{"id":5715,"date":"2026-01-04T01:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T01:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/fallen-01-fallen-kate-lauren\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T01:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T01:45:10","slug":"fallen-01-fallen-kate-lauren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/fallen-01-fallen-kate-lauren\/","title":{"rendered":"Fallen 01 – Fallen – Kate, Lauren"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Book Preview<\/h3>\n
\n

IN <\/span><\/b>THE <\/span><\/b>BEGINNING
<\/span><\/b>HELSTON,
\nENGLAND

\nSEPTEMBER 1854
<\/span><\/b>Around
\nmidnight, her eyes at last took shape. The look in them was feline, half
\ndetermined and half tentative\u2014all trouble. Yes, they were just right, those
\neyes. Rising up to her fine, elegant brow, inches from the dark cascade of her
\nhair.

\nHe held the paper at arm\u2019s length to assess his progress. It was hard, working
\nwithout her in front of him, but then, he never could sketch in her presence.
\nSince he had arrived from London\u2014no, since he had first seen her\u2014he\u2019d had to be
\ncareful always to keep her at a distance.

\nEvery day now she approached him, and every day was more difficult than the one
\nbefore. It was why he was leaving in the morning\u2014for India, for the Americas,
\nhe didn\u2019t know or care. Wherever he ended up, it would be easier than being
\nhere.

\nHe leaned over the drawing again, sighing as he used his thumb to perfect the
\nsmudged charcoal pout of her full bottom lip. This lifeless paper, cruel
\nimposter, was the only way to take her with him.

\nThen, straightening up in the leather library chair, he felt it. That brush of
\nwarmth on the back of his neck.
Her.
<\/i>Her mere proximity gave him the most peculiar sensation, like the kind of
\nheat sent out when a log shatters to ash in a fire. He knew without turning
\naround: She was there. He covered her likeness on the bound papers in his lap,
\nbut he could not escape her.

\nHis eyes fell on the ivory-upholstered settee across the parlor, where only
\nhours earlier she\u2019d turned up unexpectedly, later than the rest of her party,
\nin a rose silk gown, to applaud the eldest daughter of their host after a fine
\nturn at the harpsichord. He glanced across the room, out the window to the
\nveranda, where the day before she\u2019d crept up on <\/span>him, a fistful of wild white peonies in her hand. She
\nstill thought the pull she felt toward him was innocent, that their frequent
\nrendezvous in the gazebo were merely <\/span>… <\/span>happy coincidences. To be so naive! He would never
\ntell her otherwise\u2014the secret was his to bear.

\nHe stood and turned, the sketches left behind on the leather chair. And there
\nshe was, pressed against the ruby velvet curtain in her plain white dressing
\ngown. Her black hair had fallen from its braid. The look on her face was the
\nsame as the one he\u2019d sketched so many times. There was the fire, rising in her
\ncheeks. Was she angry? Embarrassed? He longed to know, but could not allow
\nhimself to ask.

\n\u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d He could hear the snarl in his voice, and regretted
\nits sharpness, knowing she would never understand.
<\/span>\u201cI\u2014I <\/span>couldn\u2019t sleep,\u201d she stammered, moving toward the fire
\nand his chair. \u201cI saw the light in your room and then\u201d\u2014she paused, looking down
\nat her hands\u2014\u201dyour trunk outside the door. Are you going somewhere?\u201d
<\/span>\u201cI <\/span>was going to tell you\u2014\u201d He broke off. He shouldn\u2019t
\nlie. He had never intended to let her know his plans. Telling her would only
\nmake things worse. Already, he had let things go too far, hoping this time
\nwould be different.

\nShe drew nearer, and her eyes fell on his sketchbook. \u201cYou were drawing me?\u201d

\nHer startled tone reminded him how great the gap was in their understanding.
\nEven after all the time they\u2019d spent together these past few weeks, she had not
\nyet begun to glimpse the truth that lay behind their attraction.

\nThis was good\u2014or at least, it was for the better. For the past several days,
\nsince he\u2019d made the choice to leave, he\u2019d been struggling to pull away from
\nher. The effort took so much out of him that, as soon as he was alone, he had
\nto give in to his pent-up desire to draw her. He had filled up his book with
\npages of her arched neck, her marble collarbone, the black abyss of her hair.

\nNow, he looked back at the sketch, not ashamed at being caught drawing her, but
\nworse. A cold chill spread through him as he realized that her discovery\u2014the
\nexposure of his feelings\u2014would destroy her. He should have been more careful.
\nIt always began like this.

\n\u201cWarm milk with a spoonful of treacle,\u201d he murmured, his back still to her.
\nThen he added sadly, \u201cIt helps you sleep.\u201d

\n\u201cHow did you know? Why, that\u2019s exactly what my mother used to\u2014\u201d
<\/span>\u201cI <\/span>know,\u201d he said, turning to face her. The astonishment
\nin her voice did not surprise him, yet he could not explain to her how he knew,
\nor tell her how many times he had administered this very drink to her in the
\npast when the shadows came, how he had held her until she fell asleep.

\nHe felt her touch as though it were burning through his shirt, her hand laid
\ngently on his shoulder, causing him to gasp. They had not yet touched in this
\nlife, and the first contact always left him breathless.

\n\u201cAnswer me,\u201d she whispered. \u201cAre you leaving?\u201d

\n\u201cYes.\u201d

\n\u201cThen take me with you,\u201d she blurted out. Right on cue, he watched her suck in
\nher breath, wishing to take back her plea. He could see the progression of her
\nemotions settle in the crease between her eyes: She would feel impetuous, then
\nbewildered, then ashamed by her own forwardness. She always did this, and too
\nmany times before, he had made the mistake of comforting her at this exact
\nmoment.

\n\u201cNo,\u201d he whispered, remembering <\/span>… <\/span>always remembering… \u201cI sail tomorrow. If you care
\nfor me at all, you won\u2019t say another word.\u201d
<\/span>\u201cIf I <\/span><\/i>care for you,\u201d she repeated, almost as if she were
\nspeaking to herself. \u201cI\u2014I <\/span>love\u2014\u201d
<\/span><\/i>\u201cDon\u2019t.\u201d

\n\u201cI <\/span>have to
\nsay it. <\/span>I\u2014I <\/span>love you, <\/span>I\u2019m <\/span>quite sure, and if you leave\u2014\u201d

\n\u201cIf <\/span>I <\/span>leave, <\/span>I <\/span>save your life.\u201d He spoke slowly, trying to reach <\/span>a <\/span>part
\nof her that might remember. Was it there at all, buried somewhere? \u201cSome things
\nare more important than <\/span>love. You won\u2019t understand, but you have to trust me.\u201d
\n

\nHer eyes drilled into him. She stepped back and crossed her arms over her
\nchest. This was his fault, too\u2014he always brought out her contemptuous side when
\nhe spoke down to her.

\n\u201cYou mean to say there are things more important than this?\u201d she challenged,
\ntaking his hands and drawing them to her heart.

\nOh, to be her and not know what was coming! Or at least to be stronger than he
\nwas and be able to stop her. If he didn\u2019t stop her, she would never learn, and
\nthe past would only repeat itself, torturing them both again and again.

\nThe familiar warmth of her skin under his hands made him tilt his head back and
\nmoan. He was trying to ignore how close she was, how well he knew the feel of
\nher lips on his, how bitter he felt that all of this had to end. But her
\nfingers traced his so lightly. He could feel her heart racing through her thin
\ncotton gown.

\nShe was right. There was nothing more than this. There never was. He was about
\nto give in and take her in his arms when he caught the look in her eyes. As if
\nshe\u2019d seen a ghost.

\nShe was the one to pull away, a hand to her forehead.
<\/span>\u201cI\u2019m <\/span>having the strangest sensation,\u201d she whispered.

\nNo\u2014was it already too late?

\nHer eyes narrowed into the shape in his sketch and she came back to him, her
\nhands on his chest, her lips parted expectantly. \u201cTell me I\u2019m mad, but I swear
\nI\u2019ve been right here before…\u201d

\nSo it was <\/i>too late. He looked up, shivering, and could feel the dark
\ndescending. He took one last chance to seize her, to hold her as tightly as
\nhe\u2019d been yearning to for weeks.

\nAs soon as her lips melted into his, both of them were powerless. The
\nhoneysuckle taste of her mouth made him dizzy. The closer she pressed against
\nhim, the more his stomach churned with the thrill and the agony of it all. Her
\ntongue traced his, and the fire between them burned brighter, hotter, more
\npowerful with every new touch, every new exploration. Yet none of it was new.

\nThe room quaked. An aura around them started to glow.

\nShe noticed nothing, was aware of nothing, understood nothing besides their
\nkiss.

\nHe alone knew what was about to happen, what dark companions were prepared to
\nfall on their reunion. Even though he was unable to alter the course of their
\nlives yet again, he knew.

\nThe shadows swirled directly overhead, so close, he might have touched them. So
\nclose, he wondered whether she could hear what they were whispering. He watched
\nas the cloud passed over her face. For a moment he saw a spark of recognition
\ngrowing in her eyes.

\nThen there was nothing, nothing at all. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

ONE

\nPERFECT <\/span><\/b>STRANGERS
<\/span><\/b>Luce barged into the fluorescent-lit lobby of the
\nSword Cross School ten minutes later than she should have. A
\nbarrel-chested attendant with ruddy cheeks and a clipboard clamped under an
\niron bicep was already giving orders\u2014which meant Luce was already behind.

\n\u201cSo remember, it\u2019s<\/span> meds, beds, and reds,\u201d the
\nattendant barked at a cluster of three other students all standing with their
\nbacks to Luce. \u201cRemember the basics and no one gets hurt.\u201d

\nLuce hurried to slip in behind the group. She was still trying to figure out
\nwhether she\u2019d filled out the giant stack of paperwork correctly, whether this
\nshaven-headed guide standing before them was a man or a woman, whether there
\nwas anyone to help her with this enormous duffel bag, whether her parents were
\ngoing to get rid of her beloved Plymouth Fury the minute they arrived home from
\ndropping her off here. They\u2019d been threatening to sell the car all summer, and
\nnow they had a reason even Luce couldn\u2019t argue with: No one was allowed to have
\na car at Luce\u2019s new school. Her new reform
\n<\/span><\/i>school, to be precise.<\/span>

\nShe was still getting used to the term.

\n\u201cCould you, uh, could you repeat that?\u201d she asked the attendant, \u201cWhat was it,
\nmeds\u2014?\u201d

\n\u201cWell, look what the storm blew in,\u201d the attendant said loudly, then continued,
\nenunciating slowly: <\/span>\u201cMeds. <\/span><\/i>If you\u2019re one of the medicated students, this is where
\nyou go to keep yourself doped up, sane, breathing, whatever.\u201d <\/span>Woman, <\/span><\/i>Luce decided, studying the attendant. No man would be
\ncatty enough to say all that in such a saccharine tone of voice.
\u201cGot it.\u201d<\/span> Luce felt her stomach heave. \u201cMeds.\u201d<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019d been off meds for years now. After the accident
\nthis past summer, Dr. Sanford, her specialist in Hopkinton\u2014and the reason her
\nparents had sent her to boarding school all the way in New Hampshire\u2014had wanted
\nto consider medicating her again. Though she\u2019d finally convinced him of her
\nquasi-stability, it had taken an extra month of analysis on her part just to
\nstay off those awful antipsychotics.

\nWhich was why she was enrolling in her senior year at Sword Cross a full
\nmonth after the academic year had begun. Being a new student was bad enough,
\nand Luce had been really nervous about having to jump into classes where
\neveryone else was already settled. But from the looks of this tour, she wasn\u2019t
\nthe only new kid arriving today.

\nShe sneaked a peek at the three other students standing in a half circle around
\nher. At her last school, Dover Prep, the campus tour on the first day was where
\nshe\u2019d met her best friend, Callie. On a campus where all the other students had
\npractically been weaned together, it would have been enough that Luce and
\nCallie were the only non-legacy kids. But it didn\u2019t take long for the two girls
\nto realize they also had the exact same obsession with the exact same old
\nmovies\u2014especially where Albert Finney was concerned. After their discovery
\nfreshman year while watching <\/span>Two for the Road <\/span><\/i>that neither one of them could make a bag of popcorn
\nwithout setting off the fire alarm, Callie and Luce hadn\u2019t left each other\u2019s
\nsides. Until <\/span>… <\/span>until they\u2019d had to.

\nAt Luce\u2019s sides today were two boys and a girl. The girl seemed easy enough to
\nfigure out, blond and Neutrogena-commercial pretty, with pastel pink manicured
\nnails that matched her plastic binder.
<\/span>\u201cI\u2019m <\/span>Gabbe,\u201d she drawled, flashing Luce a big smile that
\ndisappeared as quickly as it had surfaced, before Luce could even offer her own
\nname. The girl\u2019s waning interest reminded her more of a southern version of the
\ngirls at Dover than someone she\u2019d expect at Sword Cross. Luce couldn\u2019t
\ndecide whether this was comforting or not, any more than she could imagine what
\na girl who looked like this would be doing at reform school.

\nTo Luce\u2019s right was a guy with short brown hair, brown eyes, and a smattering
\nof freckles across his nose. But the way he wouldn\u2019t even meet her eyes, just
\nkept picking at a hangnail on his thumb, gave Luce the impression that, like
\nher, he was probably still stunned and embarrassed to find himself here.

\nThe guy to her left, on the other hand, fit Luce\u2019s image of this place a little
\nbit too perfectly. He was tall and thin, with a Di bag slung over his shoulder,
\nshaggy black hair, and large, deep-set green eyes. His lips were full and a
\nnatural rose color most girls would kill for. At the back of his neck, a black
\ntattoo in the shape of a sunburst seemed almost to glow on his light skin,
\nrising up from the edge of his black T-shirt.

\nUnlike the other two, when this guy turned to meet her gaze, he held it and
\ndidn\u2019t let go. His mouth was set in a straight line, but his eyes were warm and
\nalive. He gazed at her, standing as still as a sculpture, which made Luce feel
\nrooted to her spot, too. She sucked in her breath. Those eyes were intense, and
\nalluring, and, well, a little bit disarming.

\nWith some loud throat-clearing noises, the attendant interrupted the boy\u2019s
\ntrancelike stare. Luce blushed and pretended to be very busy scratching her
\nhead.

\n\u201cThose of you who\u2019ve learned the ropes are free to go after you dump your
\nhazards.\u201d The attendant gestured at a large cardboard box under a sign that
\nsaid in big black letters PROHIBITED MATERIALS, \u201cAnd when I say <\/span>free, <\/span><\/i>Todd\u201d\u2014she clamped a hand down on the freckled kid\u2019s
\nshoulder, making him jump\u2014\u201dI mean gymnasium-bound to meet your preassigned
\nstudent guides. You\u201d\u2014she pointed at Luce\u2014\u201ddump your hazards and stay with me.\u201d

\nThe four of them shuffled toward the box and Luce watched, baffled, as the
\nother students began to empty their pockets. The girl pulled out a three-inch
\npink Swiss Army knife. The green-eyed guy reluctantly dumped a can of spray
\npaint and a box cutter. Even the hapless Todd let loose several books of
\nmatches and a small container of lighter fluid. Luce felt almost stupid that
\nshe wasn\u2019t concealing a hazard of her own\u2014but when she saw the other kids reach
\ninto their pockets and chuck their cell phones into the box, she gulped.

\nLeaning forward to read the PROHIBITED MATERIALS sign a little more closely,
\nshe saw that cell phones, pagers, and all two-way radio devices were strictly
\nforbidden. It was bad enough that she couldn\u2019t have her car! Luce clamped a
\nsweaty hand around the cell phone in her pocket, her only connection to the
\noutside world. When the attendant saw the look on her face, Luce received a few
\nquick slaps on the cheek. \u201cDon\u2019t swoon on me, kid, they don\u2019t pay me enough to
\nresuscitate. Besides, you get one phone call once a week in the main lobby.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

One phone call <\/span>… <\/span>once a week? But\u2014

\nShe looked down at her phone one last time and saw that she\u2019d received two new
\ntext messages. It didn\u2019t seem possible that these would be her two <\/span>last <\/span><\/i>text messages. The

\nfirst one was from Callie.
Call immediately! Will be waiting by the phone all nite so be ready to dish.
\nAnd remember the mantra I assigned you. You\u2019ll survive! BYW, for what it\u2019s
\nworth, I think <\/i>everyone\u2019s totally forgotten about …
<\/i>In typical Callie fashion, she\u2019d gone on so long that Luce\u2019s crap cell
\nphone cut the message off four lines in. In a way, Luce was almost relieved.
\nShe didn\u2019t want to read about how everyone from her old school had already
\nforgotten what had happened to her, what she\u2019d done to land herself in <\/span>this <\/span><\/i>place.

\nShe sighed and scrolled down to her second message. It was from her mom, who\u2019d
\nonly just gotten the hang of texting a few weeks ago, and who surely had not
\nknown about this one-call-once-a-week thing or she would never have abandoned
\nher daughter here. Right?
<\/span>Kiddo, we are always thinking of you. Be good and try
\nto eat enough protein. We\u2019ll talk when we can. Love, MD
<\/span><\/i>With a
\nsigh, Luce realized her parents must have known. How else to explain their
\ndrawn faces when she\u2019d waved goodbye at the school gates this morning, duffel
\nbag in hand? At breakfast, she\u2019d tried to joke about finally losing that
\nappalling New England accent she\u2019d picked up at Dover, but her parents hadn\u2019t
\neven cracked a smile. She\u2019d thought they were still mad at her. They never did
\nthe whole raising-their-voice thing, which meant that when Luce really messed
\nup, they just gave her the old silent treatment. Now she understood this
\nmorning\u2019s strange demeanor: Her parents were already mourning the loss of
\ncontact with their only daughter.

\n\u201cWe\u2019re still waiting on one person,\u201d the attendant sang. \u201cI wonder who it is.\u201d
\nLuce\u2019s attention snapped back to the Hazard Box, which was now brimming with
\ncontraband she didn\u2019t even recognize. She could feel the dark-haired boy\u2019s
\ngreen eyes staring at her. She looked up and noticed that everyone was staring.
\nHer turn. She closed her eyes and slowly opened her fingers, letting her phone
\nslip from her grasp and land with a sad <\/span>thunk <\/span><\/i>on top of the heap. The sound of being all alone.

\nTodd and the fembot Gabbe headed for the door without so much as a look in
\nLuce\u2019s direction, but the third boy turned to the attendant.
<\/span>\u201cI <\/span>can fill her in,\u201d he said, nodding at Luce.

\n\u201cNot part of our deal,\u201d the attendant replied automatically, as if she\u2019d been
\nexpecting this dialogue. \u201cYou\u2019re a new student again\u2014that means new-student
\nrestrictions. Back to square one. You don\u2019t like it, you should have thought
\ntwice before breaking parole.\u201d

\nThe boy stood motionless, expressionless, as the attendant tugged Luce\u2014who\u2019d
\nstiffened at the word \u201cparole\u201d\u2014toward the end of a yellowed hall.

\n\u201cMoving on,\u201d she said, as if nothing had just happened. \u201cBeds.\u201d She pointed out
\nthe west-facing window to a distant cinder-block building. Luce could see Gabbe
\nand Todd shuffling slowly toward them, with the third boy walking slowly, as if
\ncatching up to them were the last thing on his list of things to do.

\nThe dorm was formidable and square, a solid gray block of a building whose
\nthick double doors gave away nothing about the possibility of life inside them.
\nA large stone plaque stood planted in the middle of the dead lawn, and Luce
\nremembered from the Web site the words PAULINE DORMITORY chiseled into it. It
\nlooked even uglier in the hazy morning sun than it had looked in the flat
\nblack-and-white photograph.

\nEven from this distance, Luce could see black mold covering the face of the
\ndorm. All the windows were obstructed by rows of thick steel bars. She
\nsquinted. Was that barbed wire topping the fence around the building?

\nThe attendant looked down at a chart, flipping through Luce\u2019s file. \u201cRoom
\nsixty-three. Throw your bag in my office with the rest of them for now. You can
\nunpack this afternoon.\u201d

\nLuce dragged her red duffel bag toward three other nondescript black trunks.
\nThen she reached reflexively for her cell phone, where she usually keyed in
\nthings she needed to remember. But as her hand searched her empty pocket, she
\nsighed and committed the room number to memory instead.

\nShe still didn\u2019t see why she couldn\u2019t just stay with her parents; their house
\nin Thunderbolt was less than a half hour from Sword Cross. It had felt so
\ngood to be back home in Savannah, where, as her mom always said, even the wind
\nblew lazily. Georgia\u2019s softer, slower pace suited Luce way more than New
\nEngland ever had.

