We all turn to look toward the voice, and see a girl a little older than me and Caleb, staring incredulously at us. All at once, I notice how sunny it is in the park, how in public we are. I’d forgotten where I was, drawn in by Damien.

“Oh boy,” Damien mutters before raising his voice and turning toward the girl. “Well, isn’t this just turning out to be a party?”

“Why are you scaring a couple of teenagers?” she demands, walking toward us, arms folded. I’m uneasy—her chambray shirt is covered in paint stains, hair a mess, wild intensity in her eyes. Is this park full of weirdos all the time?

“What makes you think I’m scaring them?” Damien asks sweetly.

“How do you think?” she snarks, jaw twitching.

“Ah, right”—Damien nods—“that pesky mind reader.”

“Damien,” she hisses, looking around her and stepping closer.

Wait, what did Damien just say?

“Oh, don’t worry,” he says in a placating tone, “we’re in privileged company. Caleb here is a patient of Dr. B.’s. Just ignore the other one.”

“Hey!” Caleb shouts as I eke out an offended “Excuse me?” My head is a mess. I can’t decide who’s a friend and who’s a foe and all I want to do is put my hand in Caleb’s, bury my head in his shoulder, but he feels so far away from me.

“Don’t talk to him like that,” Caleb says, snapped out of his reverie, and I start to feel the warmth of his body again.

“I think you should get out of here, Damien,” the girl says, more fiercely than her hippie appearance and small stature would suggest was possible.

“Don’t you want to catch up?” Damien says flirtatiously. “Shoot the breeze? It’s been a minute.”

“Seriously,” she bites, “or I’ll call the police.”

“Okay, okay.” Damien puts his hands up, rising from the bench. “No need to go nuclear. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you soon anyway, Chloe. I daresay the tides are turning for ol’ Damien.”

“Just go,” she sneers.

“Ta-ta, kiddos.” Damien waves as he walks away. “Nice chatting with you boys.”

As he walks away, my head starts to clear, revealing a swirl of frustration. I don’t understand what just happened, but all I know is that my boyfriend was giving priority to some strange, older guy while I was sitting here, clearly uncomfortable. Was I uncomfortable? I can’t even remember anymore.

I wait until Damien reaches the edge of the park to speak.

“Well,” I start, “that was interesting.”

“Wait…” Caleb seems to be recalibrating. “Why are you angry? And why is it the ‘angry at Caleb’ kind of angry?”

“You can tell the difference?” I ask, momentarily distracted by the finer points of his power.