Gansey woke in the night to find the moon full on his face.
Then, when he opened his eyes again, waking properly, he realized there was no moon — the few lights of Henrietta reflected a dull purple off the low cloud cover and the windows were spattered with raindrops.
There was no moon, but something like a light had woken him. He thought he heard Noah’s voice, distantly. The hairs on his arms slowly prickled.
“I can’t understand you,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. Can you say it louder, Noah?”
The hair on the back of his neck rose as well. A cloud of his breath hung in the suddenly cold air in front of his mouth.
Noah’s voice said: “Adam.”
Gansey scrambled out of bed, but it was too late. Adam was not in Noah’s old room. His things were scattered about. He’d packed, he’d gone.
But no — his clothing stayed behind. He hadn’t meant to leave for good.
“Ronan, get up,” Gansey said, shoving open Ronan’s door. Without waiting for a response, he moved to the stairwell and pushed out onto the landing to look out the broken window that overlooked the parking lot.
Outside, the rain misted down, a fine spray that just made halos around the distant house lights. Somehow, he already knew what he’d find, but still, the reality was a jolt: The Camaro was missing from the lot. It would’ve been easier for Adam to hot-wire than Ronan’s BMW. The roar of the engine starting was probably what had woken Gansey in the first place, the moonlight merely a memory of the last time he’d been woken.
“Man, Gansey, what?” Ronan asked. He stood in the doorway to the stairwell, scrubbing his hand over the back of his head.
Gansey didn’t want to say it. If he said it out loud, it was real, it had really happened, Adam had really done it. It wouldn’t have hurt if it was Ronan; this was the sort of thing he’d expect from Ronan. But it was Adam.
Adam.
I did tell him, right? I did say that we were to wait. It’s not that he didn’t understand me.
Gansey tried several different ways to think of the situation, but there wasn’t any way he could paint it that made it hurt less. Something kept fracturing inside him.
“What’s going on?” The tone of Ronan’s voice had changed.
There was nothing left but to say it.
“Adam’s gone to wake the ley line.”
