Blue and her Raven Boys

Blue grabbed Adam by the arm—the injured one. He yelped in pain as she jerked him to the side, but it was better to cause further damage to his arm than to watch a chunk of ceiling crush him.

"Thanks," Adam panted, cradling his arm against his chest.

"Don't mention it. Listen, I'm going back for the others. You've got to get out of here. Follow Noah and—"

"If you stay, I'm staying too."

"You're injured!" You'd do more harm than good.

Blue didn't say it, but Adam knew it was there. He didn't like it, but he was smart enough to know that it was true. He would only slow the others down. The best thing he could do was get out and try to find help. He reached for Blue's hand with his good one, intertwining their fingers.

"Be careful," he whispered. Come back to me, he thought.

Then he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. He was gone before she could react, following the ghostly, glowing light Noah gave off. Noah stood near the door, their lighthouse, guiding them back to safety, unperturbed by the bits of ceiling crashing down.

Of course it didn't bother him. He was already dead.

Blue watched Adam for a moment longer, to make sure he really was going to head for the door that led to the outside world. The exit. The only escape from this collapsing building.

For just a moment, Blue was sorely tempted to follow Adam to safety. Then a voice split through the air, calling her back to her senses.

"Jane! A little help?"

Blue spun on the spot and sprinted back the way she'd come, dodging around the hunks of wood impaled in the floor like spears and scrambling over piles of collapsed stone. She reached Gansey just as the building gave another tremendous rumble. The old, wooden floor shook and Blue fell into Gansey. It was like falling against a wall: He didn't catch her, exactly, but kept her from going down all the same. He shoved her back onto her feet.

"Give me a hand with this!"

He squatted down, digging his fingers under the edge of a bookcase. It had tumbled over, its contents—which consisted mainly, but not entirely, of books—strewn across the floor.

Pinned beneath the bookcase, one leg completely buried, the other stretched out against what used to be the top, was Ronan. His face was twisted in pain, his hands straining to push the heavy oak shelves off himself. He was swearing quite fluently in what sounded to Blue like at least four languages.

Blue dropped down beside Gansey and added what little she could. She wasn't the strongest girl in town, but all the bike riding she did hadn't left her weak and useless. She lifted with her legs, as Calla had taught her, and together the three of them managed to get the shelves high enough for Ronan to wiggle out.

Blue and Gansey dropped the oak, which not only smashed to the floor with a terrific BANG!, but also through the floor. The wood creaked and popped beneath Blue's feet as it splintered, then gave way.

"We have to get out of here!" Blue shouted.

Gansey didn't even bother to retort with a classical, "Thank you Captain Obvious." He just heaved Ronan onto his feet and pulled an arm around his shoulders. Ronan's left leg was a mess, and even with Gansey's help they weren't moving fast enough. The entire ceiling was trembling, preparing to detach itself from the support beams and smash them all flat as pancakes.

Blue darted forwards, yanked Ronan's right arm around herself, and took on some of his weight. He was much bigger than her and much heavier than the groceries Calla always made Blue carry in. She staggered under the strain, but stayed on her feet. She and Gansey half-lifted, half-dragged Ronan towards the door, his good leg helping propel them along when it could, his bad one twitching spastically, like a dying thing.

The building rumbled again. Rock rained down around them, crashing through the floorboards. Gansey, as swift- and sure-footed as a deer, leapt a gaping crevice, intending to pull Ronan over with him. But as he took off, Ronan slipped from his grasp. Gansey ended up on one side of the hole, with Ronan and Blue still standing together on the other.

Blue tugged Ronan backwards as more boards splintered, cracking under their feet and widening the chasm. Gansey waved frantically at them, gesturing towards the door that was no longer discernible through the billowing clouds of dust.

Before Blue could make out what Gansey was yelling, Ronan shouted, "Jump!"

Blue felt hands pushing at her shoulders, sending her stumbling forwards. She tripped to the edge of the edge of the crevice, trying to gather her feet under her so she could do as Ronan bid. His hands were at her waist now, lifting as well as pushing. She straightened her legs, springing up with all her might. She flew—straight up. Then something, Ronan's foot, collided with her back, propelling her towards Gansey as her momentum lifted her over the yawning maw of the floor.

