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They bundled into the car with the coic suggested they take the BMW instead Ronan and Gansey scuffled briefly over his keys (Gansey won, as he won everything) Adam, Blue, and Noah climbed into the tiny backseat, in that order Noah shrank up the side of the car, trying desperately not to touch Blue Adam didn’t take quite so much care For the first ten minutes on the first day, Adam had been polite, but it quickly beco touched hers

Ada was the sa New spring leaves, jerked from the trees by the suddenly cold wind, scurried across the lot He saw goose buan Blue wore She reached to take a handful of both his shirt and Noah’s, and tugged theh, Noah," she said

"I know," he replied, bleak

Ada the boys as friends, or the friends It seemed to Adam that this circular way to build relationships required a healthy ae sort offor Glendoith theainst Blue’s crocheted one, Adam leaned forward between the two front seats and asked, "Gansey, don’t we have any heat?"

"If it starts"

The engine was turning over, over, over, over Adah there was no way that the temperature was that low He was cold on the inside He ordered, "Gas Give it ht leg down, his palht Gansey drily thanked Ronan for his assistance

"Your heart," Blue said in Adam’s ear "I can feel it in your arm Are you nervous?"

"It’s just," he replied, "I’ by Caet to the coordinates Gansey hadthe car at an e the rest of the way, they found the woods had a far different character under a cloudy sky The raven was stark and dead ae The trees at the forest’s edge seewas in shadow on the sunless day, but the stretch of scrubby grass at the edge of the forest see He had to confess to himself that until now he probably had never really believed Gansey’s supernatural explanation for the ley line, not in a way that he’d really internalized Now, it was real Magic existed, and Adaan adversary Gansey rubbed a finger over his lip Blue clutched her arms around herself, jaw clenched with the cold Even Ronan seemed disquieted Only Noah looked as he always did, his arms loose, shoulders hunched

"I feel watched," Blue said finally

Gansey replied, "High EMF readings can do that Haunting cases have often cos can make you feel watched Unnerved Nauseous, suspicious It plays with the hardwiring of your brain"

Noah tipped his head far back to look at the slowlytops of the trees It was the opposite of Adam’s instinct, which was to search between the trunks of the trees for o the other way, too High readings can give spirits the power they need to ht? So you arewatched or haunted"

Gansey said, "And of course water can reverse that, too Makes EMF and energy into positive feelings"

"Hence," Ronan chipped in, not to be outdone, "all the healing springs crap out there"

Blue rubbed her ar in?"

The trees sighed Gansey narrowed his eyes

"Are we invited?" Adam asked

"I think," Noah replied, "you invite yourself"

He was the first to step in Ronan rily, probably because Noah -- Noah -- had ed in after him

"Wait" Gansey looked at his watch "It’s 4:13 We need to remember that later" He followed Noah and Ronan in

Adam’s heart pounded Blue stretched out her hand, and he took it Don’t crush her fingers, he thought

And they went in

Under the canopy, it was even dimmer than in the field The shadows beneath fallen trees were flat black, and the trunks were painted in chocolate, charcoal, onyx

"Noah," whispered Gansey "Noah, where did you go?"

Noah’s voice cao anywhere"

Ada there but branches quivering in the faint breeze

"What did you see?" Gansey asked When Ada just ahead of Gansey

Plays with the hardwiring of your brain

"Nothing"

Ronan, a hunched black shape a few yards off, asked, "Where are we going?"

Anywhere but that tree, Adaain

Gansey poked in the dirt for signs of the streauess Proper experiment re-creates the conditions, doesn’t it? The creek’s shallower this tih Harder to see It wasn’t far, was it?"

They had only been walking along the shallow stream bed for a few minutes, however, when it became apparent that the landscape was unfamiliar The trees were tall, thin, and spindly, all slanted as if fros of rock shoved up fron of the strea tree

"We’ve been misdirected," Gansey said

His tone was at once blunt and accusatory, as if the wood itself had done it