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Ronan took in Gansey’s state and raised an eyebrow "He’s out"

"No," Gansey said, emphatic, "he is not Noah!"

He backed into the center of the roo places no one would ever find a rooure out how this could be over Noah: Noah, who could go unnoticed for hours, whose room was pristine, whose voice was never raised

Gansey stopped searching and turned to Adam

"Adam," he demanded, "what is Noah’s last name?"

Before Gansey had asked, Adam felt as if he must have known But now the answer slid away fro his lips parted It was like losing his way to class, losing his way ho

"I don’t know," Adam ad a gun ora point "It’s Czerny, by the way Zerny Chair-knee However it’s pronounced Noah Czerny" Throwing his head back, he shouted to the air, "I know you’re here, Noah"

"Dude," Ronan remarked "You’re flipped"

"Open his door," Gansey ordered "Tell , Ronan slid out of his doorway and turned the knob on Noah’s door It fell open, revealing the corner of an always-made bed

"It looks like a nunnery as usual," Ronan said "All the personality of a s? Girls? Guns?"

"Tell me," Gansey said, "which classes you share with Noah"

Ronan snorted "None"

"Me neither," Gansey replied He looked at Adahtly "Nor Adah "When does he eat? Have you ever seen him eat?"

"I don’t really care," Ronan said He stroked Chainsaw’s head with a single finger and she tilted her beak up in response It was a strange , and if it had happened the day before, it would’ve struck Adahtless kindness from Ronan

Gansey shot questions at both of them "Does he pay rent? When did he move in? Have you ever questioned it?"

Ronan shook his head "Dude, you have really left the reservation What is your problem?"

"I spent the afternoon with the police," Gansey said "I went out with Blue to the church --"

Now jealousy stabbed Ada, no less painful for hi certain what, precisely, had inflicted it

Gansey continued, "Don’t look at me like that, both of you The point is this We found a body Rotted to bones Do you knohose it was?"

Ronan’s gaze held Gansey’s, solid

Adam felt like he had dreamt the answer to this question

Behind them, the door to the apartment suddenly slammed shut They whirled to face it, but there was no one there, only the fluttering of map corners on the wall to show that it had moved

The boys stared at the subtle movement of the paper, listened to the echo of the slam

There was no breeze Adam’s skin crawled

"Mine," Noah said

As one, they spun back around

Noah stood in the doorway to his room

His skin was pale as parchment and his eyes were shadowed and unspecific, as they alere after dark There was the ubiquitous se on his face, only now, it looked like dirt, or blood, or possibly like a hollow, his bones crushed beneath his skin

Ronan’s posture ound tight "Your room was empty I just looked in it"

"I told you," Noah said "I told everyone"

Ada , looked finally back under control What Gansey needed out of life was facts, things he could write in his journal, things he could state twice and underline, no matter how i Gansey had not really knohat he was going to find when he’d brought Adam back here How could he have? How could anyone truly believe --

"He’s dead," Gansey said His arht over his chest "You’re really dead, aren’t you?"

Noah’s voice was plaintive "I told you"

They stared at him, just feet away from Ronan Really, he was so ht -- it should have been obvious It was ludicrous that they hadn’t noticed Ridiculous that they had not thought about his last name, about where he cao to His clay face He had been dead as long as they’d known hi beneath Adam

"Shit, hts you gaveyou awake, and you don’t even need to sleep"

Adam asked, barely audible, "How did you die?"

Noah turned his face away

"No," Gansey said, purpose crystallized in the word "That’s not the question, is it? The question is: Who killed you?"