Autor presses his cheek and ear and palm against the door, listening. "You're not a thing," the boy says, and sighs. "Even if you have abilities that scare me because I don't understand them, you are my friend, and I'll be able to look past them. Okay?"

He waits a little bit, forming his words. "To be frank, what you can do is really cool, and useful, and I shouldn't have accused you of spying on me like I did. That was cruel."