Torment - Lauren Kate [46]
“Judging from the look on your face,” Steven said, “it seems like I’ve got another one on my side.”
“I hope you’re not filling Luce’s head with any of your devilish filth.” Francesca appeared behind them. Her hands were on her hips and a scowl was on her face. Until she started laughing, Luce had no idea she was teasing.
“We were talking about the shadows—I mean, the Announcers,” Luce said. “Steven just told me he thinks there are trillions of them.”
“Steven also thinks he doesn’t need to call a plumber when the toilet overflows.” Francesca smiled warmly, but there was an undercurrent in her voice that made Luce feel embarrassed, like she’d spoken too boldly. “You want to bear witness to more gruesome scenes like the one we examined in class the other day?”
“No, that’s not what I meant—”
“There’s a reason why certain things are best left in the hands of experts.” Francesca looked at Steven. “I’m afraid that, like a broken toilet, the Announcers as a window on the past are just one of those things.”
“Of course we understand why you in particular might be interested in them,” Steven said, drawing Luce’s full attention.
So Steven got it. Her past lives.
“But you must understand,” Francesca added, “that glimpsing shadows is highly risky without the proper training. If you are interested, there are universities, rigorous academic programs, even, that I would be happy to talk to you about down the road. But for now, Luce, you must forgive our mistake for showing it prematurely to a high school class, and then you must leave it at that.”
Luce felt strange and exposed. Both of them were watching her.
Leaning over the railing a little, she could see some of her friends on the ship’s main deck below. Miles had a pair of binoculars pressed to his eyes and was trying to point something out to Shelby, who ignored him behind her giant Ray-Bans. At the stern, Dawn and Jasmine were seated on a ledge with Amy Branshaw. They were bent over a manila folder, making hurried notes.
“I should go help out with the welcome address,” Luce said, backing away from Francesca and Steven. She could feel their eyes on her all the way down the winding staircase. Luce reached the main deck, ducked under a row of furled sails, and squeezed past a group of non-Nephilim students standing in a bored circle around Mr. Kramer, the beanpole-thin biology teacher, who was lecturing on something like the fragile ecosystem right below their feet.
“There you are!” Jasmine pulled Luce into their powwow. “A plan is finally taking shape.”
“Cool. How can I help?”
“At twelve o’clock, we’re going to ring that bell.” Dawn pointed at a huge brass bell hung from a white beam by a pulley near the ship’s bow. “Then I’m going to welcome everyone, Amy’s going to speak about how this trip came to be, and Jas is going to talk about this semester’s upcoming social events. All we need is someone to say something environmentally friendly.” All three girls looked at Luce.
“Is this a hybrid yacht or something?” Luce asked.
Amy shrugged and shook her head.
Dawn’s face lit up with an idea. “You could say something about how being out here is making us all greener because he who lives closer to nature acts closer to nature?”
“Are you any good at writing poems?” Jasmine asked. “You could try to make it, you know, fun?”
Guilty of totally bailing on any real responsibilities, Luce felt the need to be amenable. “Environmental poetry,” she said, thinking the only thing she was worse at than poetry and marine biology was public speaking. “Sure. I can do that.”
“Okay, phew!” Dawn wiped her forehead. “Then here’s my vision.” She hopped up on the ledge where she’d been sitting and started making a list of things on her fingers.
Luce knew she should be paying attention to Dawn’s requests (“Wouldn’t it be l’awesome if we lined up shortest to tallest?”), especially since, in a very short time, she was slated to say something intelligent—and rhyming—about the environment in front of a hundred