"Look out!" Ronan yelled, as if there was anything Blue could do to change or control her speed or direction.

Another boulder calved off the stone ceiling and fell. Blue could feel it brush the backs of her legs as it plummeted past. Then she was clear of both it and the gap: She slammed into the other side, the splintered edges of wood slicing through her skin.

Blue skittered down the side of the floor and almost fell into the pit, but caught herself at the last moment. Her hands clutched at the jagged ledge. Blood welled up between her fingers, hot and slippery, but Blue refused to let go. Hands grabbed at hers, their sweaty fingers skating off the backs of her bloodied hands.

"Blue!" Gansey shouted, his face appearing over her.

Blue was so shocked at his use of her real name that her hands slipped. She lost her grip as the wood crumbled between her fingers, and Blue felt herself start to fall into the hole.

Then Gansey's fingers were encircling her right wrist, squeezing so hard that it hurt. She dangled, swaying back and forth, looking up into Gansey's dirt-streaked face. There was a wild look in his eyes, but Blue couldn't tell if it was from fear, exertion, adrenaline, or the thrill of danger.

"I've got you," he said, then again, softer. "I've got you."

Blue's gaze slid from his face to look down between her feet at the yawning blackness. She was so close to death, she could practically feel Thanatos's icy fingers curling around her ankles, starting to pull her down, down, down…

Gansey's voice galvanized her back into action. She wasn't dead yet. "C'mon, Blue! Pull yourself up!"

Blue's left hand scrabbled at the edge of the hole until it found purchase. With Gansey's help, she bent her elbows, pulling her chin up, her throat in danger of being skewered on one of the jagged edges. It took all the strength she had left. Blue made a mental note to get Calla to teach her how to do aerial yoga—it might not have sounded like much, but it sure built a lot of muscle.

Blue swung her right leg up and to the side, catching the heel of her boot on a jut of wood. Gansey, still kneeling at the edge of the pit, let go of her wrist with one hand to grab her ankle. Through an odd and possibly unprecedented combination of rolling, pulling, tugging, and heaving, Gansey managed to get Blue the rest of the way up. She sprawled across the floor, scratched and bleeding everywhere. Both her and Gansey's hands were red with Blue's blood.

"Thanks," Blue panted as she and Gansey stood.

"Anytime," Gansey said, glancing at his stained hands. He smiled at Blue, that wild light still glittering in his eyes. "Interesting, Jane. I thought your blood might be as blue as your name."

"Guess not," she answered, turning to look back across the chasm.

Ronan stood there, balancing on his good leg. He had spent the entire struggle yelling encouragement to the pair, but neither of them had been able to hear him. He said something now that was equally lost in the groaning of the house.

"Jump!" Gansey shouted across. "We'll catch you!"

Ronan indicated his mangled leg. "I can't! I'll be fine! Just get out of here!"

"We're not leaving you!" Gansey yelled back.

"We're not leaving anyone!" Blue screamed.

"Then we'll all die!" Ronan bellowed. "Stop playing the hero and get the hell out of here!" He locked eyes with Gansey. "Get her the hell out of here. You know she's the only one who has a chance of saving us all."

Something passed between the boys, because the next moment, Gansey's hands were pulling and tugging at Blue, his feet breaking into a run.

"Wait!" Blue shrieked, clawing at Gansey's vice-like grip. "Ronan!"

"We have to go!" Gansey reminded her.

"But what did he mean?" Blue demanded, still tripping over her own feet as Gansey practically dragged her towards the door.

"Is this really the time?" Gansey asked as the building shook again.

This time, Blue knew it was over. This time the whole ceiling was coming down to smash them all to kingdom come. Maybe if she had paid more attention to the reading Persephone had offered that morning, none of this would have happened. She could almost hear the warning Persephone had given her: Stay away from the white house with the ivy. It's coming down today.

Why hadn't she listened?

The door was still several yards away. It may as well have been several miles—they'd never make it. So instead, Blue twisted and succeeded in wrenching her arm free of Gansey. She spun, trying to find Ronan through the thick clouds of dust.

Then several things happened at once.

1: The ceiling gave way at last, and all the upstairs levels fell, as if in slow motion, towards the crown of Blue's head.

