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Prokopenko chortled again It was the sort of chortle thatsoon Gansey seeed a foot back froe away Having achieved all they’d needed to, he would have told Ronan it was tio He would have been frostily polite to Kavinsky And then he would have been gone

But this was not Gansey as usual

This was Gansey with a lofty tilt to his chin, a condescending quirk to his mouth A Gansey that are that no o back to Mon and rule his particular corner of the world This was a Gansey, Ronan realized, that Ada needs?"

Ronan’s lips curled into a smile

Fuck the past This was the present

Kavinsky said, "Pyrotechnics Boom!" He pounded the roof of his cruer seat, "Get out, bitch Unless you wanna die It’s all the same to me"

It dawned on Ronan that Kavinsky meant to blow up the Mitsubishi

In the state of Virginia, fireworks that exploded or eal, unless you had a special permit It wasn’t a fact most residents of Henrietta had to remember, however, because it was ihtly real, within state borders If you wanted so a bit more impressive for the holiday weekend, you headed for the city’s firework display If you were like solionby boys or better-off rednecks of Henrietta, you drove over the state line and filled your trunk with illegal Pennsylvanian fireworks If you were Kavinsky, you built your own

"That dent will come out," Ronan said, equal parts exhilarated and horrified to think of the Mitsubishi perishing So hts on the road ahead of hih him

"I’ll always knoas there," Kavinsky replied carelessly "Cherry, popped Prokopenko, e

"Take the edge off," Kavinsky said He turned to Gansey, a bottle in hand It sloshed with liquid; a T-shirt had been wound and stuffed through the mouth of it It was on fire It was, in fact, a Molotov cocktail

To Ronan’s surprise and delight, Gansey accepted it

He was a striking version of hi there before Kavinsky’s despoiled Mitsubishi with a homemade bomb in hand Ronan remembered the dream of Adam and theit at the Mitsubishi, however, Gansey sighted a line toward the distant Volvo He hurled it, high and graceful and true Heads curved up to watch its progress A voice from the crowd shouted, "Woop Woop, Gansey Boy!" which lionby crew team was present A moment later, the bottle landed just short of the Volvo’s rear tires The silass and explosion round Gansey wiped his hand on his pants and turned away

"Good throw," Kavinsky said, "but wrong car Proko!"

Prokopenko handed him another Molotov cocktail This one Kavinsky pressed into Ronan’s hand He leaned close -- too close -- and said, "It’s a boh Ronan It was like a dreaht of the bottle in his hand, the heat fro wick, the smell of this polluted pleasure

Kavinsky pointed at the Mitsubishi

"Ai the srip "And do it fast, man, or you’ll blow your ar happened when the bottle left Ronan’s hand As it arced through the air, trails of fire-orange in its wake, Ronan felt as if he had hurled his heart There was a rip, just as he released it And heat filling his body, pouring in through the hole he’d made But now he could breathe, now that there was roo that had happened to another version of himself, a version that could be lit and hurled away

Then the bottle landed in the driver’sof the Mitsubishi It was as if there was no liquid, only fire Fla Cheers erupted across the fairground Partygoers moved toward the car, moths to a new lah and h theProkopenko threw another Now the interior was catching, and the s toxic

Part of Ronan couldn’t really believe the Mitsubishi was gone But as the others began to add their cigarettes and drinks to the bonfire, the music abruptly vanished as the stereo melted It seemed a vehicle ell and truly dead once the stereo had melted

"Skov!" shouted Kavinsky "Music!"

Another car’s stereo boo up where the Mitsubishi had left off

Kavinsky turned to Ronan with a sly grin "You coed a look with Gansey, but the other boy was looking out over the numerous silhouettes, his eyes narrowed "Maybe," he replied

"It’s a lot like a substance party," Kavinsky said "You want to see so that explodes"

There was a dare there It was a dare that could be satisfied, maybe, by a drive over the border, or by the clever concoction of an explosive froht, with the same thrill he’d felt before, it was also one that he could attack with a dreas, both in his sleep and while awake

"Maybe," he replied Gansey was ht a candle for your car"

"You aren’t leaving? Harsh"