“You like plans a lot, don’t you?” Kane bit the straw of his drink. “Plans and facts.”

“I’m that obvious?”

“Yeah. I’ve witnessed like three conversations with you, and in every one you can’t stop correcting people. I don’t know how Adeline and Ursula deal with it. You’re extremely patronizing.”

A blush climbed up Elliot’s neck. He looked like he was going to defend himself, but then he looked at his hands.

“I deserve that,” he muttered.

The old words stirred in Kane, all the acid he’d saved up for Elliot and the Others, but those emotions were flat now, like old soda. He didn’t know what to say to move the conversation past it, though. Thankfully, Elliot offered a path forward.

“You and I were working on this theory together, before, you know,” he said. “About how our powers come from our pain or from parts of ourselves we hate. For instance, I really like facts and planning, but all I can do is create illusions. Lies and manipulation. And Ursula, right? She’s like, the least confrontational person I know. She hates violence, but her power gives her that brutal strength. Seems kinda strange, right?”

“What about me? And Adeline?”

“You can ask Adeline that. And we never figured yours out.” Elliot’s face was still red, his shoulders tense like he was waiting to be eviscerated again, but Kane wasn’t buying the hurt act.

“It’s kind of weird that you hate manipulating people with illusions. You seem very good at it.”

Elliot’s laugh was humorless. Resigned. “Runs in the family, I guess. My dad was a big-time liar. Super manipulative. And sometimes I don’t even think he knew he was doing it. I think that’s why my power freaks me out. Like, what if one day I don’t know, either? I never want to be as good at lying as he was.”

“Was?”

“Yeah. We moved away from him. My aunt lives in East Amity. That’s why we came here. It’s a lot better now, for my mom, I mean. And my sisters.”

Elliot felt far away now, out to sea on the swells of huge and mysterious thoughts. Kane wanted to reel him back in.

“And what about you?”

Elliot rolled his lips together, then nodded. “It’s better for me, too.”

This boy who had scared Kane—who still scared Kane—had shared something precious, placing it right into Kane’s poised jaws. Was this vulnerability sincere, or was it all just manipulation after all? Either way, Kane had to proceed gently.

“I’m sorry,” Kane said finally. “I didn’t know any of that.”

Elliot seemed to remember who he was talking to and cleared the emotion out of his throat.