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All at once, Ronan snarled, "This car This fucking car, er, it would have been crushed for war cri’s status perfectly encapsulated how he felt It was not really dead, just broken He was held inside the question of what it s just be simple?

"Adam?" Gansey asked

Adam lifted his head "Alternator Maybe"

"I don’t knohat thathad died Now he finally had so concrete to do If he couldn’t explore Cabeswater, he could at the very least get thee I understand"

"In indiget hoht," Adam said "If we had a new battery to drop in there, we could make it back home until we looked at it"

A new battery would cost a hundred bucks, but Gansey wouldn’t even feel the bite

"Tow t r uck? "

"State inspections today," Adam replied Boyd’s was the only tow company in town, and he only retrieved breakdohen he wasn’t working in the garage "It’ll be forever"

Ronan leapt out of the car and sla about Ronan Lynch, Adam had discovered, was that he wouldn’t -- or couldn’t -- express himself ords So every emotion had to be spelled out in some other way A fist, a fire, a bottle Now Cabeswater was o have a silent shouting fit with his body In the back , Adam saw Ronan pick up a rock from the side of the road and hurl it into the creeper

"Well, that’s helpful," Blue said tersely She slid froer seat and shouted out, "That’s helpful!"

Adarowled reply, but he heard at least two of the sords

Blue, unimpressed, reached for Gansey’s phone "Is there a place we can walk to?"

She and Gansey ducked their heads together to exae of her dark hair and his dusty hair touching seared so in a sea of jellyfish

Ronan returned, leaning in the passengerBlue turned the phone to him "Maybe we could walk to this place"

"The Deering General Store?" Ronan said, voice scathing "Look at it That’s not a place to get a battery That’s a place to lose your wallet Or your virginity"

"Do you have a better idea?" she demanded "Maybe we can hurl so! That solves everything! Maybe we can be really h she was turned to Ronan, Adam knew these words were meant for him He laid his face on the back of the driver’s headrest and siht about the way the car had sta up the last of the battery before it couldn’t go on Then he thought about how Noah had disappeared in Dollar City while he was talking to Gansey on the phone And now Cabeswater was gone Using up the last of the charge

But that didn’tout transistors in town because it was so strong There shouldn’t be a lack of energy

"I’ a battery"

Ronan told Gansey what he thought of this plan, very precisely, with a lot of compound words that even Adam hadn’t heard before Gansey nodded, but he also dialed Declan’s number

Afterward, he turned to Ronan, who leaned his cheek hard enough against the top of theto make a dent in his skin "Sorry Everyone else I know’s out of town You don’t have to talk to him I’ll do it"

Ronan punched the top of the Camaro and turned his back to it

Gansey rounded on Ada behind hione?"

Adam blinked at his sudden nearness "I don’t know"

Releasing the headrest, Gansey turned to Blue "Why? Is it science, or is it ic?"

Adam made a dismissive sound

"No," Blue said, "I knohat you o, or was it taken?"

"Maybe it’s invisible," Gansey suggested

Adam wasn’t sure he believed in true invisibility He’d tried it and it never seemed to protect him He asked Noah, "Are you still there e can’t see you?"

Noah just blinked at him from the dimness of the backseat, his eyes liquid and faraway He was, Ada of Noah than actually Noah

Ronan had been listening, because he spun and leaned in the"At the store, when he disappeared, he didn’t just beco Cabeswater’s like Noah, it’s not invisible It’s gone somewhere"

There was a breath’s silence This here Gansey, if he were Ronan, would swear Where if he were Adam, he’d close his eyes If he were Blue, he’d snap in exasperation

But Gansey merely rubbed a thumb over his lip and then drew hiant, all true emotions placed in an undisclosed location He drew out his journal, jotted a note in the ed it with terse brackets When he closed the pages, whatever anxiety he had over Cabeswater was closed in with the rest of his thoughts on Glendower

Some time later, after Noah had discreetly disappeared, Declan’s Volvo glided up, as quiet as the Pig was loud Ronan said, "Move up, er seat far enough for him to clamber behind it into the backseat He hurriedly sprawled back in the seat, throwing one jean-covered leg over the top of Adahtless abandon By the time Declan arrived at the driver’s side , Ronan looked as if he had been asleep for days

"Lucky I was able to get away," Declan said He peered into the car, eyes passing over Blue and snagging on Ronan in the backseat His gaze followed his brother’s leg to where it rested on top of Adahtened