Even though Ronan had figured out a way to wake his mother, it wasn't exactly a permanent solution. She still needed to physically be in Cabeswater, otherwise she was lifeless. Matthew was always wanting to take her out and bring her there, but Ronan knew that it was dangerous to keep moving her in case the Barns was being watched. It was also dangerous to leave her at the Barns at the same time, defenseless in sleep.

Declan hadn't said anything to him either, which was rather surprising, he expected him to storm up to Monmouth and rip him a new one for taking his mother out like that. But Declan never came and he never said anything about it either. He knew Matthew would tell Declan since he could barely contain his excitement at having one of his parents back so it wasn't like he didn't know. Declan who took every chance he got to tell Ronan or Gansey how much of a disappointment his brother was, had been rather quiet lately. And yes, while Gansey's notes and extra cramming sessions with Adam had helped him pass his finals, it wasn't like there wasn't a laundry list of things Declan liked to complain about.

The last full conversation he had with Declan was one Sunday after mass a few weeks before school started for the fall. Declan had faced both Matthew and him, but was having trouble holding eye contact with either of him, like he was unsure about what he was about to say. Declan, who was never unsure about anything. He told them both he was taking the year off given the circumstances, what circumstances exactly he never told them, and would remain in Henrietta to supervise them and continue his internship with the local congressman. Ronan had scoffed and rolled his eyes at the word supervise, and Declan shot him a glare and told them rather cryptically that burglaries were on the rise and that they all needed to take precautions. Whatever that was supposed to mean, since all three of them knew by now that Declan's face had not been messed up by a burglar at all.

So with Declan already preoccupied with god knows what, Ronan had relatively free rein to deal with the matter of their mother. He just didn't know what to do about it yet.

"Are you sure this car even has a trap door?" Adam was feeling around and looking for the special latch that beamers had that accessed the oil drain plug.

Ronan was right at his shoulder on an adjacent dolly, struggling to see the manual's diagram laying open next to him.

"It should. I don't know though if this is a dream car or not, if that's really what you're asking."

Adam sighed and continued to feel around.

"You should have taken this to the dealer, I don't really know a lot about high end models, Ronan, it's not like we get them every day at the garage."

Ronan had given up on the manual and was now holding a flashlight to better assist Adam.

"Naw, too much trouble."

"And this isn't?"

"Please, Parrish. Don't act like this isn't the best thing you'll ever be able to get underneath."

"You're an asshole." Adam said, but instead of being mad he laughed along with Ronan.

"Oh, I think I found it. Hand me that screwdriver."

Ronan dropped the flashlight and reached around for the screwdriver. With some effort Adam managed to pop open the door.

Before he could ask Ronan handed him the socket wrench.

Adam began to loosen the plug and Ronan quietly watched his hands work. Ronan was close enough to him he could smell the gasoline and oil mix on his skin. Ronan breathed it in. It's intoxicating.

"Quick, get the oil pan dude."

Ronan scooted himself out from under the car and was welcomely sobered by the fresh breeze and the afternoon sun. He grabbed the oil pan and got under the car again.

"Thanks. " Adam took the pan and started to drain the oil, trying not to splash either one of them.

"You've been pretty quiet lately," Adam remarked. This was the usual signs of calm before the storm Ronan. Adam didn't want to push him either, just leave the door open in case he decided he wanted to talk.

Ronan watched the oil draininto the pan. He sighed as he shifted himself to lay flat on the dolly. He was staring at the underbelly of the beamer now. Something inside Ronan unwound a little bit at Adam's comment.

"Yea. I mean I've just been thinking about what to do about my mom, you know. Having her live in Cabeswater isn't exactly a permanent solution."

Adam nods even though Ronan can't see him. He pushes the oil pan from under the car as he thinks.

"That is a bit of a problem. I'm wondering if maybe Cabeswater itself knows more about what to do about that."

Ronan leaned his head to look at Adam. He was closing the oil drain and placing it back into the trap door.

"I'm thinking we should ask the trees if they know. It's worth a shot right?"

Adam was now facing Ronan. Ronan could feel his heart rate quickening. They are too close.

"Do you guys remember when Blue said she was coming by today?"

Ronan is snapped out of his haze by Gansey's shouting from the door entrance to Monmouth. He quickly wheels himself out from the car and sits up. Adam is slower to follow and he's the one to answer Gansey as he wipes his hands clean.

"I'm not sure."

Blue was still a sore topic for Adam, even though he tried to hide it. His furrowed brows gave away his real feelings.

"She'll get here when she gets here. Hey, have you seen Noah?"

Ronan was looking around the parking lot for a trace of the disembodied boy. He was originally there when he and Adam had started working on the BMW.

"He fizzled out a little while ago while I was going through some papers."

"Figures."

There was the roar of an engine coming up to Monmouth. Gansey's face looked mildly annoyed. It wasn't Declan, since his Volvo almost ran silent. Adam and Ronan shared a look before getting up to look at who was in the car.

Adam saw a vintage Chevy Impala pull into the parking lot. He recognized Blue in the passenger seat but he didn't recognize the girl sitting next to her with sunglasses on. Adam took a moment to admire the car, it was in beautiful shape. Even the older cars he'd seen come through the garage needed some major restoration. It was like it was fresh off the lot.

