Kane even went there on Saturdays, like today. Anything to escape the eerie music of Sophia practicing viola and his parents bickering in the backyard about where to put this new plant or that red mulch. The hypernormal soundtrack of a suburban hellscape, which made it impossible to imagine a drag queen sorceress watching over East Amity, and even harder to imagine just a garden-variety, standard-issue drag queen in East Amity to begin with. But here in Roost, among books about curses and adventures and cities that clung to the outermost rim of space, it was all a bit more real. A bit more reachable. Kane didn’t feel so lost.

And he liked the staff. They knew all about him but never asked about any of the town-wide drama that his name represented. They saved him a seat near the outlets and brought him leftover corn muffins from the café, and they even let Kane bring in his blue Slurpees from the 7-Eleven across the street so long as he put them on a saucer, as not to mess up the wooden tables. In short, they gave him plenty of space.

Sometimes, though, Kane wished they would ask how he was doing. Or what was going on in his head. But they didn’t, and so Kane poured his thoughts into the journal instead, until his hand was as tight and cramped as his heart.

“So you’re a writer now?”

Kane closed the red journal quickly, unaware anyone had even sat down next to him. When he looked up, he was staring through a sweep of dirty-blond hair, into laughing, hazel eyes.

Elliot.

“Wait!” He put his hands up, trying to keep Kane from running. “I just want to talk, okay?”

Kane pushed the journal under some books. How long had Elliot been sitting there, invisible? Had he seen what Kane was writing? It was a list of places the loom might be.

“What do you want, Elliot?”

Elliot glanced around. “Can we maybe find somewhere else? I’ve got my car out front.”

“No. We stay here. And don’t use your powers again. That’s not fair.”

“All right. But you, too, okay?”

“I don’t even know how to use my powers.”

This was a lie. He had been practicing summoning the ethereal fire, then dousing it when the objects in his room began to float.

“Adeline said you did well in the Cooper reverie. Like a natural.”

“Well, don’t worry. I won’t be doing any snapping or clapping anytime soon.”

Elliot did a good job pretending this reassured him, but overall the boy still looked a bit surprised to find them actually talking. He fidgeted until Kane repeated his question.

“What do you want?”

“I guess I wanted to apologize. We were always planning on bringing you back into the Others, but not like that. Nothing went according to my plan, and it’s my fault.”