CHAPTERS 12-17 by Katlyn
Chapters:
12 - Into Dust
13 - Touched at the Roots
14 - Idle Hands
15 - The Lion's Den
16 - Hanging in the Balance
17 - An Open BookSummaryThe students were dealing with Todd's tragic death, while Luce was trying to avoid the stares of those who thought she was guilty. The school was on lock-down and all were encouraged to attend his memorial service. At the service, Luce saw Daniel who looked like he was even more devastated then the rest of the students. Luce contemplated the meaning behind the flowers he brought her. After the service, Cam caught up with Luce and said how much he missed her. The comforted her and she almost enjoyed it, but her thoughts of Daniel clouded these feelings. After a quick interruption from Gabbe, which Luce was for once grateful for, Daniel appeared and offered to take her somewhere else, she agreed. On their walk, Daniel expressed his concern about Cam and Luce prodded him to see what type of guy was okay for her, according to Daniel. He couldn't name anyone, but Luce was then distracted by the cut on his forehead. He shrugged her off. They walked to the lake again and sat with their feet in the water. Daniel tried to convince Luce to leave but she was adamant to know why. She then told Daniel about the shadows and he was interested to hear about them. When she was finished Daniel quickly left without another word.
Saturday morning Luce met her parents at the gate for Parents Day. They packed her a picnic with all her favorite foods and gave her a letter from Callie. She introduced her family to Penn and they all sat down to eat. Luce checked out all the other students and their families spread across the campus. After lunch, Luce and her parents joined Mr. Cole on his guided tour of the cemetery. Cam came by the group after a while and introduced himself to Luce's family. After he left, Luce realized it was getting late and said he goodbyes to her family. Luce and Penn went into the cemetery to visit Penn's fathers grave. Luce gave Penn some privacy and noticed Daniel sitting alone on the monolith. She regarded him as her mind wandered to why Daniel was the way he was with her.
Luce's mind wandered to Daniel during her classes. She did not know why she was drawn to him but she admitted it to herself that she was. She wanted to clear her mind so she decided to go for a swim by herself. After class Cam stopped her and wanted to go somewhere with her. She promised to do something with him later and he agreed. On her way to the gym she remembered a dream she had the previous night about both Daniel and Cam. She dreamed Cam was kissing her and then he disappeared and Daniel took his place. When Luce jumped into the water her mind opened up and she concentrated on Daniel. She shook away those thoughts and just focused on swimming. Soon she was interrupted by Penn. Penn told Luce that Cam approached her about Luce's strange behavior. Penn also informed her that she found some information in the library that she wanted to share. At the library they flagged down Miss Sophia to get the password for the computer. The girls noticed Miss Sophia was melancholy so they offered for her to help them research The Watchers. Miss Sophia tells the girls that the Grigori's were an important clan of The Watchers that specialized in fallen-angel folklore. When Miss Sophia left giving them a short amount of time left on the computer they scribbled down as much information as they could before it shut off. When they got up to leave they saw Daniel and Cam. Cam gave Luce a present and then kissed her. Daniel attacked Cam and they fought in front of the girls. They continued to fight outside until Mr. Cole broke it up. Luce was disgusted about the present and kiss that made them fight so she put the present on the table, but curious Penn opened it up anyway.
Luce found a note on Wednesday from Cam asking her to skip the social and come out with him. She was going to meet him to tell him that she did not want to be involved with him. She got into the black sedan that was at the gate and he took her to a local bar. When she met him, she had to shake off his charm and focus on her purpose. She attempted to give back the necklace but he put it on her. They went inside and Cam told her he had been there all day. He ordered her a champagne and wanted to talk about their relationship. A man approached Luce and made a snide remark. Cam stood up to the guy and pushed him away. At that moment Luce saw a shadow open up over Cam. The guy jumped Cam and they exchanged punched. Then Cam lightly touched the man's chest and the guy flew back into the wall. Luce was stunned by what she saw and took her things and left. Once outside she walked right into Daniel. They went to a car and drove away with Cam standing in the dust. Daniel scolded her about coming out there, she told him that she was trying to break it off with Cam. Daniel pulled off the road onto a sandy road by the ocean. Luce went off on Daniel asking why he treated her the way he did. He told her she never understood and that took her aback. She pushed herself closer and kissed him. When they were done, Daniel was surprised that she was still there with him. He pulled away from her expecting her to disappear any moment, for some reason Luce knew what he was scared of.
