Henrietta, Virginia | Friday FT
Atop the wide green hill, Ronan stood with Noah, Adam and Gansey. It felt like a homecoming even if Gansey acted like Ronan hadn't ever left. He'd picked up right where they'd left off, dragging Ronan from Monmouth to this hill where they now stood, waiting for Blue. Ronan was wearing long sleeves despite the heat, keeping his still healing arm and back covered and hidden. He didn't need to be interrogated about what happened. He'd tell Gansey in his own time.
While they waited, Ronan debated telling Gansey about the Blue on the island, the one who didn't know him but held off. Gansey would only ask questions, make plans to come visit and he'd probably never leave. Gansey was one of Ronan's biggest reasons for wanting to come back to Henrietta. There were others, of course, but he didn't want to think too much about them. Those reasons were covered under dark tarps and locked behind steel doors in his mind. He'd entertain them when it was late and he was drunk.
"Jane!" It was Gansey, shouting down the hill at someone that Ronan guessed had to be blue. Gansey sounded excited and ridiculous. Ronan suppressed a snort but shook his head, catching Adam's eye. The other boy looked stoic and quiet but didn't he always? Ronan found himself wondering what was going on inside Adam's head. Was it a white noise type thing or was Adam's mind full of sharp thorns and shadowy twists?
"Jane. You've got to see this!" And then he was off down the hill, disappearing from the view of the other three boys. They didn't make a move to help. Let Gansey be some knight in shining armor. Ronan was actually a little surprised that Adam didn't move but he said nothing, questioned nothing. He didn't think Adam would be forthcoming anyway.
The steep climb had brought them to a vast, grassy crest that arched above the forested foothills. Far, far below was Henrietta, Virginia. The town was flanked by pastures dotted with farmhouses and cattle, as small and tidy as a model railroad layout. Everything but the soaring blue mountain range was green and shimmery with the summer heat.
But the boys were not looking at the scenery. They stood in a close circle: Adam Parrish, gaunt and fair; Noah Czerny, smudgy and slouching; and Ronan Lynch, ferocious and dark. On Ronan’s tattooed shoulder perched his pet raven, Chainsaw. Although her grip was careful, there were finely drawn lines from her claws in the soft fabric of his shirt. They all eyed something Ronan held in his hands. Gansey cavalierly tossed the telescope into the buoyant field grass and joined them. Adam allowed Blue into their circle as well, his eyes meeting hers for a moment.
Ronan glanced over quickly and noticed Adam’s hand glide over Blue's bare elbow.
“Open it up,” Adam ordered Ronan. His voice was dubious.
“Doubting Thomas,” Ronan sneered, but without much vitriol. The tiny model plane in his hand spanned the same breadth as his fingers. It was formed of pure white, featureless plastic, almost ludicrously lacking in detail: a plane-shaped thing. He opened the battery hatch on the bottom. It was empty.
“Well, it’s impossible, then,” Adam said. He picked off a grasshopper that had hurled itself onto his collar. Everyone in the group watched him do it. Since he’d performed a strange ritual bargain the month before, they’d been scrutinizing all of his movements. If Adam noticed this extra attention, he didn’t indicate it. “It won’t fly if it has no battery and no engine.”
Ronan Lynch, keeper of secrets, fighter of men, devil of a boy, had told them all that he could take objects out of his dreams. Example A: Chainsaw. Gansey had been excited; he was the sort of boy who didn’t necessarily believe everything, but wanted to. But Adam, who had only gotten this far in life by questioning every truth presented to him, had wanted proof.
“ ‘It won’t fly if it has no battery and no engine,’ ” Ronan mimicked in a higher-pitched version of Adam’s faint Henrietta drawl. “Noah: the controller.”
Noah scuffled in the clumpy grass for the radio controller. Like the plane, it was white and shiny, all the edges rounded. His hands looked solid around it. Though he had been dead for quite a while and by all rights should appear more ghostly, he was always rather living-looking when standing on the ley line.
“What’s supposed to go inside the plane, if not a battery?” Gansey asked.
Ronan said, “I don’t know. In the dream it was little missiles, but I guess they didn’t come with.”
Blue snarled a few seed heads off the tall grass. “Here.”
“Good thinking, maggot.” Ronan stuffed them into the hatch. He reached for the controller, but Adam intercepted it and shook it by his ear.
“This doesn’t even weigh anything,” he said, dropping the controller into Blue’s palm.
“It will work,” Ronan said, taking the controller and handing the plane to Noah. “It worked in the dream, so it’ll work now. Hold it up.”
Still slouching, Noah lifted the tiny plane between thumb and forefinger, as if he were getting ready to launch a pencil. Ronan knew they thought it was impossible that he'd dreamt the tiny plane, that it was here now. But, he loved proving people wrong. It was a hobby. A talent.
