“You sure what you’re picking up is pity?” Elwin countered as Keefe fanned the air. “Because from what I’ve heard, pity can feel a whole lot like empathy—and apparently empathy is an emotion a lot of Empaths struggle to distinguish. Don’t ask me why—maybe the name throws you guys off? Either way, I can’t speak for Fitz and Ro. But for me”—he held out his hand—“I think you should check your reading.”

Keefe glared at Elwin’s fingers, waiting for him to give up. But Elwin just sat there, raising one eyebrow until Keefe finally swiped his thumb across Elwin’s pinky.

“Focus,” Elwin said when Keefe doubled over. “Take a deep breath if you need it.”

Keefe closed his eyes and inhaled, struggling to sort through the emotions battering his senses.

He’d never felt a reading so strongly—not even while Sophie was enhancing him.

But as his breathing steadied and his mind sharpened, he realized Elwin was right.

There was no pity.

Only worry, and frustration, and concern, and sadness, and anger, and determination, and lots of other things that twisted together into something that felt… warm.

Elwin cared.

“I think you’re starting to get it,” Elwin said, waiting for Keefe to look at him before he added, “I understand why you’re trying to push everyone away. You’ve had so many people let you down that it’s hard for you to trust anybody. But I’m on your side, Keefe. No matter what happens. And I promise, I’ll never give you any judgment or pity. I’m just here to help you through this, so will you please let me? We can even come up with one of those names you’re always giving things. Team Sencen-Heslege?”

“Huh—I never knew your last name,” Fitz mumbled.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” Elwin told him, before turning back to Keefe. “So, what do you say? Team Sencen-Heslege for the win? Or maybe Team Troublemaker and the Worrying Doctor?”

“Oh! Team Funkyhair and Funkyclothes!” Ro suggested, pointing to the krakens covering Elwin’s sleeves.

“Hey, don’t knock my special tunics!” Elwin told her. “I’m a trendsetter! In fact, I think Keefe and I should get matching outfits as our team uniform. Maybe gulons—or are you still trying to pretend you had nothing to do with that?” He frowned when Keefe didn’t smile. “Come on, Keefe. Stop overthinking this. The more you sink into your head, the more you’re going to keep missing important stuff. Like, oh… I don’t know… how about the fact that what’s going on with your empathy sure sounds a lot like what happens when everyone first manifests?”

Keefe sat up taller.

“Ha, didn’t think about that, did you?” Elwin asked.

No.

He definitely hadn’t.

And Elwin was right.

This was exactly how he’d felt when he’d manifested as an Empath.

Well, maybe not exactly—but it was close enough.

Special abilities were always disorienting in the beginning.

It was normal to be overwhelmed.

In fact, when his empathy first kicked in, he’d ended up laughing and crying at the same time—and he’d gotten majorly queasy that night. And sure, the nausea was partly because he suddenly had proof of how little his parents cared about him—but it was also because being an Empath is rough sometimes.

“You’re feeling better now, aren’t you?” Elwin asked.

He absolutely was.

He also wasn’t sure if he wanted to kick himself for being so dense, or wrap Elwin up in a giant bear hug. But he settled for collapsing back onto his pillows, shaking with so much laughter that it was a little tough to breathe.

“Um… I think it might be time to give our boy a sedative,” Ro noted.

“No, I’m fine,” Keefe choked out—meaning it for the first time. “It’s just… Don’t you realize what this means? My mom almost killed me, and did painful experiments on herself and my dad, and took Bangs Boy prisoner, and made a really bad deal with King Enki—and who knows what other ridiculous stuff she did—all so she could make me manifest as an Empath all over again! It’s like… the most epic fail of all epic fails!”

Another round of laughter took over, and he curled his knees into his chest as relieved tears streamed down his cheeks.

His mom hadn’t changed him!

All he needed was a couple of days for his empathy to settle down and then he’d be back to his old self again!

Or that’s what he’d started to believe—until Fitz had to go and prove that he was the worst best friend in the history of best friends by asking, “Okay, but… what about the mimicking?”

“Mimicking?” Elwin repeated as Keefe tried to calculate how many times he could smack the teal-eyed Wonderboy with his pillow before Elwin stopped him.

He should’ve just grabbed the pillow and started whomping, because then he could’ve stopped Fitz from adding, “That’s why Keefe got so pale after he impersonated my voice. He thought it felt like he’d tapped into some sort of deeper instinct—which sounds like mimicking, doesn’t it? And his mom is a Polyglot. And Polyglots usually have more than one ability, so…”

Keefe went back to strangling his blankets. “Might as well go ahead and say it, Fitzy, since you clearly already believe it.”

Fitz kicked his toe into the side of his boot. “Even if I’m right, it’s not like it’s a bad thing. So you’re a Polyglot and an Empath? That—”

“You are?” a new voice interrupted.

A beautiful voice.

Keefe’s favorite voice—even when it was all squeaky with worry.

But he’d barely caught a glimpse of a pair of gold-flecked brown eyes before he called out, “ ’Bout time you got here, Foster!” before an emotional storm crashed against his senses.

Panic and confusion and joy and fear and frustration—plus a billion other things Keefe couldn’t translate because it was way too much for his poor pounding brain.

“Uh, you should probably step back, Sophie,” Fitz warned. “I think your emotions are too strong for him.”

“No, they’re not!” Keefe argued—and wow, did his voice sound strained. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Nothing’s wrong. I swear, I’m fine.”

“He keeps saying that,” Fitz told her—because he was begging for a face-punch. And if the world hadn’t gotten so spinny, Keefe might’ve given it to him when Fitz added, “But Keefe’s been picking up all of our emotions without even trying. And he’s always been able to do that with you, so I think you’re overwhelming him right now.”

“Okay, I’m done liking Captain Perfectpants,” Ro announced.

Keefe was right there with her—which was probably why he blurted out, “Uh, for the record, most of the emotions are coming from you, Fitzy. You wouldn’t happen to have some unresolved feelings for anyone in this room, would you?”

Agonizing silence followed—along with enough misery to make the room blurry. All Keefe could see were splotches of color, and he closed his eyes and reached up to rub his temples, trying to think of something to fix the mess he’d just made—but that only made the dizziness worse.