The door to his room creaked shut behind him.
Percy crossed to the cupboard immediately and pulled out the diary. He skimmed through page after page, sweat trailing down his face.
He couldn't read any of it.
"No. No..."
"I'm... I'm Percy?"
"No. That isn't right. Something is wrong."
He braced himself and slammed his head against the table.
Bamm !!
Downstairs Dana felt the impact through the ceiling. She jolted, hands stilling on the groceries.
"Brother?" She moved toward the stairs. "Is everything alright? Did you fall? Brother?...."
She was about to go up when his voice came down.
"I'm alright, Dana. I was trying to scare off a rat."
Dana stopped on the first step.
"A rat."
She looked slowly around the hallway. Then shivered, went back to the kitchen, and resumed putting things away with slightly more urgency than before.
---
Ronan surfaced.
He looked at Percy from the outside of himself , forehead bruised, bleeding slightly, hunched over the table.
"I'm Ronan."