“Kerah,” Chainsaw said. This was her name for Ronan.
“Yes,” agreed Ronan. Then, to the others, he said imperiously, “Count it down.”
Adam made a face, but Gansey, Noah, and Blue obligingly chanted, “Five-four-three -”
On blast-off, Ronan pressed one of the buttons.
Soundlessly, the tiny plane darted from Noah’s hand and into the air.
It worked. It really worked.
Gansey laughed out loud as they all tipped their heads back to watch its ascent. Blue shielded her eyes to keep sight of the tiny white figure in the haze. It was so small and nimble that it looked like a real plane thousands of feet above the slope. With a frenzied cry, Chainsaw launched herself from Ronan’s shoulder to chase it. Ronan pitched the plane left and right, looping it around the crest, Chainsaw close behind. When the plane passed back overhead, he hit that fifth button. Seed heads cascaded from the open hatch, rolling off their shoulders. Blue clapped and reached her palm out to catch one.
“You incredible creature,” Gansey said. His delight was infectious and unconditional, broad as his grin. Adam tipped his head back to watch, something still and faraway around his eyes. Noah breathed whoa, his palm still lifted as if waiting for the plane to return to it. And Ronan stood there with his hands on the controller and his gaze on the sky, not smiling, but not frowning, either. His eyes were frighteningly alive, the curve of his mouth savage and pleased. It suddenly didn’t seem at all surprising that he should be able to pull things from his dreams.
Gansey punched Ronan’s shoulder. “Glendower traveled with magi, did you know? Magicians, I mean. Wizards. They helped him control the weather - maybe you could dream us a cold snap.”
“Har.”
“They also told the future,” added Gansey, turning to Blue.
“Don’t look at me,” she said shortly. Her lack of psychic talents was legendary. Ronan snickered darkly.
“Or helped him tell the future,” Gansey went on, which did not particularly make sense, but indicated that he was trying to un-irritate her. Blue’s short temper and her ability to make other people’s psychic talents stronger were also legendary. “Shall we go?”
Blue hurried to pick up the telescope before he could get to it - he shot her a look - and the other boys fetched the maps and cameras and electromagnetic-frequency readers. They set off on the perfectly straight ley line, Ronan’s gaze still directed up to his plane and to Chainsaw, a white bird and a black bird against the azure ceiling of the world. As they walked, a sudden rush of wind hurled low across the grass, bringing with it the scent of moving water and rocks hidden in shadows, and the group were all silently thrilled again and again with the knowledge that magic was real, magic was real, magic was real.
[NFB, NFI, OOC is fine. Taken from The Dream Thieves. No warning in this post.]
While they waited, Ronan debated telling Gansey about the Blue on the island, the one who didn't know him but held off. Gansey would only ask questions, make plans to come visit and he'd probably never leave. Gansey was one of Ronan's biggest reasons for wanting to come back to Henrietta. There were others, of course, but he didn't want to think too much about them. Those reasons were covered under dark tarps and locked behind steel doors in his mind. He'd entertain them when it was late and he was drunk.
"Jane!" It was Gansey, shouting down the hill at someone that Ronan guessed had to be blue. Gansey sounded excited and ridiculous. Ronan suppressed a snort but shook his head, catching Adam's eye. The other boy looked stoic and quiet but didn't he always? Ronan found himself wondering what was going on inside Adam's head. Was it a white noise type thing or was Adam's mind full of sharp thorns and shadowy twists?
"Jane. You've got to see this!" And then he was off down the hill, disappearing from the view of the other three boys. They didn't make a move to help. Let Gansey be some knight in shining armor. Ronan was actually a little surprised that Adam didn't move but he said nothing, questioned nothing. He didn't think Adam would be forthcoming anyway.
The steep climb had brought them to a vast, grassy crest that arched above the forested foothills. Far, far below was Henrietta, Virginia. The town was flanked by pastures dotted with farmhouses and cattle, as small and tidy as a model railroad layout. Everything but the soaring blue mountain range was green and shimmery with the summer heat.
But the boys were not looking at the scenery. They stood in a close circle: Adam Parrish, gaunt and fair; Noah Czerny, smudgy and slouching; and Ronan Lynch, ferocious and dark. On Ronan’s tattooed shoulder perched his pet raven, Chainsaw. Although her grip was careful, there were finely drawn lines from her claws in the soft fabric of his shirt. They all eyed something Ronan held in his hands. Gansey cavalierly tossed the telescope into the buoyant field grass and joined them. Adam allowed Blue into their circle as well, his eyes meeting hers for a moment.
Ronan glanced over quickly and noticed Adam’s hand glide over Blue's bare elbow.
“Open it up,” Adam ordered Ronan. His voice was dubious.
