Torment - Lauren Kate [98]
Luce was almost disappointed to find herself back in her dorm room after the flash and excitement of Las Vegas. But then she thought of Dawn, and of Vera. Almost disappointed. Her eyes settled on all the familiar signs that they were back: two unmade bunk beds, the clutter of plants on the windowsill, Shelby’s yoga mats stacked in the corner, Steven’s copy of Plato’s Republic sitting bookmarked on Luce’s desk—and one thing she was not expecting to see.
Daniel, dressed all in black, tending a blazing fire in the hearth.
“Aaaugh!” Shelby screamed, tumbling back into Miles’s arms. “You scared the hell out of me! And in my own place of sanctuary. Not cool, Daniel.” She shot Luce a dirty look, like she’d had something to do with his appearance.
Daniel ignored Shelby, just said calmly to Luce, “Welcome back.”
She didn’t know whether to run to him or burst into tears. “Daniel—”
“Daniel?” Arriane gasped. Her eyes widened as if she’d seen a ghost.
Daniel froze, clearly not having expected to encounter Arriane, either. “I—I just need her for a moment. Then I’ll go.” He sounded guilty, even scared.
“Right,” Arriane said, gripping Miles and Shelby by the scruffs of their neck. “We were just leaving. None of us saw you here.” She herded the others before her. “We’ll catch you later, Luce.”
Shelby looked like she couldn’t get out of their dorm room quickly enough. Miles’s eyes looked stormy, and they stayed fixed on Luce until Arriane practically threw him into the hall, slamming the door behind them with a great boom.
Then Daniel came to Luce. She closed her eyes and let the brush of his nearness warm her. She breathed him in, glad to be home. Not home to Shoreline, but the home that Daniel made her feel. Even when she was in the strangest of places. Even when their relationship was a mess.
As it seemed to be now.
He wasn’t kissing her yet, wasn’t even taking her in his arms. It surprised her that she wanted him to do those things, even after all she had seen. The absence of his touch caused a pain deep within her chest. When she opened her eyes he was standing there, only inches away, poring over every part of her with his violet eyes.
“You scared me.”
She’d never heard him say that. She was used to being the one who was afraid.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
Luce shook her head. Daniel took her hand and guided her wordlessly to the window, out of the warm room near the fire and back into the cold night, onto the rough ledge under the window where he’d come to her before.
The moon was oblong and low in the sky. The owls were asleep in the redwoods. From up here Luce could see the waves breaking smoothly on the shore; on the other side of campus, a single light on high in the Nephilim lodge, but she couldn’t tell whether it was Francesca’s or Steven’s.
She and Daniel sat down on the ledge and dangled their legs. They leaned against the slight slope of the roof behind them and looked up at the stars, which were dim in the sky, as if cloaked by the thinnest sheen of cloud. It wasn’t long before Luce began to cry.
Because he was mad at her or she was mad at him. Because her body had just been through so much, in and out of Announcers, across state lines, into the recent past and right back here. Because her heart and her head were tangled up and confused, and being close to Daniel mucked everything up even more. Because Miles and Shelby seemed to hate him. Because of the plain horror on Vera’s face when she recognized Luce. Because of all the tears that her sister must have cried for her, and because Luce had hurt her all over again by showing up at her blackjack table. Because of all of her other bereaved families, sunk into sadness because their daughters had the bad luck to be the reincarnation of a stupid girl in love. Because thinking of those families made Luce desperately miss her parents back in Thunderbolt. Because she was responsible for Dawn’s kidnapping. Because she was seventeen, and still alive, against thousands of years’ worth of odds. Because she knew enough to fear what the future