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PersephoneBlue replaced the card and shuffled the deck with less drama than before

When she offered the cards to hi a raffle winner His fingers grazed the edges of the cards, contemplative He selected one, then flipped it over to show the rooe of cups

He looked at the face on the card, and then at Blue’s face, and Blue knew that he’d seen the similarity

Maura leaned forward and snatched the card froers "Pick another one"

"Nohy?" Gansey said "What’s wrong with that card? What does itwith it," Maura replied "It’s just not yours"

Now, for the first tiravation to Gansey’s expression, and itbelow the raven boy exterior, ed another card, clearly finished with this exercise With flourish, he turned the card over and slapped it on the table

Blue sed

Maura said, "That’s your card"

On the card on the table was a black knight astride a white horse The knight’s helmet was lifted so that it was obvious that his face was a bare skull dominated by eyeless sockets The sun set beyond him, and below his horse’s hooves lay a corpse

Outside the s behind theh the trees

"Death" Gansey read the bottom of the card He didn’t sound surprised or alars or Cincinnati

"Great job, Maura," Calla said Her ar to interpret that for the kid?"

"Possibly we should just give hih Gansey had not paid yet

"I thought that psychics didn’t predict death," Adam said quietly "I read that the Death card was only syue noises Blue, utterly aware of the truth of Gansey’s fate, felt ill Aglionby boy or not, he was only her age, and he obviously had friends who cared for hie car, and it was hideous to know he’d be dead in less than twelve months

"Actually," Gansey said, "I don’t care about that"

Every pair of eyes in the room was on him as he stood the card on its end to study it

"I ," he said He said the cards are very interesting like soe sort of cake that they didn’t quite want to finish "And I don’t want to discount what you do But I didn’t really come here to havethat out for lance at Calla at this, obviously realizing that he alking a fine line between "polite" and "Ronan"

"Really, I cay," Gansey continued "I know you deal with energy work, and I’ve been trying to find a ley line I think is near Henrietta Do you know anything about that?"

The journal!

"Ley line?" Maura repeated "Maybe I don’t know if I know it by that name What is it?"

Blue was a little stunned She’d always thought her ht energy lines that crisscross the globe," Gansey explained "They’re supposed to connect ht know about they"

It was obvious that he meant the corpse road, but Maura didn’t offer any inforether and looked at Persephone and Calla "Does that ring a bell to you two?"

Persephone pointed a finger straight in the air and then said, "I forgot about my pie crust"

She withdrew froood with specifics"

There was a faint, amused s It was a strangely wise expression; once again Blue got the sense that he seeht with him

"I’ll look into it," Maura said "If you leave your nu about it"

Gansey replied, coolly polite, "Oh, that’s quite all right How , Maura said, "Oh, just twenty"

Blue thought this was criminal Gansey clearly had spent more than twenty dollars on the laces for his Top-Siders

He frowned at Maura over the top of his open wallet There were a lot of bills in it They could’ve been ones, but Blue doubted it She could also see his driver’s license through a clear ; not closely enough to h to see that the naer than just Gansey "Twenty?"

"Each," Blue added

Calla coughed into her first

Gansey’s face cleared and he handed Maura sixty dollars Quite obviously this wasto pay, and now the world was right again

It was Ada at her, sharp-eyed, and she felt transparent and guilty Not only about overcharging, but about Maura’s lie Blue had seen Gansey’s spirit walk the corpse road and she had known his name before he walked in this door Like herSo she was complicit