Torment - Lauren Kate [30]
Alone in the woods with the shadow.
After yesterday’s in-class demonstration, Luce had been expecting more of the same from Francesca and Steven. She had hoped that maybe the students would have a chance to experiment with the shadows on their own today. She’d even had the briefest fantasy of being able to do what she’d done in the forest in front of all the Nephilim.
None of that had happened. In fact, class today had felt like a big step back. A boring lecture about Announcer etiquette and safety, and why the students should never, under any circumstances, try on their own what they’d seen the day before.
It was frustrating and regressive. So now, instead of heading back to the dorm, Luce found herself jogging behind the mess hall, down the trail to the edge of the bluff, and up the wooden stairs of the Nephilim lodge. Francesca’s office was in the annex on the second floor, and she’d told the class to feel free to come by anytime.
The building was remarkably different without the other students to warm it up. Dim and drafty and almost abandoned-feeling. Every noise Luce made seemed to carry, echoing off the sloping wooden beams. She could see a lamp on the landing one floor up and smell the rich aroma of brewing coffee. She didn’t know yet whether she was going to tell Francesca what she’d been able to do in the forest. It might seem insignificant to someone as skilled as Francesca. Or it might seem like a violation of her instructions to the class today.
Part of Luce just wanted to feel her teacher out, to see whether she might be someone Luce could turn to when, on days like today, she started to feel as if she might fall apart.
She reached the top of the stairs and found herself at the head of a long, open hallway. On her left, beyond the wooden banister, she looked down at the dark, empty classroom on the second story. On her right was a row of heavy wooden doors with stained-glass transoms over them. Walking quietly along the floorboards, Luce realized she didn’t know which office was Francesca’s. Only one of the doors was ajar, the third one from the right, with light emanating from the pretty stained-glass scene in the transom. She thought she heard a male voice inside. She was poised to knock when a woman’s sharp tone made her freeze.
“It was a mistake to even try,” Francesca practically hissed.
“We took a chance. We got unlucky.”
Steven.
“Unlucky?” Francesca scoffed. “You mean reckless. From a purely statistical standpoint, the odds of an Announcer bearing bad news were far too great. You saw what it did to those kids. They weren’t ready.”
A pause. Luce inched a little closer along the Persian rug in the hall.
“But she was.”
“I won’t sacrifice all the progress an entire class has made just because some, some—”
“Don’t be shortsighted, Francesca. We came up with a beautiful curriculum. I know that as well as you. Our students outperform every other Nephilim program in the world. You did all that. You have a right to feel a sense of pride. But things are different now.”
“Steven’s right, Francesca.” A third voice. Male. Luce thought it sounded familiar. But who was it? “Might as well throw your academic calendar out the window. The truce between our sides is the only timeline that matters anymore.”
Francesca sighed. “You really think—”
The unknown voice said, “If I know Daniel, he’ll be right on time. He’s probably counting down the minutes already.”
“There’s something else,” Steven said.
A pause, then what sounded like a drawer sliding open, then a gasp. Luce would have killed to be on the other side of the wall, to see what they could see.
“Where did you get that?” the other male voice asked. “Are you trading?”
“Of course he’s not!” Francesca sounded stung. “Steven found it in the forest during one of his rounds the other night.”
“It’s authentic, isn’t it?” Steven asked.
A sigh. “Been too long for me to say,” the stranger hedged. “I haven’t seen a starshot in ages. Daniel will know. I’ll take it to him.”
“That’s all? What do you suggest we do in the meantime?” Francesca