After Aaron and I realized that we were IN THE SAME DREAM, we just sort of stood there in the hallway for a moment, staring blankly at each other. I had wanted to sit down, catch my breath, maybe have some coffee, and talk things through with him. Go over every detail of the dream and figure out if he had been dreaming about school before I got there, or if I had, or if we were somehow building something separately together. But Aaron put a wrench in that very civilized plan.

“Mom!” he shouted, his eyes not moving from my face. “Dad!”

Traitor.

Fifteen minutes later, we were all gathered around the kitchen table, sipping our coffee, our parents silently processing everything we’d just told them.

“Anyone want to say something?” I blurted, the veneer of calm freaking me out. “Chime in about what the hell is going on?”

“This explains the narcolepsy at least” was all my dad had to say.

“I knew this wasn’t a ‘run-of-the-mill’ sleep disorder,” my mom said, shaking her head. “It never is.”

“Except you didn’t know,” I pointed out. “You didn’t have a vision about me being Atypical, Aaron wasn’t able to read it in my thoughts … so let’s not pretend like I’m the only one here who didn’t know what was going on. I still don’t know what’s going on.”

“Don’t be mad at me for not foreseeing this,” my mom said. “You know I don’t choose when or about what to have my visions.”

“I’m not—” I sighed, stifling my outburst like always, before starting again. “I’m not mad at anyone, I just … I want to understand. What do we think is wrong with me?”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Rose,” my dad said, reaching his hand across the table to pat my arm. “You’re Atypical. That’s a beautiful thing.”

My dad was smiling softly at me, genuine warmth and excitement glittering in his eyes. Finally, I was part of the club, joining him in the specialness of being different, being magic. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw both my mom’s and Aaron’s expressions tighten around the mouth and eyes. Telekinesis has always been a fun, magical thing for Dad, but my mom and brother have a different relationship to their Atypical abilities. My dad has a gift, they have burdens. I wonder which mine will be.

“All right, what do we know?” Aaron asked after a moment. “You’re sleeping a lot and you were in my dream. And we were able to talk to each other, but I was definitely still asleep. Are you a mind reader too?”

“She’s a dreamdiver.” My dad smiled and the word sent a shiver up my spine.

“A dreamdiver.” I breathed. “What is that?”