The next day starts with Luce thinking about home so that, by comparison, we can be reminded all over again that the “reform” school is the root of all evil.

Daniel brushing her off in the library. What it was that made him so spiteful, Luce didn’t have a clue.

Daniel hasn’t actually shown any spite.  He was crass once, and the other time he just wanted to be alone while you stood there mutely and ignored his request.  Anybody would act annoyed at that. 

Least remembers that she had detention this morning, so she rushes down to the cemetery and finds she’s the first person there.  Apparently, this is just so she can have several pages in which to moan and bemoan and stand around angsting.  There is enough padding in this book to drive any reader batty. 

Penn finally arrived to tell Luce that she should be meeting her fellow detentioners down at some monolith instead of at the gates.  (After ten minutes of waiting and knowing she’s a new student, you’d think one of them would have come out to find her.)

Luce did not want to get lost in the cemetery. Suddenly, she got that nervous, far-away-from-home feeling, and she knew it was only going to get worse in there. She cracked her knuckles, stalling.

“Luce?” Penn said, giving her shoulders a bit of a shove. “You’re still standing here.”

That’s basically a summary of all the padding, plus what I wish I could yell at Luce.

Luce finally arrives at the group of other detentioners, and of course Daniel is there, so of course we have to get a full run-down of what he’s wearing.

And leaning up against the angel’s sculpted thigh—she almost hadn’t noticed—was Daniel.

Subtle.  Almost as subtle as making his last name Grigori.

 Also, Cam is there, because of course.

But for some reason, she was mesmerized. She couldn’t break his gaze—until Arriane stepped between them.

Did I just miss out on something as a teenager?  Because this does not sound anything like the crushes I remember. 

It’s really the “for some reason” that does this in.  I have no idea why books feel the need to throe that line in, as if it makes everything… specialer?  Why is it more special if you don’t know the reason?  Why can’t they just have themselves some hormones and that’s okay?  Because it seems to me that telling teens the hormones they’re currently steeping in are “not god enough” is a poor choice of messages.  Hormones are awesome, don’t be embarrassed by them. 

Moving on.  They all start cleaning statues and such in the cemetery.

Three minutes later, her arms were killing her.

What kind of shape do you have to be in that you can’t rake leaves for three measly minutes?

This was brutal. […]clearing mud from the graves of people who’d been dead over a century? Luce totally hated her life right now.

Oh your poor, pampered flower. 

Seriously, though, it’s starting to sound like she could really use the exercise.  It’s not like they’re even doing anything intensive, nor have we heard about any impossible standards they have to adhere to.  She’s really just complaining about raking and scrubbing a brush over some stones.  If you can’t do that, you really need to get up from your computer some more.

Luce sees Daniel and Molly working together and this is good for a whole page worth of angst somehow.  Then they talk about Luce’s past with the fire, and despite her getting all worked up over talking about it, we don’t actually learn anything new. 

The padding in this book is going to smother me.  The whole thing is crawling along.  There is no plot yet.  I mean, I know the plot is going to be Luce and two boys and I’ve made my peace with that, but we don’t even have that much yet.  All we’ve got is moping, ugly campus, and flash backs about Luce’s family life that have to relevance.  At least have a conversation with one of the boys that goes beyond small talk and, in Daniel’s case, mild gestures of irritation.  

Oh, look at that, time for a conversation.  Still small talk, but I’ll take it.  Daniel sees Molly talking to Luce and comes over to talk to her as well.  There’s some déjà vu going on as Luce feels she’s done this all before, which of course we all know we have because did anyone really think that prologue was a dream?

Her brow was damp with sweat, and she squeezed her temples between two fingers, trying to regain possession of her body, trying to take it back from his control. She was totally unprepared to flirt

…pretty sure that’s not a side effect of flirting.  

The ominous shadows push the angel statue over in a desperate attempt to end this book early by squishing Luce, but no such luck because Daniel manages to pull her out of the way in time.  He asks her what she saw, presumably meaning the shadows.

Molly, just inches behind her shoulder, who whispered, “Looks like someone should start listening when I give advice.”

Said advice was, “stay away from him,” followed by “falling for him would be a bad idea.”  So…she meant the first one literally?  Is Molly psychic now, too?