The Fallen Sequence (30 page)

“Ow,” she moaned, rubbing the spot where she’d hit her head in the library fire.

Daniel stood still a few feet away. His expression said that the last thing in the world he’d wanted to do right now was run into her. At least he’d shown up after the computer had logged them off. He didn’t need to think she was stalking him any more actively than he already did.

But Daniel seemed to be looking through her; his violet-gray eyes were fixed over her shoulder, on something—or someone else.

Penn tapped Luce on the shoulder, then jerked her thumb toward the person standing behind her. Cam was leaning over Luce’s chair and grinning at her. A bolt of lightning outside sent Luce practically jumping into Penn’s arms.

“Just a storm,” Cam said, cocking his head. “It’ll blow over soon. Shame, because you look pretty cute when you’re scared.”

Cam reached forward. He started at her shoulder, then traced the edge of her arm with his fingers all the way down to her hand. Her eyes fluttered, it felt so good, and when she opened them, there was a small ruby velvet box in her hand. Cam flipped it open, just for a second, and Luce saw a flash of gold.

“Open it later,” he said. “When you’re alone.”

“Cam—”

“I went by your room.”

“Can we—” Luce looked over at Penn, who was blatantly staring at them with a front-row moviegoer’s captivation.

Finally snapping out of her trance, Penn waved her hands. “You want me to leave. I get it.”

“No, stay,” Cam said, sounding sweeter than Luce expected. He turned to Luce. “I’ll go. But later—you promise?”

“Sure.” She felt herself blush.

Cam took her hand and pushed it and the box down inside the front left pocket of her jeans. It was a tight fit, and it made her shiver to feel his fingers spread out on her hips. Then he winked and turned on his heel.

Before she’d even had a chance to catch her breath, he’d doubled back. “One last thing,” he said, gliding his arm behind her head and stepping close to her.

Her head tilted back and his tilted forward, and his mouth was on hers. His lips were as plush as they’d seemed all the times Luce had stared at them.

It wasn’t deep, just a peck, but Luce felt like it was much more. She couldn’t breathe for the shock and the thrill and the public viewing potential of this very long, very unexpected—

“What the—!”

Cam’s head had spun away, and then he was hunched over, clutching his jaw.

Daniel was standing behind him, rubbing his wrist. “Keep your hands off her.”

“Didn’t hear you,” Cam said, drawing himself up slowly.

Oh. My. God. They were fighting. In the library. Over her.

Then, in one clean movement, Cam lunged toward Luce. She screamed as his arms began to close around her.

But Daniel’s hands were quicker. He swatted Cam away hard, and shoved him against the computer table. Cam grunted as Daniel grabbed a fistful of his hair and pinned his head down flat.

“I said keep your filthy hands off her, you evil piece of shit.”

Penn squealed, picked up her pencil bag, and tiptoed over to the wall. Luce watched as she tossed her dingy yellow pencil bag once, twice, three times in the air. The fourth time, it went high enough to nail the small black camera screwed into the wall. The hit sent the camera’s lens swerving far to the left, toward a very still stack of nonfiction books.

By then, Cam had thrown Daniel off and they were circling each other, their feet squeaking on the polished floor.

Daniel started ducking before Luce even realized Cam was winding up. But Daniel still didn’t duck quickly enough. Cam landed what looked like a knockout punch
just below Daniel’s eye. Daniel wheeled back from the force of it, jostling Luce and Penn against the computer table. He turned and muttered a woozy apology before careening back around.

“Oh my God, stop!” Luce cried, just before he leaped at Cam’s head.

Daniel tackled Cam, throwing a messy flurry of punches at his shoulders and the sides of his face.

“That feels good,” Cam grunted, popping his neck from side to side like a boxer. Still hanging on, Daniel moved his hands around Cam’s neck. And squeezed.

Cam responded by throwing Daniel back against a tall shelf of books. The impact boomed out into the library, louder than the thunder outside.

Daniel grunted and let go. He dropped to the floor with a thud.

“What else you got, Grigori?”

Luce reeled, thinking he might not get up. But Daniel pulled himself up quickly.

“I’ll show you,” he hissed. “Outside.” He stepped toward Luce, then away. “You stay here.”

Then both boys thumped out of the library, through the back exit Luce had used the night of the fire. She and Penn stood frozen to their spots. They stared at each other, jaws dropped.

“Come on,” Penn said, dragging Luce over to a window that looked out on the commons. They pressed
their faces to the glass, rubbing away the fog of their breath.

The rain was coming down in sheets. The field outside was dark, except for the light that came through the library windows. It was so muddy and slick, it was hard to see anything at all.

Then two figures sprinted out to the center of the commons. Both of them were soaked instantly. They argued for a moment, then started circling each other. Their fists were raised again.

Luce gripped the windowsill and watched as Cam made the first move, running at Daniel and slamming into him with his shoulder. Then a quick spinning kick to his ribs.

Daniel keeled over, clutching his side.
Get up
. Luce willed him to move. She felt like she had been kicked herself. Every time Cam went at Daniel, she felt it in her bones.

She couldn’t stand to watch.

“Daniel stumbled for a second there,” Penn announced after Luce had turned away. “But he shot right up and totally clocked Cam in the face.
Nice!
”

“You’re enjoying this?” Luce asked, horrified.

“My dad and I used to watch UFC,” Penn said. “Looks like both of these guys have had some serious mixed martial art training. Perfect cross, Daniel!” She groaned. “Aw, man.”

“What?” Luce peered out again. “Is he hurt?”

“Relax,” Penn said. “Someone’s coming to break up the fight. Just when Daniel was bouncing back.”

Penn was right. It looked like Mr. Cole jogging across the campus. When he got to where the guys were fighting, he stood still and watched them for a moment, almost hypnotized by the way they were going at it.

