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Matthew Lynch is the youngest of the Lynch brothers.
The one closest to him is the middle child, Ronan Lynch. As far as Matthew can remember, Ronan has always kept his hair buzzed. If he hadn't, Matthew thinks, he'd resemble their father almost too much – the arch of his nose, the blue of his eyes, the line of his jaw. The spitting image of Niall Lynch. Ronan is definitely a character. He's mean, but not evil. Angry, but kind (at least to Matthew). Unmotivated, but talented. He has a devil-may-care attitude, and yet he navigates things with precision in order not to lose his reputation as the rebellious bastard. He swears a lot. Matthew knows this even though Ronan tries to avoid this habit of his when he's around Matthew. His words are spitfire, but when he speaks to Matthew, they're the flames of a fireplace – warm and soft.
Matthew has never really gotten acquainted with Ronan's friends. Not that he's had to, of course, but anyone who's a friend of Ronan's is a friend of Matthew's. (Matthew likes friends.) And maybe Matthew is just that observant, or maybe Ronan is just that obvious, but it's clear to him that at some point Ronan harbored a crush on Adam Parrish. (Well, Ronan isn't obvious about it as such. It's just the way his eyes get a little more intense when Adam walks into the room. It's how he can speak to or be spoken to by just about anyone, and still his eyes are set on Adam.) Matthew likes Adam. He's polite, kind of quiet. He seems... sad, sort of, like he has emotional baggage but tries to hide it. Matthew never explicitly mentions it, but he's very bad at lying, and Ronan figures it out anyway. He's okay with it, though. And as long as Ronan is happy, so is Matthew.
The oldest brother is Declan Lynch. If Ronan is fire and Matthew is wind, Declan is earth. Unwavering, neutral, rock solid. Matthew isn't sure, in fact, if Declan really is earth or if he just tries his best to be. He's certainly succeeded so far (with his – as Ronan would call them – Declanisms). Outsiders would say he's dull, but Matthew's lived with him long enough to know that underneath all that boring there are emotions confined. An earthquake suppressed inside him. But it's only a matter of time until the ground starts shaking. Nevertheless, he's kind to Matthew. (Everyone is.) He drives him to school and back home after it. He makes sure Matthew eats. He gets along better with Ronan when they're hanging out with Matthew – it's nice, he thinks, that he can be the glue between his brothers.
(Matthew Lynch is the sun. He lives in the light of the day, while Ronan has made his home in the darkness of the night. Declan is somewhere in the middle – he's an eclipse. Matthew has never seen it, the night, only heard stories of it from his brothers.)
Niall Lynch is – was – their father. He had blue eyes, a crooked nose, a dashing smile and even more charming objects he created from dreams. Mundane rules didn't apply to those. He created animals, too – cows and sheep and other unworldly creatures. They all fell asleep the moment he did. They're still at the Barns, sleeping sound, never to be woken. Niall lives on through Ronan and Declan, though. They resemble him in so many ways, and not just physical. (Ronan is a dreamer, too. He dreams and out comes all kinds of weird things. His mind works differently than Niall's did, though.)
Aurora Lynch was a good wife and an even better mother. Out of all the Lynch children, Matthew looks like her the most. He has her soft, blond hair, her bright eyes, her dazzling smile. When Matthew was a child, he didn't even know that Aurora was a dream. Now, though, he wonders what it means to be the child of a dreamer and a dream. But when one day she disappears without a warning, Matthew figures it out. He asks Ronan where she is. He says, Cabeswater. It turns out to be some magical forest Ronan and his friends had once stumbled upon. It's green and beautiful and peaceful, like all forests should be. Ronan speaks Latin to the trees and the trees speak back. Arbores loqui latine – the trees speak Latin. Matthew goes there once in a while, to see his mother.
