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Get in," Ronan said

"Where are we going?" asked Matthew But he was already cli in the back He shut the door The interior of the car instantly slionby shrank in the rearviewthe door handle, he stared over his shoulder as if bystanders would divine their destination "Ronan, we can’t Declan said --"

Ronan slaly and the car jerked to a halt by the sidewalk The car behind theet out here and walk back, if you want But I’er brother’s already round eyes were even rounder "Declan --"

"Don’t say his name"

Little dimples appeared in Matthew’s chin, the sort that hadto cry He did not cry Ronan wished for a half a second that he didn’t hate Declan, for Matthew’s sake

"Okay," Matthew said "Are you sure it will be okay?" "No," Ronan replied, because he always told the truth Matthew put on his seat belt

Ronan ruh his MP3 player until he found a playlist of bouzouki music Matthew hadn’t played since Niall Lynch died, but he’d been pretty good at it before then It felt indulgent Ronan rationed the music from their old life, as if he used up a bit of his memories of his father every tih

As the tune plucked through the speakers, his younger brother let all of the air escape fros And Ronan drove ho Matthew along should haveto the Barns feel more familiar than before, but instead it only served to remind Ronan of how forbidden this was The sunshine ht left them more exposed as they drove down the driveway

Ronan went slowly until he verified that the home nurse’s car wasn’t there, and then he drove around the back of the house to where an overgrown, reen equipment shed stood

"Open that door," he ordered Matthew "Hurry up"

Matthew scraled to lift the ed a small, rusted laer out of the way, and Ronan backed the BMW in He turned it off, pulled down the door again, and checked to be sure the tires hadn’t left obvious marks

"James Bond," Matthew remarked inexplicably He was incredibly cheerful "What’s that?"

Ronan held the puzzle box under his ar this out He took in the facts: the perfectly square box was clearly wooden, covered with strange s, and several inches shorter than his older brother’s feet

Matthew blinked Then he said, "Okay!" Trotting ahead to the back door, he found the key hidden by the boot pull

"Wait," Ronan warned "Keep an ear out If soet in the baseht! Sure! Clever!"

He gallumphed into the house before Ronan, who looked over his shoulder before he locked the back door behind the room, hesitate, and then pound percussively up the stairs to his bedroo, and he had not seemed to knohat to make of their now- roo car between each footfall The sitting room was dimmer and quieter than the hall, with no s to let in the si birds The door to the basement was on the far wall, so he’d be able to intercept Matthew if anyone else arrived

Ronan went directly to the desk against the wall, not looking at his mother His father had called this desk his "office," as if his work had required a legitimate form of paperwork Ronan wondered if hisSurely she

Suddenly, for the briefest of moments, panic forced itself up

Am I a dreaht down All of the boys had baby books, with photos and hospital records He had a blood type He had been born, not conjured He was real

What is real?

Was so real once it had been taken froht it?

He stole a glance over his shoulder at hisfor months and months But he had never doubted her before her father’s death, even when she was the only parent forwithout Dad

Declan rong She existed apart from Niall Lynch, even if he was her sole creator

Ronan turned back to the desk Setting the puzzle box on it, he pulled open the main drawer A copy of his father’s will sat on the very top of the contents, just as he re to reread the earlier clauses of the docuer hiht before his father’s signature

Niall Lynch was, at the ti said Will, of soundand not under any restraint or in any respect incompetent to make a will This Will stands as fact unless a newer docuned this day: T’Libre vero-e ber nivo libre n’acrea

Ronan squinted at the final phrase Picking up the puzzle box, he turned it around until the side with the unknown language faced hih he couldn’t understand how the box ed it, it held the previously entered words in its workings in order to translate the grammar as well That was how it had worked in the dream, after all

If it worked in the dream, it worked in real life He frowned at the translation it provided

This Will stands as fact unless a newer docuer on the paper to keep his place, he coh, the translated sentence was identical to the final sentence in English But ould his father write the saes?

Hope -- he hadn’t realized what the feeling was until it abandoned hiuage, but wrong that there was a secret h to decode it

Ronan shoved the drawer shut and folded the will into his back pocket to take with him Just as he turned with the puzzle box, Matthew appeared in the doorway He arrived with such speed that his shoulder crashed into the doorjamb

"Nice," Ronan said thinly