Fallen 2. Torment(48)

in each of my past lives? I thought Harry and Doreen ... I just assumed they would have

been with me the whole time."

Suddenly she remembered something Daniel had said, about her mother making

bad boiled cabbage in that past life. At the time, she hadn't dwelled on it, but now it made

a little bit more sense. Doreen was an amazing cook. Everyone in east Georgia knew that.

Which meant Shelby must be right. Luce probably had a whole nation of past

families she couldn't even remember.

"I'm so stupid," she said. Why hadn't she paid more attention to the way the man

and woman looked? Why hadn't she felt the slightest connection to them? She felt like

she'd lived her whole life and only now found out she was adopted. How many times had

she been handed off to different parents? "This is--This is--"





"Totally messed up," Shelby said. "I know. On the bright side, you could probably

save yourself a lot of money for therapy if you could look back at all your other families,

see all the problems you had with hundreds of mothers before this one."

Luce buried her face in her hands.

"That is, if you need family therapy." Shelby sighed. "Sorry, who's talking about

themselves again?" She raised her right hand, then slowly put it down. "You know,

Shasta's not that far from here."

"What's Shasta?"

"Mount Shasta, California. It's just a few hours that-away." Shelby jerked her

thumb toward the north.

"But the announcers only show the past. What would be the point of going there

now? They're probably--"

Shelby shook her head. " 'The past' is a broad term. Announcers show the distant

past right up to the events happening seconds ago, and everything in between. I saw a

laptop on the desk in the corner, so there's a good chance ... you know ..."

"But we don't know where they live."

"Maybe you don't. Me, I zoomed in on a piece of their mail and got the address.

Committed it to memory. 1291 Shasta Shire Circle, apartment 34." Shelby shrugged. "So,

if you wanted to go visit them, we could totally drive there and back in a day."

"Right." Luce snorted. She desperately wanted to go visit them, but it just didn't

seem possible. "In whose car?"

Shelby laughed a faux-sinister little laugh. "There was only one thing that wasn't

sorry-ass about my sorry-ass ex-boyfriend." She dug into the pocket of her sweatshirt,

pulling out a long key chain. "And that was his very sweet Mercedes, parked right here in

the student lot. Lucky for you, I forgot to give him back the extra key."

82





They tore down the road before anyone could stop them.

Luce found a map in the glove compartment and traced the line up to Shasta with

her finger. She called out some directions to Shelby, who drove like a bat out of Hell, but

the maroon Mercedes almost seemed to like the abuse.

Luce wondered how Shelby was staying so calm. If Luce had just broken up with

Daniel and "borrowed" his car for the afternoon, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from

remembering road trips they'd taken, or arguments they'd gotten into while driving to a

movie, or what they'd done in the backseat that one time with all the windows rolled

down. Surely Shelby was thinking about her ex. Luce wanted to ask, but Shelby had been

clear that the topic was off-limits.

"Are you going to change your hair?" Luce asked finally, remembering what

Shelby had said about getting over breakups. "I could help you, if you are."

Shelby's face pinched into a scowl. "That freak's not even worth it." After a long

pause, she added, "But thank you."

The drive took most of the rest of the afternoon, and Shelby spent it working

herself up, bickering with the radio, scanning the channels for the craziest nutjobs she

could find. The air got colder, the trees thinned out, and the elevation of the landscape

rose steadily the whole time. Luce focused on staying calm, imagining a hundred

scenarios about meeting these parents. She tried to avoid thinking about what Daniel

would say if he knew where she was going.

"There it is." Shelby pointed when a massive snow-capped mountain came into

view directly in front of the road. "The town sits right in those foothills. We should be

there just after sunset."

Luce didn't know how to thank Shelby for hauling her all the way up here on a

whim. Whatever was behind Shelby's shift in attitude, Luce was grateful--she wouldn't

have been able to do this on her own.

The town of Shasta was wacky and artistic, with a good number of elderly people

walking leisurely down the wide avenues. Shelby rolled down the windows and let in the

brisk early-evening air. It helped settle Luce's stomach, which was knotting up at the