"Trick doesn't know. He doesn't remember any of what happened. I'd really prefer it stays that way." And now he did look to Riley, because this was important. Patrick despised him for what he was, and Liam had come to terms with that. It was better, as far as he was concerned, for that to be the way of it. If his brother thought for an instant that all the evil Liam had done had been in many ways for his sake, he worried it would break him.

He offered a smile. "It was the stupidest thing. I was climbing a tree, and Trick wanted to do it too. I told him he was still a baby and he couldn't. I told him not to follow me. He did anyway, and I didn't stop him. I just kept going. He made it all the way up. But he slipped and he fell and there were all these roots and rocks and he wasn't moving." A tiny broken body twisted in a way that a body shouldn't move, motionless and silent and Liam screaming for him to wake up and---

He shook his head to try to banish the memory, like maybe his brain was just a glorified Etch-a-Sketch. "This... is ruining a perfectly good picnic. Sorry. I promised you a tour of the local hidden treasures, not a trek down bad memory lane."