night, until--" "Why do you need a personal day? You were ne last night, until--"
Until Daniel showed up.
Right around the time Daniel appeared at the window, Shelby had gone all pale and quiet and straight to bed and--
While Shelby stared at Luce as if her IQ had suddenly dropped by half, Luce became aware of the rest of the hall. Where the rust-colored lockers ended, the gray-carpeted walls were lined with girls: Dawn and Jasmine and Lilith. Preppy, cardiganed girls like Amy Branshaw from Luce's afternoon classes. Punky pierced girls who looked kind of like Arriane but were way less fun to talk to. A few girls Luce had never seen before. Girls with books clutched against their chests, gum popping in their mouths, and eyes darting at the carpet, at the wood-beamed ceiling, at each other. Anywhere but directly at Luce and Shelby. Though it was clear that all of them were eavesdropping.
A sick feeling in her stomach was starting to tell her why. It was the biggest collision of Nephilim and non-Nephilim Luce had seen so far at Shoreline. And every girl in this hallway had gured out before her:
Shelby and Luce were about to duke it out over a guy.
"Oh." Luce swallowed. "You and Daniel."
"Yeah. We. A long time ago." Shelby wouldn't look at her.
"Okay." Luce focused on breathing. She could handle this. But the whispers ying around the wall of girls made her skin crawl, and she shuddered.
Shelby sco ed. "I'm sorry the idea disgusts you so much."
"That's not it." But Luce did feel disgusted. Disgusted with herself. "I always ... I thought I was the only--"
Shelby put her hands on her hips. "You thought every time you disappeared for seventeen years that Daniel just twiddled his thumbs? Earth to Luce, there is a Before You for Daniel. Or an In Between, or whatever." She paused to give Luce a sideways squint. "Are you really that self- involved?"
Luce was speechless.
Shelby grunted and turned to face the rest of the hall. "This estrogen force eld needs to dissipate," she barked, waggling her ngers at them. "Move along. All of you. Now!"
As the girls scurried o , Luce pressed her head against the cold metal locker. She wanted to crawl inside it and hide.
Shelby leaned her back against the wall next to Luce's face. "You know," she said, her voice softening, "Daniel's a crap boyfriend. And a liar. He's lying to you."
Luce straightened up and went at Shelby, feeling her cheeks ush. Luce might be pissed o at Daniel right now, but nobody talked smack about her boyfriend.
"Whoa." Shelby ducked away. "Calm down, there. Jeez." She slid down the wall to sit on the oor. "Look, I shouldn't have brought it up. It was one stupid night a long time ago and the guy was clearly miserable without you. I didn't know you then, so I thought all the lore about you two was ... supremely boring. Which, if you must know, explains the huge grudge I've held with your name on it."
She patted the oor next to her, and Luce slid down the wall to sit too. Shelby gave a tentative smile. "I swear, Luce, I never thought I'd meet you. I de nitely never expected you to be ... cool."
"You think I'm cool?" Luce asked, laughing quietly to herself. "You were right about me being self-absorbed."
"Ugh, just what I thought. You're one of those impossible-to-stay-mad-at people, aren't you?" Shelby sighed. "Fine. I'm sorry for going after your boyfriend and, you know, hating you before I knew you. I won't do it again."
This was weird. The thing that could have driven two friends instantly apart was actually drawing them closer together. This wasn't Shelby's fault. Any ash of anger Luce felt about it was something she needed to take up with ... Daniel. One stupid night, Shelby had said. But what had really happened?
Sunset found Luce walking down the rocky steps to the beach. It was cold outside, colder still as she got closer to the water. The day's last rays of light danced o thin sheets of cloud, staining the ocean orange, pink, and pastel blue. The calm sea stretched out in front of her, looking like a path to Heaven.
Until she got to the wide circle of sand, still blackened from Roland's bon re, Luce didn't know what she was doing down there. Then she found herself crawling behind the tall lava rock where Daniel had tugged her away. Where the two of them had