\nBut Sword Cross didn\u2019t feel like Savannah. It hardly felt like anywhere
\nat all, except the lifeless, colorless place where the court had mandated she
\nboard. She\u2019d overheard her dad on the phone with the headmaster the other day,
\nnodding in his befuddled biology-professor way and saying, \u201cYes, yes, maybe it
\nwould be best for her to be supervised all the time. No, no, we wouldn\u2019t want
\nto interfere with your system.\u201d

\nClearly her father had not seen the conditions of his only daughter\u2019s
\nsupervision. This place looked like a maximum-security prison.

\n\u201cAnd what about, what did you say\u2014the reds?\u201d Luce asked the attendant, ready to
\nbe released from the tour.

\n\u201cReds,\u201d the attendant said, pointing toward a small wired device hanging from
\nthe ceiling: a lens with a flashing red light. Luce hadn\u2019t seen it before, but
\nas soon as the attendant pointed the first one out, she realized they were
\neverywhere.

\n\u201cCameras?\u201d

\n\u201cVery good,\u201d the attendant said, voice dripping condescension. \u201cWe make them
\nobvious in order to remind you. All the time, everywhere, we\u2019re watching you.
\nSo don\u2019t screw up\u2014that is, if you can help yourself.\u201d

\nEvery time someone talked to Luce like she was a total psychopath, she came
\nthat much closer to believing it was true.

\nAll summer, the memories had haunted her, in her dreams and in the rare moments
\nher parents left her alone. Something <\/i>had happened in that cabin, and
\neveryone (including Luce) was dying to know exactly what. The police, the
\njudge, the social worker had all tried to pry the truth out of her, but she was
\nas clueless about it all as they were. She and Trevor had been joking around
\nthe whole evening, chasing each other down to the row of cabins on the lake,
\naway from the rest of the party. She\u2019d tried to explain that it had been one of
\nthe best nights of her life, until it turned into the worst.

\nShe\u2019d spent so much time replaying that night in her head, hearing Trevor\u2019s
\nlaugh, feeling his hands close around her waist, and trying to reconcile her
\ngut instinct that she really was innocent.

\nBut now, every rule and regulation at Sword Cross seemed to work against
\nthat notion, seemed to suggest that she was, in fact dangerous and needed to be
\ncontrolled.

\nLuce felt a firm hand on her shoulder.

\n\u201cLook,\u201d the attendant said. \u201cIf it makes you feel any better, you\u2019re far from
\nthe worst case here.\u201d

\nIt was the first humane gesture the attendant had made toward Luce, and she
\nbelieved that it was <\/i>intended to make her feel better. But. She\u2019d been
\nsent here because of the suspicious death of the guy she\u2019d been crazy about,
\nand still <\/i>she was \u201cfar from the worst case here\u201d? Luce wondered what
\nelse exactly they were dealing with at Sword Cross.

\n\u201cOkay, orientation\u2019s over,\u201d the attendant said. \u201cYou\u2019re on your own now. Here\u2019s
\na map if you need to find anything else.\u201d She gave Luce a photocopy of a crude
\nhand-drawn map, then glanced at her watch. \u201cYou\u2019ve got an hour before your
\nfirst class, but my soaps come on in five, so\u201d\u2014she waved her hand at Luce\u2014\u201dmake
\nyourself scarce. And don\u2019t forget,\u201d she said, pointing up at the cameras one
\nlast time. \u201cThe reds are watching you.\u201d

\nBefore Luce could reply, a skinny, dark-haired girl appeared in front of her,
\nwagging her long fingers in Luce\u2019s face.

\n\u201cOoooooh,\u201d the girl taunted in a ghost-story-telling voice, dancing around Luce
\nin a circle. \u201cThe reds are watching youuuu.\u201d

\n\u201cGet out of here, Arriane, before I have you lobotomized,\u201d the attendant said,
\nthough it was clear from her first brief but genuine smile that she had some
\ncoarse affection for the crazy girl. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

It was also clear that Arriane did not reciprocate the
\nlove. She mimed a jerking-off motion at the attendant, then stared at Luce,
\ndaring her to be offended.

\n\u201cAnd just for that,\u201d the attendant said, jotting a furious note in her book,
\n\u201cyou\u2019ve earned yourself the task of showing Little Miss Sunshine around today.\u201d
\n

\nShe pointed at Luce, who looked anything but sunny in her black jeans, black
\nboots, and black top. Under the \u201cDress Code\u201d section, the Sword Cross Web
\nsite had cheerily maintained that as long as the students were on good
\nbehavior, they were free to dress as they pleased, with just two small
\nstipulations: style must be modest and color must be black. Some freedom.

\nThe too-big mock turtleneck Luce\u2019s mom had forced on her this morning did
\nnothing for her curves, and even her best feature was gone: Her thick black hair,
\nwhich used to hang down to her waist, had been almost completely shorn off. The
\ncabin fire had left her scalp singed and her hairline patchy, so after the
\nlong, silent ride home from Dover, Mom had planted Luce in the bathtub, brought
\nout Dad\u2019s electric razor, and wordlessly shaved her head. Over the summer, her
\nhair had grown out a little, just enough so that her once- enviable waves now
\nhovered in awkward twists just below her ears.

\nArriane sized her up, tapping one finger against her pale lips. \u201cPerfect,\u201d she
\nsaid, stepping forward to loop her arm through Luce\u2019s. \u201cI was just thinking I
\ncould really use a new slave.\u201d

\nThe door to the lobby swung open and in walked the tall kid with green eyes. He
\nshook his head and said to Luce, \u201cThis place isn\u2019t afraid to do a strip search.
\nSo if you\u2019re packing any other <\/span>hazards\u201d\u2014he
\n<\/span><\/i>raised an
\neyebrow and dumped a handful of unrecognizables in the box\u2014\u201dsave yourself the
\ntrouble.\u201d

\nBehind Luce, Arriane laughed under her breath. The boy\u2019s head shot up, and when
\nhis eyes registered Arriane, he opened his mouth, then closed it, like he was
\nunsure how to proceed.

\n\u201cArriane,\u201d he said evenly.

\n\u201cCam,\u201d she returned.

\n\u201cYou know him?\u201d Luce whispered, wondering whether there were the same kinds of
\ncliques in reform schools as there were in prep schools like Dover.

\n\u201cDon\u2019t remind me,\u201d Arriane said, dragging Luce out the door into the gray and
\nswampy morning.

\nThe back of the main building let out onto a chipped sidewalk bordering a messy
\nfield. The grass was so overgrown, it looked more like a vacant lot than a
\nschool commons, but a faded scoreboard and a small stack of wooden bleachers
\nargued otherwise.

\nBeyond the commons lay four severe-looking buildings: the cinder-block
\ndormitory on the far left, a huge old ugly church on the far right, and two
\nother expansive structures in between that Luce imagined were the classrooms.

\nThis was it. Her whole world was reduced to the sorry sight before her eyes.

\nArriane immediately veered right off the path and led Luce to the field,
\nsitting her down on top of one of the waterlogged wooden bleachers.

\nThe corresponding setup at Dover had screamed Ivy League jock-in-training, so
\nLuce had always avoided hanging out there. But this empty field, with its
\nrusted, warped goals, told a very different story. One that wasn\u2019t as easy for
\nLuce to figure out. Three turkey vultures swooped overhead, and a dismal wind
\nwhipped through the bare branches of the oak trees. Luce ducked her chin down
\ninto her mock turtleneck.
<\/span>\u201cSoooo,\u201d <\/span><\/b>Arriane said. \u201cNow you\u2019ve met Randy.\u201d

\n\u201cI thought his name was Cam.\u201d

\n\u201cWe\u2019re not talking about him,\u201d Arriane said quickly. \u201cI mean she-man in there.\u201d
\nArriane jerked her head toward the office where they\u2019d left the attendant in
\nfront of the TV. \u201cWhaddya think\u2014dude or chick?\u201d

\n\u201cUh, chick?\u201d Luce said tentatively. \u201cIs this a test?\u201d

\nArriane cracked a smile. \u201cThe first of many. And you passed. At least, I think
\nyou passed. The gender of most of the faculty here is an ongoing, schoolwide
\ndebate. Don\u2019t worry, you\u2019ll get into it.\u201d

\nLuce thought Arriane was making a joke\u2014in which case, cool. But this was all
\nsuch a huge change from Dover. At her old school, the green-tie-wearing,
\npomaded future senators had practically oozed through the halls in the genteel
\nhush that money seemed to lay over everything.

\nMore often than not, the other Dover kids gave Luce a
\ndon\u2019t-smudge-the-white-walls-with-your-fingerprints side ways glance. She tried
\nto imagine Arriane there: lazing on the bleachers, making a loud, crude joke in
\nher peppery voice. Luce tried to imagine what Callie might think of Arriane.
\nThere\u2019d been no one like her at Dover.

\n\u201cOkay, spill it,\u201d Arriane ordered. Plopping down on the top bleacher and
\nmotioning for Luce to join her, she said, \u201cWhat\u2019d ya do to get in here?\u201d

\nArriane\u2019s tone was playful, but suddenly Luce had to sit down. It was
\nridiculous, but she\u2019d half expected to get through her first day of school
\nwithout the past creeping up and robbing her of her thin fa\u00e7ade of calm. Of
\ncourse people here were going to want to know.

\nShe could feel the blood thrumming at her temples. It happened whenever she
\ntried to think back\u2014really think back\u2014to that night. She\u2019d never stop feeling
\nguilty about what had happened to Trevor, but she also tried really hard not to
\nget mired down in the shadows, which by now were the only things she could
\nremember about the accident. Those dark, indefinable things that she could
\nnever tell anyone about.

\nScratch that\u2014she\u2019d <\/span>started <\/span><\/i>to tell Trevor about the peculiar presence she\u2019d felt
\nthat night, about the twisting shapes hanging over their heads, threatening to
\nmar their perfect evening. Of course, by then it was already too late. Trevor
\nwas gone, his body burned beyond recognition, and Luce was <\/span>… <\/span>was she <\/span>… <\/span>guilty?

\nNo one knew about the murky shapes she sometimes saw in the darkness. They\u2019d
\nalways come to her. They\u2019d come and gone for so long that Luce couldn\u2019t even
\nremember the first time she\u2019d seen them. But she could remember the first time
\nshe realized that the shadows didn\u2019t come for everyone\u2014or actually, <\/span>anyone <\/span><\/i>but her. When she was seven, her family had been on vacation
\nin Hilton Head and her parents had taken her on a boat trip. It was just about
\nsunset when the shadows started rolling in over the water, and she\u2019d turned to
\nher father and said, \u201cWhat do you do when they come, Dad? Why aren\u2019t you afraid
\nof the monsters?\u201d

\nThere were no monsters, her parents assured her, but Luce\u2019s repeated insistence
\non the presence of <\/span>something <\/span><\/i>wobbly and dark had gotten her several appointments
\nwith the family eye doctor, and then glasses, and then appointments with the
\near doctor after she made the mistake of describing the hoarse whooshing noise
\nthat the shadows sometimes made\u2014and then therapy, and then more therapy, and
\nfinally the prescription for anti-psychotic medication.

\nBut nothing ever made them go away.

\nBy the time she was fourteen, Luce refused to take her meds. That was when they
\nfound Dr. Sanford, and the Dover School nearby. They flew to New Hampshire, and
\nher father drove their rental car up a long, curved driveway to a hilltop
\nmansion called Shady Hollows. They planted Luce in front of a man in a lab coat
\nand asked her if she still saw her \u201cvisions.\u201d Her parents\u2019 palms were sweating
\nas they gripped her hands, brows furrowed with the fear that there was
\nsomething terribly wrong with their daughter.

\nNo one came out and said that if she didn\u2019t tell Dr. Sanford what they all
\nwanted her to say, she might be seeing a whole lot more of Shady Hollows. When
\nshe lied and acted normal, she was allowed to enroll at Dover, and only had to
\nvisit Dr. Sanford twice a month.

\nLuce had been permitted to stop taking the horrible pills as soon as she
\nstarted pretending she didn\u2019t see the shadows anymore. But she still had no
\ncontrol over when they might appear. All she knew was that the mental catalog
\nof places where they\u2019d come for her in the past\u2014dense forests, murky
\nwaters\u2014became the places she avoided at all costs. All she knew was that when
\nthe shadows came, they were usually accompanied by a cold chill under her skin,
\na sickening feeling unlike anything else.

\nLuce straddled one of the bleachers and gripped her temples between her thumbs
\nand middle fingers. If she was going to make it through today, she had to push
\nher past to the recesses of her mind. She couldn\u2019t stand probing the memory of
\nthat night by herself, so there was no way she could air all the gruesome
\ndetails to some weird, maniacal stranger.

\nInstead of answering, she watched Arriane, who was lying back on the bleachers,
\nsporting a pair of enormous black sunglasses that covered the better part of
\nher face. It was hard to tell, but she must have been staring at Luce, too,
\nbecause after a second, she shot up from the bleachers and grinned. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCut my hair like yours,\u201d she said.

\n\u201cWhat?\u201d Luce gasped. \u201cYour hair is beautiful.\u201d

\nIt was true: Arriane had the long, thick locks that Luce so desperately missed.
\nHer loose black curls sparkled in the sunlight, giving off just a tinge of red.
\nLuce tucked her hair behind her ears, even though it still wasn\u2019t long enough
\nto do anything but flop back down in front of them.

\n\u201cBeautiful schmootiful,\u201d Arriane said. \u201cYours is sexy, edgy. And I want it.\u201d

\n\u201cOh, um, okay,\u201d Luce said. Was that a compliment? She didn\u2019t know if she was
\nsupposed to be flattered or unnerved by the way Arriane assumed she could have
\nwhatever she wanted, even if what she wanted belonged to someone else. \u201cWhere
\nare we going to get\u2014\u201d

\n\u201cTa-da!\u201d Arriane reached into her bag and pulled out the pink Swiss Army knife
\nGabbe had tossed into the Hazard Box. \u201cWhat?\u201d she said, seeing Luce\u2019s reaction.
\n\u201cI always bring my sticky fingers on new-student drop-off days. The idea alone
\ngets me through the dog days of Sword Cross internment <\/span>… <\/span>er <\/span>… <\/span>summer camp.\u201d

\n\u201cYou spent the whole summer <\/span>… <\/span>here?\u201d Luce winced.

\n\u201cHa! Spoken like a true newbie. You\u2019re probably expecting a spring break.\u201d She
\ntossed Luce the Swiss Army knife. \u201cWe don\u2019t get to leave this hellhole. Ever.
\nNow cut.\u201d

\n\u201cWhat about the reds?\u201d Luce asked, glancing around with the knife in her hand.
\nThere were bound to be cameras somewhere out here.

\nArriane shook her head. \u201cI refuse to associate with pansies. Can you handle it
\nor not?\u201d

\nLuce nodded.

\n\u201cAnd <\/span>don\u2019t <\/span><\/i>tell me you\u2019ve never cut hair before.\u201d Arriane grabbed
\nthe Swiss Army knife back from Luce, pulled out the scissor tool, and handed it
\nback. \u201cNot another word until you tell me how fantastic I look.\u201d

\nIn the \u201csalon\u201d of her parents\u2019 bathtub, Luce\u2019s mother had tugged the remains of
\nher long hair into a messy pony-tail before lopping the whole thing off. Luce
\nwas sure there had to be a more strategic method of cutting hair, but as a
\nlifelong haircut avoider, the chopped-off pony was about all she knew. She
\ngathered Arriane\u2019s hair in her hands, wrapped an elastic band from her wrist
\naround it, held the small scissors firmly, and began to hack.

\nThe ponytail fell to her feet and Arriane gasped and whipped around. She picked
\nit up and held it to the sun. Luce\u2019s heart constricted at the sight. She still
\nagonized over her own lost hair, and all the other losses it symbolized. But
\nArriane just let a thin smile spread across her lips. She ran her fingers
\nthrough the ponytail once, then dropped it into her bag.

\n\u201cAwesome,\u201d she said. \u201cKeep going.\u201d

\n\u201cArriane,\u201d Luce whispered before she could stop herself. \u201cYour neck. It\u2019s all\u2014\u201d
\n

\n\u201cScarred?\u201d Arriane finished. \u201cYou can say it.\u201d

\nThe skin on Arriane\u2019s neck, from the back of her left ear all the way down to
\nher collarbone, was jagged and marbled and shiny. Luce\u2019s mind went to Trevor\u2014to
\nthose awful pictures. Even her own parents wouldn\u2019t look at her after they saw
\nthem. She was having a hard time looking at Arriane now.

\nArriane grabbed Luce\u2019s hand and pressed it to the skin. It was hot and cold at
\nthe same time. It was smooth and rough.
<\/span>\u201cI\u2019m <\/span>not afraid of it,\u201d Arriane said. \u201cAre you?\u201d

\n\u201cNo,\u201d Luce said, though she wished Arriane would take her hand away so Luce
\ncould take hers away, too. Her stomach churned as she wondered whether this was
\nhow Trevor\u2019s skin would have felt.

\n\u201cAre you afraid of who you really are, Luce?\u201d

\n\u201cNo,\u201d Luce said again quickly. It must be so obvious that she was lying. She
\nclosed her eyes. All she wanted from Sword Cross was a fresh start, a
\nplace where people didn\u2019t look at her the way Arriane was looking at her right
\nnow. At the school\u2019s gates that morning, when her father had whispered the
\nPrice family motto in her ear\u2014\u201dPrices never crash\u201d\u2014it had felt possible, but
\nalready Luce felt so run down and exposed. She tugged her hand away. \u201cSo how\u2019d
\nit happen?\u201d she asked, looking down.

\n\u201cRemember how I didn\u2019t press you when you clammed up about what you did to get
\nhere?\u201d Arriane asked, raising her eyebrows.

\nLuce nodded.

\nArriane gestured to the scissors. \u201cTouch it up in the back, okay? Make me look
\nreal pretty. Make me look like you.\u201d

\nEven with the same exact cut, Arriane would still only look like a very
\nundernourished version of Luce. While Luce attempted to even out the first
\nhaircut she\u2019d ever given, Arriane delved into the complexities of life at Sword
\n Cross.

\n\u201cThat cell block over there is Augustine. It\u2019s where we have our so-called
\nSocial events on Wednesday nights. And all of our classes,\u201d she said, pointing
\nat a building the color of yellowed teeth, two buildings to the right of the
\ndorm. It looked like it had been designed by the same sadist who\u2019d done
\nPauline. It was dismally square, dismally fortresslike, fortified by the same
\nbarbed wire and barred windows. An unnatural-looking gray mist cloaked the
\nwalls like moss, making it impossible to see whether anyone was over there.

\n\u201cFair warning,\u201d Arriane continued. \u201cYou\u2019re going to hate the classes here. You
\nwouldn\u2019t be human if you didn\u2019t.\u201d

\n\u201cWhy? What\u2019s so bad about them?\u201d Luce asked. Maybe Arriane just didn\u2019t like
\nschool in general. With her black nail polish, black eyeliner, and the black
\nbag that only seemed big enough to hold her new Swiss Army knife, she didn\u2019t
\nexactly look bookish.

\n\u201cThe classes here are soulless,\u201d Arriane said. \u201cWorse, they\u2019ll strip you of
\nyour soul. Of the eighty kids in this place, I\u2019d say we\u2019ve only got about three
\nremaining souls.\u201d She glanced up. \u201cUnspoken for, anyway <\/span>…\u201c
<\/span>That
\ndidn\u2019t sound promising, but Luce was hung up on another part of Arriane\u2019s
\nanswer. \u201cWait, there are only eighty kids in this whole school?\u201d The summer
\nbefore she went to Dover, Luce had pored over the thick Prospective Students
\nhandbook, memorizing all the statistics. But everything she\u2019d learned so far
\nabout Sword Cross had surprised her, making her realize that she was
\ncoming into reform school completely unprepared.

\nArriane nodded, making Luce accidentally snip off a chunk of hair she\u2019d meant
\nto leave. Whoops. Hopefully Arriane wouldn\u2019t notice\u2014or maybe she\u2019d just think
\nit was edgy.

\n\u201cEight classes, ten kids a pop. You get to know everybody\u2019s crap pret-ty
\nquickly,\u201d Arriane said. \u201cAnd vice versa.\u201d
<\/span>\u201cI <\/span>guess so,\u201d Luce agreed, biting her lip. Arriane was
\njoking, but Luce wondered whether she\u2019d be sitting here with that cool smirk in
\nher pastel blue eyes if she knew the exact nature of Luce\u2019s backstory. The
\nlonger Luce could keep her past under wraps, the better off she\u2019d be.

