Fallen 2. Torment(93)

inside. In a way, Luce almost wished he hadn't.

There had to be more to this message. "I have to glimpse it again," Luce said,

stepping toward the open window. Shelby tugged her back.

"Oh, no you don't. That Announcer could be anywhere by now, and you're under

dorm arrest, remember?" Shelby pushed Luce down in her desk chair. "You're going to

stay right here while I go down to Kramer's office to retrieve my turkey. We're both

going to forget this ever happened. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Good. I'll be back in five minutes, so don't disappear on me."

But as soon as the door closed, Luce was out the window, climbing to the flat part

of the ledge where she and Daniel had sat the night before. Putting what she'd just seen

out of her mind was impossible. She had to summon that shadow again. Even if it got her

in more trouble. Even if she saw something she didn't like.

The late morning had turned gusty, and Luce had to crouch down and hold on to

the slanting wooden shingles to keep her balance. Her hands were cold. Her heart felt

numb. She closed her eyes. Every time she tried to summon an Announcer, she

remembered how little training she'd had. She'd always just been lucky--if watching your

boyfriend look down at someone he'd just murdered could be considered luck.

A damp brushing crept along her arms. Was it the brown shadow, the ugly thing

that showed her an even uglier thing? Her eyes shot open.

It was. Creeping up her shoulder like a snake. She yanked it off and held it in

front of her, trying to spin it into a ball with her hands. The Announcer rejected her touch,

floating backward, out of her reach just past the roof's edge.

She looked down two stories to the ground below. A trail of students were leaving

the dorm to head to the mess hall for brunch, a stream of color moving along a sheet of

bright green grass. Luce teetered. Vertigo hit, and she felt herself falling forward.

But then the shadow rushed like a football player, knocking her back against the

slope of the roof. There she stayed, stuck against the shingles, panting as the Announcer

153

yawned open again.

The smoky veil diffused into light, and Luce was back with Daniel and his bloody

branch. Back to the caw of seagulls circling overhead and the stench of rotting surf along

the shore, the sight of icy waves crashing on the beach. And back to the two figures

huddled on the ground. The dead one was all tied up. The living one stood to face Daniel.

Cam.

No. It had to be a mistake. They hated one another. Had just waged a huge battle

against one another. She could accept that Daniel did dark things to protect her from the

people who were after her. But what foul thing would ever make him seek out Cam?

Work alongside Cam--who took pleasure in killing?

They were in a heated discussion of some sort, but Luce couldn't make out the

words. She couldn't hear anything over the clock in the middle of the terrace, which had

just struck eleven. She strained her ears, waiting for the gongs to cease.

"Let me take her to Shoreline," she finally heard Daniel plead.

This must have been right before she arrived in California. But why should Daniel

have to ask Cam's permission? Unless-"Fine," Cam said evenly. "Take her as far as the school and then find me. Don't

screw up; I'll be watching."

"And then?" Daniel sounded nervous.

Cam ran his eyes over Daniel's face. "You and I have work to do."

"No!" Luce screamed, slashing at the shadow with her fingers in anger.

But as soon as she felt her hands break through the cold, slippery surface, she

regretted it. It broke into spent fragments, settling into an ashy pile at her side. Now she

couldn't see anymore. She tried to gather the fragments up the way she'd seen Miles do,

but they were quivering and unresponsive.

She grabbed a fistful of the worthless pieces, sobbing into them.

Steven had said that sometimes the Announcers distorted what was real. Like the

shadows cast on the cave wall. But that there was always some truth to them too. Luce

could feel the truth in the cold, soggy pieces, even as she wrung them out, trying to

squeeze out all her agony.

Daniel and Cam weren't enemies. They were partners.

154





FIFTEEN

FOUR DAYS

"More Tofurky?" Connor Madson--a towheaded kid from Luce's biology class

and one of Shoreline's student waiters--stood over her with a silver platter at the Harvest

Fest on Monday night.

"No, thanks." Luce pointed down at the thick stack of lukewarm fake meat slices

still on her plate.

"Maybe later." Connor and the rest of the scholarship wait staff at Shoreline were

suited up for the Harvest Fest in tuxedos and ridiculous pilgrim hats. They glided past

each other on the terrace, which was nearly unrecognizable as the swanky-casual place to