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It probably wasn’t

But he opened his eyes Gansey cli to retrieve a shoe that lay on its side Walking cautiously to the , he searched for the sound of the insect The shadow of the telescope was an elegant h the sound of buzzing had died away, it only took hi up the narroooden fra back and forth Gansey didn’t move He watched it clihts outside s, its curved body, the fine, insubstantial point of the stinger

Two narratives coexisted in his head One was the real i up the wood, oblivious to his presence The other was a false i Gansey’s skin, dipping the stinger into hio, his skin had craith hornets, their wings beating even when his heart hadn’t

His throat was tight and full

"Gansey?"

Ronan’s voice was just behind hinizable Gansey didn’t turn around The wasp had just twitched its wings, nearly lifting off

"Shit, ether, the floor creaking like a shot, and then the shoe was snatched froht down the shoe on theso hard that the glass should’ve broken After the wasp’s dry body had fallen to the floorboard, Ronan sought it out in the darkness and sain "Are you stupid?"

Gansey didn’t kno to describe how it felt, to see death crawling inches froone fro" He turned to Ronan, who had painstakingly picked up the wasp by a broken wing, so that Gansey wouldn’t step on it

"What did you want?" he asked

"What?" Ronan de"

Ronan chucked the wasp’s small body into the waste basket by the desk The trash was overfloith crumpled papers, so the body bounced out and forced him to find a better crevice for it "I can’t even remember"

Ganseyelse Ronan fussed over the wasp for another few , and when he finally did, he didn’t look at Gansey "What’s this about you and Parrish leaving?"

It wasn’t what Gansey had expected He wasn’t sure how to speak without hurting Ronan He couldn’t lie to him

"You tell me what you heard, and I’ll tell you what’s real"

"Noah toldwith you"

He had let jealousy sneak into his voice, and that ht have been Gansey tried not to play favorites "And what else did Noah have to say?"

With visible effort, Ronan pulled himself back, sorted hi other than intentional, even if it was intentionally cruel Instead of answering, he asked, "Do you not wantstuck in Gansey’s chest "I would take all of you anywhere with e sculpture of Ronan’s face, a stark portrait incootten to work in compassion He did his sht on the exhale through his prison of teeth

After a pause, he said, "The other night There’s so else It was a full stop, the sort that Gansey associated with secrets and guilt It was the stop that happened when you’d made up your mind to confess, but your mouth betrayed you in the end

"There’s what?"

RonanHe shook the wastebasket

"There’s what, Ronan?"

He said, "This thing with Chainsaw and the psychic wo strange going on"

Gansey couldn’t keep the exasperation froe’ doesn’t help e’ means"

"I don’t know, man, this sounds crazy to e like your voice on that recorder," Ronan replied "Strange like the psychic’s daughter Things feel bigger I don’t knohat I’ht you would believe, man"