2: A light split through the darkness, a small rectangular patch near where they'd left Ronan. Adam's face appeared as he clawed desperately at the boards covering the windows. Somewhere, Chainsaw gave an awful, ear-splitting shriek.

And 3: Gansey's arms wound around Blue's waist, encircling her from behind. He rolled backwards, pulling her with him. As they fell, he turned her, so they were face-to-face. His arms formed a protective cage as they tumbled into a corner. The roof rained down upon them, knocking a bookcase like the one that had trapped Ronan sideways. It fell against the wall, forming a triangular shape that helped shelter them. A cascade of books joined the deluge as Blue curled into the smallest ball she could. The last thing she was aware of was Gansey covering her body with his own. Then a particularly large volume slipped between his outstretched arm and the side of his face, cracking Blue hard in the forehead.

Her eyes rolled up in her head as the world turned white, then faded to an impenetrable black.

When Blue's eyes opened, she could see nothing. She thought for a moment that she might have gone blind. Then she realized that if she were buried beneath a house, of course it would be dark. But if she had been buried by a house, would she actually be alive, or was this some kind of limbo?

Blue blinked into the darkness. Dust swirled off her eyelashes, blowing into her eyes and mouth. She coughed, which was a much harder task than she was accustomed to. Something heavy was sprawled on top of her, pinning her in place and making all but the smallest movement impossible.

She was boxed in by the rubble, buried alive.

She was going to die.

No, Blue told herself, trying to force down the panic that was swelling inside her. You are going to be just fine. The logical part of her brain laughed at her attempted optimism.

Admit it, that piece of her whispered. You're dead.

Blue wasn't claustrophobic, but being trapped and immobilized beneath a collapsed building was enough to terrify anyone.

"Blue?"

The voice came out of the darkness above her, and the heavy thing that pinned her in place moved.

"Gansey?"

Blue had nearly forgotten that one of her Raven boys was down here with her, and immediately felt guilty, both at the forgetting and the relief that rushed through her. She wasn't alone. But it probably only meant that they'd both die, and sooner too, because two people used up the air twice as fast.

Blue flashed back on Gansey throwing himself over her, trying to protect her. He had, in all likelihood, just saved her life. Or at least prolonged it.

"Well," he said. "If you're alive, then I must be too."

"Either that or we're both dead."

"Right little ray of sunshine, aren't you? You were just coughing, which means you're breathing. And that means you're alive."

"Who made you the expert?"

"Breathing equals life. And you're breathing."

"Barely. No offense, but you weigh a lot."

Blue couldn't see him, but she could feel the eye roll.

"Sorry. Next time I'll just let the house crush you, shall I?"

Blue laughed. It was a quiet, breathless sound. "Well, between you and the dust…" –she had to pause to suck in a breath— "air is hard to come by."

Gansey could feel her chest rising and falling beneath him, heaving as though she'd just run a race. And she was right, the dust did make it harder—much harder—to breath, and Gansey didn't even have anything crushing down on him.

He stretched out an arm, feeling for the mound of rubble he knew must be there. His fingers brushed against something smooth and wooden. The bookshelf! It must have slid down the wall after he and Blue had blacked out. It was less than six inches from his face—it was a miracle it hadn't slid just a little farther.

Gansey reached sideways over his head, his hand almost immediately hitting a rough stone wall that T-ed, part of it at his head, part at Blue's back. His feet were already pressed against a barrier, but his legs were only a little bent, and Blue could probably stretch hers straight. The last direction, towards the back of the bookcase, had the most room, though the shelf made a sloping ceiling that would prevent Gansey from sliding off Blue in that direction. Blue, on the other hand, was small enough to fit.

Probably.

"Okay," Gansey said. "There's some room on this side of you," he said, touching Blue's stomach. "As well as above your head and below your feet. If you can wriggle out from under me, we should be able to fit side-by-side. I'm going to try to lift myself off of you so you can move, okay?"

"Great."

It took some squirming and a few failed attempts, but at last Blue and Gansey lay back-to-front, his chest pressed to the back of her shirt. Neither spoke as they waited for the dust to settle again.

Then Blue said into the silence, "I can feel your heartbeat."