“Doubting Thomas,” Ronan sneered, but without much vitriol. The tiny model plane in his hand spanned the same breadth as his fingers. It was formed of pure white, featureless plastic, almost ludicrously lacking in detail: a plane-shaped thing. He opened the battery hatch on the bottom. It was empty.
“Well, it’s impossible, then,” Adam said. He picked off a grasshopper that had hurled itself onto his collar. Everyone in the group watched him do it. Since he’d performed a strange ritual bargain the month before, they’d been scrutinizing all of his movements. If Adam noticed this extra attention, he didn’t indicate it. “It won’t fly if it has no battery and no engine.”
Ronan Lynch, keeper of secrets, fighter of men, devil of a boy, had told them all that he could take objects out of his dreams. Example A: Chainsaw. Gansey had been excited; he was the sort of boy who didn’t necessarily believe everything, but wanted to. But Adam, who had only gotten this far in life by questioning every truth presented to him, had wanted proof.
“ ‘It won’t fly if it has no battery and no engine,’ ” Ronan mimicked in a higher-pitched version of Adam’s faint Henrietta drawl. “Noah: the controller.”
Noah scuffled in the clumpy grass for the radio controller. Like the plane, it was white and shiny, all the edges rounded. His hands looked solid around it. Though he had been dead for quite a while and by all rights should appear more ghostly, he was always rather living-looking when standing on the ley line.
“What’s supposed to go inside the plane, if not a battery?” Gansey asked.
Ronan said, “I don’t know. In the dream it was little missiles, but I guess they didn’t come with.”
Blue snarled a few seed heads off the tall grass. “Here.”
“Good thinking, maggot.” Ronan stuffed them into the hatch. He reached for the controller, but Adam intercepted it and shook it by his ear.
“This doesn’t even weigh anything,” he said, dropping the controller into Blue’s palm.
“It will work,” Ronan said, taking the controller and handing the plane to Noah. “It worked in the dream, so it’ll work now. Hold it up.”
Still slouching, Noah lifted the tiny plane between thumb and forefinger, as if he were getting ready to launch a pencil. Ronan knew they thought it was impossible that he'd dreamt the tiny plane, that it was here now. But, he loved proving people wrong. It was a hobby. A talent.
“Kerah,” Chainsaw said. This was her name for Ronan.
“Yes,” agreed Ronan. Then, to the others, he said imperiously, “Count it down.”
Adam made a face, but Gansey, Noah, and Blue obligingly chanted, “Five-four-three -”
On blast-off, Ronan pressed one of the buttons.
Soundlessly, the tiny plane darted from Noah’s hand and into the air.
It worked. It really worked.
Gansey laughed out loud as they all tipped their heads back to watch its ascent. Blue shielded her eyes to keep sight of the tiny white figure in the haze. It was so small and nimble that it looked like a real plane thousands of feet above the slope. With a frenzied cry, Chainsaw launched herself from Ronan’s shoulder to chase it. Ronan pitched the plane left and right, looping it around the crest, Chainsaw close behind. When the plane passed back overhead, he hit that fifth button. Seed heads cascaded from the open hatch, rolling off their shoulders. Blue clapped and reached her palm out to catch one.
“You incredible creature,” Gansey said. His delight was infectious and unconditional, broad as his grin. Adam tipped his head back to watch, something still and faraway around his eyes. Noah breathed whoa, his palm still lifted as if waiting for the plane to return to it. And Ronan stood there with his hands on the controller and his gaze on the sky, not smiling, but not frowning, either. His eyes were frighteningly alive, the curve of his mouth savage and pleased. It suddenly didn’t seem at all surprising that he should be able to pull things from his dreams.
Gansey punched Ronan’s shoulder. “Glendower traveled with magi, did you know? Magicians, I mean. Wizards. They helped him control the weather - maybe you could dream us a cold snap.”
“Har.”
“They also told the future,” added Gansey, turning to Blue.
“Don’t look at me,” she said shortly. Her lack of psychic talents was legendary. Ronan snickered darkly.
“Or helped him tell the future,” Gansey went on, which did not particularly make sense, but indicated that he was trying to un-irritate her. Blue’s short temper and her ability to make other people’s psychic talents stronger were also legendary. “Shall we go?”
Blue hurried to pick up the telescope before he could get to it - he shot her a look - and the other boys fetched the maps and cameras and electromagnetic-frequency readers. They set off on the perfectly straight ley line, Ronan’s gaze still directed up to his plane and to Chainsaw, a white bird and a black bird against the azure ceiling of the world. As they walked, a sudden rush of wind hurled low across the grass, bringing with it the scent of moving water and rocks hidden in shadows, and the group were all silently thrilled again and again with the knowledge that magic was real, magic was real, magic was real.
[NFB, NFI, OOC is fine. Taken from The Dream Thieves. No warning in this post.]