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Will leaned back against the headrest of his family’s rental car, trying to block out the sound of the arguing going on across the vehicle. His parents sat in the front of the car, his older brother next to him, as the scenery of Washington D.C. flew past the window. They’d only been in the city for two days, and already his brother was complaining.

“I’m bored,” Michael told his parents, crossing his arms across his chest. Will’s brother, Michael, was a year and a half older than him, and they didn’t get along about anything. He was taller than Will, who was already tall himself, but weighed almost twice as much as Will did, and had glasses. The two looked nothing alike.

“We know, Michael,” their father said, sounding quite clearly agitated. Their mother was just looking out the window, but she remained silent for the moment.

“When can we go somewhere else?” Michael prodded earnestly. “We’re on the east coast; there are tons of places we can go that are more interesting than it is here, and they’re within driving distance.”

“Yeah, if you want to sit in the car for hours,” Will grumbled under his breath. Michael turned and glared at him.

“Shut up, Will,” he bit out angrily. William just rolled his eyes and sat back in the seat of the car again, glaring at his brother. As Michael spoke again, he began picking disinterestedly at his nails, cleaning the dirt that had gotten beneath one.

“Well?” Michael asked impatiently. “Can we go somewhere else?”

William caught his father’s eyes in the rear-view mirror as he looked in the backseat at both his sons. “And where would you presume we’d go, Michael?” he questioned patiently, turning his eyes quickly back to the road. William’s mother just exhaled in annoyance.

“I don’t know,” Michael admitted. “North somewhere? The last place I want to go is further south. New York? Philadelphia? Boston?”

William rolled his eyes once more. “Boston is 450 miles from here, you idiot. That’s like an eight-hour drive, if we’re lucky.”

“Not the way Dad drives,” Michael mumbled under his breath, though at a quick glare from the rearview mirror, he silenced himself. Usually, their father would only speed when their mother wasn’t in the car or she had fallen asleep, which always happened on their long trips to their vacation house.

“So? Not Boston then,” Michael decided. “That doesn’t rule a bunch of other places out.”

They both saw their father begin to steer toward the highway, and the boys in the back exchanged a glance. “Dad? Where are we going?” Will questioned.

Their father smiled quietly. “I think that Boston sounds like a wonderful idea,” he replied, and their mother gave him a strange look. “In fact, there’s this quaint little town near Boston a co-worker told me about that I think we can check out one day while we’re up there. It’s supposed to be very nice town. It’s called Eldermoor.”

He gave his youngest son a pointed look from the rearview mirror, and William felt his breath catching in his throat. Finding out that his father knew about Spencer had been surprise enough, but it made sense because of where their rendezvous took place. But Will had no idea how his father had found out about Niall, let alone where he went to school. How long had he known?

“What do you think, Will?” his father questioned.

The idea of being able to see Niall at his school boosted Will’s spirits again, despite the fact that that meant that he’d have to be in a car with his family for hours. “Um…good,” Will said in a strangled voice. “It sounds good.”

His father smiled. “Well then it’s settled,” he said. “Massachusetts, here we come.”