In almost any other situation, it would've been weird, but here in the suffocating dark, it was nice to know that someone else was alive, too. The rest of the world seemed a million miles away, like Blue and Gansey were the only living things left.

Gansey's arms tightened around her. "I can feel yours, too."

"I feel like a sardine."

"Can we not talk about food?" Blue smiled as Gansey's stomach gave a small rumble. "I didn't eat much today."

"What did Ronan mean, 'the only one who can save us all?'" Blue asked.

"Well, it is possible that only a psychic can find and wake Glendower."

"I'm not psychic, remember?"

"But you do have some kind of power."

"So does Ronan."

"But yours is…selfless. It makes others stronger, with no benefit to yourself." He thought about what she'd said when helping Noah to sustain his life force. "Sometimes to your detriment."

"How does that save us all?"

"Whoever wakes Glendower gets one wish. You could bring Noah back, save Adam, help Ronan…or un-curse yourself."

"I am not cursed."

"How about a kiss then?" Blue didn't answer. "That's what I thought," Gansey said. "Anyways…well, it's Ronan's theory, but he thinks that you—and only you—can come up with a way to save all of us."

Blue almost asked, And what do you need saving from? but lost her nerve at the last moment and instead said, "Sorry to disappoint."

Gansey chuckled, his breath tickling the back of her head. "When the moment comes, I'm sure you'll do just fine…Blue."

When, she realized. Not if.

"Given up on Jane, have you?"

"Not entirely."

They lay in silence for a long while. It was steadily becoming harder and harder to breathe. There just wasn't enough oxygen left in the their cramped little space. Blue's forehead was throbbing from the book and she was just drifting off into a peaceful sleep when Gansey's urgent voice jerked her back.

"Don't." He stopped, gasped a few times. "Go…to…sleep." There was an even longer pause as they both struggled for breath. "A…sphyx…i…a…tion… You…won't…wake…up."

And so Blue tried anything and everything she could think of to keep her eyes open. She tried to remember all of the planets, even including Pluto for good measure. She counted backwards from 100 by nines. One hundred, 91, 82, 73…she tried doubling, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, a trick she'd pick up from reading Ender's Game, but math had never been her best subject. Half dead in the thin air, she couldn't get past the hundreds before the numbers started slipping out. So she pictured a map of the United States and tried to fill in all the states and their capitals, starting with her own. Richmond, Virginia. Charleston, West Virginia. Her grip on the map began to slip. She drifted west, skipping over states willy-nilly. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Texas…what was Texas?

She knew it wasn't Houston or Dallas, the two cities people often though it was, but she couldn't call the right town to mind. It was a guy's name, for the man who had founded Texas, wasn't it? Something that sounded like Adam but wasn't…and didn't it have something to do with copper, too?

And then nothing mattered anymore, because Blue couldn't keep her eyes open, couldn't force her chest to expand and contract any longer, her lungs to except the air that she and Gansey had been slowly poisoning. In the darkness, Blue squeezed Gansey's fingers as tightly as she could and felt them twitch in response. He was still hanging on then…maybe if she died now, he would make it out alive…

Her last conscious thought was as wry as ever: Defeated by a house.

Then she sank into the shadowy depths of her own asphyxiated mind and everything was gone.

Blue woke lying flat on her back in the grass outside the wrecked mansion. Her breathing was still choked, her vision fuzzy, and every part of her hurt.

But she was alive.

Adam's worried face swam into focus over her. "She's awake!" he shouted.

"Gansey, too!" Ronan's voice answered.

"Blue, can you hear me?" Adam asked her.

Blue's mind was wandering elsewhere, retracing her last thoughts. The dots slowly connected as her brain began to function again. It was tin, not copper, that she had been thinking of…

"Austin."

"I'm Adam, remember?"

"No, Austin. The capital of Texas."

Blue tried to sit up, but Adam pushed her back down.

"Okay, honey. Just lie still," he soothed. Turning to look over his shoulder, he said, "I think she's lost it."

"Ask her her name," Ronan answered. "That sort of thing."

Adam faced Blue again, his face still hovering upside down above her. "What's your name?"

"Blue…Sargent."

"Who am I?"

"Adam. Adam Parrish." The breathing was getting easier, and he looked relieved she hadn't said "Austin" again.

