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Now the tiny bunch of flowers made sense They ," Calla said disapprovingly She held a hand out for them, which Blue smacked With sarcasm, Calla added, "Whoever it is went all out, did they?"

Blue touched the edge of the white carnation to her chin It was so light that it didn’t feel like she was touching anything at all It was no portrait or fruit basket, but she couldn’t i more dramatic These little floere quiet and sparse, just like him "I think they’re pretty"

She had to bite her lip to keep a foolish s the flowers and then dance, but both see secretive Take your bags back" Blue stretched out her ar slid down to Calla’s open hands

Calla shook her head, but she didn’t look displeased Deep down, Blue suspected she was a romantic

"Calla?" Blue asked "Do you think I should tell the boys where the corpse road is?"

Calla gazed at Blue for as long as a Neeve gaze Then she said, "What makes you think I can answer that question?"

"Because you’re an adult," Blue replied "And you’re supposed to have learned things on your way to old age"

"What I think," Calla said, "is that you’ve already round It was true that she was kept awake at night by Gansey’s journal and by the suggestion of soed by the idea thatand she would be able to lay her hand on his sleeping cheek and feel a centuries-old pulse beneath his skin

But e of cups card, a boy’s rain-spattered shoulders in the churchyard, and a voice saying, Gansey That’s all there is

Once she’d seen his death laid out for him, and seen that he was real, and found out that she was meant to have a part in it, there had never been a chance she would just stand by and let it happen

"Don’t tell Morunt, Calla wrenched open the door, leaving Blue and her flowers on the step The blossoe

Today, Blue thought, is the day I stop listening to the future and start living it instead

"Blue, if you get to know hi half-in, half-out of the doorway "You’d better guard your heart Don’t forget that he’s going to die"

Chapter 20

At the sa delivered to 300 Fox Way, Ada on his somewhat pathetic bicycle Ronan and Noah were already out in the overgrown lot, building wooden ramps for some unholy purpose

He tried twice to persuade his rusted kickstand to hold his bike up before laying it down on its side Crabgrass poked up through the spokes He asked, "When do you think Gansey will get here?"

Ronan didn’t i as far beneath the BMW as he could,the width of the tires with a yellow hardware-store ruler "Ten inches, Noah"

Noah, standing next to a pile of plywood and four-by-fours, asked, "Is that all? That doesn’t seem like very much"

"Would I lie to you? Ten Inches" Ronan shoved himself from beneath the car and stared up at Adam He’d let his five o’clock shadow become a row facial hair Now he looked like the sort of person women would hide their purses and babies from "Who knows When did he say?"

"Three"

Ronan cli with the plywood for the raers held ten inches apart and he looked through the space between theht

"What is your plan with these things anyway?" Adaoddamn moon"

This was so like Ronan His room inside Monmouth was filled with expensive toys, but, like a spoiled child, he ended up playing outside with sticks

"The trajectory you’re building doesn’t suggest the ests the end of your suspension"

"I don’t need your back talk, science guy"

He probably didn’t Ronan didn’t need physics He could inti what he wanted Crouching by his bike, Ada to see if he could pry it free without breaking it entirely

"What’s yourto decide when I should call Blue" Saying it out loud was inviting ridicule from Ronan, but it was one of those facts that needed to be acknowledged

Noah said, "He sent her flowers"

"How did you know?" Adam demanded, more mortified than curious