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Stepping through the black arch of the entrance, Gansey thought, Noah is good at finding things He hoped that Noah was right about Ronan

The church enveloped Gansey in an incense-scented pocket of air, a rare enough smell that it instantly evoked half a dozen s, funerals, and baptise that a season should be held captive in one breath of trapped air

"Ronan?" The as sucked into the e far overhead so it was only his own voice, in the end, that answered hiht made peaked shadows of arches The darkness and uncertainty crushed Gansey’s ribs as s hio summer day, the afternoon he first realized there was such a thing as ic in the world

And there Ronan was, stretched out on one of the shadowed pews, an are, the other skewed above his head, his body a darker bit of black in an already black world He wasn’t ht Please don’t let it be tonight

Edging into the pew behind Ronan, he put his hand on the other boy’s shoulder, as if he couldit so, it would be true The shoulder arm below his hand; he smelled alcohol

"Wake up, dude," he said The words didn’t sound light, though he meant them to

Ronan’s shoulder shifted and his face turned For a brief, unchained ht that he was too late and Ronan was dead after all, and that his corpse woke now only because Gansey had commanded it to But then Ronan’s brilliant blue eyes opened, and the h "You bastard"

Ronan said plainly, "I couldn’t drea in Gansey’s stricken expression, he added, "I proain to keep his voice light, but failed "But you’re a liar"

"I think," Ronan replied, "that you’reme for my brother"

The church was quiet and full around thehter now that Ronan’s eyes were open, as if the building had been asleep as well

"When I told you I didn’t want you getting drunk at Monmouth, I didn’t mean I wanted you drunk so, replied, "Pot calling the kettle black"

With dignity, Gansey said, "I drink I do not get drunk"

Ronan’s eyes dropped to so he held near his chest

"What is that?" Gansey asked

Next to his chest, Ronan’s fingers curled around a dark object When Gansey reached down to uncurl his grip, he felt soertips He snatched his hand away

"Christ," said Gansey, trying to make sense of what he’d felt "Is that a bird?"

Ronan slowly sat up, still holding his cargo close Another whuff of alcohol-laced breath drifted toward Gansey

"Raven" There was a long pause as Ronan regarded his hand "Maybe a crow But I doubt it I … yeah, seriously doubt it Corvus corax"

Even drunk, Ronan knew the Latin name for the common raven

And it was not just a raven, Gansey saw It was a tiny foundling, featherless hts and days away fro that looked so easily destroyable

The raven was Glendower’s bird The Raven King, he was called, froend had it that Glendower could speak to ravens, and vice versa It was only one of the reasons why Gansey was here in Henrietta, a town known for its ravens His skin prickled

"Where did it coe around the raven’s breast It didn’t look real in his hands "I found it"

"People find pennies," Gansey replied "Or car keys Or four-leaf clovers"

"And ravens," Ronan said "You’re just jealous ’cause" -- at this point, he had to stop to regroup his beer-sluggish thoughts -- "you didn’t find one, too"

The bird had just crapped between Ronan’s fingers onto the pew beside hi in one hand, Ronan used a church bulletin to scrape the majority of the mess off the wood He offered the soiled paper to Gansey The weekly prayer requests were spattered hite

Gansey only took the paper because he didn’t trust Ronan to bother finding a place to throw it out With some distaste, he asked, "What if I implement a no-pets policy at the aparte smile, "you can’t just throw out Noah like that"

It took Gansey a moment to realize that Ronan had h In any case, he kneas going to let the bird return with the, because he saw the possessive way Ronan held it Already the raven looked up at him, beak cracked hopefully, dependent