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When did this beco"

"You have hih, don’t you?" Milo asked "That explains it Those two are tight as ticks"

It was a strange, old expression, one that Whelk hadn’t heard since his own days at Aglionby, when he, too, had been tight as ticks with his roomry, like he should’ve stayed home and drank more to commemorate thisat the attendance sheet the substitute teacher had left "Ronan was in class today, but Gansey wasn’t Not in mine, anyway"

"Oh, that’s probably because of that St Mark’s Day hoopla he was talking about," Milo said

This got Whelk’s attention No one knew that today was St Mark’s Day No one celebrated St Mark’s Day, not even St Mark’s mother Only Whelk and Czerny, treasure hunters and trouble pardon?"

"I don’t knohat all’s going on," Milo replied One of the other teachers said hi to him on the way out of the staff rooined grabbing Milo’s ar his attention back his way It took all of his effort to wait instead Turning back around, Milo seemed to sense Whelk’s interest, because he added, "He hasn’t talked to you about it? He wouldn’t shut up about it yesterday It’s that ley line stuff he’s always on about"

Ley line

If no one knew about St Mark’s Day, truly no one knew about ley lines Certainly no one in Henrietta, Virginia Certainly not one of Aglionby’s richest pupils Definitely not in conjunction with St Mark’s Day This was Whelk’s quest, Whelk’s treasure, Whelk’s teen years Why was Richard Gansey III talking about it?

With the words ley line spoken aloud, a memory was conjured: Whelk in a dense wood, sweat collected on his upper lip He was seventeen and shivering Every time his heart beat, red lines streaked in the corners of his vision, the trees darkening with his pulse It h there was no wind Czerny was on the ground Not dead, but dying His legs still pedaled on the uneven surface beside his red car,drifts of fallen leaves behind him His face was just … done In Whelk’s head, unearthly voices hissed and whispered, words blurred and stretched together

"So," Milo said

Whelk was suddenly afraid that Milo could see the memory on him, could hear the inexplicable voices in his head, incomprehensible but nonetheless present ever since that failed day

Whelk schooled his features, though what he was really thinking was: If soht Itwith the ley line?" he asked with studied calm

"I don’t know Ask him about it I’m sure he’d love to talk your ear off about it" Milo looked over his shoulder as the secretary joined the on her ared after a long day in the office

"We talking about Gansey the third and his New Age obsession?" the secretary asked She had a pencil stuck in her hair to keep it up and Whelk stared at the stray strands that wound up around the lead It was clear to him from the way she stood that she secretly found Milo attractive, despite the plaid and the corduroy and the beard She asked, "Do you kno much Gansey senior is worth? I wonder if he knohat his kid spends all his time on Man, sometimes these entitled little bastardswith me for a smoke break or not?"

"I quit," said Milo He cast a quick, uneasy glance fro about how much Whelk’s father had been worth, once upon a ti after the trials had left the front pages of the newspapers All the junior faculty and the adlionby boys, hated them for what they had and what they stood for, and Whelk knew they were all secretly pleased that he had fallen down a their ranks

"How about you, Barry?" the secretary asked Then she answered her own question: "No, you don’t so o as well

"Feel better," he said kindly, although Whelk had never said he was sick

The voices in Whelk’s head were a roar, but for once, his own thoughts had drowned them out

"I think I do already," said Whelk

It was possible that Czerny’s death wasn’t for nothing after all

Chapter 6

Blue wouldn’t really describe herself as a waitress After all, she also taught penraders, made wreaths for the Society for Ladies of Perpetual Health, walked dogs that belonged to inhabitants of Henrietta’s poshest condo co plants for the elderly ladies of their neighborhood Really, being a waitress at Nino’s was the least of things she did But the hours were flexible, it was theentry on her already bizarre résumé, and it certainly paid the best

There was really only one problem with Nino’s, and it was that for all practical purposes, it belonged to Aglionby The restaurant was six blocks over froe of the historic don It wasn’t the nicest place in Henrietta There were others with bigger televisions and louder ination like Nino’s Just to know that Nino’s was the place to be was a rite of passage; if you could be seduced by Morton’s Sports Bar on Third, you didn’t deserve to be in the inner circle