ect other than myself was my mom. Freaked my dad out for about ten seconds, but then it faded."
"Wait." Luce blinked at Miles. "You made a mirror image of your mother?"
"By accident. They say it's easy to do with the people you, like, love." He blushed, the faintest rosy pink across his cheekbones. "Now you're going to think I'm some kind of mama's boy. I just mean `easy' is about where my powers end. Whereas you--you're the famous Lucinda Price." He waved his hands in a very masculine version of spirit ngers.
"I wish everyone would stop saying that," she snapped. Then, feeling rude, she sighed and leaned against the deck's railing to look out at the water. It was just so hard to process all these hints that other people here knew more about her than she knew about herself. She didn't mean to take it out on this guy. "I'm sorry, it's just, I thought I was the only one barely hanging on. What's your story?"
"Oh, I'm what they call `diluted,' " he said, making exaggerated air quotes. "Mom has angel in her blood a few generations back, but all my other relatives are mortal. My powers are embarrassingly low-grade. But I'm here because my parents endowed the school with, um, this deck you're standing on."
"Whoa."
"It's really not impressive. My family's obsessed with me being at Shoreline. You should hear the pressure I get at home to date a `nice Nephilim girl for once.' " Luce laughed--one of the rst real laughs she'd had in days. Miles rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "So, I saw you having breakfast with Shelby this morning. She your roommate?"
Luce nodded. "Speaking of nice Nephilim girls," she joked.
"Well, I know she's kind of, um ..." Miles hissed and made a clawing motion with one hand, causing Luce to crack up again. "Anyway, I'm not the star student here or anything, but I've been around a while, and half the time I still think this place is pretty crazy. So if you ever want to have a very normal breakfast or something--"
Luce found herself bobbing her head. Normal. Music to her mortal ears.
"Like ... tomorrow?" Miles asked.
"That sounds great."
Miles grinned and waved goodbye, and Luce realized that all the other students had already gone back inside. Alone for the rst time all morning, she looked down at the sheet of paper in her hand, unsure how to feel about the other kids at Shoreline. She missed Daniel, who could morning, she looked down at the sheet of paper in her hand, unsure how to feel about the other kids at Shoreline. She missed Daniel, who could have decoded a lot of this for her if only he hadn't been--where was he, anyway? She didn't even know.
Too far away.
She pressed a nger to her lips, remembering his last kiss. The incredible embrace of his wings. She felt so cold without him, even in the California sunshine. But she was here because of him, accepted into this class of angels or whatever they were--complete with her bizarre new reputation--all thanks to him. In a weird way, it felt good to be connected to Daniel so inextricably.
Until he came for her, it was all she had to hold on to.
Chapter Three
SIXTEEN DAYS
"Okay, hit me, what's the weirdest thing about Shoreline so far?"
It was Wednesday morning before class, and Luce was seated at a sunny breakfast table on the terrace, sharing a pot of tea with Miles. He was wearing a vintage yellow T-shirt with a Sunkist logo on it, a baseball cap pulled down just above his blue eyes, ip- ops, and frayed jeans. Feeling inspired by the very relaxed dress code at Shoreline, Luce had swapped out her standard black getup. She was wearing a red sundress with a short white cardigan, which felt kind of like the rst day of sunshine after a long stretch of rain.
She dropped a spoonful of sugar into her cup and laughed. "I don't even know where to start. Maybe my roommate, who I think snuck in just before sunrise this morning and was gone again before I woke up. No, wait, it's taking a class taught by a demon-and-angel couple. Or"--she swallowed--"the way kids here look at me like I'm some legendary freak. Anonymous freak, I got used to. But notorious freak--"
"You are not notorious." Miles took a giant bite of his croissant. "I'm gonna tackle those one at a time," he said, chewing.
As he dabbed the side of his mouth