\n\u201cAnd you\u2019ll want to steer clear of the hard cases.\u201d

\n\u201cHard cases?\u201d

\n\u201cThe kids with the wristband tracking devices,\u201d Arriane said. \u201cAbout a third of
\nthe student body.\u201d

\n\u201cAnd they\u2019re the ones who\u2014\u201d

\n\u201cYou don\u2019t want to mess with. Trust me.\u201d

\n\u201cWell, what\u2019d they do?\u201d Luce asked.

\nAs much as Luce wanted to keep her own story a secret, she didn\u2019t like the way
\nArriane was treating her like some sort of ing\u00e9nue. Whatever those kids had
\ndone couldn\u2019t be much worse than what everyone told her she had done. Or could
\nit? After all, she knew next to nothing about these people and this place. The
\npossibilities stirred up a cold gray fear in the pit of her stomach.

\n\u201cOh, you know,\u201d Arriane drawled. \u201cAided and abetted terrorist acts. Chopped up
\ntheir parents and roasted them on a spit.\u201d She turned around to wink at Luce.

\n\u201cShut up,\u201d Luce said.

\n\u201cI\u2019m serious. Those psychos are under much tighter restrictions than the rest
\nof the screwups here. We call them <\/span>the shackled.\u201d
<\/span><\/i>Luce
\nlaughed at Arriane\u2019s dramatic tone. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYour haircut\u2019s done,\u201d she said, running her hands
\nthrough Arriane\u2019s hair to fluff it up a little. It actually looked really cool.
\n

\n\u201cSweet,\u201d Arriane said. She turned to face Luce. When she ran her fingers
\nthrough her hair, the sleeves of her black sweater fell back on her forearms
\nand Luce caught a glimpse of a black wristband, dotted with rows of silver
\nstuds, and, on the other wrist, another band that looked more <\/span>… <\/span>mechanical. Arriane caught her looking and raised her
\neyebrows devilishly.

\n\u201cTold ya,\u201d she said. \u201cTotal effing psychos.\u201d She grinned. \u201cCome on, I\u2019ll give
\nyou the rest of the tour.\u201d

\nLuce didn\u2019t have much choice. She scrambled down the bleachers after Arriane,
\nducking when one of the turkey vultures swooped dangerously low. Arriane, who
\ndidn\u2019t seem to notice, pointed at a lichen-swathed church at the far right of
\nthe commons.

\n\u201cOver here, you\u2019ll find our state-of-the-art gymnasium,\u201d she said, assuming a
\nnasal tour guide tone of voice. \u201cYes, yes, to the untrained eye it looks like a
\nchurch. It used to be. We\u2019re kind of in an architectural hand-me-down Hell here
\nat Sword Cross. A few years ago, some calisthenic-crazed shrink showed up
\nranting about overmedicated teens ruining society. He donated a shit- ton of
\nmoney so they\u2019d convert it into a gym. Now the powers that be think we can work
\nout our \u2018frustrations\u2019 in a \u2018more natural and productive way.\u2019\u201d

\nLuce groaned. She had always loathed gym class.

\n\u201cGirl after my very own heart,\u201d Arriane commiserated, \u201cCoach Diante is ee-vil.\u201d
\n

\nAs Luce jogged to keep up, she took in the rest of the grounds. The Dover quad
\nhad been so well kept, all manicured and dotted with evenly spaced, carefully
\npruned trees. Sword Cross looked like it had been plopped down and
\nabandoned in the middle of a swamp. Weeping willows dangled to the ground,
\nkudzu grew along the walls in sheets, and every third step they took squished.

\nAnd it wasn\u2019t just the way the place looked. Every humid breath Luce took stuck
\nin her lungs. Just breathing at Sword Cross made her feel like she was
\nsinking into quicksand.

\n\u201cApparently the architects got in a huge standoff over how to retrofit the
\nstyle of the old military academy buildings. The upshot is we ended up with
\nhalf penitentiary, half medieval torture zone. And no gardener,\u201d Arriane said,
\nkicking some slime off her combat boots. \u201cGross. Oh, and there\u2019s the cemetery.\u201d
\n

\nLuce followed Arriane\u2019s pointing finger to the far left side of the quad, just
\npast the dormitory. An even thicker cloak of mist hung over the walled-off
\nportion of land. It was bordered on three sides by a thick forest of oaks. She
\ncouldn\u2019t see into the cemetery, which seemed almost to sink below the surface
\nof the ground, but she could smell the rot and hear the chorus of cicadas
\nbuzzing in the trees. For a second, she thought she saw the dark swish of the
\nshadows\u2014but she blinked and they were gone.

\n\u201cThat\u2019s a <\/span>cemetery?\u201d
\n
<\/span><\/i>\u201cYep. This
\nused to be a military academy, way back in the Civil War days. So that\u2019s where
\nthey buried all their dead. It\u2019s creepy as all get-out. And <\/span>lawd,\u201d <\/span><\/i>Arriane said, piling on a fake southern accent, \u201cit
\nstinks to <\/span>high
\nHeaven.\u201d <\/span><\/i>Then
\nshe winked at Luce. \u201cWe hang out there a lot.\u201d

\nLuce looked at Arriane to see if she was kidding. Arriane just shrugged.

\n\u201cOkay, it was only once. And it was only after a really big pharmapalooza.\u201d

\nNow, that was a word Luce recognized.

\n\u201cAha!\u201d Arriane laughed. \u201cI just saw a light go on up there. So somebody <\/span>is <\/span><\/i>home. Well, Luce, my dear, you may have gone to
\nboarding school parties, but you\u2019ve never seen a throw-down like reform school
\nkids do it.\u201d

\n\u201cWhat\u2019s the difference?\u201d Luce asked, trying to skirt the fact that she\u2019d never
\nactually been to a big party at Dover.

\n\u201cYou\u2019ll see.\u201d Arriane paused and turned to Luce. \u201cYou\u2019ll come over tonight and
\nhang out, okay?\u201d She surprised Luce by taking her hand. \u201cPromise?\u201d

\n\u201cBut I thought you said I should stay away from the hard cases,\u201d Luce joked.

\n\u201cRule number two\u2014don\u2019t listen to me!\u201d Arriane laughed, shaking her head. \u201cI\u2019m
\ncertifiably insane!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

She started jogging again and Luce trailed after her.

\n\u201cWait, what was rule number one?\u201d

\n\u201cKeep up!\u201d
<\/span>
<\/span>As they
\ncame around the corner of the cinder-block classrooms, Arriane skidded to a
\nhalt. \u201cAffect cool,\u201d she said.

\n\u201cCool,\u201d Luce repeated.

\nAll the other students seemed to be clustered around the kudzu-strangled trees
\noutside Augustine. No one looked exactly happy to be hanging out, but no one
\nlooked ready to go inside yet, either.

\nThere hadn\u2019t been much of a dress code at Dover, so Luce wasn\u2019t used to the
\nuniformity it gave a student body. Then again, even though every kid here was
\nwearing the same black jeans, black mock-turtleneck T-shirt, and black sweater
\ntied over the shoulders or around the waist, there were still substantial
\ndifferences in the way they pulled it off.

\nA group of tattooed girls standing in a crossed-armed circle wore bangle
\nbracelets up to their elbows. The black bandanas in their hair reminded Luce of
\na film she\u2019d once seen about motorcycle-gang girls. She\u2019d rented it because
\nshe\u2019d thought: <\/span>What could
\nbe cooler than an all-girls motorcycle gang? <\/span><\/i>Now Luce\u2019s eyes locked with those of one of the girls
\nacross the lawn. The sideways squint of the girl\u2019s darkly lined cat-eyes made
\nLuce quickly shift the direction of her gaze.

\nA guy and a girl who were holding hands had sewn sequins in the shape of skulls
\nand crossbones on the back of their black sweaters. Every few seconds, one of
\nthem would pull the other in for a kiss on the temple, on the earlobe, on the
\neye. When they looped their arms around each other, Luce could see that each
\nwore the blinking wristband tracking device. They looked a little rough, but it
\nwas obvious how much in love they were. Every time she saw their tongue rings
\nflashing, Luce felt a lonely pinch inside her chest.

\nBehind the lovers, a cluster of blond boys stood pressed against the wall. Each
\nof them wore his sweater, despite the heat. And they all had on white oxford
\nshirts underneath, the collars starched straight up. Their black pants hit the
\nvamps of their polished dress shoes perfectly. Of all the students on the quad,
\nthese boys seemed to Luce to be the closest thing to Doverites. But a closer
\nlook quickly set them apart from boys she used to know. Boys like Trevor.

\nJust standing in a group, these guys radiated a specific kind of toughness. It
\nwas right there in the look in their eyes. It was hard to explain, but it
\nsuddenly struck Luce that just like her, everyone at this school had a past.
\nEveryone here probably had secrets they wouldn\u2019t want to share. But she
\ncouldn\u2019t figure out whether this realization made her feel more or less
\nisolated.

\nArriane noticed Luce\u2019s eyes running over the rest of the kids.

\n\u201cWe all do what we can to make it through the day,\u201d she said, shrugging. \u201cBut
\nin case you hadn\u2019t observed the low-hanging vultures, this place pretty much
\nreeks of death.\u201d She took a seat on a bench under a weeping willow and patted
\nthe spot next to her for Luce.

\nLuce wiped away a mound of wet, decaying leaves, but just before she sat down,
\nshe noticed another dress code violation.

\nA very attractive dress code violation.

\nHe wore a bright red scarf around his neck. It was far from cold outside, but
\nhe had on a black leather motorcycle jacket over his black sweater, too. Maybe
\nit was because his was the only spot of color on the quad, but he was all that
\nLuce could look at. In fact, everything else so paled in comparison that, for
\none long moment, Luce forgot where she was.

\nShe took in his deep golden hair and matching tan. His high cheekbones, the dark
\nsunglasses that covered his eyes, the soft shape of his lips. In all the movies
\nLuce had seen, and in all the books she\u2019d read, the love interest was
\nmind-blowingly good-looking\u2014except for that one little flaw. The chipped tooth,
\nthe charming cowlick, the beauty mark on his left cheek. She knew why\u2014if the
\nhero was too <\/i>unblemished, he\u2019d risk being unapproachable. But
\napproachable or not, Luce had always had a weakness for the sublimely gorgeous.
\nLike this guy.

\nHe leaned up against the building with his arms crossed lightly over his chest.
\nAnd for a split second, Luce saw a flashing image of herself folded into those
\narms. She shook her head, but the vision stayed so clear that she almost took
\noff toward him.

\nNo. That was crazy. Right? Even at a school full of crazies, Luce was well
\naware that this instinct was insane. She didn\u2019t even <\/span>know <\/span><\/i>him.

\nHe was talking to a shorter kid with dreads and a toothy smile. Both of them
\nwere laughing hard and genuinely\u2014in a way that made Luce strangely jealous. She
\ntried to think back and remember how long it had been since she\u2019d laughed,
\nreally laughed, like that.

\n\u201cThat\u2019s Daniel Grigori,\u201d Arriane said, leaning in and reading her mind. \u201cI can
\ntell he\u2019s attracted <\/span>somebody\u2019s <\/span><\/i>attention.\u201d

\n\u201cUnderstatement,\u201d Luce agreed, embarrassed when she realized how she must have
\nlooked to Arriane.

\n\u201cYeah, well, if you like that sort of thing.\u201d

\n\u201cWhat\u2019s not to like?\u201d Luce said, unable to stop the words from tumbling out.

\n\u201cHis friend there is Roland,\u201d Arriane said, nodding in the dreadlocked kid\u2019s
\ndirection. \u201cHe\u2019s cool. The kind of guy who can get his hands on things, ya
\nknow?\u201d Not really, <\/i>Luce thought, biting her lip. \u201cWhat kinds of things?\u201d
\n

\nArriane shrugged, using her poached Swiss Army knife to saw off a fraying
\nstrand from a rip in her black jeans. \u201cJust things. Ask-and-you-shall-receive
\nkind of stuff.\u201d \u201cWhat about Daniel?\u201d Luce asked. \u201cWhat\u2019s his story?\u201d

\n\u201cOh, she doesn\u2019t give up.\u201d Arriane laughed, then cleared her throat. \u201cNo one
\nreally knows,\u201d she said. \u201cHe holds pretty tight to his mystery man persona.
\nCould just be your typical reform school asshole.\u201d
<\/span>\u201cI\u2019m no <\/span>stranger to assholes,\u201d Luce said, though as soon as
\nthe words came out, she wished she could take them back. After what had
\nhappened to Trevor\u2014whatever had <\/i>happened\u2014she was the last person who
\nshould be making character judgments. But more than that, the rare time she
\nmade even the smallest reference to that night, the shifting black canopy of
\nthe shadows came back to her, almost like she was right back at the lake.

\nShe glanced again at Daniel. He took his glasses off and slid them inside his
\njacket, then turned to look at her.

\nHis gaze caught hers, and Luce watched as his eyes widened and then quickly
\nnarrowed in what looked like surprise. But no\u2014it was more than that. When Daniel\u2019s
\neyes held hers, her breath caught in her throat. She recognized him from
\nsomewhere.

\nBut she would have remembered meeting someone like him. She would have
\nremembered feeling as absolutely shaken up as she did right now.

\nShe realized they were still locking eyes when Daniel flashed her a smile. A jet
\nof warmth shot through her and she had to grip the bench for support. She felt
\nher lips pull up in a smile back at him, but then he raised his hand in the
\nair.

\nAnd flipped her off.

\nLuce gasped and dropped her eyes.

\n\u201cWhat?\u201d Arriane asked, oblivious to what had just gone down. \u201cNever mind,\u201d she
\nsaid. \u201cWe don\u2019t have time. I sense the bell.\u201d

\nThe bell rang as if on cue, and the whole student body started the slow shuffle
\ninto the building. Arriane was tugging on Luce\u2019s hand and spouting off
\ndirections about where to meet her next and when. But Luce was still reeling
\nfrom being flipped the bird by such a perfect stranger. Her momentary delirium
\nover Daniel had vanished, and now the only thing <\/span>she wanted to know was: What was that guy\u2019s problem?

\nJust before she ducked into her first class, she dared to glance back. His face
\nwas blank, but there was no mistaking it\u2014he was watching her go. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

TWO
<\/span><\/b>FIT <\/span><\/b>TO BE <\/span><\/b>TIED
<\/span><\/b>Luce had a
\npiece of paper with her schedule printed on it, a half-empty notebook she\u2019d
\nstarted to fill at Dover in her Advanced European History class last year, two
\nnumber two pencils, her favorite eraser, and the sudden bad feeling that
\nArriane might have been right about the classes at Sword Cross.

\nThe teacher had yet to materialize, the flimsy desks were arranged in haphazard
\nrows, and the supply closet was barricaded with stacks of dusty boxes piled in front
\nof it.

\nWhat was worse, none of the other kids seemed to notice the disarray. In fact,
\nnone of the other kids seemed to notice that they were in a classroom at all.
\nThey all stood clustered near the windows, taking one last drag of a cigarette
\nhere, repositioning the extra-large safety pins on their T-shirts there. Only
\nTodd was seated at an actual desk, carving something intricate onto its surface
\nwith his pen. But the other new students seemed to have already found their
\nplaces among the crowd. Cam had the preppy Dover-looking guys in a tight cluster
\naround him. They must have been friends when he was enrolled at Sword
\nCross the first time. Gabbe was shaking hands with the tongue-pierced girl
\nwho\u2019d been making out with the tongue-pierced guy outside. Luce felt stupidly
\nenvious that she wasn\u2019t daring enough to do anything but take a seat closer to
\nthe unthreatening Todd.

\nArriane flitted about the others, whispering things Luce couldn\u2019t make out like
\nsome sort of goth princess. When she passed Cam, he tousled her newly chopped
\nhair.

\n\u201cNice mop, Arriane,\u201d He smirked, tugging on a strand at the back of her neck.
\n\u201cMy compliments to your stylist.\u201d

\nArriane swatted him away. \u201cHands off, Cam. Which is to say: In your dreams.\u201d
\nShe jerked her head in Luce\u2019s direction. \u201cAnd you can give your compliments to
\nmy new pet, right over there.\u201d

\nCam\u2019s emerald eyes sparkled at Luce, who stiffened. \u201cI believe I will,\u201d he
\nsaid, and started walking toward her.

\nHe smiled at Luce, who was sitting with her ankles crossed under her chair and
\nher hands folded neatly on her heavily graffitied desk. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUs new kids have to stick together,\u201d he said. \u201cKnow
\nwhat I mean?\u201d

\n\u201cBut I thought you\u2019d been here before.\u201d

\n\u201cDon\u2019t believe everything Arriane says.\u201d He glanced back at Arriane, who was
\nstanding at the window, eyeing them suspiciously.

\n\u201cOh no, she didn\u2019t say anything about you,\u201d Luce said quickly, trying to
\nremember whether or not that was actually true. It was clear Cam and Arriane
\ndidn\u2019t like each other, and even though Luce was grateful to Arriane for taking
\nher around this morning, she wasn\u2019t ready to pick any sides yet.
<\/span>\u201cI <\/span>remember when I was a new kid here <\/span>… <\/span>the first time.\u201d He laughed to himself. \u201cMy band had
\njust broken up and I was lost. I didn\u2019t know anyone. I could have used someone
\nwithout\u201d\u2014he glanced at Arriane\u2014\u201dan <\/span>agenda <\/span><\/i>to show me the ropes.\u201d

\n\u201cWhat, and you have no agenda?\u201d Luce said, surprised to hear a flirting lilt in
\nher voice.

\nAn easy smile spread across Cam\u2019s face. He raised one eyebrow at her. \u201cAnd to
\nthink I didn\u2019t want to come back here.\u201d

\nLuce blushed. She didn\u2019t usually get involved with rocker guys\u2014but then again,
\nnone of them had ever pulled the desk next to her even closer, plopped down
\nbeside her, and stared at her with eyes quite so green. Cam reached into his
\npocket and pulled out a green guitar pick with the number 44 printed on it.

\n\u201cThis is my room number. Come by anytime.\u201d

\nThe guitar pick wasn\u2019t far from the color of Cam\u2019s eyes, and Luce wondered how
\nand when he\u2019d had these printed up, but before she could answer\u2014and who knew <\/span>what <\/span><\/i>she would have answered\u2014Arriane clamped a hard hand
\ndown on Cam\u2019s shoulder. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, did I not make myself clear? I\u2019ve already
\ncalled dibs on this one.\u201d

\nCam snorted. He looked straight at Luce as he said, \u201cSee, I thought there was
\nstill such a thing as free will. Maybe your <\/span>pet <\/span><\/i>has a path of her own in mind.\u201d

\nLuce opened her mouth to claim that of course she had a path, it was just her
\nfirst day here and she was still figuring out the ropes. But by the time she
\nwas able to get the words straight in her head, the minute-warning bell rang,
\nand the little gathering over Luce\u2019s desk dissolved.

\nThe other kids filed into desks around her, and soon it stopped being so
\nnoteworthy that Luce was sitting prim and proper at her desk, keeping her eye
\non the door. Keeping a lookout for Daniel.

\nOut of the corner of her eye, she could feel Cam sneaking peeks at her. She
\nfelt flattered\u2014and nervous, then frustrated with herself. Daniel? Cam? She\u2019d
\nbeen at this school for what, forty-five minutes?\u2014and her mind was already
\njuggling two different guys. The whole reason she was at this school at all was
\nbecause the last time she\u2019d been interested in a guy, things had gone horribly,
\nhorribly wrong. She should <\/span>not <\/span><\/i>be allowing herself to get all smitten (twice!) on her
\nvery first day of school.

\nShe looked over at Cam, who winked at her again, then brushed his dark hair
\naway from his eyes. Staggering good looks aside\u2014yeah, right\u2014he really did seem
\nlike a useful person to know. Like her, he was still adjusting to the setting,
\nbut had clearly been around the Sword Cross block a few times before. And
\nhe was nice to her. She thought about the green guitar pick with his room
\nnumber, hoping he didn\u2019t give those out freely. They could be <\/span>… <\/span>friends. Maybe that was all she needed. Maybe then she
\nwould stop feeling quite so obviously out of place at Sword Cross.

\nMaybe then she\u2019d be able to forgive the fact that the only window in the
\nclassroom was the size of a business envelope, caked with lime, and looked out
\non a massive mausoleum in the cemetery.

\nMaybe then she\u2019d be able to forget the nose-tickling odor of peroxide emanating
\nfrom the bleached-blond punk chick sitting in front of her.

\nMaybe then she could actually pay attention to the stern, mustached teacher who
\nmarched into the room, commanded the class to <\/span>shapeupandsitdown, <\/span><\/i>and firmly closed the door.