"Who are we here with?"

"My…Raven boys. Gansey. Ronan. Noah. And…Chainsaw."

"Where do you live?"

"300 Fox Way."

"What's your mother's name?"

"Maura."

"What's the square root of pi times three?"

"Jesus, Adam, I don't know that even when I didn't just almost die."

"How old are you?"

"You don't know the answer to that."

Adam thought about it, realized she right, and said, "Sure I do."

"No, you don't. I just told you I was…young."

"So tell me now. How old are you, Blue?"

"This is stupid. I'm fine. Where's Gansey?"

Blue pushed herself into a sitting position, ignoring Adam's warning hand on her shoulder or the way the movement made her head spin.

"Right here," Gansey said.

Blue turned, slowly, and saw Gansey in the grass a few feet away, Ronan hovering over him as he inched his was to a sitting position.

"You okay?" she asked, moving closer.

"Yeah. You?" He held out a hand, and she took it, nodding.

Adam and Ronan moved closer, until the four of them were in a tight little bunch with Noah kneeling at its edge.

Blue's eyes locked onto Ronan's. "Ronan," she said. "You got out."

He nodded.

"How?" Gansey demanded. "Blue and I were running—running—and you couldn't even walk! How did you get out while we ended up trapped?"

"It was Adam. He and Noah guessed at where I would be and ripped the boards off a window. He pulled me out just before the roof collapsed."

"Did you really?" Blue asked Adam.

He nodded, his cheeks red. "Noah is the one who knew which window. He told us about you guys, too."

"Yeah, about that," Blue said. "How did we—" she gestured to herself and Gansey "—get here?" She patted the grass fondly. "Not that I'm not grateful or anything."

"We dug you out. Noah knew right where you'd be, and the wreckage in that part wasn't too deep…it still took us a while."

"We found you both passed out, lying very still in a very scary pool of blood," Ronan added. "Adam thought you were dead." He neglected to mention how terrified he'd been.

Blue touched her forehead. She hadn't even realized it was sticky with half-dried blood until that moment. And of course her hands, arms, legs, and stomach were covered in a myriad of little scratches.

"How's your arm?" she asked Adam.

"And your leg?" Gansey added to Ronan.

"I've had worse," Adam answered, absently rubbing his left ear, at the same moment Ronan said, "I'll heal."

"So…now what?" Blue asked.

Gansey dug his phone out of his pocket. The screen was completely shattered, but it lit up when he touched it.

"We need to get to a hospital, and none of us is fit to drive. I'm calling an ambulance." Before either Blue or Adam could protest that I'm fine! and Hospitals are expensive! Do you even know how much an ambulance costs? Gansey raised a hand. "And I'm paying for it. All of it. This was—is—my expedition."

"I don't need your charity," Adam muttered.

"It isn't charity. Think of it like workers' comp, and you got injured on the job."

Adam didn't say anything. Gansey made is call while the others all sat in silence. When he hung up, Blue placed a hand on his knee.

"Thank you."

"For?"

"You saved my life. Twice."

"Only after you saved mine," Ronan reminded her.

"And mine," Adam added.

"And mine!" Noah piped up, the first time he'd spoken.

They all laughed.

"Listen," Gansey said at last. "We've all saved each other, if not tonight, then in the past. We're all friends, and that's what friends do: Help each other out. So from this moment on—no more owing. No more fits when I buy you a sandwich or offer to let you stay at Monmouth." He looked directly at Adam. "Okay?"

"Okay," Adam whispered, his gaze dropping into his lap.

Blue hugged him tightly. It took him by surprise, and he hesitated a moment for hugging her back. Then she wrapped her arms around Gansey, who seemed just as surprised as Adam, and even more please. She hugged Ronan, who—to everyone's surprise, including his own—hugged her back. Blue even threw her arms around Noah, who blushed and momentarily flickered out of existence.

In the distance, Blue could hear sirens and see flashing lights. No one spoke as they grew louder and brighter. In that moment, Blue was just happy. Happy to be alive. Happy that her friends were alive—well, most of them. And happy just to sit there in the grass, surrounded by people she cared for and who cared for her.

My Raven boys, Blue thought, and smiled.

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