Page 38 (1/2)

Blue clutched her backpack straps Her e, yes, but they knew they were strange They knehen they were saying so weird Neeve didn’t seem to have that filter

She replied finally, "He’d been dead a long tied "There’ll be more before it’s done"

Lost for words, Blue just slowly shook her head

"I’ you," Neeve said "Watch for the devil When there’s a god, there’s always a legion of devils"

Chapter 31

For the first tilionby With Friday a scheduled teacher workday, Gansey had reluctantly gone to his parents’ for hisand boorish in his roo at Gansey’s desk at Mon in his absence The public school had classes as normal, but he could always hope that Blue would come over when she was done

The apartment felt oppressive without anyone else in the main room Part of Adam wanted to lure Ronan out of his room for company, butand unspoken way, grieving for Noah So Ada at soht that caht the floorboards as well as it ordinarily did The shadows shifted and clung Adam smelled the mint plant on Gansey’s desk, but he also smelled Noah -- that combination of his deodorant and soap and sweat

"Noah," Adam said to the e Gansey?"

There was no response

He looked down at his paper The Latin verbs looked nonsensical, a e "Can we fix it, Noah? Whatever’s made you like this, instead of like you were before?"

Adam jumped at a crash directly beside the desk It took him a moment to realize that Gansey’s le of the clay pot had fractured, and lay beside a dusting of soil

"That’s not going to help," Adam said calmly, but he was shaken He wasn’t sure, however, ould help After they’d discovered Noah’s bones, Gansey had called the police to find out more, but they hadn’t learnedfor seven years As always, Adaed reticence, and this ti their discovery of the Mustang from the police The car would lead them to Cabeswater, and that was too complicated, too public

When a knock ca it was Noah again But then the knock came once h, Ada to open the door Declan stood on the threshold in neither his Aglionby uniform nor his internship suit, and he seemed like a different person in his jeans, even if they were ier than Adaht of him

"Declan Hi"

"Where’s Gansey?" Declan demanded

"Not here"

"Oh, co He usually had better ways of getting what he wanted "He went home for his mother’s birthday"

"Where’s ged "Yeah I am"

Declan started past hi the door "Now’s really not a good tiood idea for you two to talk without hiht"

Declan didn’t step back His chest pressed into Adam’s arm Adam knew only this: There was no way that Declan could speak to Ronan right now Not if Ronan had been drinking, not if Declan was already angry Without Gansey here, there was sure to be a fight That was the only thing that was iht ht that was Ronan’s thing, not yours"

It worked better than Adained; Declan i into his back pocket, Declan withdrew a folded envelope Adalionby crest on the return address

"He’s getting kicked out," Declan said, stuffing the envelope toward Adarades around Well, that hasn’t happened I trusted Gansey, and he let otten my brother kicked out"

This was more than Adam could stand