“Do something,” Luce whispered, feeling sick.

Finally, Mr. Cole grabbed each boy by the scruff of his neck. The three of them struggled for a moment until finally Daniel pulled away. He shook out his right hand, then paced in a circle and spat a few times into the mud.

“Very attractive, Daniel,” Luce said sarcastically. Except it was.

Now for a talking-to from Mr. Cole. He waved his hands madly at them and they stood with heads hung. Cam was first to be dismissed. He jogged off the field toward the dorm and disappeared.

Mr. Cole placed a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. Luce was dying to know what they were talking about, whether Daniel would be punished. She wanted to go to him, but Penn blocked her.

“All that over a piece of jewelry. What did Cam give you, anyway?”

Mr. Cole walked off and Daniel was alone, standing in the light from an overhead lamppost, looking up at the rain.

“I don’t know,” Luce told Penn, leaving the window. “Whatever it is, I don’t want it. Especially not after this.” She walked back to the computer table and pulled the box from her pocket.

“If you won’t, I will,” Penn said. She cracked the box open, then looked up at Luce, confused.

The flash of gold they’d seen had not been jewelry. There were only two things inside the box: another one of Cam’s green guitar picks, and a golden slip of paper.

Meet me tomorrow after class. I’ll be waiting at the gates
.

—C

FIFTEEN

THE LIONS’ DEN

I
t had been a long time since Luce had taken a good look in the mirror. She never used to mind her reflection—her clear hazel eyes; small, straight teeth; thick eyelashes; and tumble of dense black hair. That was then. Before last summer.

After her mom had chopped off all her hair, Luce had started avoiding mirrors. It wasn’t just because of her short cut; Luce didn’t think she liked who she
was
anymore, so she didn’t want to see any evidence. She started
looking down at her hands when she washed them in the bathroom. She kept her head forward when walking past tinted windows and eschewed face powder in mirrored compacts.

But twenty minutes before she was supposed to meet Cam, Luce stood before the mirror in the empty girls’ bathroom in Augustine. She guessed she looked all right. Her hair was finally growing out, and the weight was starting to loosen some of her curls. She checked her teeth, then squared her shoulders and stared into the mirror as if she were looking Cam in the eye. She had to tell him something, something important, and she wanted to make sure she could muster a look that demanded he take her seriously.

He hadn’t been in class today. Neither had Daniel, so Luce assumed Mr. Cole had put them both on some sort of probation. Either that or they were nursing their wounds. But Luce had no doubt Cam would be waiting for her today.

She didn’t want to see him. Not at all. Thinking about his fists slamming into Daniel made her stomach lurch. But it was her fault they’d fought in the first place. She’d led Cam on—and whether she’d done it because she’d been confused or flattered or the tiniest bit interested didn’t matter anymore. What mattered was that she be direct with him today: There was nothing between them.

She took a deep breath, tugged her shirt down on her hips, and pushed open the bathroom door.

Approaching the gates, she couldn’t see him. But then, it was hard to see anything beyond the construction zone in the parking lot. Luce hadn’t been back to the school entrance since they’d started the renovations there, and she was surprised at how complicated it was to maneuver across the ripped-up parking lot. She sidestepped potholes and tried to duck under the radar of the construction crew, waving off the asphalt fumes that never seemed to dissipate.

There was no sign of Cam. For a second, she felt foolish, almost like she’d fallen for some kind of prank. The high metal gates were blistered with red rust. Luce looked through them at the dense grove of ancient elm trees across the road. She cracked her knuckles, thinking back to the time when Daniel had told her he hated it when she did that. But he wasn’t here to see her do it; no one was. Then she noticed a folded piece of paper with her name on it. It was staked to the thick, gray-trunked magnolia tree next to the broken call box.

I’m saving you from Social tonight. While the rest of our fellow students stage a Civil War reenactment—sad but true—you and I will paint the town red. A black sedan with a gold license plate will bring you to me. Thought we could both use a dose of fresh air
.

—C

Luce coughed from the fumes. Fresh air was one thing, but a black sedan picking her up from campus? To bring her to him, like he was some sort of monarch who could just arrange on a whim for women to be fetched? Where was he, anyway?

None of this was part of her plan. She’d agreed to meet Cam only to tell him that he was being too forward and she really couldn’t see herself getting involved with him. Because—although she’d never tell him—every time his fist had struck Daniel the night before, something inside her had flinched and started to boil. Clearly, she needed to nip this little thing with Cam in the bud. She had the gold serpent necklace in her pocket. It was time to give it back.

Except now she felt stupid for assuming that Cam just wanted to talk. Of course he’d have something more up his sleeve. He was that kind of guy.

The sound of car wheels slowing made Luce turn her head. A black sedan rolled to a stop in front of the gates. The tinted driver’s-side window rolled down and a hairy hand came out and picked up the receiver from the call box outside the gates. After a moment, the receiver was slammed back into its cradle and the driver just leaned on his horn.

At last, the great groaning metal gates parted and the car pulled forward, stopping in front of her. The doors softly unlocked. Was she really going to get into that car and drive who-knew-where to meet him?

The last time she’d stood at these gates had been to say goodbye to her parents. Missing them before they’d even pulled away, she’d waved from this very spot, next to the broken call box inside the gates—and, she remembered, she’d noticed one of the more high-tech security cameras. The kind with a motion detector, zooming in on her every move. Cam couldn’t have picked a worse spot for the car to pick her up.

All of a sudden, she saw visions of a basement solitary confinement cell. Damp cement walls and cockroaches running up her legs. No real light. The rumors were still spreading through campus about that couple, Jules and Phillip, who hadn’t been seen since they’d sneaked out. Did Cam think Luce wanted to see him so badly she’d risk just walking off campus in plain view of the reds?