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"Thanks, D," Gansey said easily With no effort, he pushed open the door, forcing Declan back without seeion of the front fender It becaestures

Blue watched disdainfully froer seat as Adam watched sharply fro the set of Declan’s shoulders and the way his eyes looked, he realized so

Declan was afraid

Probably it wasn’t apparent to Gansey, as fairly oblivious, nor to Blue, who didn’t knohat Declan looked like ordinarily And Ronan’s feelings about his older brother were like blood in the water; he wouldn’t be able to see through the bilious clouds

But to Adam, who’d spent a fair a to hide it -- it was obvious

The question hat Declan Lynch had to be afraid of

"Who gave your brother that shiner, Ronan?" he asked

Without opening his eyes, Ronan replied, "Same person who fucked his nose over"

"And as that?"

Ronan laughed, just once, a ha! "Burglars"

The proble the facts about Declan from Ronan was that Ronan always assu

Of course, usually he was

Suddenly, the driver’s side door was ripped open The sound and shock of it were so violent that Ronan forgot to look asleep and Adam and Blue both stared Declan leaned in

"I know you want to do the opposite of everything I say," he snapped, "but you need to keep your head down Do you reo? Have you forgotten?"

Ronan’s voice was slow, petulant His eyes, though, halfhidden in the diht of the Caotten"

"Well, it feels like you have," Declan said "People are watching And if you slip up, you screw things up for all of us So don’t slip up And I know you’ve been on the streets again When you lose your license, I --"

"Declan" Gansey’s voice cut through, deep and responsible He placed a hand on Declan’s shoulder, gently tugging him back "We’re cool here" When this didn’t have the desired effect, Gansey added, "I know you don’t want to make a scene in front of"

Both boys looked at Blue

Blue’s lips parted with indignation, but Gansey’s words worked ic Declan retreated instantly

A"Sorry, Jane," he said Now his voice sounded weary, nothing like the broad persuasion he’d just exercised on Declan He lifted the battery into view "Ada?"

He said it like it was an ordinary day, like they’d co The Lynch brothers had fought, but that washad died, but it was always either dying or rising again

But in everything Gansey didn’t say, in every feeling he didn’t paint on his face, he was shouting:

It’s gone

17

The o back to the Barns, but here was so to hi room wall, well out of reach of curious hands But in his drea at eye-level on the wall of Adam’s shabby apartment It was carved of smooth, dark wood and looked like a cheap tourist souvenir The eyeholes were round and surprised, the h for lots of teeth

"This is cheating," Orphan Girl said in Latin

She hadn’t been there before, but she was now Her presence re This mo here with his ownback with him It was his He could do whatever he wanted to with it

"Cheating," she insisted again "Drea" She meant the mask, of course It was surely from his father’s ht you some chicken"

And he had He handed her a box of fried chicken, which she fell on voraciously

"I think I’m a psychopomp," she said, with her ed girl stuffed an entire chicken wing in her mouth, bones and all "I think it means I’m a raven That makes you a raven boy"

This irritated Ronan for some reason, so he took the rest of the chicken from her and placed it on a piece of furniture that vanished as soon as he turned away

"Cabeswater’s gone," he told her