think?" Cam asked, coming up beside him. Their wings drew
toward each other, that old magnetic force, and Daniel was too drained to pull away.
"I'm going after her," he said.
"Good plan." Cam sneered. "Just 'go after her.' Anywhere in time and space
across the several thousand years. Why should you need a strategy?"
His sarcasm made Daniel want to tackle him a second time.
"I'm not asking for your help or your advice, Cam."
Only two starshots remained in the yard: the one he'd picked up from the Outcast
Molly had killed, and the one Cam had found on the beach at the beginning of the truce.
There would have been a nice symmetry if Cam and Daniel had been working as enemies
right now--two bows, two starshots, two immortal foes.
But no. Not yet. They had to eliminate too many others before they could turn on
each other again.
"What Cam means"--Roland stood between them, speaking to Daniel in a low
voice--"is that this might take some team effort. I've seen the way these kids flop through
the Announcers. She doesn't know what she's doing, Daniel. She's going to get into
trouble pretty quick."
" I know. "
"It's not a sign of weakness to let us help," Roland said.
"I can help," Shelby called. She'd been whispering with Miles. "I think I might
know where she is."
"You?" Daniel asked. "You've helped enough. Both of you."
"Daniel--"
"I know Luce better than anyone in the world." Daniel turned away from all of
them, toward the dark, empty space in the yard where she'd stepped through. "Far better
than any of you ever will. I don't need your help."
"You know her past," Shelby said, walking in front of him so that he had to look
at her. "You don't know what she's been through these past few weeks. I'm the one who's
been around while she glimpsed her past lives. I'm the one who saw her face when she
found the sister she lost when you kissed her and she ..." Shelby trailed off. "I know you
all hate me right now. But I swear to--Oh, whatever it is you guys believe in. You can
trust me from here on out. Miles, too. We want to help. We're going to help. Please." She
reached for Daniel. "Trust us."
Daniel wrested himself away from her. Trust as an activity had always made him
uneasy. What he had with Luce was unshakable. There was never any need even to work
on trust. Their love just was.
198
But for all eternity, Daniel had never been able to find faith in anyone or anything
else. And he didn't want to start now.
Down the street, a dog yipped. Then again, louder. Closer.
Luce's parents, coming back from their walk.
In the dark yard, Daniel's eyes found Gabbe's. She was standing close to Callie,
probably consoling her. She'd already retracted her wings.
"Just go," Gabbe mouthed to him in the desolate, dust-filled backyard. What she
meant was Go get her. She would handle Luce's parents. She would see that Callie got
home. She would cover all the bases so that Daniel could go after what mattered. We'll
find you and help you as soon as we can.
The moon drifted out from behind a mist of cloud. Daniel's shadow lengthened on
the grass at his feet. He watched it swell a little, then began to draw up the Announcer
inside it. When the cool, damp darkness brushed against him, Daniel realized that he
hadn't stepped through time in ages. Looking back was not normally his style.
But the motions were still in him, buried in his wings or his soul or his heart. He
moved quickly, peeling the Announcer off his own shadow, giving it a quick pinch to
separate it from the ground. Then he threw it, like a piece of potter's clay, onto the air
directly in front of him.
It formed a clean, finite portal.
He had been a part of every one of Luce's past lives. There was no reason he
wouldn't be able to find her.
He opened the door. No time to waste. His heart would take him to her.
He had an innate sense that something bad was just around the bend, but a hope
that something incredible was waiting in the distance.
It had to be.
His burning love for her coursed through him until he felt so full he didn't know
whether he would fit through the portal. He wrapped his wings close against his body and
bounded into the Announcer.
Behind him, in the yard, a distant commotion. Whispers and rustling and shouts.