Miles. Roland was o beat and unpredictable, but he wasn't dangerous, even if he had sided with Cam that last night in the Sword & Cross cemetery. But there was no reason to fear him. Why had she been so nervous? Why couldn't she get her heart to stop racing?
Then she understood why. It was because of Miles. Because he was the closest friend she had at Shoreline. All she knew was that recently, every time she was around Miles, it made her think of Daniel, and how a lot of things between them were sort of dragging. And how sometimes, secretly, she wished Daniel could be little bit more like Miles. Cheerful and easygoing, attentive and naturally sweet. Less caught up in things like being damned since the dawn of time.
A ash of white rushed past Luce and straight into Miles's arms.
Dawn. She leaped onto Miles, her eyes closed and her mouth in an enormous grin. "You're alive!"
"Alive?" Miles set her back down on her feet. "I barely got the wind knocked out of me. Good thing you've never come to watch one of the football games."
Standing behind Dawn, watching as she petted Miles where the sword had skimmed his white vest, Luce felt oddly embarrassed. It wasn't like she wanted to be petting Miles, right? She just wanted ... she didn't know what she wanted.
"Want this?" Roland appeared at her side, handing her the mask he'd been using. "You're up next, aren't you?"
"Me? No." She shook her head. "Isn't the bell about to ring?"
Roland shook his head. "Nice try. Just own it, and no one's going to know you've never fenced before."
"I doubt that." Luce ngered the thin mesh screen. "Roland, I have to ask you--"
"No, I wasn't going to run Miles through. Why did everyone get so freaked out?"
"I know that. ..." she tried to smile. "It's about Daniel."
"Luce, you know the rules."
"What rules?"
"I can get a lot of things, but I can't get Daniel for you. You're just going to have to wait it out."
"Wait, Roland. I know he can't be here right now. But what rules? What are you talking about?"
He pointed behind her. Francesca was beckoning toward Luce with a nger. The other Nephilim had all taken seats on the benches, except for a few students who looked like they were preparing to fence. Jasmine and a Korean girl named Sylvia, two tall, skinny boys whose names Luce could never keep straight, and Lilith, standing alone, examining the blunt rubber tip of her sword with careful scrutiny.
"Luce?" Francesca said in a low voice. She motioned to the space on the deck in front of Lilith. "Take your place."
"Trial by re." Roland whistled, patting Luce on the back. "Show no fear."
There were only ve other students standing in the middle of the deck, but to Luce, it felt as though there were a hundred.
Francesca stood with her arms folded casually over her chest. Her face was serene, but to Luce it looked like a forced serenity. Maybe she intended for Luce to lose in the most brutal, embarrassing match possible. Why else would she pit Luce against Lilith, who towered over Luce by at least a foot, and whose ery red hair protruded from behind her mask like a lion's mane?
"I've never done this," Luce said lamely.
"It's okay, Luce, you don't need to be skilled yet," Francesca said. "We're trying to gauge your relative capacity. Just remember what Steven and I showed you at the start of the session and you'll do ne."
Lilith laughed and whipped the point of her foil in a broad Z. "The mark of zero, loser," she said.
"Showing o the number of friends you have?" Luce asked. She remembered what Roland had said about showing no fear. She slid the mask down over her face, took her foil from Francesca. Luce didn't even know how to hold it. She fumbled with the handle, wondering whether to put it in her right or left hand. She wrote right-handed, bowled and batted with her left.
Lilith was already looking at her like she wished Luce were dead, and Luce knew she couldn't a ord the time to test out her swing in both hands. Did they even call it a swing in fencing?
Wordlessly, Francesca moved behind her. She stood with her shoulders brushing Luce's back, practically folding her narrow body around Luce and taking Luce's left hand, and the sword, in hers.