Then he gets kidnapped by Joseph Kavinsky, a dreamer, one of Aglionby's students. He's put in a white Mitsubishi, and he's scared. Actually, genuinely scared. But he trusts that Ronan will find him. He does, and Matthew gets to go home again. Declan tells him that they're moving to Washington DC. Matthew asks why. It's better for us, Declan tells him, but Matthew thinks that it must be because of the kidnapping. But he agrees, because he doesn't have it in him to disagree. Later, he asks if he can see his mother before they leave. Ronan says, firmly, No. Matthew doesn't understand, so he just asks, Why? Somewhat ruefully, Ronan responds, Something's happening to Cabeswater. Matthew wonders if that means Aurora is dead now, or asleep like every other dream creature of Niall's. When Matthew asks Ronan, he just shrugs, wistful, in mourning. When he asks Declan, he says, Not like the old man taught us how dreaming works, hm? I'm sorry, Matthew. I don't know.
So Matthew moves to Washington DC with Declan, leaving Ronan alone at the Barns. (It feels bad, he thinks, to separate the Lynch trio. Though he guesses they weren't much of a trio, not with the amount of disagreement between Ronan and Declan. But they're still brothers, tied by blood.)
He goes to school. He doesn't stay in the building most of the day – instead, he walks out of class every day to go where he feels at home: nature. He goes to Great Falls, hikes the trail a bit to get higher. He finds his rock, his usual spot, and sits. He closes his eyes, and all he can hear is the rumble of the falls and the flow of the river. All he can smell is the water, and the trees. All he can feel is the solid, lichen-covered rock. Every day, Declan comes to get him. He tells him, You can't keep running away from school. You know that. Matthew replies, It's the Falls. Time well spent. Declan doesn't argue. He never does (or at least not a lot). Not with Matthew. (It also hits him that at this point in life education is imperative – he's 17 years old, and he's going to turn 18 in mere months. But it's okay. He'll manage with the help of his family and friends, as he always does.)
Ronan is dating Adam. It makes Matthew feel happy. They deserve it. Ronan comes and visits sometimes, just like Matthew and Declan go to the Barns once in a while to see how Ronan's doing. (Ronan never stays for long, though. When he dreams too much away from the Barns, black goo starts dripping from his nostrils and eyes. It's creepy, but it's also just Ronan.) Every so often, new creatures pop up. Matthew gets scared by Gasoline, a boar-like entity that occasionally dissolves into gas and then goes back into its physical form. But it resembles an animal, and Matthew gets along with animals, so he befriends it. Cabeswater is gone, Ronan tells him, and Matthew can't help wondering if their mother is too. Sadness isn't an emotion he finds in himself often. But losing both of his parents... He survives, though. He always does. He's bright and lively, although recently he's started to feel a bit more quiet, a bit more... tired.
One day he leaves for the Great Falls even earlier, knowing that his teacher will call Declan, who will text Ronan, but end up doing it himself anyway. Declan drives to the hiking trail (like he always does). He parks his car (like he always does). He walks uphill until he finds Matthew (like he always does). Declan tells him that his teacher called and informed his brother about his whereabouts (like she always does). Reluctantly, Matthew jumps off the boulder. (He doesn't want to. He never does.) He leans against Declan like he did when he was smaller. (He feels tired. Tired people sleep, Declan counters. He feels hungry. Hungry people eat. But it's not food he's hungry for. It's the river.) Declan reminds him that they have to meet Ronan. For his birthday. Matthew gapes. He... He forgot. He can't quite believe that. It's Ronan. It's his birthday.
Declan pauses by a bush, kneeling. He tuts a few times, as if trying to lure something to him. When he rises, there's a somewhat unhealthy looking bird – raven (corvus corax by its Latin name, Matthew remembers this from Aglionby Academy) – in his arms. Matthew stares at it. It doesn't look normal. What's wrong with her? Matthew asks, because he thinks he recognizes the look of it. It's tired. Hungry. As he realizes this, his face adopts an expression that doesn't feel natural on him. He narrows his eyes, furrows his brows. He stares. Stares some more. Stares past the raven – other dream creatures, blue moths laying on the thin branches of the bush. Same thing as me, he says coolly. If I was Dad's, I'd be asleep, he states. The truth is slowly sinking into him. Why he feels so tired all the time. Why he wanders to Great Falls almost daily. So I must be one of Ronan's. Ronan's, his brother's, his creator's. He's a dream, just like his mother was. A dreamer, a dream, a dreamer, a dream.
Matthew Lynch's world has always been upright. Today, it comes crashing down. Today, he sees the night.