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"I also want to knohere you’ve been going this week," Whelk said

"Pardon?" Gansey asked politely He had been ru papers had drowned Whelk’s voice out

"Don’t push me," Whelk snapped "The police called the school I can’t believe it After seven years Now there’s going to be ato take them two seconds to answer a lot of those questions with ht I was -- I’ed from the Camaro, his journal in his hands, he realized what Whelk was saying: Noah Thisto feel sout It still didn’t feel like fear It was soht It was the suspicion that nothing else in Gansey’s life had ever been real except for this moment

"Mr Whelk --"

"Tell me where you’ve you been"

"Up the mountains near Nethers," Gansey said, his voice remote It was the truth, and in any case, it didn’t matter if he lied or not; he’d entered the GPS coordinates into the journal he was about to hand over

"What did you find? Did you find Glendower?"

Gansey flinched, and the flinch surprised hi else, soical, and the sound of Glendower’s na in the ground"

Whelk held his hand out for the journal Gansey sed

He asked, "Whelk -- sir -- are you sure this is the only way?"

There was a soft, unnizable by hours of action-adventure h Gansey had never heard it in person before, he knew exactly what sound a pistol made when the safety was taken off

Whelk placed the barrel of the gun on Gansey’s forehead

"No," Whelk said "This is the other way"

Gansey had that sa, looking at the wasp At once he saw the reality: a gun pressed against the skin above his eyebrows, so cold as to feel sharp -- and also the possibility: Whelk’s finger pulling back, a bullet burrowing into his skull, death instead of finding a way to get back to Henrietta

The journal weighted his hands He didn’t need it He knew everything in it

But it was hi that he’d worked for away

I will get a new one

"If you’d just asked," Gansey said, "I would’ve told you everything in there I would’ve been happy to It wasn’t a secret"

The handgun treainst Gansey’s forehead Whelk said, "I can’t believe that you’re saying anything when I have a gun to your head I can’t believe you would bother to say that"

"That’s how," replied Gansey, "you know it’s the truth" He let Whelk take the journal fro the book to his chest "You think you’re invincible Guess what So did I"

When he said that, Gansey knew Whelk was going to kill him That there was no way that someone could have that un and not pull the trigger

Whelk’s face tensed

For a moment, there was no time: just the space bethen one breath escaped and another rushed in

Seven ht Gansey how to throw a hook

Hit with your body, not just your fist

Look where you’re punching

Elbow at ninety degrees

Don’t think about how much it will hurt

Gansey I told you: Don’t think about how ot nearly everything Ronan had told him, but he remembered to look, and it was only that, and luck, that knocked the gun into the gravel by the road

Whelk bellowed a wordless shout

They both dove for the gun Gansey, stu onto one knee, kicked blindly in the direction of it He heard his foot connect with soun skittered in the direction of the car’s rear wheels, and Gansey scrabbled around the far side of the Cahts didn’t reach to this side His only thought was to find cover, to be still in the darkness

There was silence on the other side of the car Struggling to keep his gasping breaths in check, Gansey laid his cheek against the warun

Don’t breathe

By the road, Whelk swore again and again and again The gravel crunched as he crouched by the car He couldn’t find the gun He swore again

In the far-off distance, an engine hu this way A rescuer or, at least, a witness

For a moment, Whelk was completely silent, and then, abruptly, he broke into a run, his footsteps softening as hehis head, Gansey peered under the body of the Pig, which was ticking as it cooled down He saw the slender silhouette of the gun between the rear tires, illuhts