Passion by Lauren Kate Page B

said on her way out. “Find me later? I want to hear everything about you and Daniel. The whole story, al right?”
    “Sure,” Luce lied, her heart sinking a lit le.
    Alone with Daniel again, Luce was nervous. In her parents’ backyard, after the bat le with the Outcasts, Daniel had seemed so horri ed when he saw her step through the Announcer. In Moscow, too. Who knew what this Daniel would do when he opened his eyes and found out where she’d come from?
    If he ever opened his eyes.
    She leaned down over his bed again. He had to open his eyes, didn’t he? Angels couldn’t die. Logical y, she thought it was impossible, but what if—what if by coming back in time she’d messed something up? She’d seen the Back to the Future movies and she’d once passed a test in science class on quantum physics. What she was doing here was probably messing up the space-time continuum. And Steven Filmore, the demon who cotaught humanities at Shoreline, had said something about altering time.
    She didn’t real y know what any of that meant, but she did know it could be very bad. Like erase-your-whole-existence bad. Or maybe kil -
    your-angel-boyfriend bad.
    That was when Luce panicked. Grabbing hold of Daniel’s shoulders, she began to shake. Lightly, gently—he’d been through a war, after al .
    But enough to let him know that she needed a sign. Right now.
    “Daniel,” she whispered. “Daniel?”
    There. His eyelids began to ut er. She let out her breath. His eyes opened slowly, like they had last night. And like last night, when they registered the girl in front of them, they bulged. His lips parted. “You’re … old.” Luce blushed. “I am not,” she said, laughing. No one had ever cal ed her old before.
    “Yes, you are. You’re real y old.” He looked almost disappointed. He rubbed his forehead. “I mean—How long have I been—?” Then she remembered: Lucia was several years younger. But Daniel hadn’t even met Lucia yet. How would he have known how old she

    Then she remembered: Lucia was several years younger. But Daniel hadn’t even met Lucia yet. How would he have known how old she was?
    “Don’t worry about that,” she said. “I need to tel you something, Daniel. I’m—I’m not who you think I am. I mean, I am, I guess, I always am, but this time, I came from … uh …”
    Daniel’s face contorted. “Of course. You stepped through to get here.”
    She nodded. “I had to.”
    “I’d forgot en,” he whispered, confusing Luce even more. “From how far away? No. Don’t tel me.” He waved her o , inching back in his bed as if she had some sort of disease. “How is that even possible? There were no loopholes in the curse. You shouldn’t be able to be here.”
    “Loopholes?” Luce asked. “What kind of loopholes? I need to know—”
    “I can’t help you,” he said, and coughed. “You have to learn on your own. Those are the rules.”
    “Doria.” A woman Luce had never seen was standing in the doorway. She was older, blond and severe, with a starched Red Cross cap pinned so that it sat at an angle on her head. At rst, Luce didn’t realize that the woman was addressing her. “You are Doria, aren’t you? The new transfer?”
    “Yes,” Luce said.
    “We’l need to do your paperwork this morning,” the woman said curtly. “I don’t have any of your records. But first, you’l do me a favor.” Luce nodded. She could tel she was in trouble, but she had more important things to worry about than this woman and her paperwork.
    “Private Bruno is going into surgery,” the nurse said.
    “Okay.” Luce tried to focus on the nurse, but al she wanted was to go back to her conversation with Daniel. She had nal y been get ing somewhere, final y finding another piece in the puzzle of her lives!
    “Private Giovanni Bruno? He’s requested that the on-duty nurse be taken o his surgery. He says he’s sweet on the nurse who saved his life.
    His angel?” The woman gave Luce a hard look.