Ravens and Crows

Chapter 28 ~Adam~

Someone slapped me hard against the face in the middle of me saying goodbye to Ronan and the interior of the Pig came back into focus.

"Ow," I complained, holding me face.

"You were gone for an hour!" Blue yells. "You kept saying 'I'm good, I'm good, let me stay' but I don't care if you're psychic and I'm not, I grew up with them and an hour is too long to be scrying!"

"Okay, okay, I see your point. But, for the record, I have gone longer." I said, handing Gansey his almost dead phone.

Blue was outraged by this statement; I probably shouldn't have said it. "You've done longer! What- why?"

I took a sip of the water from the glass I had grabbed. "I didn't mean to. I was helping Ronan with remaking Cabeswater by strengthening the leyline and controlling his dream, time just kind of got away from us."

Blue clicked her tongue aggressively at me.

"It's not that big of a deal!" I argued.

She crosses her arms. "Tell that to Persephone."

"First off, low blow. Second, Persephone went too deep, not too long. If you stay in the same place and not let your spirit wonder so far you can't find a way back to your physical body, you can scry for a long time."

Blue rolled her eyes and turned her back to me so she was looking out the window. "Whatever."

There was a moment of silence, then it was interrupted by Gansey clearing his throat. "So, is- uh, everything alright with Ronan?"

I crossed my arms in a way much like Blue's current position. "For now," I grumbled.

I'm not proud of myself, but I'm pretty pissed off about Ronan staying longer in the past. 'Honor amongst the gays' I guess, but still, they're in the past, do we even know if we can save them? I mean there are certain theories about time where that kind of stuff is unfixable if it's already set in stone. I also keep thinking Ronan has finally understood that he can't go off and do stuff like this. He can't run off and fight magical people with cannons because he's not the only one who will die anymore- I guess he's never been, but he knows now. Matthew, Opal, Chainsaw: if he goes, they do too, so does Cabeswater. I know he wants to fight. I know that- though he seems like the last person on earth to have it- he has a bit of a hero complex, it probably comes with the ability to dream whatever you want and making it a reality and having a magic forest that can do your bidding, but it's still annoying.

And also, I'm going to get selfish so watch out, doesn't he miss us? Miss his brothers? Miss me? We only have four more months until college starts for me, until all of us go and Ronan is left to his own demises. And he's going to spend who knows how long fighting for people he doesn't really know and a country he doesn't live in.

Why did I have to pick the most problematic person in the world to be my boyfriend?

But I have to admit, it's one of the reasons I love him. That simple selflessness to him. The loyalty he'll go to any length to hold onto. I have no idea if there's a limit to what favors Gansey could ask of Ronan that Ronan would willing do without a second thought, so it doesn't surprise me all too much what he's doing for Wylan and Jesper. I think for some reason he really connected with them. Maybe he sees some of himself in them. Or something like that.

And he'll come back, he has to. If I have to have Cabeswater send me back there to get him I will. But I don't think I'll need to. Ronan's always survived. The demon. Kavinsky. Greenmantle. His dreams. It's what he does, it's what he has to do; survive.

In a way, it's the real job of a dreamer; survive your dreams, survive the world.

"For now?" Gansey asked, not totally reassured by my initial grumbling.

"He'll be fine." I restated.

"What did he want?"

"He's staying in the past longer. He has some things he needs to take care of."

"Like what?" Blue asked, finally turning her body to face me again.

"Oh, you know, just...a war."

Gansey slams on the breaks and we all get thrown forward in our seats.

"He can't do that!" Gansey cried but I can barely hear him over the amount of cars that are honking behind us. "I'm going, I'm going." He mumbles and starts driving again.

We drive in silence for another couple minutes before Gansey picks up the conversation again. "You have to stop him, please, Adam."

"You don't think I've tried?" I said, matching his calm, tired voice. "He wants to do this."

"Can't you force him out?" Blue offered. "Just grab him by the leather jacket and shove him into the forest grass until he appears on this side."

"I don't think that would work."

"Did you try it?"

"It doesn't matter." I said.

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?" Gansey asked, looking at me in the rearview mirror.

"Ronan offered some cavalry to the gang." I explained. "He dreamt two big dream monsters to help them in the fight."

"So even if he wanted to go home," Blue said, her voice barely audible over the roar of the engine. "He couldn't."

I nod.

Gansey let out a loud, long sigh and took a hand of the steering wheel to run it through his hair. "You're killing me, Ronan."

"Not if he kills himself first." Blue mumbles.

And there it is. That weird sort of shrug off we do when Ronan does stupid things. We just watch, whatever crazy thing it is, and hope he comes out in one piece.

And if he doesn't...well, we haven't gotten there yet.

And I hope we never do.

Sorry if those long paragraphs were kind of messy. For some reason I was having a hard time getting them to sound good. Enjoy! -RW