The Fallen Sequence by Lauren Kate Page B

Callie, and how her friend always said that watching a movie with a guy was the best way to get to know things about him, things that might not come out in a conversation. Looking at Cam, Luce thought she knew what Callie meant: There would be something sort of thrilling about glancing out of the corner of her eye to see what jokes Cam thought were funny, to join his laughter with her own.
    When his eyes met hers, Luce felt an embarrassedinstinct to look away. But then, before she could, Cam’s face lit up in a broad smile. It made her feel remarkably unabashed about being caught staring. When he put his hand up in a wave, Luce couldn’t help thinking about how the exact opposite had happened the few times Daniel had caught her looking at him.
    Daniel rolled in with Roland, late enough that Randy had already taken a head count, late enough that the only remaining seats were on the floor at the front of the room. He passed through the beam of light from the projector and Luce noticed for the first time a silver chain around his neck, and some sort of medallion tucked inside his T-shirt. Then he dipped completely out of her view. She couldn’t even see his profile.
    As it turned out, Starman wasn’t very funny, but the other students’ constant Jeff Bridges impersonations were. It was hard for Luce to stay focused on the plot. Plus, she was getting that uncomfortable icy feeling at the back of her neck. Something was about to happen.
    When the shadows came this time, Luce was expecting them. Then she started to think about it and counted a tally on her fingers. The shadows had been popping up at an increasingly alarming rate, and Luce couldn’t figure out whether she was just nervous at Sword & Cross … or whether it meant something else. They’d never been this bad before…
    They oozed overhead in the auditorium, then slitheredalong the sides of the movie screen, and finally traced the lines of the floorboards like spilled ink. Luce gripped the bottom of her chair and felt an ache of fear swell through her legs and arms. She tightened all the muscles in her body, but she couldn’t keep from trembling. A squeeze on her left knee made her look over at Arriane.
    “You okay?” Arriane mouthed.
    Luce nodded and hugged her shoulders, pretending she was merely cold. She wished she was, but this particular chill had nothing to do with Sword & Cross’s overzealous air conditioner.
    She could feel the shadows tugging at her feet under her chair. They stayed like that, deadweight for the whole movie, and every minute dragged on like an eternity.

    An hour later, Arriane pressed her eye up against the peephole of Cam’s bronze-painted dorm room door. “Yoo-hoo,” she sang, giggling. “The festivities are here!”
    She produced a hot-pink feather boa from the same magic carpetbag the bag of popcorn had come from. “Give me a boost,” she said to Luce, dangling her foot in the air.
    Luce hooked her fingers together and positioned them under Arriane’s black boot. She watched as Arriane pushed off the ground and used the boa to cover the faceof the hallway surveillance camera while she reached around the back of the device and switched it off.
    “That’s not suspicious or anything,” Penn said.
    “Does your allegiance lie with the after-party?” Arriane shot back. “Or the red party?”
    “I’m just saying there are smarter ways.” Penn snorted as Arriane hopped down. Arriane slung the boa over Luce’s shoulders, and Luce laughed and started to shimmy to the Motown song they could hear through the door. But when Luce offered the boa to Penn for a turn, she was surprised to see her still looking nervous. Penn was biting her nails and sweating at the brow. Penn wore six sweaters in the swampy southern September heat—she was never hot.
    “What’s wrong?” Luce whispered, leaning in.
    Penn picked at the hem of her sleeve and shrugged. She looked like she was just about to answer when the door behind them opened