Blue was smiling as she got out of the car. It seemed like the two girls had been sharing a joke. He tried not to focus on Blue, and instead tried to place the other girl. He had never seen her before, which was unusual given how small Henrietta was. She had to go to school with Blue since there was no other private schools in the area besides Alignoby and she didn't exactly look like private school material. She had a white t similar to the one he had on, blue jeans that were rather tattered at the knees and other random spots and a pair of timberlands. Adam noticed that she carried herself in the same way Gansey did; it was the confidence of knowing exactly who you are. Gansey's was propped up by his heritage and money, but this girl had some of Ronan's ballsy attitude thrown in. She was the exact opposite of Blue and that made her incredibly attractive to Adam for the moment.

From the look he had upon her arrival it was clear Gansey didn't like Sam; she smelled of cigarettes, gasoline and trouble. She was everything a proper girl shouldn't be; brash, cocky and there was an undercurrent of masculinity that left a bad taste in his mouth. Not that he was jumping to conclusions based on first impressions or anything like that. Or at least that what he told himself. He still couldn't explain the effect she had on Ronan's behavior and he had no idea why Blue thought it necessary to bring her to Monmouth, but he was willing to be polite while he waited for an explanation.

Ronan, though was already on the defensive.

"I see you brought back ghetto fabulous."

Blue frowned and tried to ignore Ronan's comment.

Sam pushed up her aviators to meet her messy bun on the top of her head as Blue reintroduced her.

"I don't think you've met Adam yet." Blue motioned over to the most curious boy in the group. Sam warmly smiled at him as she held out her hand to him. For a moment, Adam wasn't quite sure what to do with it, then he realized she meant to shake his hand. He could feel callouses on her hand that were similar to his own. This wasn't a girl from money.

"Pleasure, I'm sure." She had no hint of the accent that he and Blue had. She wasn't from around here either.

Ronan had his arms crossed.

"Why the hell is she here?"

Blue sighed. So this was how it was going to be.

"I think Sam has some information that would be helpful to us."

She looked to Sam to explain.

"Yes, and I'm willing to share if someone would be so kind as to diffuse Lynch please."

Adam was still lost. It was obvious both Ronan and Gansey had encountered this girl before, but they never mentioned it to him.

"I'm sorry, who are you exactly?" Adam gently interrupted.

" Oh I'm sorry, I see Lynch and Abercrombie have neglected to tell you about our lovely introductions yesterday. My name's Sam Rodriguez, I'm an old friend of Kavinsky's."

Adam's demeanor immediately shifted. The distrust in the air was palpable. Sam attempted to diffuse the situation.

"Regardless of what you thought about Kavinsky, there are some thing you should know going forward that would help you."

"And why exactly should we accept your help? What are you looking for in return?"

Gansey was struggling to hold together his efforts in hiding his obvious distaste of Sam. Blue noticed that unconsciously the three of them had stepped closer to each other.

"I'm not asking you to trust me. I'm looking for information, and hanging around you guys is like standing next to a bull's eye. I find out who killed my mother and you get information. It's mutually advantageous, we both get what we want."

"We already know about the Gray Man. We aren't looking to involve anyone else in our search."

Adam was the most distrustful of all, he who was borderline paranoid of everyone who found out about Glendower, wasn't going to let in someone new this late in the game regardless of their intentions. There was no way he was going to let someone sneak in and take his chance at Glendower away.

"I'm not talking about the Gray Man, or even his demonic brother. Did it ever occur to you three that this would be bigger then you? Bigger then Henrietta? Besides them there's at least two other groups looking for Glendower, that I know of. There could be more. One of these groups killed my mother in Cuba. Another tried to kill Kavinsky back in Jersey. The Gray Man, while a perfectly competent hit man, is like a house cat compared to the rest. I'm sure you've yet to have the pleasure of meeting his brother, otherwise you wouldn't be taking this so lightly."

All three boys exchanges glances. It was true, dealing with the Gray Man was manageable because he was singular. Even they remembered the fear on his face when he mentioned his brother.

"So how are you tied to this? Are you even sure your mother's death was related to Kavinsky?"

Sam didn't immediately respond to Ronan's question but instead started to light up a cigarette.

"That's not how this works. You get more information when you've agreed to work with me. I'll let you boys sleep on it. Blue knows where to find me."

She threw a wink at Blue as she went back to her car to pull Blue's bike out of the trunk.

Blue followed Sam to the back of her car, which was thankfully out of earshot of the boys.

"I'm sorry. It's just hard for them to trust anyone with everything that's been happening lately."

"It's alright, I have a feeling they'll come around. All that matters is you trust me right, Blue?"

Sam was smiling so warmly and sincerely at her Blue had no choice but to rely more enthusiastically then she had planned.

"Of course! I'll talk to them too. I know you're only trying to help."

Sam closed her trunk and ruffled the spikes of Blue's hair. Blue closed her eyes and smiled as she felt a warmth spread over her that she attributed to the afternoon sun. It was a nice change from the chill of Noah's touch.

She waved goodbye as Sam pulled out of the parking lot. She was going to have the rest of her afternoon cut out for her, warming the boys up to the idea of Sam.