Dead Ravens Society

Chapter 8 - A Dreamer

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world."

- The Critic as Artist, Oscar Wilde

Adam 

It was not that Adam wasn't curious about the whole Glendover thing, but to him, it was not nearly as interesting as graduating at the top of his class was. He was already starting to sense the difference between the classes at Aglionby Academy in comparison to those at Henrietta High. Never before had he had to pull all-nighters on days on which he didn't work, but now he was awake at three a.m. trying to figure out the meaning behind one of Oscar Wilde's essays. 

He was sure the answer was right there, but with the way his head was pounding and his eyes were begging for darkness, he wasn't sure it was ever going to come to him.

He was just about to take another sip of his previously forgotten coffee when he noticed movement in his peripheral vision. As he nearly jumped out of his skin, he was met with Gansey sitting cross-legged on his bed, wearing a pair of flannel pyjama bottoms and a too-big t-shirt with the words 'mouth-moth manufacturing' on it. Adam wondered at once what a company with that name might manufacture, but decided not to ask. 

Instead, he said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up."

"Oh, you didn't wake me up. I've been awake this whole time," Gansey said. He grabbed a leaf from the mint plant on his desk and chewed on it, and the sticking smell made Adam's eyes water.

"Really?"

"Yeah, insomnia will do that to you."

"Oh." Adam twirled his ballpoint pen between his fingers and narrowed his eyes at his roommate. "So you've just been laying there pretending to be asleep?"

"No, I've been thinking." Gansey leaned back against the wall with a serious look on his face. "This is the prime hour for contemplation."

"Wouldn't finishing up some homework be a better use of your time?" Adam asked only because sleep devotion seemed to have rendered his social filter as useless as Gansey's.

Gansey shook his head. "I'm too tired for that. I have a hard enough time fending off my intrusive thoughts on nights like this - forcing my brain to think about things that don't make me feel like the shitiest human alive is enough work - but actively trying to learn something I have no interest in, would be beyond my current capabilities."

Adam set his pencil down, suddenly glad for an excuse to let his eyes rest from the black-on-white text. "What have you been thinking about?"

"How to get to the cave to hold the first Dead Ravens Society meeting."

Of course. Stupid question. Gansey had been talking about the Dead Ravens Society nonstop since their conversation with Mr Czerny. Even when Ronan had left them to get some rest, he hadn't stopped talking to Adam about it. He had somehow had the time to go to the library to find a book on the topic and had quoted it to Adam over dinner until he was told off by Headmaster Whelk for being too loud. That was why Adam had assumed the boy had fallen asleep hours ago once he got quiet and stopped talking.

Adam nodded but was afraid that whatever he said would set Gansey rambling again so he kept quiet. It didn't take Gansey long to break the comfortable silence.