Author's Note: Some of the quotes in this chapter are taken directly from the book. I do not own Fallen and realize that the book and its characters all belong to Lauren Kate.

Chapter 13 - The Calm Before the Storm

"Wake up." Lucifer's voice echoed through my head, bringing me out of my nightmare-ridden slumber.

"Leave me alone…it's too early."

"It's late in the afternoon…And besides, I just thought that you would like to know that you have a visitor."

"Excuse me?" Then I heard it. Someone was knocking at my door.

"I'm coming!" I quickly get dressed and answer the door, Lucifer leaving my head as I pull it open. I let out a sigh of relief upon seeing who it is. "Hey Luce, what's up?"

"Hey…can you help me find Penn? I think that she's in the library." Luce nervously looks around and clutches a book closer to her chest. "Please? It's urgent."

"Sure." I lock the door to my room and walk with her to the library.

"So you and Danny…" I glanced at her and a faint blush had appeared on her cheeks.

"Shut up."

"Hey, you two would make a cute couple. That's all I'm saying." If only she knew the truth behind their romance….

We walk into the library and head over to the group study section, where we found Arriane and Roland playing a game of chess. Arriane has her feet up on the table and she's wearing a striped conductor's hat. For an airhead, she was surprisingly focusing on the game. A chocolate cigar bobbed between her lips as she contemplated her next move. Roland had twisted his dreads into two meaty knots on the crown of his head. He tapped one of his pawns with his pinky. Kaya was sitting in between them, watching.

"Checkmate, bitch." Arriane said triumphantly, knocking over Roland's king as we approached.
"Devil and Lululucinda," She sang, looking up. "You two have been hiding from me."

"No I haven't." I said as Luce said "No" at the same time.

"I've been hearing things about you, Luce." Arriane said, causing Roland to tilt his head attentively. "Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. That means sit down and spill. Right now."

Luce hugged the book to her chest once again and I could tell that she didn't want to sit down.

"Join us." Roland said as he cleared a spot for Luce next to him. Luce lowered herself reluctantly onto the edge of the chair as Roland patted his lap for me. I sat down, feeling a tiny bit uncomfortable. "Relax…" He whispered into my ear. "We all know who you belong to, I won't try anything."

"I don't belong to anyone, especially not Cam." I hissed.

"If you say so."

I stood up. "If you're going to an ass, then I'm leaving." I walked away from the table, leaving my uncomfortable cousin behind with Roland, Arriane and Kaya. I checked every aisle for any sign of Penn. By the time I was done, it was obvious that she was not here. I sighed. Why did everything have to be so difficult?

I walked back towards where I last saw Luce and noticed that she, Roland, Kaya and Arriane were all gone. Lucinda's voice drifted over to me from the computer area and I followed it to her.

"Where are you going?" A nervous voice asked. I guess Luce wasn't alone.

"To find Daniel." Luce replied as I rounded the corner.

"I'll come with you."

"That's not necessary, Ms. Sophia." I butted in, taking Luce by the arm. A look of anger flashed across her face so quickly that I wasn't sure if it was actually there.

"Trust me," Ms. Sophia said. "I have to. Sword & Cross has a reputation to uphold. You don't think that we just let students run around willy-nilly in the night, do you?" She took off towards the exit and Luce and I followed her.

We stepped outside into the humid night and I felt a chill run through my body. Shadows were lurking nearby. An awful, consuming itch coated my body and when I looked at Luce, I could see that she could feel it too. They were bigger now; it seemed like the air on campus was filled with their putrid stench of decay.

"Where is Daniel?" Miss Sophia asked.

"I don't know…" Luce replied. Neither of us wanted to say the words that would bring us closer to our shadows; our past. "I left him in the cemetery." Luce said quietly, caving in slightly so that she could be reunited with Daniel once again.

We hurried across campus, dodging slick patches of mud and running passed the sleeping dorms. Luce was falling behind, her fear of facing the shadows probably holding her back.

"Come on, Luce." I slowed down, waiting for her to catch up. "You can do it." I said quietly as she approached, knowing that she could hear me.

When we reached the cemetery gates, we stopped. Luce was trembling, and I rubbed her back, hoping to reassure her. A girl was standing just passed the cemetery pits, looking down into the pit.

"Penn!" Luce called out, obviously relieved to see her. When Penn turned around, her face was ashen and she looked like she had seen something terrible. Luce gasped besides me. "What happened?"

"I was coming to look for you," Penn said. "and then a bunch of other kids ran this way. They went down there." She pointed towards the gates. I'm assuming that the other kids were Arriane, Roland and the rest of the immortal gang. "But I c-c-couldn't."

"What is it?" Luce asked. "What's down there?" Even as she asked, I knew that she saw it too, the ginormous black shadow, coaxing us towards it.

Penn was blinking rapidly, she looked terrified. "Dunno, at first I thought that it was fireworks, but none of them made it to the sky." She shuddered. "Something bad's about to happen. I don't know what."

I coughed on the sulfur in the air. How did Penn know? Was she like Cam and the others? No, she couldn't be…

"How do you know?" Luce asked.

Penn's arm shook as she pointed into the middle of the cemetery. "See that? Something's flickering down there."

Hey guys...I've had this written for a long time, but I never uploaded it because I was going to turn this chapter into a super chapter, but since I have to sit and think about what is going to happen (I only have a general idea), I decided to upload this now. Sorry for the wait!

Be ready for some action in the next chapter XD

Please leave reviews, they motivate me a lot XD

Love, May