"You don't know me." Standing, the chair bumped against the edge of the desk and ricocheted back to hit the back of my knee as I turned to face Calin, almost forcing me back down. I took a step forward. "We became friends while my memory was gone, so don't act like you know me. I didn't even know me."
                          
"We were friends on the boat."
                          
I crossed my arms and looked down to study Onyx. "I don't..." Licking my lips, I shifted me weight and met Calin's gaze. "I don't remember that."
                          
Calin's gaze softened from accusation to sympathy, like I deserved to be pitied. "So, break down what you do remember, and I can help you figure out what's missing."
                          
"You expect me to remember what I've forgotten?"
                          
"What do you remember?"
                          
"I lived an entire life before moving here, you know. That's too much to list."
                          
"Then tell me what you want now," he said. "Let me help you."
                          
"I want to catch the prankster."
                          
"That's it?"
                          
"Yes." I nodded. Sitting back down in the chair, I felt drained, like keeping a distance was sapping all my energy. "For now, all I can concentrate on is that. With everything else so jumbled, it's too confusing. I know what we said about... us, but..." I looked up. "I need time."
                          
"I can give you time," he said, nodding, "but I hope you're serious about wanting to prove Duvessa is the prankster."
                          
"Why wouldn't I be serious? I might not remember the accident, but I do remember putting that painting in your car before the accident. I wanted to come clean and stop letting people assume I was without abilities so I could prove Duvessa was framing me."
                          
He smiled. "You thought admitting to having abilities would exonerate you?"
                          
"No!" I rolled my eyes. "But it still bugs me that they all blamed me, and not just because I got detention, though that was for telling Mr. Corbin where to stick it and rotate." I waved away his confusion with a flick of my wrist. "Anyway, if I was the prankster, I wouldn't put blue dye in the water supply or jimmy the locks to the school. I would be creative, you know? And with my abilities, nobody would be able to point fingers because there would be no evidence left behind to find."
                          
"If that was your defense, no wonder you got detention."
                          
"Please. I'm not stupid." I rolled my eyes to the ceiling and shrugged one shoulder. "Well, okay. I was stupid when I started getting hauled to the office to face Mr. Corbin and Devland. But"—I raised my finger— "by the time they called me into the library to say I couldn't go on the graded senior class field trip, I was a freaking samurai."
                          
Calin laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners and both dimples flashed into view. Still chuckling, he asked, "What did you say?"
                          
"I got them to admit I couldn't be proven guilty and that the main reason I was being picked on was because Mr. Corbin didn't like me. I was the new girl, which made framing me easy, and Devland didn't help because he hoped it would piss me off enough to make me use my abilities. He really doesn't like people assuming that I'm a dud."
                          
"I bet."
                          
"So, anyway. I showed them the recorder I used to capture their admissions and reminded them I have a highly paid, very successful lawyer who'll drop everything to help me expose them to the school district."
                          
"Are you serious?" He laughed. "God, wish I could have heard that."
                          
"Yeah." I smiled, nodding, and looked around. My smile dropped. "Maible heard it and wanted a copy, but... It's gone now. At least, if Devland went through my mother's boxes before getting rid of them."
                          
"I'm sorry."
                          
"It is what it is." I shrugged, shifting in my seat. "So, why did you say you hope I'm serious about proving Duvessa's been framing me?"
                          
"Oh, uh..." He looked at me and winced, and then walked back to his spot on the bed to sit down. "After you left, a prank was pulled at school this afternoon."
                          
"What?" My mouth hung, and I snapped it shut, leaning forward to narrow my eyes. "Why would you wait to tell me that?"
                          
He stretched his arms out in front of him as though in defense, his palms facing me. "First of all, you started questioning me as soon as I announced myself, and I am still annoyed you left without so much as a note. Besides, discussing your recovery seemed more important."
                          
"So, what? If I said I didn't trust you, you'd never have told me? Just laugh when I was taken by surprise at school?"
                          
"I would never do that, not to you or anyone else," he said, and his jaw began to tick. "To do that would make me no better than..."
                          
Calin's voice faded into the background as his emotions grew with every word he spoke. I felt my head spin and my stomach started to greet the back of my throat. The hurt and confusion and surprise his eyes displayed earlier was just the beginning. After all the blaming and questions, not to mention my obvious secrecy, anger snapped between us through the air. Just like he could calm me with a touch, his anger seeped in, rattling me at the core where it ignited my abilities and obliterated any pretense of my control.
                          
I jumped up and rushed into the bathroom, locking the door behind me. Then, because I could still sense Calin's feelings, I went into the dressing room and shoved aside racks of clothing so I could sit in the farthest corner of the room, my head hanging between my knees. Breathing deep, in and out, I counted the seconds for how long I could hold it in between. In and hold... Out.
                          
If Luna didn't stop explaining how impossible this was long enough to help me get over it, I was going to go crazy.