itinere | (no subject)

When Blue Sargent walks through the doors to the guidance counselor's office, pamphlet in hand and Noah trailing behind her, the last thing she expects to see are buildings that clearly do not belong in Henrietta. She turns behind her to see the doors closed behind her and Noah nowhere to be found. Slowly, Blue turns in a circle and looks for the tell tale signs of her friend. A flicker of a body, items moving that shouldn't.

"Noah?" she calls out when her search comes up empty handed. She reaches for one of the doors, thinking that perhaps she left him behind in the high school. Or maybe he disappeared when her name had been called. She tries to open the door and frowns when it refuses to budge. Again, she shouts: "Noah!"

Nothing.

Suddenly, she wishes she had her pocket knife on her instead of this useless pamphlet to a college she probably can't afford anyway. Something useful. Though Blue is no stranger to the weird and the impossible, lately, she's preferred to be prepared. Mountain View High School isn't on a ley line. She's no where near Gabeswater. She can't think of a single rational explanation to this impossible place.

Chin up, gaze steeled, she takes a step forward into the city. She might be alone here in this unknown city but Blue refuses to be afraid. Unaware of the PDA in her pocket and the start of answers it holds, she takes another step forward. She refuses to be trapped here, to have disappeared like her father and now, more recently, like her mother. She has a life to get back to. Boys to get back to.

~~Gansey to get back to.~~

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Her door had been closed. She had tried to open it as soon as she realized that Noah hadn't followed her into the guidance counselor's office. And, more obviously, that she was no longer in her school. She hadn't given it much thought until now.

Blue doesn't have to say anything aloud to answer Adam's question. It shows from the worry and fear on her face. Her door hadn't opened, just like it hadn't for Adam or Ronan. Will it take her seven months to get home? What about the others? Gansey and Noah. Her family at 300 Fox Way. Her missing mother.

"I've got to get back," she insists, worry and anger on her face. "I can't stay here permanently. Not with mom missing, too."

Adam and Ronan had once tried very hard to get back home. Then they had become complacent with one another, still longing for their friends and for their quest, but somehow okay with being here too. With Blue here, and the others following, Adam would have thought it would get even better.

But then, Adam had no one worth going back to, family wise. Even as much as he missed them sometimes, they weren't worth going back to. And it was better here where he couldn't even try it.

Now, with Blue's insisting, the tone of her voice, he stops his work and looks up to her, into her eyes and then immediately somewhere just beneath those eyes. He's silent for a long time before ensuring her. "I'll help." He would try to work harder for a way home than he had been. For her. "I'm sure Ronan will too."

Gansey and Noah were still back home. So are Orla and Aunt Jimi, Persephone, and Calla. Blue might not know where her mother is exactly but she knows Adam would mention if she were here. Which puts her back in Henrietta too, be it Cabeswater or somewhere else along the ley lines. They were people worth going back to. She might not be rich, not the way Gansey and Ronan are, but she's rich in family.

She tries to push aside the worry. She's only just got here and there's no guarantee that she'll be trapped as long as Adam and Ronan. Besides, shouldn't their predicament be of more concern? If anyone deserves to get out of here, it ought to be them.

"I appreciate it," she says earnestly. "And we'll get you and Ronan out as well."

Adam didn't know if he wanted to go back to a world where he had to fight so hard to keep up. With his three jobs and Aglionby and Robert Parrish and his mother who couldn't do anything but cry. Of course, he would go if the others went. But the thought didn't appeal to him as it probably should. Adam could breathe here.

The reasons he would try to go back were for Blue and her family. And, he supposed, so that he could get to Glendower first and wish the inevitability of Gansey's death away. His and Ronan's reprieve here was effectively over. This breather was probably more than he deserved anyway.

"Yeah. Ronan misses Matthew." He says, then adds with a smirk. "Declan, not so much."

She doesn't mean to be a burden in any way. Blue had honestly thought that she had been walking into the guidance counselor's office when she had crossed the threshold into Itinere. It had taken her by surprise to find herself in this city. Even after Adam's explanations, she still feels shocked by what had happened. But giving into that shock would only waste her time. The sensible thing is to remain calm. Panicking will get her no where.

At least she's not alone. She has Adam here and, apparently, Ronan. The situation could be much worse. But she'd hate to be in the way for either boy. They're her friends. She wants what's best for them.

She nods at Adam's comment. Of course Matthew would be missed, especially if they've been stuck here this long. Which leads Blue to another question. Her lips purse in thought before asking, "How often do people seem to arrive here?"

Blue wouldn't be a burden. Adam will adjust and make room for her. He and Ronan would give her their bed or the couch. Actually, Adam might take the floor and Ronan the couch and Blue can have the bed. Or maybe they can go to the Barns where there are plenty of rooms and less chance for Blue to notice there's only one bedroom in their apartment. They'll work something out.

Blue won't be alone. Because the bottom line is that they are friends. Here, there is no 300 Fox Way. Here, Blue will need them more than she ever had, he thinks.

"It's random. We can go weeks and months with no one new. And then sometimes it seems like it's every other day." Which doesn't help. He digs in his pocket to get out the phone they all got upon arrival. "Everyone gets one of these though. There's a contact list of everyone here whether you know them or not."

Scrolling through the phone, he finds Blue's name and holds it out to show her. "See? You just got here. Your name is there. We can text or call or video or... whatever. But you can check every day to see if any names you know are on there."

Never does Blue want to imagine her life without these boys in it. In such a short time, they’ve become as important to her as any resident of 300 Fox Way. Adam is right in thinking that she’ll need them now more than ever. Blue has never had to be on her own before.

She reaches into her pocket when Adam pulls out his phone and sure enough, there’s a phone in there that she hadn’t had previously. She looks at it curiously, skipping the welcome message to go straight to the list of contacts. There are a lot of names that she doesn’t recognize but two that she does: Adam Parrish and Ronan Lynch. That, she knows, is what matters. And though she’ll feel sheepish doing so, she’ll check every day to make sure those boys are still listed.

“I’ve never had my own phone before,” Blue tells him as she pockets the phone. “How do we pay for it?”

The phone is a novelty to Adam too. He's never had one of his own either. It's actually kind of nice to have Blue here, who isn't used to living with an excess of money like Ronan is. Almost everything in their apartment, and much of what Adam has, is because of Ronan's dreaming, not Adam's frequenting the shops.

"We don't. Nothing here costs money." He says that in an uncomfortable way. It's hard for Adam to wrap his mind around not having to have money. "It works on... an honor system, I guess. Cause there's stores and shops and things like that. No money."

Adam works here because he would go crazy if he didn't have something to do, if he didn't work. He's always worked. This garage gave him normalcy. "It's weird."

If someone handed Blue a lump sum equivalent to what Gansey so easily throws around, Blue would probably gawk. And then very sternly insist the money go to those who really need it. Being told that there's no monetary system in place isn't quite the same thing but it's close enough. She looks at Adam as if he's suddenly grown an extra head.

Honor systems? Stores and shops where people can take whatever they need? It all sounds too good to be true.

"Even before the Babylonians introduced a commodity money to their economy, people still bartered for goods," she points out. "Services might be complimentary but there's still a cost to making any good. How can something like this phone just be free?"