Luce stood between the cemetery and the lake holding notes from Cam and Daniel asking her to meet them. She chose to meet with Cam first because she knew that once she was with Daniel she would not want to leave. She recalled the night before when Daniel brought her to her back to her room after their kiss. She woke that morning having slept through the day and missed her initial meeting with Daniel. She found Cam at the cemetery and he apologized for the night before. Luce tried to let him down gently but he knew Daniel had something to do with it. She told him it was none of his business but he took it upon himself to show her what she was missing. He kissed her and she kissed back not understanding what she was doing. Suddenly Cam was forcefully pulled away from her by Gabbe. She continued to beat Cam senseless while Luce just stood there in surprise. Daniel asked Luce to walk away with him to try and explain about Gabbe and Cam. When they arrived at a different part of the cemetery, Daniel explained to Luce that he was damned to fall in love with her over and over, but she usually died too soon in each life. She finds him every seventeen years and no matter how hard he tries to avoid her, she always finds him. Daniel explains to her each life she has had with him like it was yesterday, all the while being so delicate with her just in case the information kills her. The story is too much for Luce and she goes to walk away but turns back in the hope of hearing some good news.
Luce ran back to her room to process the information that Daniel gave her about their past together. Luce rationally thought it was ridiculous but something in the back of her mind felt the truth. She went over to her desk and found Daniel's ancestor's book with a note from Penn. Inside there was a photograph from 1854 of a man and woman who looked almost exactly like Daniel and Luce. With her realization she went to go find Penn at the library. When she got there she saw Arriane and Roland playing chess together. They invited her to sit for a minute and Arriane interrogated Luce about her sneaking out the other night. She became overwhelmed with the questions and left. While looking for Penn she ran into Miss Sophia. Miss Sophia noted the book and took Luce by the arm to talk. While Miss Sophia looked through the book Luce accidentally told her that Daniel kissed her. Miss Sophia was shocked which lead Luce to believe that she knew more than she lead on. Inside the book were drawings of Luce created by Daniel. Miss Sophia told Luce that both her and Daniel were damned together. During their conversation Luce said that she wasn't baptized and this information was intriguing to Miss Sophia. Luce wanted to go find Daniel and Miss Sophia tagged along uninvited. They ran into Penn on the way and she was scared about something that was happening in the cemetery.
Quotes"All the other times they’d touched, either it had been an accident, or one of them had jerked away—usually Daniel—before the bolt of warmth Luce always felt could evolve into a rising crescendo of heat. Not this time. Luce looked down at Daniel’s hand, holding fast to hers, and her whole body wanted more."
“It may surprise you to know this,” she said. “But it’s no thrill for me to sit here and talk about how thoroughly insane I am.”
"...considering what might happen if she were to give her parents her own personal tour of the cemetery. Here’s where I served my first detention... And here’s where a falling marble angel nearly decapitated me... And here’s where a reform school boy you’d never approve of took me on the strangest picnic of my life."
“What are you doing here?” Penn returned. “Since when do you exercise willingly? I don’t like this new side of you.”
“You said nothing could drag you away,” he said in a hushed voice. “But they will. Maybe they’re just running late.”
Cam stood up and faced them, ignoring Luce completely. “All right, which one of you is it going to be this time?” he snarled. This time? “Me,” Gabbe said, stepping forward with her hands on her hips. “That first little love tap was all me, Cam honey. What you going to do about it?”
“The person I fall in love with each time is you.” She’d been holding her breath, and meant to exhale, but it came out as a sharp, cutting laugh. “Right, Daniel,” she said, starting to stand up. “Wow, you really are damned. That sounds horrible.”
She couldn’t see them yet, but she could feel them, which was so much worse. An awful, consuming itch coated her skin, seeping into her bones and blood like acid. Pooling, clotting, making the cemetery—and beyond—reek with their sulfur stink. They were so much bigger now. It seemed like all the air on campus was foul with their wretched stench of decay.
Questions
1. Why do you think Daniel knows so much about Luce?
2. Why do you think Daniel is affected by the actions of the shadows 'this time'?
3. Do you think Cam is trying too hard to win over Luce?
4. Do you think Miss Sophia knows more about Daniel then she is letting on?
5. Why do you think Cam kissed Luce in front of Daniel?
6. Are you starting to sense a bit of supernatural in this book after the bar scene?
7. What do you think is 'coming' for Luce?
8. Why do you think this life is different for Luce and Daniel? Why has she not died yet?
9. Do you think Luce not being baptized has something to do with her staying alive after kissing Daniel?
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