\nThe smallest tweak of disappointment tugged at her heart. It took her a moment
\nto trace where it had come from. Until the teacher shut the door, she\u2019d been
\nholding out a little hope that Daniel would be in her first class, too.

\nWhat did she have next hour, French? She looked down at her schedule to check
\nwhat room it was in. Just then, a paper airplane skidded across her schedule,
\novershot her <\/span>desk,
\nand landed on the floor by her bag. She checked to see who\u2019d noticed, but the
\nteacher was busy tearing through a piece of chalk as he wrote something on the
\nboard.

\nLuce glanced nervously to her left. When Cam looked over at her, he gave her a
\nwink and a flirty little wave that caused her whole body to tense up. But he
\ndidn\u2019t seem to have seen or been responsible for the paper airplane.

\n\u201cPsssst,\u201d came the quiet whisper behind him. It was Arriane, who motioned with
\nher chin for Luce to pick up the paper plane. Luce bent down to reach for it
\nand saw her name written in small black letters on the wing. Her first note!
Already looking for the exit?

\nNot a good sign.

\nWe\u2019re in this hellhole until lunch.
<\/i>That had <\/i>to be a joke. Luce double-checked her schedule and realized
\nwith horror that all three of her morning classes were in this very same room
\n1\u2014and all three would be taught by the very same Mr. Cole.

\nHe\u2019d detached himself from the blackboard and was sleepily threading his way
\nthrough the room. There was no introduction for the new kids\u2014and Luce couldn\u2019t
\ndecide whether she was glad about that or not. Mr. Cole merely slapped syllabi
\ndown on each of the four new students\u2019 desks. When the stapled packet landed in
\nfront of Luce, she leaned forward eagerly to take a look. History of the
\nWorld, <\/i>it read. Circumventing the Doom of Mankind. <\/i>Hmmm, history had
\n<\/i>always been her strongest subject, but circumventing doom?

\nA closer look at the syllabus was all it took for Luce to see that Arriane had
\nbeen right about being in a hellhole: an impossible reading load, TEST in big,
\nbold letters every third class period, and a thirty-page paper
\non\u2014seriously?\u2014the failed tyrant of your choice. Thick black parentheses had
\nbeen drawn in black Sharpie around the assignments Luce had missed during the
\nfirst few weeks. In the margins, Mr. Cole had written See me for Makeup
\nResearch Assignment. <\/i>If there was a more effective way of soul-sucking,
\nLuce would be scared to find out.

\nAt least she had Arriane sitting back there in the next row. Luce was glad the
\nprecedent had already been set for SOS note-passing. She and Callie used to
\ntext each other on the sly, but to make it here, Luce was definitely going to
\nneed to learn to fold a paper airplane. She tore a sheet from her notebook and
\ntried to use Arriane\u2019s as a model.

\nAfter a few origami-challenged minutes, another plane landed on her desk. She
\nglanced back at Arriane, who shook her head and gave her a
\nyou-have-so-much-to-learn roll of the eyes.

\nLuce shrugged an apology and swiveled back around to open the second note:
Oh, and until you\u2019re confident about your aim, you might not want to fly any
\nDaniel-related messages my way. Dude behind you is famous on the football field
\nfor his interceptions.
<\/i>Good to know. She hadn\u2019t even seen Daniel\u2019s friend Roland come in behind
\nher. Now she turned very slightly in her seat until she glimpsed his dreadlocks
\nout of the corner of her eye. She dared a glance down at the open notebook on
\nhis desk and caught his full name. Roland Sparks.

\n\u201cNo note-passing,\u201d Mr. Cole said sternly, causing Luce to whip her head back to
\nattention. \u201cNo plagiarizing, and no looking at one another\u2019s papers. I didn\u2019t
\nput myself through graduate school only to receive your divided attention.\u201d

\nLuce nodded in unison with the other dazed kids just as a third paper plane glided
\nto a stop in the middle of her desk. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Only 172 minutes to go!
<\/span><\/i>
<\/span>A hundred
\nand seventy-three torturous minutes later, Arriane was leading Luce to the
\ncafeteria. \u201cWhat\u2019d ya think?\u201d she asked.

\n\u201cYou were right,\u201d Luce said numbly, still recovering from how painfully bleak
\nher first three hours of class had been. \u201cWhy would anyone teach such a
\ndepressing subject?\u201d

\n\u201cAw, Cole’ll ease up soon. He puts on his no-guff face every time there\u2019s a new
\nstudent. Anyway,\u201d Arriane said, poking Luce, \u201cit could be worse. You could have
\ngotten stuck with Ms. Tross.\u201d

\nLuce glanced down at her schedule. \u201cI have her for biology in the afternoon
\nblock,\u201d she said with a sinking feeling in her gut.

\nAs Arriane sputtered out a laugh, Luce felt a bump on her shoulder. It was Cam,
\npassing them in the hall on his way to lunch. Luce would have gone sprawling if
\nnot for his hand reaching back to steady her.

\n\u201cEasy there.\u201d He shot her a quick smile, and she wondered if he had bumped her
\nintentionally. But he didn\u2019t seem that juvenile. Luce glanced at Arriane to see
\nwhether she\u2019d noticed anything. Arriane raised her eyebrows, almost inviting
\nLuce to speak, but neither one of them said a thing.

\nWhen they crossed the dusty interior windows separating bleak hall from bleaker
\ncafeteria, Arriane took hold of Luce\u2019s elbow.

\n\u201cAvoid the chicken-fried steak at all costs,\u201d she coached as they followed the
\ncrowd into the din of the lunchroom. \u201cThe pizza\u2019s fine, the chili\u2019s okay, and
\nactually the borscht ain\u2019t bad. Do you like meat loaf?\u201d
<\/span>\u201cI\u2019m a <\/span>vegetarian,\u201d Luce said. She was glancing around the
\ntables, looking for two people in particular. Daniel and Cam. She\u2019d just feel
\nmore at ease if she knew where they were so she could go about having her lunch
\npretending that she didn\u2019t see either one of them. But so far, no sightings

\n\u201cVegetarian, huh?\u201d Arriane pursed her lips. \u201cHippie parents or your own meager
\nattempt at rebellion?\u201d

\n\u201cUh, neither, I just don\u2019t\u2014\u201d

\n\u201cLike meat?\u201d Arriane steered Luce\u2019s shoulders ninety degrees so that she was
\nlooking directly at Daniel, sitting at a table across the room. Luce let out a
\nlong exhale. There he was. \u201cNow, does that go for all <\/i>meat?\u201d Arriane
\nsang loudly. \u201cLike you wouldn\u2019t sink your teeth into him?\u201d
<\/i>Luce slugged Arriane and dragged her toward the lunch line. Arriane was
\ncracking up, but Luce knew she was blushing badly, which would be
\nexcruciatingly obvious in this fluorescent lighting.

\n\u201cShut up, he totally heard you,\u201d she whispered.

\nPart of Luce felt glad to be joking about boys with a friend. Assuming Arriane
\nwas her friend.

\nShe still felt unglued by what had happened this morning when she\u2019d seen
\nDaniel. That pull toward him\u2014she still didn\u2019t understand where it came from,
\nand yet here it was again. She made herself tear her eyes away from his blond
\nhair, from the smooth line of his jaw. She refused to be caught staring. She
\ndid not <\/i>want to give him any reason to flip her off a second time.

\n\u201cWhatever,\u201d Arriane scoffed. \u201cHe\u2019s so focused on that hamburger, he wouldn\u2019t
\nhear the call of Satan.\u201d She gestured at Daniel, who did look intensely focused
\non chewing his burger. Scratch that, he looked like someone pretending <\/i>to
\nbe intensely focused on chewing his hamburger. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Luce glanced across the table at Daniel\u2019s friend
\nRoland. He was looking straight at her. When he caught her eye, he waggled his
\neyebrows in a way that Luce couldn\u2019t make sense of but that still creeped her
\nout a little.

\nLuce turned back to Arriane. \u201cWhy is everyone at this school so weird?\u201d
<\/span>\u201cI\u2019m <\/span>going to choose not to take offense at that,\u201d Arriane
\nsaid, picking up a plastic tray and handing one to Luce. \u201cAnd I\u2019m going to move
\non to explaining the fine art of selecting a cafeteria seat. You see, you never
\nwant to sit anywhere near the\u2014Luce, look out!\u201d

\nAll Luce did was take one step backward, but as soon as she did, she felt the
\nrough shove of two hands on her shoulders. Immediately, she knew she was going
\ndown. She reached out in front of her for support, but all her hands found was
\nsomeone else\u2019s full lunch tray. The whole thing tumbled down right along with
\nher. She landed with a thud on the cafeteria floor, a full cup of borscht in
\nher face.

\nWhen she\u2019d wiped enough mushy beets out of her eyes to see, Luce looked up. The
\nangriest pixie she\u2019d ever seen was standing over her. The girl had spiky
\nbleached hair, at least ten piercings on her face, and a death glare. She bared
\nher teeth at Luce and hissed, \u201cIf the sight of you hadn\u2019t just ruined my
\nappetite, I\u2019d make you buy me another lunch.\u201d

\nLuce stammered an apology. She tried to get up, but the girl clamped the heel
\nof her black stiletto boot down on Luce\u2019s foot. Pain shot up her leg, and she
\nhad to bite her lip so she wouldn\u2019t cry out.

\n\u201cWhy don\u2019t I just take a rain check,\u201d the girl said.

\n\u201cThat\u2019s enough, Molly,\u201d Arriane said coolly. She reached down to help Luce to
\nher feet.

\nLuce winced. The stiletto was definitely going to leave a bruise.

\nMolly squared her hips to face Arriane, and Luce got the feeling this was not
\nthe first time they\u2019d locked horns.

\n\u201cFast friends with the newbie, I see,\u201d Molly growled. \u201cThis is very bad
\nbehavior, A. Aren\u2019t you supposed to be on probation?\u201d

\nLuce swallowed. Arriane hadn\u2019t mentioned anything about probation, and it
\ndidn\u2019t make sense that that would prohibit her from making new friends. But the
\nword was enough to make Arriane clench her fist and throw a fat punch that
\nlanded on Molly\u2019s right eye.

\nMolly reeled backward, but it was Arriane who caught Luce\u2019s attention. She\u2019d
\nbegun convulsing, her arms thrown up and jerking in the air.

\nIt was the wristband, Luce realized with horror. It was sending some sort of
\nshock through Arriane\u2019s body. Unbelievable. This was cruel and unusual
\npunishment, for sure. Luce\u2019s stomach churned as she watched her friend\u2019s entire
\nbody quake. She reached out to catch Arriane just as she sank to the floor.

\n\u201cArriane,\u201d Luce whispered. \u201cAre you okay?\u201d

\n\u201cTerrific.\u201d Arriane\u2019s dark eyes flickered open, then shut.

\nLuce gasped. Then one of Arriane\u2019s eyes popped back open. \u201cScared ya, did I?
\nAw, that\u2019s sweet. Don\u2019t worry, the shocks won\u2019t kill me,\u201d she whispered. \u201cThey
\nonly make me stronger. Anyway, it was worth it to give that cow a black eye, ya
\nknow?\u201d

\n\u201cAll right, break it up. Break it up,\u201d a husky voice boomed behind them.

\nRandy stood in the doorway, red-faced and breathing hard. It was a little too
\nlate to break anything up, Luce thought, but then Molly was lurching toward
\nthem, her stiletto heels clicking on the linoleum. This girl was shameless. Was
\nshe really going to kick the crap out of Arriane with Randy standing right
\nthere?

\nLuckily, Randy\u2019s burly arms closed around her first. Molly tried to kick her
\nway out and started screaming.

\n\u201cSomebody better start talking,\u201d Randy barked, squeezing Molly until she went
\nlimp. \u201cOn second thought, all three of you report for detention tomorrow
\nmorning. Cemetery. Crack of dawn!\u201d Randy looked at Molly. \u201cHave you chilled <\/i>yet?\u201d
\n

\nMolly nodded stiffly, and Randy released her. She crouched down to where
\nArriane still lay in Luce\u2019s lap, her arms crossed over her chest. At first Luce
\nthought Arriane was sulking, like an angry dog with a shock collar, but then
\nLuce felt a small jolt from Arriane\u2019s body and realized that the girl was still
\nat the mercy of the wristband. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCome on,\u201d Randy said, more softly. \u201cLet\u2019s go turn you
\noff.\u201d

\nShe extended her hand to Arriane and helped heave up her tiny, shaking body,
\nturning back only once at the doorway to repeat her orders for Luce and Molly.

\n\u201cCrack of dawn!\u201d

\n\u201cLooking forward to it,\u201d Molly said sweetly, reaching down to pick up the plate
\nof meat loaf that had slipped from her tray.

\nShe dangled it over Luce\u2019s head for a second, then turned the plate upside down
\nand mashed the food into her hair. Luce could hear the squish of her own
\nmortification as all of Sword Cross got its viewing of the
\nmeat-loaf-coated new girl.

\n\u201cPriceless,\u201d Molly said, pulling out the tiniest silver camera from the back
\npocket of her black jeans. \u201cSay <\/span>… <\/span>meat loaf,\u201d she sang, snapping a few close-up shots.
\n\u201cThese will be <\/span>great <\/span><\/i>on my blog.\u201d

\n\u201cNice hat,\u201d someone jeered from the other side of the cafeteria. Then, with
\ntrepidation, Luce turned her eyes to Daniel, praying that somehow he had missed
\nthis whole scene. But no. He was shaking his head. He looked annoyed.

\nUntil that moment, Luce had thought she had a chance at standing up and just
\nshaking off the incident\u2014literally. But seeing Daniel\u2019s reaction\u2014well, it
\nfinally made her crack.

\nShe would <\/span>not <\/span><\/i>cry in front of any of these horrible people. She
\nswallowed hard, got to her feet, and took off. She rushed toward the nearest
\ndoor, eager to feel some cool air on her face.

\nInstead, the southern September humidity cloaked her, choking her, as soon as
\nshe got outside. The sky was that no-color color, a grayish brown so
\noppressively bland it was difficult even to find the sun. Luce slowed down, but
\ngot as far as the edge of the parking lot before she came to a complete stop.

\nShe longed to see her battered old car there, to sink into the fraying cloth
\nseat, rev the engine, crank up the stereo, and peel the hell out of this place.
\nBut as she stood on the hot black pavement, reality set in: She was stuck here,
\nand a pair of towering metal gates separated her from the world outside Sword
\n Cross. Besides, even if she\u2019d had a way out <\/span>… <\/span>where was she going to go?

\nThe sick feeling in her gut told her all she needed to know. She was already at
\nthe last stop, and things were looking pretty grim.

\nIt was as depressing as it was true: Sword Cross was all she had.

\nShe dropped her face into her hands, knowing she had to go back. But when she
\nlifted her head, the residue on her palm reminded her that she was still coated
\nin Molly\u2019s meat loaf. Ugh. First stop, the nearest bathroom.

\nBack inside, Luce ducked into the girls\u2019 room just as the door was swinging
\nopen. Gabbe, who appeared even more blond and flawless now that Luce looked
\nlike she\u2019d just gone Dumpster diving, squeezed past.

\n\u201cWhoops, \u2018scuse me, honey,\u201d she said. Her southern-accented voice was sweet,
\nbut her face crumpled up at the sight of Luce. \u201cOh God, you look terrible. What
\nhappened?\u201d What happened? As if the whole school didn\u2019t already know. This girl
\nwas probably playing dumb so Luce would relive the whole mortifying scene.

\n\u201cWait five minutes,\u201d Luce replied, with more of an edge in her voice than she
\nmeant. \u201cI\u2019m sure gossip spreads like the plague around here.\u201d

\n\u201cYou want to borrow my foundation?\u201d Gabbe asked, holding up a pastel blue
\ncosmetics case. \u201cYou haven\u2019t seen yourself yet, but you\u2019re going to\u2014\u201d

\n\u201cThanks, but no.\u201d Luce cut her off, pushing into the bathroom. Without looking
\nat herself in the mirror, she turned on the faucet. She splashed cold water on
\nher face and finally let it all out. Tears streaming, she pumped the soap
\ndispenser and tried to use some of the cheap pink powdered hand soap to scrub
\noff the meat loaf. But there was still the matter of her hair. And her clothes
\nhad definitely looked and smelled better. Not that she needed to worry about
\nmaking a good first impression anymore.

\nThe bathroom door cracked open and Luce scrambled against the wall like a
\ntrapped animal. When a stranger walked in, Luce stiffened and waited for the
\nworst.

\nThe girl had a squat build, accentuated by an abnormal amount of layered
\nclothing. Her wide face was surrounded by curly brown hair, and her bright
\npurple glasses wobbled when she sniffed. She looked fairly unassuming, but
\nthen, looks could be deceiving. Both her hands were tucked behind her back in a
\nway that, after the day Luce had had, she just couldn\u2019t trust.

\n\u201cYou know, you\u2019re not supposed to be in here without a pass,\u201d the girl said.
\nHer even tone seemed to mean business.
<\/span>\u201cI <\/span>know.\u201d The look in the girl\u2019s eyes confirmed Luce\u2019s
\nsuspicion that it was absolutely impossible to catch a break at this place. She
\nstarted to sigh in surrender. \u201cI just\u2014\u201d
<\/span>\u201cI\u2019m <\/span>kidding.\u201d The girl laughed, rolling her eyes and
\nrelaxing her posture. \u201cI snagged some shampoo from the locker room for you,\u201d
\nshe said, bringing her hands around to display two innocent-looking plastic
\nbottles of shampoo and conditioner. \u201cCome on,\u201d she said, pulling over a beat-up
\nfolding chair. \u201cLet\u2019s get you cleaned up. Sit here.\u201d

\nA half-whimpering, half-laughing noise she\u2019d never made before escaped from
\nLuce\u2019s lips. It sounded, she guessed, like relief. The girl was actually being
\nnice to her\u2014not just reform school nice, but regular-person nice! For no
\napparent reason. The shock of it was almost too great for Luce to stand.
\n\u201cThanks?\u201d Luce managed to say, still feeling a little bit guarded.

\n\u201cOh, and you probably need a change of clothes,\u201d the girl said, looking down at
\nher black sweater and pulling it over her head to expose an identical black
\nsweater underneath.

\nWhen she saw the surprised look on Luce\u2019s face, she said, \u201cWhat? I have a
\nhostile immune system. I have to wear a lot of layers.\u201d

\n\u201cOh, well, will you be okay without this one?\u201d Luce made herself ask, even
\nthough she would have done just about anything right then to get out of the
\nmeat cloak she was wearing.

\n\u201cOf course,\u201d the girl said, waving her off, \u201cI\u2019ve got three more on under this.
\nAnd a couple more in my locker. Be my guest. It pains me to see a vegetarian
\ncovered in meat. I\u2019m very empathetic.\u201d

\nLuce wondered how this stranger knew about her dietary preferences, but more
\nthan that, she had to ask: \u201cUm, why are you being so nice?\u201d

\nThe girl laughed, sighed, then shook her head. \u201cNot everyone at Sword
\nCross is a whore or a jock.\u201d

\n\u201cHuh?\u201d Luce said.

\n\u201cSword Cross <\/span>… <\/span>Whores and Jocks. Lame nickname in town for this
\nschool. Obviously there aren\u2019t really any jocks here. I won\u2019t oppress your ears
\nwith some of the cruder nicknames they\u2019ve come up with.\u201d

\nLuce laughed.

\n\u201cAll I meant was, not everyone here is a complete jerk.\u201d

\n\u201cJust the majority?\u201d Luce asked, hating it that she already sounded so
\nnegative. But it had been such a long morning, and she\u2019d already been through
\nso much, and maybe this girl wouldn\u2019t judge her for being a little bit gruff.

\nTo her surprise, the girl smiled. \u201cExactly. And they sure give the rest of us a
\nbad name,\u201d She stuck out her hand. \u201cI\u2019m Pennyweather Van Syckle-Lockwood. You
\ncan call me Penn.\u201d

\n\u201cGot it,\u201d Luce said, still too frazzled to realize that, in a former life, she
\nmight have stifled a laugh at this girl\u2019s moniker. It sounded like she\u2019d hopped
\nstraight off the pages of a Dickens novel. Then again, there was something
\ntrustworthy about a girl with a name like that who could manage to introduce
\nherself with a straight face. \u201cI\u2019m Lucinda Price.\u201d

\n\u201cAnd everybody calls you Luce,\u201d Penn said. \u201cAnd you transferred from Dover Prep
\nin New Hampshire.\u201d

\n\u201cHow\u2019d you know that?\u201d Luce asked slowly.

