“I never told you her name.”

Koa’s eyes widen, having realized his slip up. Rose is practically vibrating. This may be it. The moment she’s been waiting for. Answers to what happened to her sister.

Sighing, he drags his hand down his face as if he can’t believe what he said. “It’s my power. Telepathy. I read your mind,” he reveals quietly, his eyes shifting around, paranoid that someone will hear him.

Her eyes instantly go to the cuff around his wrist that was on view. “But the bracelet?”

Waving his arm in front of her, he points to the circle light in the center. “It’s just an identifier. It doesn’t stop me from using it. If you were paying attention, you would have seen it glow when I read your thoughts,” he explains with a hint of snark at the end. Rose doesn’t appreciate that.

“Do you know anything about Thorn?” She persists. Her sister is a topic that she will never let go.

She feels so close. Close to something she thought was unattainable.

“No,” he answers simply.

Narrowing her eyes, she shakes her head, “I don’t believe you.” His response was instant, “Of course you don’t.”

Rose doesn’t like his sarcastic tone. This isn’t funny. This is her life. Her sister.

“Well I don’t have mind reading powers to confirm it. So I have to go off my instincts,” she retorts, shrugging her shoulders. Oh what she would do if she had his power. It feels like all her issues would be resolved.

He actually gives a short chuckle. So he does have a sense of humor.

“That sounds problematic.”

“You know something,” she continues, ignoring what he said. There’s something about his composure, the tenseness of his body and the lines in his face.

As if to keep his hands busy, he messes with a Rubik’s cube keychain on his backpack. It’s clear that it’s a nervous tell. He’s not a very good liar.

“I seriously don’t. I got her name from your head. But…” he trails off, eyes dragging downwards to his fidgeting fingers.

He can’t possibly leave her off with just that. Thorn is out there. Rose always thought that, but this could be her chance to prove it. “But what? If you can read my mind, then you know how much I need to know. How long I’ve been waiting for something. How much I miss her.”

Her words get choked up at the end. Thinking about her sister brings up the best childhood memories. Late night talks. Playing Barbies. Thorn being the rock in Rose’s life. But they are tainted with the constant absence as if a black and white filter was thrown over them.

She sees his bracelet light flicker. Koa is reading her mind. Good.

“Look, I don’t know anything about Thorn specifically. But I may know someone who might.” His hands are still. He looks her directly in the eyes. His body isn’t tense, though not relaxed. From those factors, she thinks he’s telling the truth. Think being the key word because of course she doesn’t have a peek inside his head.

Just as she is about to interrogate him further, the bell rings.

He breathes a sigh of relief and scrambles to get up from the table.

She almost laughs at his eagerness to get away from this conversation. He isn’t escaping that easy.

They have all their classes together after all. So that means nine chances to answers.