The Light and Fallen

  When Lucian looked up again, his bowl was empty. Sofia carried it across the kitchen to a heavy enamel pot simmering on the stove and refilled it. As she slid the full bowl back across the table, Duncan finally broke the silence. "How was the first day?" he asked. "Being human?"

  Lucian toyed with his spoon before he answered. "It was hard," he said. "Different than I expected. After all the watching, all the training, I thought I knew what humans were like. I thought they would all be the same, like background noise. I thought I would spend all my time thinking about the key."

  Duncan raised an eyebrow. "You didn't?"

  "No," he admitted. "My emotions were all over the place." He hesitated and wondered what Duncan was thinking. He was embarrassed to continue, but he knew he should tell his Guardians everything. "In fact," he said, "I spent most of the day thinking about a girl."

  He shoved his bowl away and stared down at the table. "What am I doing? It's barely been twenty-four hours and I already lost focus. This assignment is so important, but I don't how to do it."

  Sofia reached across the table and rested her fingers on his arm. "Trust me," she said. "No one ever does. We all falter, but in the end we find our way. It may just take a little time."

  "I don't have time!" he exclaimed. "No one does! Especially since I wasted thirty-two days sleeping!"

  Duncan wiped his mouth with a napkin. "It's gonna get easier man," he said. "You'll see. Tell me about the girl."

  "Forget the girl!" Lucian snapped. "She doesn't matter. I'm not going to think about her anymore."

  Duncan laughed. "Easier said than done."

  His voice dropped and became more serious. "I know you're used to having the great big picture in front of you, being a Dominion and all, but that don't happen here. You gotta accept that things'll come together." He steepled his fingers beneath his chin and stared at Lucian. "You're used to making all the decisions," he continued, "but you're in it now. You gotta let go of all that control you're used to having."

  "He's right," Sofia said. "And your mission, finding the key, is the most important thing."

  "I know," Lucian said. Everything they were saying was true, but he felt exasperated. "As soon as school was out I started looking, but finding a single, random thing without knowing what to look for is a little difficult."

  "You do seem to have less knowledge than the angels that have come to us in the past," Sofia admitted. "I thought a Dominion would surely arrive with a plan. But if you arrived without information, then there's a reason."

  Lucian sighed. "How can knowing nothing help me?"

  "I don't know," Sofia said, "but it will."

  She elbowed Duncan gently. "We've been living down here in the Dark for centuries, and one thing we've learned is that there's always a plan, even when we can't see it. Sometimes you just have to wait for it to find you."

  Chapter 21

  Almost before Samara realized it, the first months of the year skipped by. The weather turned balmy, and the morning air held a damp chill. She still dreaded the moment she had to leave the solitude of her car, but each day it was a little easier.

  Her mother had moved into the spare bedroom that looked out onto their front yard, and although there had still been no news about her father, this small act seemed to shake Dina out of her depression. She had been relieved to arrive home from school several weeks earlier to find Dina dressed and in the kitchen, baking bread with all the lights on.

  Lucian hadn't spoken to her since the first day of school. She sometimes passed him as she navigated the halls between classes, or caught a glimpse of his face from across the gym, but his eyes always slid right over her as if she were invisible. She hoped it was her imagination, but sometimes she thought he was avoiding her on purpose.

  Carin continued to be intensely curious about both Lucian and Jack. She monitored who they talked to with the skill of a private investigator, and reported her findings to Samara as they shredded old records in the office.

  According to Carin, Lucian wasn't saying much to anyone. In fact, he seemed to be doing his best to stay under the radar. He was in every class on time with his notebook out, but he only took a few notes. Most of the time he stared at a point somewhere over his teachers' left shoulders or at the clock, and as soon as the bell rang each afternoon he went straight to his truck.

  Girls clustered around him in the hallways and a few of the bolder ones even waited for him in the parking lot, but he ignored their advances. He had turned down every girl who had asked him out. Carin had heard that the way he said no was so kind, so devastatingly charming, that it only made them want him more.

  Every time Carin said his name, Samara's heart gave a little flip. She couldn't stop hearing his voice when she lay in bed at night waiting to fall asleep, or forget the way his eyes had looked when he'd said, "You're beautiful." She tried to put him out of her mind, because judging from his behavior he wasn't the least bit interested in her, whatever words he might have said. Still, whenever she saw him coming toward her in the hall, she felt a flutter of hope There was always a moment when she thought he was coming for her.

  Samara hadn't spoken to Jack either, but according to Carin his behavior was the exact opposite of Lucian's. Even Carin couldn't keep track of who he was dating. Every Monday when Carin reported on the weekend activities of all their classmates, she revealed that Jack had made an appearance somewhere with a different, gorgeous girl. Some of them were other students from school, but a few had been older girls from out of town.

  Carin's biggest complaint was that he hadn't gotten around to her yet. She no longer had eyes for Jason Stanton; instead she spent their P.E. classes staring at Jack and devising plans to catch his attention. "Lucian's a lost cause," she'd sighed to Samara and Bethanny during a recent class as she gazed wistfully across the gym. "But getting Jack to ask me out is just a matter of time."

