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Between the twisted roots of the front yard, Noah’s body jerked and stilled, finally dead Again

Gently, she asked, "Noah?"

He was on the ground and then, just like that, he was standing beside her It was like a drea fros

"Blue!" he said, and patted her daainst her da She was always so worried he wouldn’t snap out of it at the end

"Why do you do that?" she demanded

Noah had reverted to his normal, safe self The only evidence of his true nature was the ever-present se on his cheek where the bone had been sain slouched, lionby uniforirl clinging to him "That?"

"What you did Just now"

He shrugged, formless and aht But whatever part of Noah that still existed to pour thoughts and memories into this form mercifully disappeared for the eleven minutes of his death She wasn’t sure if his a made it more or less creepy

"Ah, Noah"

He draped an arm over her shoulders, too cold and weird himself to notice that she was also damp and cold They wandered to the door like that, a pretzel of dead boy and not-psychic girl

Of course, he wouldn’t come in Blue suspected he couldn’t Ghosts and psychics coy shon between Noah and Calla, there was no doubt in Blue’s mind ould come out the victor She would have asked Noah to confirm this, but he was notoriously disinterested in the details of his afterlife (Once, Gansey had tersely asked, "Don’t you care how it is that you’re still here?" and Noah had answered with remarkable acu to DC, are you?" Noah asked with some anxiety

"Nope" She’d meant to just say it with no inflection whatsoever, but in truth, she felt curiously bereft at the idea of Gansey and Ada town She felt, actually, exactly like Noah sounded

Daringly, Noah offered, "I’ll let you into Monmouth"

Blue blushed immediately One of her most hidden and persistent fantasies was an i in Monht, as long as she was living here at 300 Fox Way She’d never really be one of thelionby student Which irl The unfairness of it, the wanting, kept her up souessed her desire so accurately To cover her e out all day with you and Ronan?"

Gleefully, Noah said, "There’s a pool table now! I’htened around her shoulders "D’oh Inco"

A man headed up the sidewalk toward theray At the saot the idea that she was also being appraised

At the end of the moment, they both eyed each other with a sort of mutual decision to not underestimate the other

"Hello," he said cordially "I didn’t mean to interrupt"

First of all, the way he phrased it meant that he could see Noah, which not everyone could Second of all, he was polite in a way that was unlike anything Blue had encountered before Gansey was polite in a way that squashed the other party smaller Adam was polite to reassure And thissort of way He was polite like tentacles were polite, testing the surface carefully, checking to see how it reacted to his presence

He was, Blue decided suddenly, very clever Nothing to be trifled with

She gestured to her soaked clothing "This is perfor ‘The Little Mermaid’ Not the Disney version"

This was her own little tentacle test

The Gray Man sreeably "Is he the prince? Do you stab him or do you turn into foam at the end?"

"Foam, of course," said Blue, enorht she should have stabbed hi for Maura"

"Ah" Now it all made sense This was Mr Gray She’d heard his name whispered between Maura, Calla, and Persephone over the past few days Especially between Calla and Persephone "You’re the hit race to look efficiently startled "Oh And you’re the daughter Blue"

"The one and only" Blue fixed a penetrating gaze on hi a beat, he replied, "Opportunity"

Now she raised an eyebrow "Okay Come on Noah, I’ll be back out in a sec"

She led the Gray Man inside As always, new visitors made her over-aware of the house’s unorthodox appearance It o houses knitted together, and neither structure had been a palace to begin with Narrow hallways leaned eagerly toward each other A stray toilet gurgled constantly The wood floors were as buckled as the sidewalk out front, as if roots threatened to come between the boards Some of the walls were painted in vivid purples and blues, and some of them maintained wallpaper fro beside Klimt prints and old metal scissors The entire decor was a victi personalities

Oddly enough, the Gray Man-- a serene spot of neutral color in the middle of the riot -- didn’t look out of place Blue watched his as they made their way into the bowels of the house He didn’t seeain, she thought, Don’t underestimate him