\n\u201cLucky guess?\u201d Penn shrugged. \u201cI\u2019m kidding, I read your file, duh. It\u2019s a
\nhobby.\u201d

\nLuce stared at her blankly. Maybe she\u2019d been too hasty with that trustworthy
\njudgment. How could Penn have access to her file?

\nPenn took over running the water. When it got warm, she motioned for Luce to
\nlower her head into the sink.

\n\u201cSee, the thing is,\u201d she explained, \u201cI\u2019m not actually crazy.\u201d She pulled Luce
\nup by her wet head. \u201cNo offense.\u201d Then lowered her back down. \u201cI\u2019m the only kid
\nat this school <\/span>without
\na court mandate. And you might not think it, but being legally sane has its
\nadvantages. For example, I\u2019m also the only kid they trust to be an office aide.
\nWhich is dumb on their part. I have access to a lot of confidential shit.\u201d

\n\u201cBut if you don\u2019t have <\/i>to be here\u2014\u201d

\n\u201cWhen your father\u2019s the groundskeeper of the school, they kind of have to let
\nyou go for free. So Penn trailed off.

\nPenn\u2019s father was the groundskeeper? From the looks of the place, it hadn\u2019t
\ncrossed Luce\u2019s mind that they even had <\/i>a groundskeeper.
<\/span>\u201cI <\/span>know what you\u2019re thinking,\u201d Penn said, helping Luce
\nshampoo the last of the gravy from her hair. \u201cThat the grounds aren\u2019t exactly
\nwell kept?\u201d

\n\u201cNo,\u201d Luce lied. She was eager to stay on this girl\u2019s good side and wanted to
\nput out the be-my-friend vibe way more than she wanted to seem like she
\nactually cared about how often someone mowed the lawn at Sword Cross. \u201cIt\u2019s,
\num, really nice.\u201d

\n\u201cDad died two years ago,\u201d Penn said quietly. \u201cThey got as far as sticking me
\nwith decaying old Headmaster Udell as my legal guardian, but, uh, they never
\nreally got around to hiring a replacement for Dad.\u201d

\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d Luce said, lowering her voice, too. So someone else here knew what
\nit was like to go through a major loss.

\n\u201cIt\u2019s okay,\u201d Penn said, squirting conditioner into her palm. \u201cIt\u2019s actually a
\nreally good school. I like it here a lot.\u201d

\nNow Luce\u2019s head shot up, sending a spray of water across the bathroom. \u201cYou
\nsure you\u2019re not crazy?\u201d she teased.

\n\u201cI\u2019m kidding. I hate it here. It totally sucks.\u201d

\n\u201cBut you can\u2019t bring yourself to leave,\u201d Luce said, tilting her head, curious.

\nPenn bit her lip. \u201cI know it\u2019s morbid, but even if I weren\u2019t stuck with Udell,
\nI couldn\u2019t. My dad\u2019s here.\u201d She gestured toward the cemetery, invisible from
\nhere. \u201cHe\u2019s all I\u2019ve got.\u201d

\n\u201cThen I guess you\u2019ve got more than some other people at this school,\u201d Luce
\nsaid, thinking of Arriane. Her mind rolled back to the way Arriane had gripped
\nher hand on the quad today, the eager look in her blue eyes when she made Luce
\npromise she\u2019d swing by her dorm room tonight.

\n\u201cShe\u2019s gonna be okay,\u201d Penn said. \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t be Monday if Arriane didn\u2019t get
\ncarted off to the nurse after a fit.\u201d

\n\u201cBut it wasn\u2019t a fit,\u201d Luce said. \u201cIt was that wristband. I saw it. It was
\nshocking her.\u201d

\n\u201cWe have a very broad definition of what makes for a \u2018fit\u2019 here at Sword
\nCross. Your new enemy, Molly? She\u2019s thrown some legendary fits. They keep
\nsaying they\u2019re going to change her meds. Hopefully you\u2019ll have the pleasure of
\nwitnessing at least one good freak-out before they do.\u201d

\nPenn\u2019s intel was pretty remarkable. It crossed Luce\u2019s mind to ask her what the
\nstory was with Daniel, but the complicated intensity of her interest in him was
\nprobably best kept to a need-to-know basis. At least until she figured it out
\nherself.

\nShe felt Penn\u2019s hands wringing the water from her hair.

\n\u201cThat\u2019s the last of it,\u201d Penn said. \u201cI think you\u2019re finally meat-free.\u201d

\nLuce looked in the mirror and ran her hands through her hair. Penn was right.
\nExcept for the emotional scarring and the pain in her right foot, there was no
\nevidence of her cafeteria brawl with Molly.
<\/span>\u201cI\u2019m <\/span>just glad you have short hair,\u201d Penn said. \u201cIf it were
\nstill as long as it was in the picture in your file, this would have been a
\nmuch lengthier operation.\u201d

\nLuce gawked at her. <\/span>\u201cI\u2019m <\/span>going <\/span>to <\/span>have to keep an eye on you, aren\u2019t I?\u201d

\nPenn looped her arm through Luce\u2019s and steered her out of the bathroom. <\/span>\u201cJust <\/span>stay
\non my good side and no one gets hurt.\u201d

\nLuce shot Penn a worried look, but Penn\u2019s face gave nothing away. \u201cYou\u2019re
\nkidding, right?\u201d Luce asked.

\nPenn smiled, suddenly cheery. \u201cCome on, we gotta get to class. Aren\u2019t you glad
\nwe\u2019re in the same afternoon block?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Luce
\nlaughed. \u201cWhen are you going to stop knowing everything about me?\u201d

\n\u201cNot in the foreseeable future,\u201d Penn said, tugging her down the hall and back
\ntoward the cinder-block classrooms. \u201cYou\u2019ll learn to love it soon, I promise.
\nI\u2019m a very powerful friend to have.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

THREE
<\/span><\/b>DRAWING DARK
<\/span><\/b>Luce
\nmeandered down the dank dormitory hallway toward her room, dragging her red
\nCamp Gurid duffel bag with the broken strap in her wake, The walls here were
\nthe color of a dusty blackboard\u2014and the whole place was strangely quiet, save
\nfor the dull hum of the yellow fluorescent lamps hanging from the water-stained
\ndrop-panel ceilings.

\nMostly, Luce was surprised to see so many shut doors. Back at Dover, she\u2019d
\nalways wished for more privacy, a break from the hallwide dorm parties that
\nsprang up at all hours. You couldn\u2019t walk to your room without tripping over a
\npowwow of girls sitting cross-legged in matching jeans, or a lip-locked couple
\npressed against the wall.

\nBut at Sword Cross <\/span>… <\/span>well, either everyone was already getting started on
\ntheir thirty-page term papers <\/span>… <\/span>or else the socializing here was of a much more
\nbehind-closed- doors variety.

\nSpeaking of which, the closed doors themselves were a sight to be seen. If the
\nstudents at Sword Cross got resourceful with their dress code violations,
\nthey were downright ingenious when it came to personalizing their spaces.
\nAlready Luce had walked by one door frame with a beaded curtain, and another
\nwith a motion-detecting welcome mat that encouraged her to \u201cmove the hell on\u201d
\nwhen she passed it.

\nShe came to a stop in front of the only blank door in the building. Room 63.
\nHome bitter home. She fumbled for her key in the front pocket of her backpack,
\ntook a deep breath, and opened the door to her cell.

\nExcept it wasn\u2019t <\/span>terrible. <\/span><\/i>Or maybe it wasn\u2019t as terrible as she\u2019d been
\nexpecting. There was a decent-sized window that slid open to let in some less
\nstifling night air. And past the steel bars, the view of the moonlit commons
\nwas actually sort of interesting, if she didn\u2019t think too hard about the
\ngraveyard that lay beyond it. She had a closet and a little sink, a desk to do
\nher work at\u2014come to think of it, the saddest-looking thing in the room was the
\nglimpse Luce caught of herself in the full-length mirror behind the door. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

She quickly looked away, knowing all too well what
\nshe\u2019d find in the reflection. Her face looking pinched and tired. Her hazel
\neyes flecked with stress. Her hair like her family\u2019s hysterical toy poodle\u2019s
\nfur after a rainstorm. Penn\u2019s sweater fit her like a burlap sack. She was
\nshivering. Her afternoon classes had been no better than the morning\u2019s, due
\nmainly to the fact that her biggest fear had come to fruition: The whole school
\nhad already started calling her Meat Loaf. And unfortunately, much like its
\nnamesake, the moniker seemed like it was going to stick.

\nShe wanted to unpack, to turn generic room 63 into her own place, where she
\ncould go when she needed to escape and feel okay. But she only got as far as
\nunzipping her bag before she collapsed on the bare bed in defeat. She felt so
\nfar away from home. It only took twenty-two minutes by car to get from the
\nloose-hinged whitewashed back door of her house to the rusty wrought iron
\nentrance gates of Sword Cross, but it might as well have been twenty-two
\nyears.

\nFor the first half of the silent drive with her parents this morning, the
\nneighborhoods had all looked pretty much the same: sleepy southern middle-class
\nsuburbia. But then the road had gone over the causeway toward the shore, and the
\nterrain had grown more and more marshy. A swell of mangrove trees marked the
\nentrance into the wetlands, but soon even those dwindled out. The last ten
\nmiles of road to Sword Cross were dismal. Grayish brown, featureless,
\nforsaken. Back home in Thunderbolt, people around town always joked about the
\nstrangely memorable moldering stench out here: You knew you were in the marshes
\nwhen your car started to reek of pluff mud.

\nEven though Luce had grown up in Thunderbolt, she really wasn\u2019t that familiar
\nwith the far eastern part of the county. As a kid, she\u2019d always just assumed
\nthat was because there wasn\u2019t any reason to come over here\u2014all the stores,
\nschools, and everyone her family knew were on the west side. The east side was
\njust less developed. That was all.

\nShe missed her parents, who\u2019d stuck a Post-it on the T-shirt at the top of her
\nbag\u2014we <\/span>love you! Prices never
\ncrash! <\/span><\/i>She
\nmissed her bedroom, which looked out on her dad\u2019s tomato vines. She missed
\nCallie, who most certainly had sent her at least ten never-to-be-seen text
\nmessages already. She missed Trevor

\nOr, well, that wasn\u2019t exactly it. What she missed was the way life had felt
\nwhen she\u2019d first started talking to Trevor. When she had someone to think about
\nif she couldn\u2019t sleep at night, someone\u2019s name to doodle dorkily inside her
\nnotebooks. The truth was, Luce and Trevor never really had the chance to get to
\nknow each other all that well. The only memento she had was the picture Callie
\nhad snapped covertly, from across the football field between two of his squat
\nsets, when he and Luce had talked for fifteen seconds about his squat sets. And
\nthe only date she\u2019d ever gone on with him hadn\u2019t even been a real date\u2014just a
\nstolen hour when he\u2019d pulled her away from the rest of the party. An hour she\u2019d
\nregret for the rest of her life.

\nIt had started out innocently enough, just two people going for a walk down by
\nthe lake, but it wasn\u2019t long before Luce started to feel the shadows lurking
\noverhead. Then Trevor\u2019s lips touched hers, and the heat coursed through her
\nbody, and his eyes turned white with terror <\/span>… <\/span>and seconds later, life as she\u2019d known it had gone up
\nin a blaze.

\nLuce rolled over and buried her face in the crook of an arm. She\u2019d spent months
\nmourning Trevor\u2019s death, and now, lying in this strange room, with the metal
\nbars digging into her skin through the thin mattress, she felt the selfish
\nfutility of it all. She hadn\u2019t known Trevor any more than she knew <\/span>… <\/span>well, Cam.

\nA knock on her door made Luce shoot up from the bed. How would anyone know to
\nfind her here? She tiptoed to the door and pulled it open. Then she stuck her
\nhead into the very empty hallway. She hadn\u2019t even heard footsteps outside, and
\nthere was no sign of anyone having just knocked.

\nExcept the paper airplane pinned with a brass tack to the center of the
\ncorkboard next to her door. Luce smiled to see her name written in black marker
\nalong the wing, but when she unfolded the note, all that was written inside was
\na black arrow pointing straight down the hall.

\nArriane <\/span>had <\/span><\/i>invited her over tonight, but that was before the
\nincident with Molly in the cafeteria. Looking down the empty hallway, Luce
\nwondered about following the cryptic arrow. Then she glanced back at her giant
\nduffel bag, her pity party waiting to be unpacked. She shrugged, pulled her
\ndoor shut, put her room key in her pocket, and started walking.

\nShe stopped in front of a door on the other side of the hall to check out an
\noversized poster of Sonny Terry, a blind musician who she knew from her
\nfather\u2019s scratchy record collection was an incredible blues harmonica player.
\nShe leaned forward to read the name on the corkboard and realized with a start
\nthat she was standing in front of Roland Sparks\u2019s room. Immediately,
\nannoyingly, there was that little part of her brain that started calculating
\nthe odds that Roland might be hanging out with Daniel, with only a thin door
\nseparating them from Luce. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

A mechanical buzzing sound made Luce jump. She looked
\nstraight into a surveillance camera drilled into the wall over Roland\u2019s door. The
\nreds. Zooming in on her every move. She shrank away, embarrassed for reasons no
\ncamera would be able to discern. Anyway, she\u2019d come here to see Arriane\u2014whose
\nroom, she realized, just happened to be directly across the hall from Roland.

\nIn front of Arriane\u2019s room, Luce felt a little stab of tenderness. The entire
\ndoor was covered with bumper stickers\u2014some printed, others obviously homemade.
\nThere were so many that they overlapped, each slogan half covering and often
\ncontradicting the one before it. Luce laughed under her breath as she imagined
\nArriane collecting the bumper stickers indiscriminately (MEAN PEOPLE RULE <\/span>… <\/span>MY DAUGHTER IS AN F STUDENT AT SWORD CROSS <\/span>… <\/span>VOTE NO ON PROP 666), then slapping them with a
\nhaphazard\u2014but committed\u2014focus onto her turf.

\nLuce could have kept herself entertained for an hour reading Arriane\u2019s door,
\nbut soon she started to feel self-conscious about standing in front of a dorm
\nroom she was only half certain she\u2019d actually been invited to. Then she saw the
\nsecond paper airplane. She pulled it down from the corkboard and unfolded the
\nmessage:
<\/span>My Darling Luce,

\nIf you actually showed up to hang out tonight, props! We\u2019ll get along juuust
\nfine.

\nIf you bailed on me, then get your claws off my private note, ROLAND! How many
\ntimes do I have to tell you? Jeez.

\nAnyhow: I know I said to swing by tonight, but I had to dash straight from
\nRR in the nurse\u2019s station (the silver fining of my Taser treatment today)
\nto a makeup biology review with the Albatross, Which is to say\u2014rain check?

\nYours psychotically,

\nA
<\/span><\/i>Luce stood
\nwith the note in her hands, unsure about what to do next. She was relieved to
\nread that Arriane was being taken care of, but she still wished she could see
\nthe girl in person. She wanted to hear the nonchalance in Arriane\u2019s voice for
\nherself, so that she\u2019d know how to feel about what had happened in the
\ncafeteria today. But standing there in the hallway, Luce was ever more
\nuncertain how to process the day\u2019s events. A quiet panic filled her when it
\nfinally registered that she was alone, after dark, at Sword Cross.

\nBehind her, a door cracked open. A sliver of white light opened up on the floor
\nbeneath her feet. Luce heard music being played inside a room.

\n\u201cWhatcha doin\u2019?\u201d It was Roland, standing in his doorway in a torn white T-shirt
\nand jeans. His dreads were gathered in a yellow rubber band on top of his head
\nand he held a harmonica up next to his lips.
<\/span>\u201cI <\/span>came to see Arriane,\u201d Luce said, trying to keep
\nherself from looking past him to see if anyone else was in the room. \u201cWe were
\nsupposed to\u2014\u201d

\n\u201cNobody\u2019s home,\u201d he said, cryptically. Luce didn\u2019t know if he meant Arriane, or
\nthe rest of the kids in the dorm, or what. He played a few bars on the
\nharmonica, keeping his eyes on her the whole time. Then he held open the door a
\nlittle bit wider and raised his eyebrows. She couldn\u2019t tell whether or not he
\nwas inviting her to come in.

\n\u201cWell, I was just swinging by on my way to the library,\u201d she lied quickly,
\nturning back the way she\u2019d come. \u201cThere\u2019s a book I need to check out.\u201d

\n\u201cLuce,\u201d Roland called.

\nShe turned around. They hadn\u2019t officially met yet, and she hadn\u2019t expected him
\nto know her name. His eyes flashed a smile at her and he used the harmonica to
\npoint in the opposite direction. \u201cLibrary\u2019s that way,\u201d he said. He crossed his
\narms over his chest. \u201cBe sure to check out the special collections in the east
\nwing. They\u2019re really something.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThanks,\u201d Luce said, feeling truly grateful as she
\nchanged course. Roland seemed so real right then, waving and playing a few
\nparting slides on the harmonica as she left. Maybe he\u2019d only made her nervous
\nearlier because she thought of him as Daniel\u2019s friend. For all she knew, Roland
\ncould be a really nice person. Her mood lifted as she walked down the hallway.
\nFirst Arriane\u2019s note had been snappy and sarcastic, then she\u2019d had a
\nnon-awkward encounter with Roland Sparks; plus she really <\/span>did <\/span><\/i>want to check out the library. Things were looking up.
\n

\nNear the end of the hall, where the dorm elbowed off toward the library wing,
\nLuce passed the only cracked-open door on the floor. There was no decorative
\nflair on this door, but someone had painted it all black. As she got closer,
\nLuce could hear angry heavy metal music playing inside. She didn\u2019t even have to
\npause to read the name on the door. It was Molly\u2019s.

\nLuce quickened her steps, suddenly aware of every clop of her black riding
\nboots on the linoleum. She didn\u2019t realize she\u2019d been holding her breath until
\nshe pushed through the wood-grained library doors and exhaled.

\nA warm feeling came over Luce as she looked around the library. She\u2019d always
\nloved the faintly sweet musty way that only a roomful of books smelled. She
\ntook comfort in the soft occasional sound of turning pages. The library at
\nDover had always been her escape, and Luce felt almost overwhelmed with relief
\nas she realized that this one might offer her the same sense of sanctuary. She
\ncould hardly believe that this place belonged to Sword Cross. It was almost
\n<\/span>… <\/span>it was actually <\/span>… <\/span>inviting.

\nThe walls were a deep mahogany and the ceilings were high. A fireplace with a
\nbrick hearth lay along one wall. There were long wooden tables lit by
\nold-fashioned green lamps, and aisles of books that went on farther than she
\ncould see. The sound of her boots was hushed by a thick Persian carpet as Luce
\nwandered past the entryway.

\nA few students were studying, none that Luce knew by name, but even the more
\npunky-looking kids seemed less threatening with their heads bent over books.
\nShe neared the main circulation desk, which was a great round station at the
\ncenter of the room. It was strewn with stacks of papers and books and had a
\nhomey academic messiness that reminded Luce of her parents\u2019 house. The books
\nwere piled so high that Luce almost didn\u2019t see the librarian seated behind
\nthem. She was rooting through some paperwork with the energy of someone panning
\nfor gold. Her head popped up as Luce approached.

\n\u201cHello!\u201d The woman smiled\u2014she actually <\/span>smiled\u2014at <\/span><\/i>Luce. Her hair was not gray but silver, with a kind of
\nbrilliance that sparkled even in the soft library light. Her face looked old
\nand young at the same time. She had pale, almost incandescent skin, bright
\nblack eyes, and a tiny, pointed nose. When she spoke to Luce, she pushed up the
\nsleeves of her white cashmere sweater, exposing stacks and stacks of pearl
\nbracelets decorating both of her wrists. \u201cCan I help you find something?\u201d she
\nasked in a happy whisper.

\nLuce felt instantly at ease with this woman, and glanced down at the nameplate
\non her desk. Sophia Bliss. She wished she did have a library request. This
\nwoman was the first authority figure she\u2019d seen all day whose help she would
\nactually have wanted to seek out. But she was just here wandering around <\/span>… <\/span>and then she remembered what Roland Sparks had said.
<\/span>\u201cI\u2019m <\/span>new here,\u201d she explained. \u201cLucinda Price. Could you
\ntell me where the east wing is?\u201d

\nThe woman gave Luce a you-look-like-the-reading-sort smile that Luce had been
\ngetting from librarians all her life. \u201cRight that way,\u201d she said, pointing
\ntoward a row of tall windows on the other side of the room. \u201cI\u2019m Miss Sophia,
\nand if my roster\u2019s correct, you\u2019re in my religion seminar on Tuesdays and
\nThursdays. Oh, we\u2019re going to have some fun!\u201d She winked. \u201cIn the meantime, if
\nyou need anything else, I\u2019m here. A pleasure to meet you, Luce.\u201d

\nLuce smiled her thanks, told Miss Sophia happily that she\u2019d see her tomorrow in
\nclass, and started toward the windows. It was only after she\u2019d left the
\nlibrarian that she wondered about the strange, intimate way the woman had
\ncalled her by her nickname.

