Torment - Lauren Kate [105]
Then Luce remembered: It wasn’t that long ago that she couldn’t hear the Announcers either. Before, their noises used to be just that—noises: rustlings and thick, wet whooshes through treetops. It was Steven who’d told her how to tune in the voices inside. In a way, Luce almost wished he hadn’t.
There had to be more to this message. “I have to glimpse it again,” Luce said, stepping toward the open window. Shelby tugged her back.
“Oh, no you don’t. That Announcer could be anywhere by now, and you’re under dorm arrest, remember?” Shelby pushed Luce down in her desk chair. “You’re going to stay right here while I go down to Kramer’s office to retrieve my turkey. We’re both going to forget this ever happened. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Good. I’ll be back in five minutes, so don’t disappear on me.”
But as soon as the door closed, Luce was out the window, climbing to the flat part of the ledge where she and Daniel had sat the night before. Putting what she’d just seen out of her mind was impossible. She had to summon that shadow again. Even if it got her in more trouble. Even if she saw something she didn’t like.
The late morning had turned gusty, and Luce had to crouch down and hold on to the slanting wooden shingles to keep her balance. Her hands were cold. Her heart felt numb. She closed her eyes. Every time she tried to summon an Announcer, she remembered how little training she’d had. She’d always just been lucky—if watching your boyfriend look down at someone he’d just murdered could be considered luck.
A damp brushing crept along her arms. Was it the brown shadow, the ugly thing that showed her an even uglier thing? Her eyes shot open.
It was. Creeping up her shoulder like a snake. She yanked it off and held it in front of her, trying to spin it into a ball with her hands. The Announcer rejected her touch, floating backward, out of her reach just past the roof’s edge.
She looked down two stories to the ground below. A trail of students were leaving the dorm to head to the mess hall for brunch, a stream of color moving along a sheet of bright green grass. Luce teetered. Vertigo hit, and she felt herself falling forward.
But then the shadow rushed like a football player, knocking her back against the slope of the roof. There she stayed, stuck against the shingles, panting as the Announcer yawned open again.
The smoky veil diffused into light, and Luce was back with Daniel and his bloody branch. Back to the caw of seagulls circling overhead and the stench of rotting surf along the shore, the sight of icy waves crashing on the beach. And back to the two figures huddled on the ground. The dead one was all tied up. The living one stood to face Daniel.
Cam.
No. It had to be a mistake. They hated one another. Had just waged a huge battle against one another. She could accept that Daniel did dark things to protect her from the people who were after her. But what foul thing would ever make him seek out Cam? Work alongside Cam—who took pleasure in killing?
They were in a heated discussion of some sort, but Luce couldn’t make out the words. She couldn’t hear anything over the clock in the middle of the terrace, which had just struck eleven. She strained her ears, waiting for the gongs to cease.
“Let me take her to Shoreline,” she finally heard Daniel plead.
This must have been right before she arrived in California. But why should Daniel have to ask Cam’s permission? Unless—
“Fine,” Cam said evenly. “Take her as far as the school and then find me. Don’t screw up; I’ll be watching.”
“And then?” Daniel sounded nervous.
Cam ran his eyes over Daniel’s face. “You and I have work to do.”
“No!” Luce screamed, slashing at the shadow with her fingers in anger.
But as soon as she felt her hands break through the cold, slippery surface, she regretted it. It broke into spent fragments, settling into an ashy pile at her side. Now she couldn’t see anymore. She tried to gather the fragments up the way she’d seen Miles do, but they were quivering and unresponsive.
She grabbed a fistful of the worthless pieces, sobbing into