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Ronan’s smile was sharp as a knife He had already been burned to nothing "You wish"

Kavinsky er and put it to Ronan’s teun "See you on the streets"

45

So now Adam had a car

The vehicle was but one of three objects Ada As each of the other Ganseys had gone out the door, they’d all bestowed a gift, eccentric fairy godmothers Richard Gansey II checked his tie in a hallway mirror and handed Adam a checked vest

"I’ to give this to Dick, but it will suit you better, I think Here, put it on"

It was not even a gift; it was an order

Next was Mrs Gansey, peering out theto verify that her driver was out front before saying, "Dick, I’ve gotten you another et it Adam, I picked you up a rubber plant, too You boys never think about feng shui"

He kneas because they had retrieved him pathetically from the side of an interstate, but he didn’t feel he could refuse It was a plant And he had ruined their Saturday

Gone, he thought He’d ruined their Saturday, but he’d entirely lost his Saturday Whatever made him Adam had just vanished while his body shambled on

If he let himself think about it, the terror just --

It wouldn’t happen again It couldn’t

As the boys were headed out the door, Gansey holding his tiny allon pot of rubber tree, Helen ca a tiny black wheeled suitcase

"Dick," she said, "those guys fro Could you please take care of it before you go? I’ht"

Gansey, who’d already looked terse, increased the irritation on his face to officially harassed "Does it run? Can we just drop it off?"

"It runs I guess But it’s in Herndon, the drop off"

"Herndon!"

"I know That’s why I was having it towed It’s costingto donate it Hey, do you have any need for it? Adam, you want a piece of shit car? Save inary Consciousness was being played on a ifts, and three hours back to Henrietta

Don’t let et me back, that’s all I ask

His new car was of uncertainand ser-side door, and right rear fender were clearly from three entirely different cars It was a stick shift Ada how to rebuild a clutch better than how to operate one But he’d get better, with practice

It was nothing, but it was Ada

This day -- this place -- this life --

It felt like he’d always been here in DC, born in the si asphalt petri dish of the city He’d drea in him to remember that there was a future beyond this iht Get back so you can find out"Look, just flash your lights if so before the open door of his black Suburban He ordinarily kept it here, but no one really trusted Adam’s new vehicle to make the drive across the state Gansey rocked the driver’s side door a little Ada ht? or What do you need, Adam? The mint plant, placed on the dash, peered anxiously around Gansey’s shoulder

"Don’t," Adaht before last "You don’t even knohat I was going to say"

"It’s possible I did"

Gansey swung the door another tie behind hi would fit inside it, with roo its existence had been when he first learned of it Rich enough for two cars?

"What was I going to say, then?"

The power lines shivered above Ada inside hiet back Soon That was all he knew

Ada so was that you were being --" With visible effort, Gansey checked hi back to Monmouth or"

No ti and start acting He was no better than Gansey hoping for sooing to Fox Way to ask for advice," Adam replied

Gansey opened his s he could say, and ninety-nine of thery Gansey seemed to intuit this, because he took his time before he said, "I’ll check up on Ronan, then"

Adam sank into the worn and dusty seat of his new old car Whispers escaped fro

Gansey was still staring at Ada in hihts," Gansey said finally, "if so"

46

When Maura opened the door of 300 Fox Way, she found the Gray Man standing pensively on the other side He had brought her two things: a daisy chain crohich he somberly placed on her head, and a pink switchblade, which he handed to her Both had taken sootten how to efficiently link daisies and the second because switchblades were illegal in Virginia, even if they were pink