\nShe\u2019d just cleared the main study area and was passing through the tall,
\nelegant book stacks when something dark and macabre passed over her head. She
\nglanced up.
<\/span>No. Not
\nhere. Please. Let me just have this one place.
<\/span><\/i>When the
\nshadows came and went, Luce was never sure exactly where they ended up\u2014or how
\nlong they would be gone.

\nShe couldn\u2019t figure out what was happening now. Something was different. She
\nwas terrified, yes, but she didn\u2019t feel cold. In fact, she felt a little bit
\nflushed. The library was warm, but it wasn\u2019t <\/span>that <\/span><\/i>warm. And then her eyes fell on Daniel.

\nHe was facing the window, his back to her, leaning over a podium that said
\nSPECIAL COLLECTIONS in white letters. The sleeves of his worn leather jacket
\nwere pushed up around his elbows, and his blond hair glowed under the lights.
\nHis shoulders were hunched over, and yet again, Luce had an instinct to fold
\nherself into them. She shook it from her head and stood on tiptoe to get a
\nbetter look at him. From here, she couldn\u2019t be certain, but he looked like he
\nwas drawing something.

\nAs she watched the slight movement of his body as he sketched, Luce\u2019s insides
\nfelt like they were burning, like she\u2019d swallowed something hot. She couldn\u2019t
\nfigure out why, against all reason, she had this wild premonition that Daniel
\nwas drawing her.

\nShe <\/span>shouldn\u2019t <\/span><\/i>go to him. After all, she didn\u2019t even know him, had
\nnever actually spoken to him. Their only communication so far had included one
\nmiddle finger and a couple of dirty looks. Yet for some reason, it felt very
\nimportant to her that she find out what was on that sketchpad.

\nThen it hit her. The dream she\u2019d had the night before. The briefest flash of it
\ncame back to her all of a sudden. In the dream, it had been late at night\u2014damp
\nand chilly, and she\u2019d been dressed in something long and flowing. She leaned up
\nagainst a curtained window in an unfamiliar room. The only other person there
\nwas a man <\/span>… <\/span>or a boy\u2014she never got to see his face. He was
\nsketching her likeness on a thick pad of paper. Her hair. Her neck. The precise
\noutline of her profile. She stood behind him, too afraid to let him know she
\nwas watching, too intrigued to turn away.

\nLuce jerked forward as she felt something pinch the back of her shoulder, then
\nfloat over her head. The shadow had resurfaced. It was black and as thick as a
\ncurtain.

\nThe pounding of her heart grew so loud that it filled her ears, blocking out
\nthe dark rustle of the shadow, blocking out the sound of her footsteps. Daniel
\nglanced up from his work and seemed to raise his eyes to exactly where the
\nshadow hovered, but he didn\u2019t start the way she had.

\nOf course, he couldn\u2019t see them. His focus settled calmly outside the window.

\nThe heat inside her grew stronger. She was close enough now that she felt like
\nhe must be able to feel it coming off her skin.

\nAs quietly as she could, Luce tried to peer over his shoulder at his sketchpad.
\nFor just a second, her mind saw the curve of her own bare neck sketched in
\npencil on the page. But then she blinked, and when her eyes settled back on the
\npaper, she had to swallow hard.

\nIt was a landscape. Daniel was drawing the view of the cemetery out the window
\nin almost perfect detail. Luce had never seen anything that made her quite so
\nsad.

\nShe didn\u2019t know why. It was crazy\u2014even for her\u2014to have expected her bizarre
\nintuition to come true. There was no reason for Daniel to draw her. She knew
\nthat. Just like she knew he\u2019d had no reason to flip her off this morning. But
\nhe had.

\n\u201cWhat are you doing over here?\u201d he asked. He\u2019d closed his sketchbook and was
\nlooking at her solemnly. His full lips were set in a straight line and his gray
\neyes looked dull. He didn\u2019t look angry, for a change; he looked exhausted.

\n\u201cI came to check out a book from Special Collections,\u201d she said in a wobbly
\nvoice. But as she looked around, she quickly realized her mistake, Special
\nCollections wasn\u2019t a section of books\u2014it was an open area in the library for an
\nart display about the Civil War. She and Daniel were standing in a tiny gallery
\nof bronze busts of war heroes, glass cases filled with old promissory notes and
\nConfederate maps. It was the only section of the library where there wasn\u2019t a
\nsingle book to check out.

\n\u201cGood luck with that,\u201d Daniel said, opening up his sketchbook again, as if to
\nsay, preemptively, <\/span>goodbye.
<\/span><\/i>Luce was
\ntongue-tied and embarrassed and what she would have liked to do was escape. But
\nthen, there were the shadows, still lurking nearby, and for some reason Luce
\nfelt better about them when she was next to Daniel. It made no sense\u2014like there
\nwas anything he could do to protect her from them.

\nShe was stuck, rooted to her spot. He glanced up at her and sighed.

\n\u201cLet me ask you, do you like being sneaked up on?\u201d

\nLuce thought about the shadows and what they were doing to her right now.
\nWithout thinking, she shook her head roughly.

\n\u201cOkay, that makes two of us.\u201d He cleared his throat and stared at her, driving
\nhome the point that she was the intruder. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe she could explain that she was feeling a little
\nlight-headed and just needed to sit down for a minute. She started to say,
\n\u201cLook, can <\/span>I\u2014\u201d
<\/span><\/b>But Daniel
\npicked up his sketchbook and got to his feet. \u201cI came here to get away,\u201d he
\nsaid, cutting her off. \u201cIf you\u2019re not going to leave, I will.\u201d

\nHe shoved his sketchbook into his backpack. When he pushed past, his shoulder
\nbrushed hers. Even as brief as the touch was, even through their layers of
\nclothes, Luce felt a shock of static.

\nFor a second, Daniel stood still, too. They turned their heads to look back at
\neach other, and Luce opened her mouth. But before she could speak, Daniel had
\nturned on his heel and was walking quickly toward the door. Luce watched as the
\nshadows crept over his head, swirled in a circle, then rushed out the window
\ninto the night. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

FOUR
<\/span><\/b>GRAVEYARD SHIFT
<\/span><\/b>Ahhh,
\nTuesday. <\/span>Waffle day. <\/span><\/i>For as long as Luce could remember, summer Tuesdays
\nmeant fresh coffee, brimming bowls of raspberries and whipped cream, and an
\nunending stack of crispy golden brown waffles. Even this summer, when her
\nparents started acting a little scared of her, waffle day was one thing she
\ncould count on. She could roll over in bed on a Tuesday morning, and before she
\nwas aware of anything else, she knew instinctively what day it was.

\nLuce sniffed, slowly coming to her senses, then sniffed again with a little
\nmore gusto. No, there was no buttermilk batter, nothing but the vinegary smell
\nof peeling paint. She rubbed the sleep away and took in her cramped dorm room.
\nIt looked like the \u201cbefore\u201d shot on a home renovation show. The long nightmare
\nthat had been Monday came back to her:

\nthe surrender of her cell phone, the meat loaf incident and Molly\u2019s flashing
\neyes in the lunchroom, Daniel brushing her off in the library. What it was that
\nmade him so spiteful, Luce didn\u2019t have a clue.

\nShe sat up to look out the window. It was still dark; the sun hadn\u2019t even
\npeeked over the horizon yet. She never woke up this early. If pressed, she
\ndidn\u2019t actually think she could remember ever having seen the sunrise.
\nTruthfully, something about sunrise-watching as an activity had always made her
\nnervous. It was the waiting moments, the just-
\nbefore-the-sun-snapped-over-the-horizon moments, sitting in the darkness
\nlooking out across a tree line. Prime shadow time.

\nLuce sighed an audibly homesick, lonely sigh, which made her even more homesick
\nand lonely. What was she going to do with herself for the three hours between
\nthe crack of dawn and her first class? <\/span>Crack of dawn\u2014why <\/span><\/i>did the words ring in her ears? Oh. Crap. She was
\nsupposed to be at detention.

\nShe scrambled out of bed, tripping over her still-packed duffel bag, and yanked
\nanother boring black sweater from the top of a stack of boring black sweaters.
\nShe tugged on yesterday\u2019s black jeans, winced as she caught a glimpse of her
\ndisastrous bed head, and tried to run her fingers through her hair as she
\ndashed out the door. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

She was out of breath when she reached the waist-high,
\nintricately sculpted wrought iron gates of the cemetery. She was choking on the
\noverwhelming smell of skunk cabbage and feeling far too alone with her
\nthoughts. Where was everyone else? Was their definition of \u201ccrack of dawn\u201d
\ndifferent from hers? She glanced down at her watch. It was already six-fifteen.
\n

\nAll they\u2019d told her was to meet at the cemetery, and Luce was pretty sure this
\nwas the only entrance. She stood at the threshold, where the gritty asphalt of
\nthe parking lot gave way to a mangled lot full of weeds. She spotted a lone
\ndandelion, and it crossed her mind that a younger Luce would have pounced on it
\nand then made a wish and blown. But this Luce\u2019s wishes felt too heavy for
\nsomething so light.

\nThe delicate gates were all that divided the cemetery from the parking lot.
\nPretty remarkable for a school with so much barbed wire everywhere else. Luce
\nran her hand along the gates, tracing the ornate floral pattern with her
\nfingers. The gates must have dated back to the Civil War days Arriane was
\ntalking about, back when the cemetery was used to bury fallen soldiers. When
\nthe school attached to it was not a home for wayward psychos. When the whole
\nplace was a lot less overgrown and shadowy.

\nIt was strange\u2014the rest of the campus was as flat as a sheet of paper, but
\nsomehow, the cemetery had a concave, bowl-like shape. From here, she could see
\nthe slope of the whole vast thing before her. Row after row of simple
\nheadstones lined the slopes like spectators at an arena.

\nBut toward the middle, at the lowest point of the cemetery, the path through
\nthe grounds twisted into a maze of larger carved tombs, marble statues, and
\nmausoleums. Probably for Confederate officers, or just the soldiers who came
\nfrom money. They looked like they\u2019d be beautiful up close. But from here, the
\nsheer weight of them seemed to drag the cemetery down, almost like the whole
\nplace was being swallowed into a drain.

\nFootsteps behind her. Luce whirled around to see a stumpy, black-clad figure
\nemerge from behind a tree. Penn! She had to resist the urge to throw her arms
\naround the girl. Luce had never been so glad to see anyone\u2014though it was hard
\nto believe Penn ever got detentions.

\n\u201cAren\u2019t you late?\u201d Penn asked, stopping a few feet in front of Luce and giving
\nher an amused you-poor-newbie shake of the head.

\n\u201cI\u2019ve been here for ten minutes,\u201d Luce said. \u201cAren\u2019t you <\/i>the one who\u2019s
\nlate?\u201d

\nPenn smirked. \u201cNo way, I\u2019m just an early riser. I never get detention.\u201d She
\nshrugged and pushed her purple glasses up on her nose. \u201cBut you do, along with
\nfive other unfortunate souls, who are probably getting angrier by the minute
\nwaiting for you down at the monolith.\u201d She stood on tiptoe and pointed behind
\nLuce, toward the largest stone structure, which rose up from the middle of the
\ndeepest part of the cemetery. If Luce squinted, she could just make out a group
\nof black figures clustered around its base.

\n\u201cThey just said meet at the cemetery,\u201d Luce said, already feeling defeated. \u201cNo
\none told me where to go.\u201d

\n\u201cWell, I\u2019m telling you: monolith. Now get down there,\u201d Penn said. \u201cYou\u2019re not
\ngoing to make many friends by cutting into their morning any more than you
\nalready have.\u201d

\nLuce gulped. Part of her wanted to ask Penn to show her the way. From up here,
\nit looked like a labyrinth, and Luce did not want to get lost in the cemetery.
\nSuddenly, she got that nervous, far-away-from-home feeling, and she knew it was
\nonly going to get worse in there. She cracked her knuckles, stalling.

\n\u201cLuce?\u201d Penn said, giving her shoulders a bit of a shove. \u201cYou\u2019re still
\nstanding here.\u201d

\nLuce tried to give Penn a brave thank-you smile, but had to settle for an
\nawkward facial twitch. Then she hurried down the slope into the heart of the
\ncemetery.

\nThe sun still hadn\u2019t risen, but it was getting closer, and these last few
\npredawn moments were always the ones that creeped her out the most. She tore
\npast the rows of plain headstones. At one point they must have been upright,
\nbut by now they were so old that most of them tipped over to one side or the
\nother, giving the whole place the look of a set of morbid dominoes.

\nShe slopped in her black Converse sneakers through puddles of mud, crunched
\nover dead leaves. By the time she cleared the section of simple plots and made
\nit to the more ornate tombs, the ground had more or less flattened out, and she
\nwas totally lost. She stopped running, tried to catch her breath. Voices. If
\nshe calmed down, she could hear voices.

\n\u201cFive more minutes, then I\u2019m out,\u201d a guy said.

\n\u201cToo bad your opinion has no value, Mr. Sparks.\u201d An ornery voice, one Luce
\nrecognized from her classes yesterday. Ms. Tross\u2014the Albatross. After the meat
\nloaf incident, <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Luce had shown up late to her class and hadn\u2019t exactly
\nmade the most favorable impression on the dour, spherical science teacher.

\n\u201cUnless anyone wants to lose his or her social privileges this week\u201d\u2014groans
\nfrom among the tombs\u2014\u201dwe will all wait patiently, as if we had nothing better
\nto do, until Miss Price decides to grace us with her presence.\u201d
<\/span>\u201cI\u2019m <\/span>here,\u201d Luce gasped, finally rounding a giant statue of
\na cherub.

\nMs. Tross stood with her hands on her hips, wearing a variation of yesterday\u2019s
\nloose black muumuu. Her thin mouse-brown hair was plastered to her scalp and
\nher dull brown eyes showed only annoyance at Luce\u2019s arrival. Biology had always
\nbeen tough for Luce, and so far, she wasn\u2019t doing her grade in Ms. Tross\u2019s class
\nany favors.

\nBehind the Albatross were Arriane, Molly, and Roland, scattered around a circle
\nof plinths that all faced a large central statue of an angel. Compared to the
\nrest of the statues, this one seemed newer, whiter, grander. And leaning up
\nagainst the angel\u2019s sculpted thigh\u2014she almost hadn\u2019t noticed\u2014was Daniel.

\nHe was wearing the busted black leather jacket and the bright red scarf she\u2019d
\nfixated on yesterday. Luce took in his messy blond hair, which looked like it
\nhadn\u2019t yet been smoothed down after sleep <\/span>… <\/span>which made her think about what Daniel might look like
\nwhen he was sleeping <\/span>… <\/span>which made her blush so intensely that by the time her
\neyes made their way down from his hairline to his eyes, she was thoroughly
\nhumiliated.

\nBy then he was glaring at her.

\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d she blurted out, \u201cI didn\u2019t know where we were supposed to meet. I
\nswear\u2014\u201d

\n\u201cSave it,\u201d Ms. Tross said, dragging a finger across her throat. \u201cYou\u2019ve wasted
\nenough of everyone\u2019s time. Now, I\u2019m sure you all remember whatever despicable indiscretion
\nyou committed to find yourself here. You can think about that for the next two
\nhours while you work. Pair up. You know the drill.\u201d She glanced at Luce and let
\nout her breath. \u201cOkay, who wants a prot\u00e9g\u00e9e?\u201d

\nTo Luce\u2019s horror, all of the other students looked at their feet. But then,
\nafter a torturous minute, a fifth student stepped into view around the corner
\nof the mausoleum.
<\/span>\u201cI do.\u201d
<\/span>Cam. His
\nblack V-neck T-shirt fit close around his broad shoulders. He stood almost a
\nfoot taller than Roland, who moved aside as Cam pushed past and walked toward
\nLuce. His eyes were glued to her as he strode forward, moving smoothly and
\nconfidently, as at ease in his reform school garb as Luce was ill at ease. Part
\nof her wanted to avert her eyes, because it was embarrassing the way Cam was
\nstaring at her in front of everyone. But for some reason, she was mesmerized.
\nShe couldn\u2019t break his gaze\u2014until Arriane stepped between them.

\n\u201cDibs,\u201d she said. \u201cI called dibs.\u201d

\n\u201cNo you didn\u2019t,\u201d Cam said.

\n\u201cYes I did, you just didn\u2019t hear me from your weird perch back there.\u201d The
\nwords rushed out of Arriane. \u201cI want her,\u201d
<\/span>\u201cI\u2014\u201d Cam <\/span>started to respond.

\nArriane cocked her head expectantly. Luce swallowed. Was he going to come out
\nand say <\/span>he <\/span><\/i>wanted her, too? Couldn\u2019t they just forget about it?
\nServe detention in a group of three?

\nCam patted Luce\u2019s arm. \u201cI’ll catch up with you after, okay?\u201d he said to her,
\nlike it was a promise she\u2019d asked him to keep.

\nThe other kids hopped off tombs they\u2019d been sitting on and trooped toward a
\nshed. Luce followed, clinging to Arriane, who wordlessly handed her a rake.

\n\u201cSo. Do you want the avenging angel, or the fleshy embracing lovers?\u201d

\nThere was no mention of yesterday\u2019s events, or of Arriane\u2019s note, and Luce
\nsomehow didn\u2019t feel she should bring anything up with Arriane now. Instead, she
\nglanced overhead to find herself flanked by two giant statues. The one closer
\nto her looked like a Rodin. A nude man and woman stood tangled in an embrace.
\nShe\u2019d studied French sculpture back at Dover, and always thought Rodins were
\nthe most romantic pieces. But now it was hard to look at the embracing lovers
\nwithout thinking of Daniel. <\/span>Daniel. <\/span><\/i>Who hated her. If she needed any further proof of that
\nafter he\u2019d basically bolted from the library last night, all she had to do was
\nthink back to the fresh glare she\u2019d gotten from him this morning.

\n\u201cWhere\u2019s the avenging angel?\u201d she asked Arriane with a sigh.

\n\u201cGood choice. Over here.\u201d Arriane led Luce to a massive marble sculpture of an
\nangel saving the ground from the strike of a thunderbolt. It might have been an
\ninteresting piece, back in the day when it was first carved. But now it just
\nlooked old and dirty, covered in mud and green moss.
<\/span>\u201cI <\/span>don\u2019t get it,\u201d Luce said. \u201cWhat do we do?\u201d

\n\u201cScrub-a-dub-dub,\u201d Arriane said, almost singing. <\/span>\u201cI <\/span>like to pretend <\/span>I\u2019m <\/span>giving them a little bath.\u201d With that, she scrambled
\nup the giant angel, swinging her legs over the statue\u2019s thunderbolt-thwarting
\narm, as if the whole thing were a sturdy old oak tree for her to climb.

\nTerrified of looking like she was asking for more trouble from Ms. Tross, Luce
\nstarting working her rake across the base of the statue. She tried to clear
\naway what seemed like an endless pile of damp leaves.

\nThree minutes later, her arms were <\/span>killing
\n<\/span><\/i>her. She
\ndefinitely hadn\u2019t dressed for this kind of muddy manual labor. Luce had never
\nbeen sent to detention at Dover, but from what she\u2019d overheard, it consisted of
\nfilling a piece of paper with \u201cI will not plagiarize off the Internet\u201d a few
\nhundred times.

\nThis was brutal. Especially when all she\u2019d really done was accidentally bump
\ninto Molly in the lunchroom. She was trying not to make snap judgments here,
\nbut clearing mud from the graves of people who\u2019d been dead over a century? Luce
\ntotally hated her life right now.

\nThen a tease of sunlight finally filtered through the trees, and suddenly there
\nwas color in the graveyard. Luce felt instantly lighter. She could see more
\nthan ten feet in front of her. She could see Daniel <\/span>… <\/span>working side by side with Molly.

\nLuce\u2019s heart sank. The airy feeling disappeared.

\nShe looked at Arriane, who shot her a this-blows sympathy glance but kept
\nworking.

\n\u201cHey,\u201d Luce whispered loudly.

