Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle, #3)

by Maggie Stiefvater

“Who am I learning to communicate with?” She was pleased that he immediately grasped the concept. She replied, “Everything.”

Although she was kind, she wasn’t nice. Good thing, too, because nice people made Calla irritable.

“Queens and kings Kings and queens Blue lily, lily blue Crowns and birds Swords and things Blue lily, lily blue”

But if Mr. Gray had been willing to risk his life for what he wanted, surely she could be as brave. She wondered if he was alive. She was surprised by how much she desperately hoped that he was.

But sometimes it wasn’t the energy that failed Noah — it was his courage.

Rex Corvus, parate Regis Corvi. The Raven King, make way for the Raven King.

“I’m glad we’re not fighting. It was stupid for it to go on so long.”

Of course it was impossible. It had been impossible before she arrived and would continue being impossible forever. It was just that spending time with Gansey and the others had made her think that the impossible might be more possible than she’d thought before.

The stars moved slowly above her, an array of possibilities, and for the first time in a long time, she felt them mirrored in her heart.

Adam kept watching. He was good at this part, the observing of others. It was himself that he couldn’t seem to study or understand.

Thank God we’re not fighting thank God we’re not fighting thank God we’re not fighting how can I keep it from happening again—

Adam couldn’t remember how they had managed to fight so continuously over the summer. Gansey, his best friend, his stupid and kind and marvelous best friend.

“SHE WAS ALL RIGHT,” Jesse assured him. “My head knew that,” Gansey said. “But the rest of me didn’t.”

“You guys have a death list?” Ronan broke in. “That is fucking dark. Am I on it?” “Some days, I wish,” Blue said.

“What do we do now?” Gansey asked. From the other room, Calla bellowed, “GO BUY US PIZZA. WITH EXTRA CHEESE, RICHIE RICH.” Blue said, “I think she’s starting to like you.”

He wondered if he was going to go through each year of his life thinking about how stupid he’d been the year before.

He had been wrong to come here alone. Why did he care if Gansey and Ronan saw this? They already knew. They knew everything about him. What a lie unknowable was. The only person who didn’t know Adam was himself. What a proud idiot you have been, Adam Parrish.

For so long, he’d wanted Gansey to see him as an equal, but it was possible that all this time, the only person who needed to see that was Adam.

Now he could see that it wasn’t charity Gansey was offering. It was just truth. And something else: friendship of the unshakable kind. Friendship you could swear on. That could be busted nearly to breaking and come back stronger than before.

It was amazing that she and Ronan didn’t get along better, because they were different brands of the same impossible stuff.

“I told you. I told you it was a bad idea, and nobody ever listens to me. ‘Oh, we’ll be fine, Noah, you’re such a worrywart’ and next thing you know you’re in some kind of death thrall. Nobody ever says, ‘Noah, you know what you were right thanks for saving my life because being dead would suck.’ They just always —”

“Sorry,” he said. “I was being sort of a dick.” Noah replied, “We weren’t going to say it.” “I was,” Blue said.

He’s trusting us. He never trusts anyone, and he’s trusting us. He’s trusting you, Blue.

And there would now forever be two Blues: the Blue that was before, and the Blue that was after. The one who didn’t believe, and the one who did.

The opposite of awake was supposed to be asleep, but Adam had spent much of the last two years of his life being both at once, or neither.