“They don’t talk about it.” He throws up his hands, and in doing so, pushes more of his nervous energy onto me. “A lot of the research they do is confidential!”

“See what I mean?” I turn away from him, pacing the tiny room. “Who knows what shady shit they’re up to!”

A lance of burning-hot hurt pierces through me and I stay faced away from Adam so I don’t have to see the pain I’m feeling etched on his face.

“Hey,” he barks, “those are my parents!”

“Gentlemen, let’s try to remain civil, please.”

Dr. Bright’s voice cuts through the tension, some of her Therapist-Mode calm—still real and solid—soothing the burn. I’d forgotten she was there—so caught up in Adam’s feelings that hers were a distant memory. I can’t process like this, and I’m relieved when Dr. Bright agrees to leave us alone in her office, even though I’m left with the swirling whirlpool of anger-hurt-fear that’s standing in front of me in the shape of my boyfriend.

My boyfriend who cares about me. Who knows about my weird ability and likes me anyway. My boyfriend who would never put me in harm’s way or tell my secret or betray me. I’m being a dick.

“I’m sorry,” I sigh, turning to look at Adam and trying to hold myself together. “I overreacted earlier. Chloe saw a bunch of stuff, but we don’t know anything for sure.”

Adam’s shoulders inch down as he exhales, and I step forward to bridge the chasm between us. His face is relaxing and just looking at it makes my insides untwist.

“And besides,” I continue, “it’s not like you’ve told your parents about me, so even if they were experimenting on people—”

His shoulders tense in their descent from around his ears and fear grabs my heart in its fist, pushing it up toward my throat.

“Wait.” I stop in my tracks. “Why do you feel scared?”

“I—” The blood has drained from Adam’s face and he’s staring at me in a way that makes me want to look behind me to see what horrible monster is lurking in the shadows. “I did tell them about you.”

“What?” My stomach drops to the ground. The fist tightens.

“Only sort of! After I first found out,” he says. “I wanted to make sure I wasn’t going completely crazy. So I asked some questions, you know? To see if it was neurologically possible. And my dad talked about all this theoretical stuff that mostly went over my head but it made me realize that you weren’t messing with me.”