\nArriane put a finger to her lips but motioned for Luce to climb up next to her.
\n

\nWith much less grace and agility, Luce grabbed the statue\u2019s arm and swung
\nherself up onto the plinth. Once she was fairly certain that she wasn\u2019t going
\nto tumble to the ground, she whispered, \u201cSo <\/span>… <\/span>Daniel\u2019s friends with Molly?\u201d

\nArriane snorted. \u201cNo way, they totally hate each other,\u201d she said quickly, then
\npaused. \u201cWhy d\u2019you ask?\u201d

\nLuce pointed at the two of them, doing no work whatsoever to clear brush from
\ntheir tomb. They were standing close to each other, leaning on their rakes and
\nhaving a conversation that Luce desperately wished she could hear. \u201cThey look
\nlike friends to me.\u201d

\n\u201cIt\u2019s detention,\u201d Arriane said flatly. \u201cYou have to pair up. Do you think
\nRoland and Chester the Molester are friends?\u201d She pointed at Roland and Cam.
\nThey seemed to be arguing about the best way to divvy up their work on the
\nlovers\u2019 statue. \u201cDetention buddies does <\/span>not <\/span><\/i>equal real-life buddies.\u201d

\nArriane looked back at Luce, who could feel her face falling, despite her best
\nefforts to appear unfazed.

\n\u201cLook, Luce, I didn\u2019t mean <\/span>…\u201c <\/span>She trailed off. \u201cOkay, aside from the fact that you
\nmade me waste a good twenty minutes of my morning, I have no problem with you.
\nIn fact, I think you\u2019re sort of interesting. Kinda fresh. That said, I don\u2019t
\nknow what you were expecting in terms of mushy-gushy friendship here at Sword
\n Cross. But let me be the first to tell you, it just ain\u2019t that easy.
\nPeople are here because they\u2019ve got baggage. I\u2019m talking curbside-check-in,
\npay-the-fine-\u2019cause-it\u2019s-over-fifty-pounds kind of baggage. Get it?\u201d

\nLuce shrugged, feeling embarrassed. \u201cIt was just a question.\u201d

\nArriane snickered. \u201cAre you always so defensive? What the hell did you do to
\nget in here, anyway?\u201d

\nLuce didn\u2019t feel like talking about it. Maybe Arriane was right, she\u2019d be better
\noff not trying to make friends. She hopped down and went back to attacking the
\nmoss at the base of the statue. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Arriane was intrigued. She hopped down,
\ntoo, and brought her rake down on top of Luce\u2019s to pin it in place.

\n\u201cOoh, tell me tell me tell <\/span>me,\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/b>she taunted.

\nArriane\u2019s face was so close to Luce\u2019s. It reminded Luce of yesterday, crouching
\nover Arriane after she\u2019d convulsed. They\u2019d had a moment, hadn\u2019t they? And part
\nof Luce badly wanted to be able to talk to someone. It had been such a long,
\nstifling summer with her parents. She sighed, resting her forehead on the
\nhandle of her rake.

\nA salty, nervous taste filled her mouth, but she couldn\u2019t swallow it away. The
\nlast time she\u2019d gone into these details, it had been because of a court order.
\nShe would just as soon have forgotten them, but the longer Arriane stared her
\ndown, the clearer the words grew, and the closer they came to the tip of her
\ntongue.

\n\u201cI was with a friend one night,\u201d she started to explain, taking a long, deep
\nbreath. \u201cAnd something terrible happened.\u201d She closed her eyes, praying that
\nthe scene wouldn\u2019t play out in a burst under the red-black of her eyelids.
\n\u201cThere was a fire. I made it out <\/span>… <\/span>and he didn\u2019t.\u201d

\nArriane yawned, much less horrified by the story than Luce was.

\n\u201cAnyway,\u201d Luce went on, \u201cafterwards, I couldn\u2019t remember the details, how it
\nhappened. What I could remember\u2014what I told the judge, anyway\u2014I guess they
\nthought I was crazy.\u201d She tried to smile, but it felt forced.

\nTo Luce\u2019s surprise, Arriane squeezed her shoulder. And for a second, her face
\nlooked really sincere. Then it changed back into its smirk.

\n\u201cWe\u2019re all so misunderstood, aren\u2019t we?\u201d She poked Luce in the gut with her
\nfinger. \u201cYou know, Roland and I were just talking about how we don\u2019t have any
\npyromaniac friends. And everyone knows you need a good pyro to pull off any
\nreform school prank worth the effort.\u201d She was scheming already. \u201cRoland
\nthought maybe that other new kid, Todd, but I\u2019d rather cast my lot with you. We
\nshould all collaborate sometime.\u201d

\nLuce swallowed hard. She wasn\u2019t a pyro. But she was done talking about her
\npast; she didn\u2019t even feel like defending herself.

\n\u201cOoh, wait until Roland hears,\u201d Arriane said, throwing down her rake. \u201cYou\u2019re
\nlike our dream come true.\u201d

\nLuce opened her mouth to protest, but Arriane had already taken off. <\/span>Perfect, <\/span><\/i>Luce thought, listening to the sound of Arriane\u2019s
\nshoes squishing through the mud. Now it was only a matter of minutes before
\nword traveled around the cemetery to Daniel.

\nAlone again, she looked up at the statue. Even though she\u2019d already cleared a
\nhuge pile of moss and mulch, the angel looked dirtier than ever. The whole
\nproject felt so pointless. She doubted anyone ever came to visit this place
\nanyway. She also doubted that any of the other detainees were still working.

\nHer eye just happened to fall on Daniel, who <\/span>was <\/span><\/i>working. He was very diligently using a wire brush to
\nscrub some mold off the bronze inscription on a tomb. He\u2019d even pushed up the
\nsleeves of his sweater, and Luce could see his muscles straining as he went at
\nit. She sighed, and\u2014she couldn\u2019t help it\u2014leaned her elbow against the stone
\nangel to watch him.
<\/span>He\u2019s always been such a hard worker.
<\/span><\/i>Luce
\nquickly shook her head. Where had that come from? She had no idea what it
\nmeant. And yet, she\u2019d been the one who\u2019d thought it. It was the kind of phrase
\nthat sometimes formed in her mind just before she drifted into sleep. Senseless
\nbabble she could never assign to anything outside her dreams. But here she was,
\nwide-awake.

\nShe needed to get a handle on this Daniel thing. She\u2019d known him for one day,
\nand already, she could feel herself slipping into a very strange and unfamiliar
\nplace.

\n\u201cProbably best to stay away from him,\u201d a cold voice behind her said.

\nLuce whipped around to find Molly, in the same pose she\u2019d found her in
\nyesterday: hands on her hips, pierced nostrils flaring. Penn had told her that
\nSword Cross\u2019s surprising ruling that allowed facial piercings came from
\nthe headmaster\u2019s own reluctance to remove the diamond stud in his ear.

\n\u201cWho?\u201d she asked Molly, knowing she sounded stupid.

\nMolly rolled her eyes. \u201cJust trust me when I tell you that falling for Daniel
\nwould be a very, very bad idea.\u201d

\nBefore Luce could answer, Molly was gone. But Daniel\u2014it was almost as if he\u2019d
\nheard his name\u2014was looking straight at her. Then <\/span>walking <\/span><\/i>straight at her. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

She knew the sun had gone behind a cloud. If she could
\nbreak his stare, she could look up and see it for herself. But she couldn\u2019t
\nlook up, she couldn\u2019t look away, and for some reason, she had to squint to see
\nhim. Almost like Daniel was creating his own light, like he was blinding her. A
\nhollow ringing noise filled up her ears, and her knees began to tremble.

\nShe wanted to pick up her rake and pretend she didn\u2019t see him coming. But it
\nwas too late to play it cool.

\n\u201cWhat\u2019d she say to you?\u201d he asked.

\n\u201cUm,\u201d she hedged, racking her brain for a sensible lie. Finding nothing. She
\ncracked her knuckles.

\nDaniel cupped his hand over hers. \u201cI hate it when you do that.\u201d

\nLuce jerked away instinctively. His hand on hers had been so fleeting, yet she
\nfelt her face flush. He meant it was a pet peeve of his, that knuckle cracking
\nfrom anyone <\/i>would bother him, right? Because to say that he hated it
\nwhen she <\/i>did that implied that he\u2019d seen her do it before. And he
\ncouldn\u2019t have. He barely knew her.

\nThen why did this feel like a fight they\u2019d had before?

\n\u201cMolly told me to stay away from you,\u201d she said finally.

\nDaniel tilted his head from side to side, seeming to consider this. \u201cShe\u2019s
\nprobably right.\u201d

\nLuce shivered. A shadow drifted over them, darkening the angel\u2019s face just long
\nenough for Luce to worry. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe, praying
\nDaniel couldn\u2019t tell anything was strange.

\nBut the panic was rising inside her. She wanted to run. She couldn\u2019t run. What
\nif she got lost in the cemetery?

\nDaniel followed her gaze toward the sky. \u201cWhat is it?\u201d

\n\u201cNothing.\u201d

\n\u201cSo are you going to do it?\u201d he asked, crossing his arms over his chest, a
\ndare.

\n\u201cWhat?\u201d she said. Pun?
<\/i>Daniel took a step toward her. He was now less than a foot away. She held
\nher breath. She kept her body completely still. She waited.

\n\u201cAre you going to stay away from me?\u201d

\nIt almost sounded like he was flirting.

\nBut Luce was completely out of sorts. Her brow was damp with sweat, and she
\nsqueezed her temples between two fingers, trying to regain possession of her
\nbody, trying to take it back from his control. She was totally unprepared to
\nflirt back. That was, if what he was doing was actually flirting.

\nShe took a step back. \u201cI guess so.\u201d

\n\u201cDidn\u2019t hear you,\u201d he whispered, cocking an eyebrow and taking another step
\ncloser.

\nLuce backed up again, farther this time. She practically slammed into the base
\nof the statue, and could feel the gritty stone foot of the angel scraping her
\nback. A second, darker, colder shadow whooshed over them. She could have sworn
\nDaniel shivered along with her.

\nAnd then the deep groan of something heavy startled them both. Luce gasped as
\nthe top of the marble statue teetered over them, like a tree branch swaying in
\nthe breeze. For a second, it seemed to hover in the air.

\nLuce and Daniel stood staring at the angel. Both of them knew it was on its way
\ndown. The angel\u2019s head bowed slowly toward them, like it was praying\u2014and then
\nthe whole statue picked up speed as it started hurtling down. Luce felt
\nDaniel\u2019s hand wrap around her waist instantly, tightly, like he knew exactly
\nwhere she began and where she ended. His other hand covered her head and forced
\nher down just as the statue toppled over them. Right where they\u2019d been
\nstanding. It landed with a massive crash\u2014headfirst in the mud, with its feet
\nstill resting on the plinth, leaving a little triangle underneath, where Daniel
\nand Luce crouched. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

They were panting, nose to nose, Daniel\u2019s eyes scared.
\nBetween their bodies and the statue, there were only a few inches of space.

\n\u201cLuce?\u201d he whispered.

\nAll she could do was nod.

\nHis eyes narrowed. \u201cWhat did you see?\u201d

\nThen a hand appeared and Luce felt herself being pulled out of the space under
\nthe statue. There was a scraping against her back and then a waft of air. She
\nsaw the flicker of daylight again. The detention crew stood gaping, except for
\nMs. Tross, who was glaring, and Cam, who helped Luce to her feet.

\n\u201cAre you okay?\u201d Cam asked, running his eyes over her for scrapes and bruises and
\nbrushing some dirt from her shoulder. \u201cI saw the statue coming down and I ran
\nover to try and stop it, but it was already <\/span>… <\/span>You must have been so terrified.\u201d

\nLuce didn\u2019t respond. Terrified was only part of how she\u2019d felt.

\nDaniel, already on his feet, didn\u2019t even turn around to see whether she was
\nokay or not. He just walked away.

\nLuce\u2019s jaw dropped as she watched him go, as she watched everyone else seem not
\nto care that he had bailed.

\n\u201cWhat did you do?\u201d Ms. Tross asked.
<\/span>\u201cI <\/span>don\u2019t know. One minute, we were standing there\u201d\u2014Luce
\nglanced at Ms. Tross\u2014\u201dum, working. The next thing I knew, the statue just fell
\nover.\u201d

\nThe Albatross bent down to examine the shattered angel. Its head had cracked
\nstraight down the middle. She started muttering something about forces of
\nnature and old stones. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

FIVE

\nTHE INNER CIRCLE
<\/span><\/b>\u201cDon\u2019t
\never scare me like that again!\u201d Callie reprimanded Luce on Wednesday evening.

\nIt was just before sundown and Luce was folded into the Sword Cross phone
\ncubby, a tiny beige confine in the middle of the front office area. It was far
\nfrom private, but at least no one else was loafing around. Her arms were still
\nsore from the graveyard shift at yesterday\u2019s detention, her pride still wounded
\nfrom Daniel\u2019s fleeing the second they\u2019d been pulled out from under the statue.
\nBut for fifteen minutes, Luce was trying hard to push all that out of her mind,
\nto soak up every blissfully frantic word her best friend could spit out in the
\nallotted time. It felt so good to hear Callie\u2019s high-pitched voice, Luce almost
\ndidn\u2019t care that she was being yelled at.

\n\u201cWe promised we wouldn\u2019t go an hour <\/i>without speaking,\u201d Callie continued
\naccusingly. \u201cI thought someone had eaten you alive! Or that maybe they stuck
\nyou in solitary in one of those straitjackets where you have to chew through
\nyour sleeve to scratch your face. For all I knew, you could have descended into
\nthe ninth circle of\u2014\u201d

\n\u201cOkay, Mom,” Luce said, laughing and settling into her role as Callie\u2019s
\nbreathing instructor. \u201cRelax.\u201d For a split second, she felt guilty that she
\nhadn\u2019t used her one phone call to dial up her real mom. But she knew Callie
\nwould wig out if she ever discovered Luce hadn\u2019t seized her very first
\nopportunity to get in touch. And in a weird way, it was always soothing to hear
\nCallie\u2019s hysterical voice. It was one of the many reasons the two were such a
\ngood fit: Her best friend\u2019s over-the-top paranoia actually had a calming effect
\non Luce. She could just picture Callie in her dorm room at Dover, pacing her
\nbright orange area rug, with Oxy smeared over her t-zone and pedicure foam
\nseparating her still-wet fuchsia toenails.

\n\u201cDon\u2019t Mom <\/i>me!\u201d Callie huffed. \u201cStart talking. What are the other kids
\nlike? Are they all scary and popping diuretics like in the movies? What about
\nyour classes? How\u2019s the food?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Through the phone, Luce could hear Roman Holiday <\/i>playing
\nin the background on Callie\u2019s tiny TV. Luce\u2019s favorite scene had always been
\nthe one where Audrey Hepburn woke in Gregory Peck\u2019s room, still convinced the
\nnight before had all been a dream. Luce closed her eyes and tried to picture
\nthe shot in her mind. Mimicking Audrey\u2019s drowsy whisper, she quoted the line
\nshe knew Callie would recognize: \u201cThere was a man, he was so mean <\/i>to me.
\nIt was wonderful.\u201d
<\/i>\u201cOkay, Princess, it\u2019s your <\/i>life I want to hear about,\u201d Callie
\nteased.

\nUnfortunately, there was nothing about Sword Cross that Luce would even
\nconsider describing as wonderful. Thinking about Daniel for, oh, the eightieth
\ntime that day, she realized that the only parallel between her life and Roman
\nHoliday <\/i>was that she and Audrey both had a guy who was aggressively rude
\nand uninterested in them. Luce rested her head against the beige linoleum of
\nthe cubby walls. Someone had carved the words BIDING MY TIME. Under normal
\ncircumstances, this would be when Luce would spill everything about Daniel to
\nCallie.

\nExcept, for some reason, she didn\u2019t.

\nWhatever she might want to say about Daniel wouldn\u2019t be based on anything that
\nhad actually happened between them. And Callie was big on guys making an effort
\nto show they were worthy of you. She\u2019d want to hear things like how many times
\nhe\u2019d held open a door for Luce, or whether he\u2019d noticed how good her French
\naccent was. Callie didn\u2019t think there was anything wrong with guys writing the
\nkind of sappy love poems Luce could never <\/i>take seriously. Luce would
\ncome up severely short on things to say about Daniel. In fact, Callie\u2019d be much
\nmore interested in hearing about someone like Cam.

\n\u201cWell, there is <\/i>this guy here,\u201d Luce whispered into the phone.

\n\u201cI knew it!\u201d Callie squealed. \u201cName.\u201d

\nDaniel. Daniel. <\/i>Luce cleared her throat. \u201cCam.\u201d

\n\u201cDirect, uncomplicated. I can dig it. Start from the beginning.\u201d

\n\u201cWell, nothing\u2019s really happened yet.\u201d

\n\u201cHe thinks you\u2019re gorgeous, blah blah blah. I told you the cropped cut made you
\nlook like Audrey. Get to the good stuff.\u201d

\n\u201cWell\u2014\u201d Luce broke off. The sound of footsteps in the lobby silenced her. She
\nleaned out the side of the cubby and craned her neck to see who was
\ninterrupting the best fifteen minutes she\u2019d had in three whole days.

\nCam was walking toward her.

\nSpeak of the devil. She swallowed the horrifically lame words on the tip of her
\ntongue: He gave me his guitar pick. <\/i>She still had it tucked in her
\npocket.

\nCam\u2019s demeanor was casual, as if by some stroke of luck he hadn\u2019t heard what
\nshe\u2019d been saying. He seemed to be the only kid at Sword Cross who didn\u2019t
\nchange out of his school uniform the minute classes were over. But the
\nblack-on-black look worked for him, just as much as it worked to make Luce look
\nlike a grocery store checkout girl.

\nCam was twirling a golden pocket watch that swung from a long chain looped
\naround his index finger. Luce followed its bright arc for a moment, almost
\nmesmerized, until Cam clapped the face of the watch to a stop in his fist. He
\nlooked down at it, then up at her.

\n\u201cSorry.\u201d His lips pursed in confusion. \u201cI thought I signed up for the seven
\no\u2019clock phone call.\u201d He shrugged. \u201cBut I must have written it down wrong.\u201d

\nLuce\u2019s heart sank when she glanced at her own watch. She and Callie had barely
\nsaid fifteen words to each other\u2014how could her fifteen minutes already be up?

\n\u201cLuce? Hello?\u201d Callie sounded impatient on the other end of the phone. \u201cYou\u2019re
\nbeing weird. Is there something you\u2019re not telling me? Have you replaced me
\nalready with some reform school cutter? What about the boy?\u201d

\n\u201cShhh,\u201d Luce hissed into the phone. \u201cCam, wait,\u201d she called, holding the phone
\naway from her mouth. He was already halfway out the door. \u201cJust a second, I
\nwas\u201d\u2014she swallowed\u2014\u201dI was just getting off.\u201d

\nCam slipped the pocket watch into the front of his black blazer and doubled
\nback toward Luce. He raised his eyebrows and laughed when he heard Callie\u2019s
\nvoice growing louder <\/span>from the earpiece. \u201cDon\u2019t you dare hang up on me,\u201d
\nCallie protested. \u201cYou\u2019ve told me nothing. <\/span>Nothing!\u201d
<\/span><\/i>\u201cI <\/span>don\u2019t want to piss anyone off,\u201d Cam joked, gesturing
\nat the barking telephone. \u201cTake my slot, you can get me back another time.\u201d

\n\u201cNo,\u201d Luce said quickly. As badly as she wanted to keep talking to Callie, she
\nimagined Cam probably felt the same way about whomever he\u2019d come here to call.
\nAnd unlike a lot of the people at this school, Cam had been nothing but nice to
\nher. She didn\u2019t want to make him give up his turn at the telephone, especially
\nnow, when she\u2019d be way too nervous to gossip with Callie about him.

\n\u201cCallie,\u201d she said, sighing into the phone. \u201cI gotta go. I\u2019ll call again as
\nsoon as\u2014\u201d But by then there was just the vague buzz of a dial tone in her ear.
\nThe phone itself had been rigged to cap each call at fifteen minutes. Now she
\nsaw the tiny timer blinking 0:00 on its base. They hadn\u2019t even gotten to say
\ngoodbye and now she\u2019d have to wait another whole week to call. Time stretched
\nout in Luce\u2019s mind like an endless gulf.

\n\u201cBFF?\u201d Cam asked, leaning up against the cubby next to Luce. His dark eyebrows
\nwere still arched. \u201cI\u2019ve got three younger sisters, I can practically smell the
\nbest-friend vibe through the phone.\u201d He bent forward as if he was going to
\nsniff Luce, which made her chuckle <\/span>… <\/span>and then freeze. His unexpected closeness had made her
\nheart pick up.