  Bethanny and Samara had tried to point out that the girls Jack went out with on the weekends were usually in the bathroom crying on Monday morning, if they came to school at all, but Carin didn't seem to hear them.

  Samara was at her locker the Tuesday morning before Halloween when Jack slipped up beside her. His hands were stuck into the pockets of his dark jeans, and he was wearing a ribbed sweater that was just fitted enough to give a hint of the body that was underneath. His closeness made her catch her breath, and she fumbled with the zipper of her bag. She knew that not only was Jack's attention focused on her, but because he was standing there she was also attracting the attention of passing students.

  "Let me help you with that." He reached over and plucked her backpack from her hands, zipped it, and then slung it over his shoulder as she watched helplessly. "Can I walk you to class?" he asked. He took the first step before she had a chance to answer, and she followed him automatically.

  "Why are you talking to me?" she burst out, unable to resist asking.

  Jack stopped in the middle of the hallway, forcing the crowd to part and stream around them. "Do you not want me to?"

  He held out Samara's bag, putting her on the spot. She felt disarmed looking at his puppy dog expression and knew that they were now drawing even more attention.

  "No. I mean, no, I don't not want you to." She knew wasn't making sense, but she couldn't seem to get her thoughts to organize themselves. "Never mind."

  Jack started back down the hallway, and she was surprised that he seemed to know exactly where he was going. "You're in the office first hour, right?" he asked, seeming to read her mind.

  She nodded mutely, feeling more and more off center. Jack was acting like being at her locker, knowing her schedule, was the most natural thing in the world. "How did you know?"

  "Carin. She was waiting for me when I came out of the locker room last week, and I've seen you sitting with her in P.E., so I asked her."

  Jack came to a smooth stop in front of the office, but continued to hold Samara's backpack over his shoulder. "It looks like
we're out of time," he said, "so I guess I should get to point. I was wondering if there was any chance I could get a tour."

  "A tour?" Samara asked. Her voice squeaked, and she wondered why her throat was betraying her.

  "A tour of Wimberley." Jack flashed her a stunning white smile. "I've only lived here for a few months, but I hear you grew up here. You'd be the perfect person to show me around."

  Samara looked into his dark gray eyes as he waited for an answer. She was trying to catch her breath and form coherent thoughts, but she kept catching whiffs of a deep vanilla tinged scent whenever he moved. Jack waited patiently, and Samara was sure he was confident of her answer, but the sound of the first bell ringing brought her back to reality. She shook her head before she even realized what she was doing.

  "I'm sorry, I don't think that's a good idea. I have a lot of stuff going on at home right now, and to be honest, I think Carin would kill me. Why don't you ask her?" She fled into the office before she could change her mind and sat at her metal workstation with her back to the door.

  She wasn't surprised when Carin walked in and dropped into the chair opposite her without meeting her eye. "When's the date?" she asked in a stilted voice.

  "He asked me if I would take him on a tour of Wimberley, but I told him no." Samara's voice sounded hesitant, even to her own ears.

  "Really?" Carin peeked up at Samara.

  "Really. I know you've liked him since the first day of school, plus I don't think he's my type."

  Carin snorted, but she appeared to be cheering up. "What type is that? The tall, rich, incredibly good looking type?"

  "He's too good looking,"

  Carin rolled her eyes, but Samara ignored her. "Really," she said. "He makes me feel like I can't even think straight."

  Carin made a mischievous face. "Sometimes you don't have to think."

  Samara laughed. "That's why I told him you'd be a better tour guide than me anyway."

  Carin's face lit up and she scooted onto the edge of her chair. "Tell me everything!"

  Chapter 22

  Jack stood outside the front office until the vice principal waved him off to class. He had never really been all that interested in Samara, he had just wanted to mess with Carin and he knew asking her about Samara's schedule would drive her crazy. But now, Samara had piqued his interest.

  The last time anyone had turned him down was decades ago. He had been at a dance hall in New Orleans one weekend when he was introduced to the most luscious girl. If he hadn't known better, he could've easily believed that she was one of the Host. Other girls had hovered around him, practically panting for his attention; he could've had any one of them, but instead he'd lavished his attention on Grace.

  He had embarrassed himself trying to woo her. He'd known she was engaged to a soldier named Bill, but he hadn't been concerned about that detail. He knew he could offer her more than any human ever could, and in his experience almost everyone, men and women, found him irresistible. He still cringed when he remembered the spectacle he'd made of himself, sending her cards and flowers and extravagant gifts. It had been weeks before he'd realized that she wouldn't be tempted.

  He had never planned to hurt her fiancé. He'd just wanted to understand what she could possibly find so appealing. But when Bill opened his front door, all Jack could see was that he was ridiculously ordinary. He was short and had a narrow pointy face that gave him the pinched appearance of a ferret.

  It wasn't Bill's looks that pushed Jack over the edge though, it was his disposition. Bill had known all about Jack, about the fact he'd been trying to lure Grace away, but instead of taking a swing at him or throwing him off his property, he'd invited him in for a drink. Bill had looked at him with sympathy. The idea of Grace wasting her life with that loser had been too disgusting to tolerate.

