“Oh,” I said, wanting to ask if that was why things shattered between them but not wanting to reveal that I knew more about Mark than I should. “That was after he rescued you from the AM?”

“Rescued,” Sam muttered. “That’s one way to put it.”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“He kind of … kidnapped me,” Mark said.

“Oh.”

“Yeah…” he continued, “he was supposed to bring me to my sister and to Sam, but he kind of … went rogue. Before … everything happened, he actually wanted to share his ability with me. He’s never found anyone like him before and I guess … I guess he thought I was the next best thing.”

I wanted to jump in, to explain that I don’t think it was just about that, that Damien dreamt every night about losing Mark, that Mark had broken more than his ability. But hearing Mark talk about the road trip Damien had dragged him on, like he was bitter as hell, but also like he missed it, I decided it wasn’t my place.

“So it wasn’t Wadsworth’s serum that took his power away,” I said, trying to sift through everything Damien had told me and find the lies. “It was you.”

Every face turned toward me in surprise. I guess I knew more than I was supposed to.

“He told you about Wadsworth?” Mark asked.

“Yeah.” I nodded. “About how she handcuffed him to the bed, experimented on him, how she’s immune to Atypicals … but he also told me that she was the one who took away his ability. Not that he wanted to be immune.”

“That’s why he tried to kidnap me,” Adam piped up. “Wadsworth is my aunt.”

“What?”

“He thought he could use me to get to her, but then Caleb…”

“I got overwhelmed,” Caleb said, looking at his hands. “All the emotions … everyone’s anger … I’m the reason his power is gone. I beat it out of him.”

“God,” I breathed, wincing.

“No one blames you, Caleb,” Dr. Bright said soothingly. “You were protecting Adam. Who knows what Damien would have done.”

“Damien had his ability back by then,” Mark explained to me. “It took him a while, after our abilities collided, but he got it back. And he’s dangerous with his ability. He used it to gaslight me for months, to manipulate my sister for years, put Adam in danger…”

“I had no idea,” I said, thinking about the man crawling out of the ground and what else Damien had used his ability for.

“Yeah, he’s good at making you believe he’s a decent guy,” Mark said darkly, looking down at his hands, and my stomach dropped. “Believe me.”