This one is signed G. Kelsey’s sister maybe, I’m guessing from the way she refers to her parents—as if they share them. Another minute of flipping through the book and it’s obvious that they used it as a journal traded between the two of them. And G is apparently Gabrielle. There is one place where it is fully spelled out. Looking at the dates, it seems like the entries start on the front inside cover, then jump to the back inside cover, then over the title and end pages before eventually starting again randomly at page fifty-six and running almost to the end of the book up and down the margins.

Why are we using a book? G asks at one point. We could get a blank notebook. WITH MORE SPACE.

The next day, the answer: Because they’ll come looking for it eventually. K

Kelsey and Gabrielle keep pretty detailed notes: when they seem to know things before they happen; when they are right about somebody’s feelings; when they suspect someone is lying; when they finally have proof. They treat it all like a game. Each time they are proven right, they record it in all caps and with a star. DOUBLE POINTS!

I wonder how Gabrielle has been lucky enough to avoid being locked in here. I flip back to the beginning to see how it started. How they first figured out reading people was an actual thing they could do. Because Quentin told me, and then my dad confirmed it, and even then it took weeks for it to feel real. And Gabrielle and Kelsey didn’t have anyone telling them anything, much less their scientist dad.

I told you today. And the weirdest part was how you said “me too” right away like you’d been waiting. K

And so it had started small with trust and a secret confession from Kelsey, and from there they tried reading people together, seeing if they were right. They had practiced on each other, too. They learned most of the things that I had about crowds making it harder and eye contact making it easier. The only difference was that they’d had each other to share it with. It makes my chest ache imagining Gideon and me, or better yet Cassie and me, or some sister that doesn’t exist, going through this whole thing together. Having each other.