The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle, #2)(21)

Then he flickered out.

The snow globe crashed onto the ground where Noah’s feet used to be. It left a damp, wobbly ellipse as it rolled away. Chainsaw, shocked, bit Ronan. He’d squeezed her as he leapt back from the sound.

The clerk said, “Come on.”

She hadn’t seen the travesty. But she clearly knew one had occurred.

“Don’t get excited,” Ronan said loudly. “I’ll pay for it.”

He would have never admitted how his heart pounded in his chest.

Gansey turned sharply, his face puzzled. The scene — Noah absent, ugly snow globe rolled half under a shelf — offered no immediate explanation. To Adam, he said, “Hold on.”

Abruptly, Ronan’s entire body went cold. Not a little chilly, but utterly cold. The sort of cold that dries the mouth and slows the blood. His toes went numb, and then his fingers. Chainsaw let out a terrified creaking sound.

She cried, “Kerah!”

He laid a frozen hand over her head, comforting her, though he was not comforted.

Then Noah reappeared in a violent sputter, like the power crackling back on. His fingers clutched Ronan’s arm. Cold seeped from the point of contact as Noah dragged heat to become visible. An absolutely perfect breath of Henrietta summer air dissipated around them, the scent of the forest when Noah had died.

They all knew that Noah could drop the temperature in the room when he first manifested, but this scale was something new.

“Whoa! Way to ask first, *!” Ronan said. But he didn’t push him off. “What was that?”

Noah’s eyes were wide.

Gansey told Adam, “I’ll call you back.”

The clerk said, “Are you boys done yet?”

“Nearly!” Gansey called back in his reassuringly honeyed voice, shoving his phone in his back pocket. “I’ll be up for paper towels in a minute! What’s happening here?” This last bit was hissed to Ronan and Noah.

“Noah took a personal day.”

“I lost …” Noah struggled for words. “There wasn’t air. It went away. The — the line!”

“The ley line?” Gansey asked.

Noah nodded once, a sloppy thing that was sort of a shrug at the same time. “There was nothing … left for me.” Releasing Ronan, he shook out his hands.

“You’re welcome, man,” Ronan snarled. He still couldn’t feel his toes.

“Thanks. I didn’t mean to … you were there. Oh, the glitter.”

“Yes,” Ronan replied crossly. “The glitter.”

Gansey swiftly retrieved the leaking snow globe and disappeared for the front counter. He returned with a receipt and a roll of paper towels.

Ronan asked, “What was up with Parrish?”

“He saw a woman in his apartment. He said she was trying to talk to him. He seemed a little freaked out. I think the ley line must be surging.”

He didn’t say, Or maybe something terrible happened to Adam that day he sacrificed himself in Cabeswater. Maybe he’s messed up all of Henrietta by waking up the ley line. Because they couldn’t talk about that. Just like they couldn’t talk about Adam stealing the Camaro that night. Or about him basically doing everything Gansey had asked him not to. If Adam was stupid about his pride, Gansey was stupid about Adam.

Ronan echoed, “Ley line surging. Right. Yeah, I’ll bet that’s it.”

All the whimsy of Dollar City was ruined. As Gansey led the way out, Noah said to Ronan, “I know why you’re mad.”

Ronan sneered at him, but his pulse heaved. “Tell me then, Prophet.”

Noah said, “It’s not my job to tell other people’s secrets.”





I was thinking you could come with me,” Gansey said carefully, two hours later. He pressed the phone to his ear with one shoulder as he unrolled a massive scroll of paper across the floor of Monmouth Manufacturing. The numerous low lamps through the room made an array of searchlights across the paper. “To the party at my mom’s. There might be an internship in there, if you’re good at it.”

On the other end of the phone, Adam didn’t immediately reply. It was hard to say if he was thinking about it or being irritated about the suggestion.

Gansey kept unrolling the paper. It was a high-resolution print of the ley line as seen from a casually interested satellite. It had cost a fortune to get the images spliced and then printed in color, but it would all be worth it if he spotted some oddity. If nothing else, they could use it to track their exploration. Also, it was pretty.

From Ronan’s room, he heard Noah’s laugh. He and Ronan were throwing various objects from the second-story window to the parking lot below. There was a terrific crash.

Ronan’s voice rose, exasperated. “Not that one, Noah.”

“I’d have to see if I could get off work,” Adam replied. “I think I can. Do you think I should?”

Relieved, Gansey said, “Oh, yes.” He dragged his desk chair onto the corner of the print. It kept trying to roll back up on itself. He put a copy of Trioedd Ynys Prydein on the other corner.

“Have you heard from Blue?” Adam asked.

“Tonight? She has work, doesn’t she?” Roll, roll, roll. He nudged it with his foot to keep it straight. It was surprisingly satisfying to see acres and acres of forest and mountains and rivers unrolling across his floorboards. If he were a god, he thought, this would be precisely how he’d create his new world. Unrolling it like carpet.