Fallen - Lauren Kate [112]
Luce and Daniel did know one another.
From an altogether different time.
She could not catch her breath. Her whole life tossed in the roiling sea of her mind, everything came into question—the itchy dark shadows that haunted her, the gruesome death of Trevor, the dreams …
She had to find Penn. If anyone could come up with an explanation for such an impossible occurrence, it would be Penn. With the inscrutable old book tucked under her arm, Luce left her room and raced toward the library.
The library was warm and empty, but something about the high ceilings and endless rows of books made Luce nervous. She walked quickly past the new call desk, which still looked sterile and unlived in. She passed the formidable unused card catalog and the endless reference section until she had reached the long tables in the group study section.
Instead of Penn, Luce found Arriane, playing a game of chess with Roland. She had her feet up on the table and was wearing a striped conductor’s cap. Her hair was tucked under the hat, and Luce noticed again, for the first time since the morning she’d cut Arriane’s hair, the glossy, marbled scar along her neck.
Arriane was fixated on the game. A chocolate cigar bobbed between her lips as she contemplated her next move. Roland had twisted his dreads into two meaty knots on the crown of his head. He was giving Arriane the hawk eye, tapping one of his pawns with his pinky.
“Checkmate, bitch,” Arriane said triumphantly, knocking over Roland’s king, just as Luce thudded to a stop in front of their table. “Lululucinda,” she sang, looking up. “You’ve been hiding from me.”
“No.”
“I’ve been hearing things about you,” Arriane said, causing Roland to tilt his head attentively. “Nudge nudge, wink wink. That means sit down and spill. Right now.”
Luce hugged the book to her chest. She didn’t want to sit down. She wanted to scour the library for Penn. She couldn’t make small talk with Arriane—especially not in front of Roland, who was clearing his things off the seat next to him.
“Join us,” Roland said.
Luce lowered herself reluctantly onto the edge of the seat. She’d just stay a few minutes. It was true that she hadn’t seen Arriane in a few days, and under normal circumstances, she would really have missed the girl’s bizarre ways.
But these were far from normal circumstances, and Luce could think of nothing other than that photograph.
“Since I just wiped the chessboard with Roland’s ass, let’s play a new game. How about ‘who saw an incriminating photo of Luce the other day?’” Arriane said, crossing her arms on the table.
“What?” Luce jumped back. She pressed her hand down firmly on the cover of the book, feeling certain that her tense expression was giving everything away. She should never have brought it here.
“I’ll give you three guesses,” Arriane said, rolling her eyes. “Molly snapped a picture of you ducking into a big black car yesterday after class.”
“Oh.” Luce sighed.
“She was going to turn you in to Randy,” Arriane continued. “Until I gave her what for. Mmm-hmm.” She snapped her fingers. “Now, to show your gratitude, tell me—are they sneaking you away to see an off-campus shrink?” She lowered her voice to a whisper and tapped her fingernails on the table. “Or have you taken a lover?”
Luce glanced at Roland, who was giving her a fixed stare.
“Neither,” she said. “I just left for a little while to have a talk with Cam. It didn’t go exactly—”
“Bam! Pay up, Arri,” Roland said, grinning. “You owe me ten bucks.”
Luce’s jaw dropped.
Arriane patted her hand. “No big deal, we just made a little wager to keep things interesting. I assumed it was Daniel you’d gone off with. Roland here picked Cam. You’re breaking my bank, Luce. I don’t like it.”
“I was with Daniel,” Luce said, not really knowing why she felt the need to correct them. Didn’t they have anything better to do with their lives than sit around wondering what she did on her own time?
“Oh,” Roland said, sounding disappointed. “The plot thickens.”
“Roland.” Luce turned to him. “I need to ask you something.”
“Talk to me.