\n\u201cLet me guess.\u201d Cam straightened back up and lifted his chin. \u201cShe wanted to
\nknow <\/span>all <\/span><\/i>about the reform school bad boys?\u201d

\n\u201cNo!\u201d Luce shook her head to deny vehemently that guys were on her mind at all <\/span>… <\/span>until she realized Cam was only kidding. She blushed
\nand took a stab at joking back. \u201cI mean, I told her there\u2019s not a single good
\none here.\u201d

\nCam blinked. \u201cPrecisely what makes it so exciting. Don\u2019t you think?\u201d He had a
\nway of standing very still, which made Luce stand very still, which made the
\nticking sound of the pocket watch inside his blazer seem louder than it
\npossibly could have been.

\nFrozen next to Cam, Luce suddenly shivered as something black swooped into the
\nhall. The shadow seemed to hopscotch across the panels in the ceiling in a very
\ndeliberate way, blacking out one and then the next and then the next. Damn. It
\nwas never good to be alone with someone\u2014especially someone as focused on her as
\nCam was at the moment\u2014when the shadows arrived. She could feel herself
\ntwitching, trying to appear calm as the darkness swirled around the ceiling fan
\nin a dance. That alone she could have endured. Maybe. But the shadow was also making
\nthe worst of its terrible noises, a sound like the one Luce had heard when
\nshe\u2019d watched a baby owl fall from its palmetto tree and choke to death. She
\nwished Cam would just stop looking at her. She wished something would happen to
\ndivert his attention. She wished\u2014

\nDaniel Grigori would walk in.

\nAnd then he did. Saved by the gorgeous boy wearing holey jeans and a holier
\nwhite T-shirt. He didn\u2019t look much like salvation\u2014slouched over his heavy stack
\nof library books, gray bags under his gray eyes. Daniel actually looked kind of
\nwrecked. His blond hair drooped over his eyes, and when they settled on Luce
\nand Cam, Luce watched them narrow. She was so busy fretting over what she\u2019d
\ndone to annoy Daniel this time, she almost didn\u2019t realize the momentous thing
\nthat happened: The second before the lobby door closed behind him, the shadow
\nslipped through it and into the night. It was like someone had taken a vacuum
\nand cleared out all the grit from the hall.

\nDaniel just nodded in their direction and didn\u2019t slow down as he passed.

\nWhen Luce looked at Cam, he was watching Daniel. He turned to Luce and said,
\nmore loudly than he needed to, \u201cI almost forgot to tell you. Having a little
\nparty in my room tonight after Social. I\u2019d love for you to come.\u201d

\nDaniel was still within earshot. Luce had no idea what this Social thing was,
\nbut she was supposed to meet Penn beforehand. They were supposed to walk over
\ntogether.

\nHer eyes were fixed on the back of Daniel\u2019s head, and she knew she needed to
\nanswer Cam about his party, and it really shouldn\u2019t be so hard, but when Daniel
\nturned around and looked back at her with eyes she swore were mournful, the
\nphone behind her started ringing, and Cam reached for it and said, \u201cI\u2019ve got to
\ntake this, Luce. You\u2019ll be there?\u201d

\nAlmost imperceptibly, Daniel nodded.

\n\u201cYes,\u201d Luce told Cam. \u201cYes.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI <\/span>still don\u2019t see why we have to run,\u201d Luce was panting
\ntwenty minutes later. She was trying to keep up with Penn as they scrambled
\nback across the commons toward the auditorium for the mysterious Wednesday
\nNight Social, which Penn still hadn\u2019t explained. Luce had barely enough to time
\nto make it upstairs to her room, to slick on lip gloss and her better jeans
\njust in case it was <\/span>that <\/span><\/i>kind of social. She was still trying to slow her
\nbreath down from her run-in with Cam <\/span>and <\/span><\/i>Daniel when Penn barged into her room to drag her back
\nout the door.

\n\u201cPeople who are chronically tardy never understand the many ways in which they
\nscrew up the schedules of people who are punctual and <\/span>normal,\u201d <\/span><\/i>Penn told Luce as they splashed through a particularly
\nsoggy portion of the lawn.

\n\u201cHa!\u201d A laugh erupted behind them.

\nLuce looked back and felt her face light up when she saw Arriane\u2019s pale, skinny
\nframe jogging to catch up with them. \u201cWhich quack said you were normal, Penn?\u201d
\nArriane nudged Luce and pointed down. \u201cWatch out for the quicksand!\u201d

\nLuce sloshed to a halt just before she\u2019d have landed in a scarily muddy patch
\non the lawn. \u201cSomebody please tell me where we\u2019re going!\u201d

\n\u201cWednesday night,\u201d Penn said flatly. \u201cSocial Night.\u201d

\n\u201cLike <\/span>… <\/span>a dance or something?\u201d Luce asked, visions of Daniel
\nand Cam already moving across the dance floor of her mind.

\nArriane hooted. \u201cA dance with death by boredom. The term \u2018social\u2019 is typical
\nSword Cross doublespeak. See, they\u2019re required to schedule social events
\nfor us, but they are also terrified of scheduling social events for us. Sticky
\npredicky.\u201d

\n\u201cSo instead,\u201d Penn added, \u201cthey have these really awful events like movie
\nnights followed by lectures about the movie, or\u2014God, do you remember last
\nsemester?\u201d

\n\u201cThere was that whole symposium on taxidermy?\u201d

\n\u201cSo, so creepy.\u201d Penn shook her head.

\n\u201cTonight, my dear,\u201d Arriane drawled, \u201cwe get off easy. All we have to do is
\nsnore through one of the three movies on rotation in the Sword Cross
\nvideo library. Which one do you think it\u2019ll be tonight, Pennyloafer? <\/span>Starman? Joe Versus the Volcano? <\/span><\/i>Or <\/span>Weekend at Bernie\u2019s?\u201d
<\/span><\/i>\u201cIt\u2019s <\/span>Starman. <\/span><\/i>\u201cPenn groaned.

\nArriane shot Luce a baffled look. \u201cShe knows <\/span>everything.\u201d
<\/span><\/i>\u201cHold on,\u201d
\nLuce said, tiptoeing around the quicksand and lowering her voice to a whisper
\nas they approached the front office of the school. \u201cIf you\u2019ve all seen these
\nmovies so many times, why the rush to get here?\u201d

\nPenn pulled open the heavy metal doors to the \u201cauditorium,\u201d which, Luce realized,
\nwas a euphemism for a regular old room with low, drop-paneled ceilings and
\nchairs arranged to face a blank white wall.

\n\u201cDon\u2019t want to get stuck in the hot seat next to Mr. Cole,\u201d Arriane explained,
\npointing at the teacher. His nose was buried deep inside a thick book, and he
\nwas surrounded by the few remaining empty chairs in the room.

\nAs the three girls stepped through the metal detector at the door, Penn said,
\n\u201cWhoever sits there has to help pass out his weekly \u2018mental health\u2019 surveys.\u201d

\n\u201cWhich wouldn\u2019t be so bad\u2014\u201d Arriane chimed in.

\n\u201c\u2014if you didn\u2019t have to stay late to analyze the findings,\u201d Penn finished.

\n\u201cThereby missing,\u201d Arriane said with a grin, steering Luce toward the second
\nrow as she whispered, \u201cthe <\/span>after-party.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally they\u2019d gotten down to the heart of the matter.
\nLuce chuckled.
<\/span>\u201cI <\/span>heard about that,\u201d she said, feeling slightly with it
\nfor a change. \u201cIt\u2019s in Cam\u2019s room, right?\u201d

\nArriane looked at Luce for a second and ran her tongue across her teeth. Then
\nshe looked past, almost through, Luce. \u201cHey, Todd,\u201d she called, waving with
\njust the tips of her fingers. She pushed Luce into one seat, claimed the safe
\nspot next to her (still two seats down from Mr. Cole), and patted the hot seat.
\n\u201cCome sit with us, T-man!\u201d

\nTodd, who\u2019d been shifting his weight in the doorway, looked immensely relieved
\nto be given the directive, any directive. He started toward them, swallowing.
\nNo sooner had he fumbled into the seat than Mr. Cole looked up from his book,
\ncleaned his glasses on his handkerchief, and said, \u201cTodd, I\u2019m glad you\u2019re here.
\nI\u2019m wondering if you can help me with a small favor after the film. You see,
\nthe Venn diagram is a very useful tool for <\/span>…\u201c
<\/span>\u201cMean!\u201d
\nPenn popped her face up between Arriane and Luce.

\nArriane shrugged and produced a giant bag of popcorn from her carpetbag. \u201cI can
\nonly look after so many new students,\u201d she said, tossing a buttery kernel at
\nLuce. \u201cLucky you.\u201d

\nAs the lights in the room dimmed, Luce looked around until her eyes landed on
\nCam. She thought about her abbreviated dish session on the phone with Callie,
\nand how her friend always said that watching a movie with a guy was the best
\nway to get to know things about him, things that might not come out in a
\nconversation. Looking at Cam, Luce thought she knew what Callie meant: There
\nwould be something sort of thrilling about glancing out of the corner of her
\neye to see what jokes Cam thought were funny, to join his laughter with her
\nown.

\nWhen his eyes met hers, Luce felt an embarrassed instinct to look away. But
\nthen, before she could, Cam\u2019s face lit up in a broad smile. It made her feel
\nremarkably unabashed about being caught staring. When he put his hand up in a
\nwave, Luce couldn\u2019t help thinking about how the exact opposite had happened the
\nfew times Daniel had caught her looking at him.

\nDaniel rolled in with Roland, late enough that Randy had already taken a head
\ncount, late enough that the only remaining seats were on the floor at the front
\nof the room. He passed through the beam of light from the projector and Luce noticed
\nfor the first time a silver chain around his neck, and some sort of medallion
\ntucked inside his T-shirt. Then he dipped completely out of her view. She
\ncouldn\u2019t even see his profile.

\nAs it turned out, <\/span>Starman <\/span><\/i>wasn\u2019t very funny, but the other students\u2019 constant
\nJeff Bridges impersonations were. It was hard for Luce to stay focused on the
\nplot. Plus, she was getting that uncomfortable icy feeling at the back of her
\nneck. Something was about to happen.

\nWhen the shadows came this time, Luce was expecting them. Then she started to
\nthink about it and counted a tally on her fingers. The shadows had been popping
\nup at an increasingly alarming rate, and Luce couldn\u2019t figure out whether she
\nwas just nervous at Sword Cross <\/span>… <\/span>or whether it meant something else. They\u2019d never been
\nthis bad before…

\nThey oozed overhead in the auditorium, then slithered along the sides of the
\nmovie screen, and finally traced the lines of the floorboards like spilled ink.
\nLuce gripped the bottom of her chair and felt an ache of fear swell through her
\nlegs and arms. She tightened all the muscles in her body, but she couldn\u2019t keep
\nfrom trembling. A squeeze on her left knee made her look over at Arriane.

\n\u201cYou okay?\u201d Arriane mouthed.

\nLuce nodded and hugged her shoulders, pretending she was merely cold. She
\nwished she was, but this particular chill had nothing to do with Sword
\nCross\u2019s overzealous air conditioner.

\nShe could feel the shadows tugging at her feet under her chair. They stayed
\nlike that, deadweight for the whole movie, and every minute dragged on like an
\neternity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

An hour later, Arriane pressed her eye up against the
\npeephole of Cam\u2019s bronze-painted dorm room door. \u201cYoo-hoo,\u201d she sang, giggling.
\n\u201cThe festivities are here!\u2019

\nShe produced a hot-pink feather boa from the same magic carpetbag the bag of
\npopcorn had come from. \u201cGive me a boost,\u201d she said to Luce, dangling her foot
\nin the air.

\nLuce hooked her fingers together and positioned them under Arriane\u2019s black
\nboot. She watched as Arriane pushed off the ground and used the boa to cover
\nthe face of the hallway surveillance camera while she reached around the back
\nof the device and switched it off.

\n\u201cThat\u2019s not suspicious or anything,\u201d Penn said.

\n\u201cDoes your allegiance lie with the after-party?\u201d Arriane shot back. \u201cOr the red
\nparty?\u201d
<\/span>\u201cI\u2019m <\/span>just saying there are smarter ways.\u201d Penn snorted as
\nArriane hopped down. Arriane slung the boa over Luce\u2019s shoulders, and Luce
\nlaughed and started to shimmy to the Motown song they could hear through the
\ndoor. But when Luce offered the boa to Penn for a turn, she was surprised to
\nsee her still looking nervous. Penn was biting her nails and sweating at the
\nbrow. Penn wore six sweaters in the swampy southern September heat\u2014she was
\nnever hot.

\n\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d Luce whispered, leaning in.

\nPenn picked at the hem of her sleeve and shrugged. She looked like she was just
\nabout to answer when the door behind them opened up. A whoosh of cigarette
\nsmoke, blasting music, and suddenly Cam\u2019s open arms greeted them.

\n\u201cYou made it,\u201d he said, smiling at Luce. Even in the dim light, his lips had a
\nberry-stained glow. When he folded her in for a hug, she felt tiny and safe. It
\nlasted only a second; then he turned to nod hello at the other two girls, and
\nLuce felt a little proud to have been the one who got the hug.

\nBehind Cam, the small, dark room was crammed with people. Roland was in one
\ncorner, at the turntable, holding up records to a black light. The couple Luce
\nhad seen on the quad a few days before cozied up against the window. The preppy
\nboys with the white oxford shirts were all huddled up together, occasionally
\nchecking out the girls. Arriane wasted no time shooting across the room toward
\nCam\u2019s desk, which looked like it was doubling as a bar. Almost immediately, she
\nhad a champagne bottle between her legs and was laughing as she tried to pry
\noff the cork.

\nLuce was baffled. She hadn\u2019t even known how to get booze at Dover, where the
\noutside world had been a lot less off-limits. Cam had been back at Sword
\nCross for only a few days, but already, he seemed to know how to smuggle
\neverything he needed to throw a Dionysian soir\u00e9e the entire school showed up
\nto. And somehow everyone else inside thought this was normal.

\nStill standing at the threshold, she heard the pop, then the cheers from the
\nrest of the crowd, then Arriane\u2019s voice calling out: \u201cLucindaaa, get in here.
\nI\u2019m about to make a toast.\u201d

\nLuce could feel the party\u2019s magnetism, but Penn looked much less ready to
\nbudge.

\n\u201cYou go ahead,\u201d she said, waving a hand at Luce.

\n\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong? You don\u2019t want to go in?\u201d The truth was, Luce was a little
\nnervous herself. She had no idea what might go down at these things, and since
\nshe still wasn\u2019t sure how reliable Arriane was, it would definitely make her
\nfeel better to have Penn at her side.

\nBut Penn frowned. \u201cI\u2019m <\/span>… <\/span>I\u2019m out of my element. I do libraries <\/span>… <\/span>workshops on how to use PowerPoint. You want a file
\nhacked into, I\u2019m your girl. But this\u2014\u201d She stood on tiptoes and peered into the
\nroom. \u201cI don\u2019t know. People in there just think I\u2019m some kind of know-it-all.\u201d

\nLuce attempted her best give-me-a-break frown. \u201cAnd they think <\/span>I\u2019m <\/span><\/i>a
\nslab of meat loaf, and <\/span>we <\/span><\/i>think <\/span>they\u2019re <\/span><\/i>all totally bananas.\u201d She laughed. \u201cCan\u2019t we all just
\nget along?\u201d Slowly Penn curled her lip, then took the feather boa and draped it
\naround her shoulders. \u201cOh, all right,\u201d she said, clomping inside ahead of Luce.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Luce blinked as her eyes adjusted. A cacophony filled
\nthe room, but she could hear Arriane\u2019s laughing voice. Cam shut the door behind
\nher and tugged Luce\u2019s hand so she\u2019d hang back, away from the heart of the
\nparty.
<\/span>\u201cI\u2019m <\/span>really glad you came,\u201d he said, putting his hand on
\nthe small of her back and bending his head so she could hear him in the loud
\nroom. Those lips looked almost tasty, especially when they said things like \u201cI
\njumped up every time someone knocked, hoping it\u2019d be you.\u201d

\nWhatever had drawn Cam to her so quickly, Luce didn\u2019t want to do anything to
\nmess it up. He was popular and unexpectedly thoughtful, and his attention made
\nher feel more than flattered. It made her feel more comfortable in this strange
\nnew place. She knew if she tried to respond to his compliment, she\u2019d stumble
\nover the words. So she just laughed, which made him laugh, and then he pulled
\nher in for another hug.

\nSuddenly there was no place to put her own hands but around his neck. She felt
\na little light-headed as Cam squeezed her, lifting her feet slightly off the
\nground.

\nWhen he put her back down, Luce turned to the rest of the party, and the first
\nthing she saw was Daniel. But she didn\u2019t think he liked Cam. Still, he was
\nsitting cross-legged on the bed, his white T-shirt glowing violet in the black
\nlight. As soon as her eyes found him, it was hard to look anywhere else. Which
\ndidn\u2019t make sense, because a gorgeous and friendly guy was standing right
\nbehind her, asking her what she\u2019d like to drink. The other gorgeous, infinitely
\nless friendly guy sitting across from her should not be the one she couldn\u2019t
\nstop looking at. And he was staring at her. <\/span>So <\/span><\/i>intently, with a cryptic, squinting look in his eyes
\nthat Luce thought she\u2019d never decode, even if she saw it a thousand times.

\nAll she knew was the effect it had on her. Everyone else in the room went out
\nof focus and she melted. She could have stared back all night if it hadn\u2019t been
\nfor Arriane, who had climbed on top of the desk and called out to Luce, her
\nglass raised in the air.

\n\u201cTo Luce,\u201d she toasted, giving Luce a saintly smile. \u201cWho was obviously zoning
\nand missed my entire welcome speech and who will <\/span>never <\/span><\/i>know how utterly fabulous it was\u2014 wasn\u2019t it fabulous,
\nRo?\u201d she leaned down to ask Roland, who patted her ankle affirmatively.

\nCam slipped a plastic cup of champagne into Luce\u2019s hand. She blushed and tried
\nto laugh it off as the whole rest of the party echoed, \u201cTo Luce! To Meat Loaf!\u201d
\n

\nAt her side, Molly slithered up and whispered a shorter version in her ear: \u201cTo
\nLuce, who will <\/span>never
\n<\/span><\/i>know.\u201d

\nA few days before, Luce would have flinched away. Tonight, she simply rolled
\nher eyes, then turned her back on Molly. The girl had never said a word that
\ndidn\u2019t leave Luce feeling bitten, but showing it seemed only to egg her on. So
\nLuce just hunkered down to share the desk chair with Penn, who handed her a
\nrope of black licorice.

\n\u201cCan you believe it? I think I\u2019m actually having fun,\u201d Penn said, chewing
\nhappily.

\nLuce bit down on the licorice and took a tiny sip of the fizzy champagne. Not a
\nvery palatable combination. Kind of like her and Molly. \u201cSo is Molly that evil
\nto everyone, or am <\/span>I <\/span>a special case?\u201d

\nFor a second Penn looked like she was going to give a different answer, but
\nthen she patted Luce on the back. \u201cJust her usual charming demeanor, my dear.\u201d

\nLuce looked around the room at all the free-flowing champagne, at Cam\u2019s fancy
\nvintage turntable, at the disco ball spinning over their heads, casting stars
\non everyone\u2019s faces.

\n\u201cWhere do they get all this stuff?\u201d she wondered aloud.

\n\u201cPeople say Roland can smuggle anything into Sword Cross,\u201d Penn said
\nmatter-of-factly. \u201cNot that I\u2019ve ever asked him.\u201d

\nMaybe this was what Arriane meant when she said Roland knew how to get things.
\nThe only off-limits item Luce could imagine wanting badly enough to ask about
\nwas a cell phone. But then <\/span>… <\/span>Cam had said not to listen to Arriane about the inner
\nworkings of the school. Which would have been fine, except so much of his party
\nseemed to be courtesy of Roland. The more she tried to untangle her questions,
\nthe less things added up. She should probably stick to being just \u201cin\u201d enough
\nto get invited to the parties.

\n\u201cOkay, all you rejects,\u201d Roland said loudly to get everyone\u2019s attention. The
\nrecord player had quieted down to the static between songs. \u201cWe\u2019re going to
\nstart the open-mike portion of the night, and I\u2019m taking requests for karaoke.\u201d
\n

\n\u201cDaniel Grigori!\u201d Arriane hooted through her hands. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Read the full book by downloading it below.<\/p>\n

DOWNLOAD EPUB<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Book Preview IN THE BEGINNING HELSTON, ENGLAND SEPTEMBER 1854 Around midnight, her eyes at last took shape. The look in them was feline, half determined and half tentative\u2014all trouble. Yes, they were just right, those eyes. Rising up to her fine, elegant brow, inches from the dark cascade of her hair. He held the paper … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[393],"class_list":["post-5715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lauren-kate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}