Fallen 2. Torment(43)

longer, they were going to be okay.

"Grab my hand," Steven shouted to the girls. Luce's legs felt like she'd been

swimming for an hour. She pushed Dawn toward him so that Dawn could be the first one

out.

Steven had stripped down to his slacks and white oxford shirt, which was wet

now and clinging to his chest. His muscled arms were huge as he reached for Dawn. His

face red with exertion, he grunted and heaved her up. When Dawn was draped over the

gunwale, far enough that she wouldn't fall back in, Steven turned and quickly took hold

of Luce's arms.

She felt weightless, practically soaring out of the water with his help. It was only

when she felt her body slipping the rest of the way into the boat that she realized how

sopping wet and freezing she was.

Except for where Steven's fingers had been.

There the drops of water on her skin were steaming.

She sat up, moving to help Steven pull the shivering Dawn the rest of the way into

the raft. Exhausted, Dawn could barely drag herself upright. Luce and Steven each had to

take her by an arm and heave. She was almost all the way inside the boat when Luce felt

a shocking jerk pull Dawn back into the water.

Dawn's dark eyes bulged and she cried out as she slipped backward. Luce was not

prepared: Dawn slipped out of her wet grip, and Luce fell back against the side of the

raft.

"Hold on!" Steven caught hold of Dawn's waist just in time. He stood up, almost

capsizing the raft. As he strained to lift Dawn out of the water, Luce saw the briefest flash

of gold extend from his back.

His wings.

The way they jutted out instantly, at the moment when Steven needed the most

strength--it seemed to happen almost against his will. They were gleaming, the color of

the kind of expensive jewelry Luce had only seen behind glass cases at department stores.

They were nothing like Daniel's wings. Daniel's were warm and welcoming, magnificent

and sexy; Steven's were raw and intimidating, jagged and terrifying.

Steven grunted, the muscles in his arms strained, and his wings beat just once,

giving him enough upward momentum to fly Dawn out of the water.

The wings stirred up enough wind to flatten Luce against the other side of the raft.

As soon as Dawn was safe, Steven's feet touched down again on the floor of the raft. His

wings immediately slid back into his skin. They left two small tears in the back of his

dress shirt, the only proof that what Luce had seen had been real. His face was washed

out and his hands were shaking.

The three of them collapsed inside the raft. Dawn had noticed nothing, and Luce

wondered whether anyone watching from the boat had either. Steven looked at Luce as if

she'd just seen him naked. She wanted to tell him it had been startling to see his wings;

she hadn't known until then that even the dark side of the fallen angels could be so

breathtaking.

She reached for Dawn, partly expecting to see blood somewhere on her skin. It

really felt like something had taken her in its jaws. But there was no sign of any wound.

"Are you okay?" Luce finally whispered.

Dawn shook her head, sending droplets of water flying off her hair. "I can swim,

74

Luce. I'm a good swimmer. Something had me--something--"

"Is still down there," Steven finished, picking up the paddle and hauling them

back toward the yacht.

"What did it feel like?" Luce asked. "A shark or--"

Dawn shuddered. "Hands."

" Hands? "

"Luce!" Steven barked.

She turned to him: He seemed like a different being than the one she'd been

talking to minutes earlier on the deck. There was a hardness in his eyes she'd never seen

before.

"What you did today was--" He broke off. His dripping face looked savage. Luce

held her breath, waiting for it. Reckless. Stupid. Dangerous. "Very brave," he finally said,

his cheeks and forehead relaxing into their usual expression.

Luce exhaled, having a hard time even finding the voice to say thank you. She

couldn't take her eyes off Dawn's trembling legs. And the rising thin red marks that

looped around her ankles. Marks that looked like they'd been left by fingers.

"I'm sure you girls are scared," Steven said quietly. "But there's no reason to bring

a general hysteria upon the whole school. Let me have a talk with Francesca. Until you

hear from me: Not a word about this to anyone else. Dawn?"

The girl nodded, looking terrified.

"Luce?"

Her face twitched. She wasn't sure about keeping this secret. Dawn had almost

died.

"Luce." Steven gripped her shoulder, removed his square-framed glasses, and

stared into Luce's hazel eyes with his own dark brown ones. As the life raft was winched

up to the main deck, where the rest of the school waited, his breath was hot in her ear.