“Oh.” I nodded, going for casual. “Cool.”

“And, remember, I can’t do it anymore anyway so … you’re safe.”

“That’s not—”

He gave me a look.

“Okay, so yeah, I got a little freaked for a second, give me a break.” It was my turn to roll my eyes. “I’m still new to this whole Atypical thing.”

“Didn’t you say your whole family was Atypical?” he asked.

“Yeah, they are, but I don’t know…” I tried to find the right words to explain the difference. “It’s always been so normal, my family having their abilities. I mean, we grew up with my dad moving things without lifting a finger and my mom predicting the future, so when Aaron started reading minds, it just felt like … of course. Of course this is my life. But it was always a secret—we don’t talk about Atypical stuff with anyone. So the fact that I’ve now met dozens of people—total strangers, all of them—who are Atypical too, it’s…”

“Yeah, I get it,” Damien said. “I remember when I met my first group of Atypicals. It was … a lot to process.”

“How old were you?” I asked. “Did you grow up with Atypicals?”

“No, I was about your age, actually, when I first started hanging out with people who were like me, but—” He stopped himself and narrowed his eyes at me. “Rose, why did you want to get coffee with me? It sounds like you’ve had plenty of opportunities over the past few months to hang out with other people like you, so were you just looking for an Atypical friend or do you…”

“Do I what?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” He put his coffee cup down on the bench and crossed his arms. “I was kind of hoping that you’d had some information about the AM. Something I could use.”

“Use for what?”

“The woman in charge of the whole outfit, Wadsworth … I think she’s holding out on me.” He grimaced. “I think that she knows how to fix me and has set me loose so she can treat the world like her lab.”

“I…” I had no idea what to say to that. “I don’t have any information you can use,” I admitted. “I was just … curious, I guess. About what I saw. About what the AM was really like.”

“Did I satisfy your curiosity?” he asked dryly and I snorted.

“I wish,” I said. “I just have more questions now.”

“Yeah, you and me both,” he grumbled.

“Do you think—I mean, if someone was—the thing is—”

“Rose, whatever weird invasive question you’re gonna ask, just ask it.” He sighed wearily. “I’ve answered every possible question about myself in the past two months.”

“No, it’s not that.” I shook my head, like rattling my brain around would help it think better. “It’s … my dad is sick.”