  The whole situation still irked him. He'd tracked Grace down a few years ago to satisfy his lingering curiosity about her. It had taken some work, but he'd finally found her in the Roaming Meadows Geriatric Facility. He visited her there, once, but she didn't recognize him. He was in a different body than when they'd met, but even if he had been unchanged, she wouldn't have known him.

  She had fluffy candy floss hair that wisped out around her face, and her skin, once so creamy and smooth, was wrinkled and paper thin. When he stood beside her, she stared straight ahead with unseeing eyes. He had always remembered her, she was one of the few things he'd wanted that he couldn't have, but the visit had depressed him. It had reminded him just how limited humans were.

  He walked slowly down the hallway. The tardy bell had rung and the hall was empty, but the voices of teachers and students trickled out of open doors on either side of him as he passed by. Lucian was his first priority, something Desiree reminded him of every single night, but as far as Jack could see Lucian wasn't actually doing anything. All he seemed to do was drive around for hours.

  He had followed Lucian to cemeteries, libraries, stores, and even a few houses. He never stayed anywhere longer than an hour, and he never went to the same place twice. Jack had circled back to investigate the locations, but they all seemed unrelated. Lucian doesn't even seem to notice he's being followed, Jack thought in irritation. Or else he just doesn't care.

  Things weren't all bad. He was having some fun on the side. He really couldn't help himself. Human girls were so predictable, and he had the distinct advantage of having thousands of years to perfect his game. Honestly, it was all too easy. The humans were never much of a challenge, but usually the Light made him work harder.

  This whole task had quickly become the most boring assignment in eternity, and Samara was the first hint of a challenge he'd had since he arrived in West Wimberley. He knew Desiree would tell him he needed to focus, and he told himself he would try, but he already knew she was going to be too irresistible to pass up.

  Chapter 23

  The idea that the guardians might be right was infuriating to Lucian. He was starting to think he would've been better off if he'd spent the last month doing nothing. He still wouldn't have accomplished anything, but he might've been more at peace with that. Instead, his attempts to find the key had grown more and more erratic and desperate.

  He had exhausted every avenue that he could think of, squeezing the search in between classes and the sleep his new body seemed to crave. When he was outside of Time he'd never understood why humans seemed to give up on things so quickly, but now the idea of not trying, of just giving up, seemed deeply appealing. Everything was more complicated than he had expected.

  Jack followed him everywhere he went. There was no way to know for sure, but Duncan had affirmed his suspicions that Jack was probably a member of the Fallen. He had known the members of the Light and Fallen tracked one another's movements, but he had no idea how Jack had marked him so quickly. He could only assume that Duncan and Sofia's house was always being watched. He hadn't bothered to try to throw Jack off his trail, but he was always aware of his presence. He would have to be dealt with. Soon.

  Then there was Samara. Lucian couldn't stop thinking about her. Even when he was following a lead for the key, she was in the back of his mind. He had stopped dreaming about the Timeline; instead he dreamed about her. In his dreams she stood on a rocky shore with her hair whipping around her and beckoned him to come to her. Every night he watched her dive, fearless, into the waves, but he always woke up before he could reach the water's edge.

  Last night's dream had been the most vivid one yet. He was supposed to be helping Duncan and Sofia with breakfast, but he couldn't stop thinking about it. He remembered every detail.

  In the dream Samara had been knee deep in the water. Huge masses of dark, foreboding clouds filled the sky, and waves whipped around her and smashed into rocks nearer to the shore. The wind blew a cold mist into his face as he clambered over the slippery black rocks to reach her. In his dream he had called out to her, but she slipped away from him, farther and farther into the sea.

>   "Watch this!" Duncan called. He was standing at the stove cooking pancakes on a long griddle pan. He flipped two of the pancakes high into the air, one after another, and they landed in a neat stack on a plate next to the stove.

  Sofia shook her head and laughed. "And it only took you a hundred and fifty years to learn that."

  She reached over and waved her hand in front of Lucian's face before she took two eggs out of his hand and cracked them into a fresh bowl of pancake batter. "Are you with us?" she asked.

  Lucian tried to pull himself back to the present, away from the memory of Samara sliding beneath the waves. "Sorry," he said, "my mind was someplace else."

  "I saw that," Duncan grumbled. "You missed my demonstration of pancake skills."

  Sofia handed Duncan the bowl of batter and patted him on the arm. "Keep practicing," she said.

  She whipped off her apron and poured two cups of coffee from the pot brewing on the counter. She handed one cup to Lucian, then leaned against the counter and crossed her arms. "Are you ready to talk about it?"

  Lucian sighed. "There's not a lot to talk about. I've tried to find the key, but I don't think I'm any closer to finding it than the day I first got here."

  "You're probably not," Sofia said. "But that's not what I'm asking." She raised her coffee cup to her lips and took a small sip.

  "Come on," Duncan interjected. "You're not the first one to get down here and feel a little lost. Spill it."

  "It's Samara," Lucian admitted. "The girl I met in the office on the first day of school. I can't stop thinking about her. I dream about her at night. I don't know how to get her out of my mind."