“The same Kendall who locked us in a cabin in the middle of the woods so some maniac could try to saw open your brain? I get it, you want to help the other girls, Wylie, but this is—”

“I believe him,” I say. “The way Kendall looked at me and handed me that note. Listen, I can try to explain what it’s like to have this Outlier thing. How sharp and clear it can be. Maybe someday when my dad gets all his research done there will even be some way to measure it. To hold it up for everyone to see. But right now, it’s only a feeling. My feeling. And I can’t promise you that it’s right.” I turn to look at Jasper. “Also, technically, I don’t think Quentin was going to saw open my brain.” I smile, trying to lighten the mood. It’s not working.

“Do you think this is some kind of joke?” he snaps.

“Listen, you don’t even have to come—”

“Don’t give me that bullshit,” he says. And he is angry. Angry because he is worried. “Obviously, I’m going to come. And you know it.”

Do I know that? Did I realize that when I made Jasper drive me here? Maybe.

I will do this on my own, there’s no question about that. But I would prefer to have somebody with me when I knock on this door. And I would prefer for that person to be Jasper. I feel how much he wants to hear that. He needs me to say it: that I want him with me.

“To be clear, I would like you to come with me. You specifically because I trust you and you make me feel . . . better.” I wince. Wow, for someone who can feel everyone else’s feelings, I am still shit at talking about my own. Even the ones that I am willing to admit, which—I am beginning to realize—may be far less than their true sum. “But I won’t be mad if you don’t come. And you won’t be abandoning me. I can and I will do this on my own.”

Jasper looks up at me out of the corner of his eye, then ahead again through the windshield. Finally, he nods. His anger has vanished, replaced by a faint twinge of satisfaction. And warmth. That was exactly what he needed me to say. And there it is: the first time that I’ve used what I know from being an Outlier to make someone feel good, to make things better. For a moment it lifts the heaviness off everything. For a second, it gives me hope.