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Maura pressed end

"What did he say?" Blue deht as well just ask him which valuables anted from him next so he could plan for their absence," Maura said

Calla’s lips pursed "Is that all?"

Maura busied herself ht and back to her left "Oh, just that he had a nice tiotten Butternut"

Her mother didn’t protest the naht, Ronan drea, intricate tattoo only months before, a little to irritate Declan, a little to see if it was really as bad as everyone said, and definitely so everyone who glis from his head, beaks and claws and flowers and vines stuffed into screa tihts croith the burning Mitsubishi, Gansey holding the Molotov cocktail, the enigs beneath Adam’s eyes

And when he fell asleep, he dreamt of the tattoo Ordinarily, Ronan only saw bits and pieces of it; he had not seen the full design since he’d gotten it But tonight he saw the tattoo itself, from behind, as if he was outside of his own body, as if it was apart from his body It was more complicated than he reh it, and Chainsaw peered out from a thicket of thorns Adaled pattern of the ink with his finger He said, "Scio quid hoc est" As he traced it farther and farther down on the bare skin of Ronan’s back, Ronan hiot smaller and smaller It was a Celtic knot the size of a wafer, and then Adam, who had become Kavinsky, said, "Scio quid estis vos" He put the tattoo in his mouth and sed it

Ronan ith a start, asha before the sha, Helen came in the helicopter for Gansey and Adam As they took off, Adalassily terrified, and Gansey, ordinarily a fan of flying, tried to be sy cars and ancient Ca Blue had said to him

Below, he could still see Ronan where he lay on the roof of the BMW, watching them ascend It felt ridiculous to leave Henrietta, the epicenter of the universe, for his parents’ house

As they sailed up and over the roof of Mone of Ronan sarcastically blowing hiht left no time for introspection, however Helen handed Gansey her phone and spent the entire flight dictating texts to hih the headphones It was impossible for Gansey to consider what they’d do about Cabeswater when Helen’s voice sounded directly in his head: Tell her the centerpieces are in the garage The bay farthest away from the house Of course not where the Adenauer’s parked! Do I look like an idiot? Don’t type that What does she say now? The extra cha delivered by Chelsea Tell her if the cheese isn’t in the fridge, I don’t knohere it is Don’t you have Beech’s cell phone? Of course I knohat a vegan is! Tell her they have to use olive oil instead of butter Because cows make butter and Italians an hors d’oeuvres Vegans vote, too! Don’t type that

If Gansey hadn’t guessed the scope of the party, he would’ve gotten all the clues he needed during the flight Of course, it wasn’t just the party this evening There was also the tea party the nextand the book club speech the day after that Adaht throw up Gansey wanted badly to tell hiht, but there was no way to be confidential with the headsets on Adam would’ve been mortified for Helen to kno nervous he was

Just forty-five minutes later, Helen landed the helicopter at the airfield and transferred herself, her overnight bag, the boys, and their suit bags to her silver Audi

Gansey felt vaguely shell-shocked to be back in Northern Virginia Like he’d never left The sun see on the backs of all the clean, new cars, and the air through the vents s Nuh seas of asphalt It see was actually ed to find parking at the very back of the Whole Foods lot She swiveled to face Gansey and Adam "Do you want to come in and help me?"

They stared at her

"What a royal shock I’ll leave it running," she said As soon as she’d shut the door, Gansey swiveled in the passenger seat to face Adaainst the cool leather headrest "How are you doing?"

Adath of of the backseat He said, "Praying I haven’t grown since last year"

Gansey had gone with Adaet fitted for a suit the winter before He said, "I tried mine on before we left I don’t think you’re any taller It’s only been a few months"

Adam closed his eyes

"You’ll be okay"

"Don’t talk to me about it I can’t" Adam slithered down even farther so that he lay on the seat and let his legs rest against the opposite door "Talk about so else"

"What else is there to talk about?"

Blue

He didn’t say anything Knock it off, Gansey

Adaet back to you?"

He hadn’t Gansey dialed Malory’s nu of a UK number, and then Malory answered, "What?" He sounded confused that his phone had accepted a call There was a treround noise

"It’s Gansey Is this a bad ti the phone on speaker, Gansey slid it onto the dash "Did you have any hts by any chance? No? Well, we have a new problem"

"What’s the trouble?"

He told him

"Give me a moment to think," Malory said Co out