Entry #004 | Video

[quaerit]

[ Here is Gansey, looking a little strange. He’s wearing a navy-blue sweater emblazoned with a raven – an Aglionby school sweater, over what appears to be ordinary clothes. His shoulders and hair are damp, like he’s been rained on, and he looks strangely pale. Despite that, he’s displaying a welcoming smile, and his hazel eyes are bright and vital with some emotion he’s holding back. ]

Apparently, I vanished yesterday.

I say apparently because it feels more like several weeks ago, but according to this – [ he holds up one of De Chima’s daily newspapers – a tabloid, headlined with speculation about the upcoming import elections ] – it’s only been a day.

A lot can happen in a day. Sometimes things that give you perspective.

Can I ask – the school year is almost over. Some of you will be graduating. I will. Which is odd, because I was here for eight months, and then I went home and it was Fall again, and Senior year was just beginning. I’m not completely sure what age I am now. I turned eighteen a couple of months ago.

[ Which, he actually never mentioned. It had seemed like there were more important things to be getting along with, and the thought of getting older in the wrong world had annoyed Gansey anyway. He’d kept quiet. Now, if he could do that over again, he thinks he’d celebrate it more – even though he’s only mentioning it now because it’s relevant to this. ]

Then I go home, and I’m seventeen again, so now I don’t even know what counts. Graduation will, though, I know that much.

So: to everyone else who’s graduating. Or even if you’re not, even if it’s just that you see change coming for you. What are your plans? Will you work, will you travel? What would you like to do, ideally? I think I’m ready for it to be summer again.

Private to: Billy Kaplan, Adam Parrish, Ronan Lynch, Noah Czerny, Matthew Lynch

[ This part goes to everyone’s private inboxes. Gansey’s smile is less presidential here, but his eyes are even sharper. He seems energized, like he’s on the edge of something. His voice is trying not to sound like it. ]

Hey, everyone. I very much hope I didn’t worry you. I think I was mid-conversation with you, Billy. I’ll have to blame my rudeness on the Porter.

Listen, I’m on my way home. Could someone bring the car and pick me up? I’m getting pizza from that Italian place near the porter in De Chima. I’m absolutely famished.

I’d…like to know if anyone else vanished, too. Ronan, Adam?

Comments

[doubleblind]

[Cosima shrugs, knowing it's not the most sophisticated plan, but plans similar to it have worked for her in the past.]

Are they really? I feel like a good lawyer could argue they're not.

It's just an idea. My sisters and I have successfully pulled off the Parent Trap routine before. It can work.

[quaerit]

[ Gansey leans back, considering it. ]

So our plan is to send clones to lead the guards on a merry chase, while we get close to the Porter.

I suppose then we’d need to know what we were doing to it. We wouldn’t have long.

[doubleblind]

We'd need to find someone who knows what they're doing, you mean. Like I said, I'm not a hacker.

[quaerit]

Even a hacker would need to know what to look for. We have to know what we're going in there for, before we do anything.

[doubleblind]

Yeah, which... Is where my plan sort of falls apart, sorry. I'm not sure what we'd be looking for. This is the first time I'm really thinking about it from this angle. But there has to be something we can use. Some info we could get from the Porter itself.

[quaerit]

It's all right. I don't truly know, either, and it's a risky card to play when we're uncertain.

[ And Gansey has, historically speaking, not been very good at risk. He's more willing for it than he used to be, though. He runs a thumb across his lip. ]

But I'm not opposed, if we can refine this further. It's an opportunity I wouldn't want to waste, that's all. You were right. It merits bringing more people on board.

[doubleblind]

[Rash decisions are practically genetic when it comes to Cosima and her sisters, but of all of them, she's the worst at improvising. She likes having a solid plan if they're going to do something reckless.]

Oh yeah, man, I'd want a real plan before we even thought about going through with it. You're right that it's not an opportunity we want to waste, especially because I can't imagine we'd get more than one chance at it. I just figure, we can do some research. See what others have tried to do regarding accessing the Porter and figuring out how it operates.

[quaerit]

That works for me.

[ He’ll mention it to Adam; that’s his ideas man. Gansey will want him in on this. ]

I’ll see who I can recruit; I have a few ideas. Unfortunately, the pair that got caught at this last time are gone.

[doubleblind]

You ever ask them how they got caught?

[quaerit]

Mmm. The thing inside the Porter reacted badly, threw them back. That brought the soldiers rushing in, and there was nothing they could do.

[doubleblind]

Yeah, let's not have a repeat of that exit.

[quaerit]

Agreed. All they got out of the creature was that it wasn't Lachesis. And that it asked to be left alone, that too.

[doubleblind]

Don't we all. It gave up that luxury when we were all forcibly brought here.