“You don’t know.” A single tear breaks through my defenses and slides down my face, getting lost in the rain. “You don’t know what I’ve done. What I’m going to do.”

He takes my hand, his fingers entwining with mine. “Tell me.”

“I’m the one who kills the others.”

As soon as I speak the words, everything else pours out of me. Everything I learned at the library. Everything Future-Adam told me. Everything I saw in the safe. I don’t hold anything back.

Adam looks shocked at first, but he doesn’t let go of my hand. With each confession, I’m sure he’ll turn on me, sure he’ll look at me like I’m a murderer and run away. But he doesn’t.

“They set you up,” he finally says. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. You’re not a killer, Elena.”

“I am.” I close my eyes and lean back against the wall. I have to tell him everything. “Remember how Trent mentioned Bright Haven, the group home? And how I messed up three girls?”

“Yeah.”

“I lost control then too.” I’ve never told anyone about this. I’ve buried the memory as best I could, but I can’t deny this part of me anymore. “There was this one girl there, Nina. She was small for her age and real dainty, like a doll. But there was something off about her too. She didn’t talk much, and she’d just stare at you with these big brown eyes, like she had no idea it was rude.

“She’d wear her clothes inside out and she’d walk around with a huge stack of books balanced on her head. She didn’t bother anyone, but the other kids thought she was weird. They picked on her a lot. I saw it, but I didn’t do anything, ’cause I didn’t want to get involved. I just wanted to keep my head low and get through my time there. But it got worse and worse, and the taunts turned to bruises…”

My voice breaks, and I have to stop a moment to breathe against the rush of painful memories flooding me. “One day I heard moaning from another room. I knew someone was in pain, and I had to check it out. There were these three girls, really nasty girls who pushed everyone around, and they had Nina. She was on the floor, and…and they didn’t even need to hold her down anymore. They’d beaten her within an inch of her life and covered her in lighter fluid. I walked in right when they were about to light her up. And when I saw her—broken, lying there, unable to protect herself—something within me snapped. I turned on those girls and I hurt them. By the time someone stopped me, none of them could move.”