The park sits at the top of a hill in the middle of an older neighborhood. It has an old shiny metal playground with splintery wooden benches scattered around the perimeter. There's no one here, which is odd for a Saturday but then again, the hot sun isn't welcoming that many people outside either.

He grabs my hand as we walk over to the swing set and as we drop into the low swings, we quickly pull our hands back when they grip the burning chains.

"I'm not used to the Texas heat yet," Liam admits as he shakes his hand out. We cautiously reach for the blistering chains again and soon we are acting like we are fourth-graders again. Pumping our legs to get as high as we can so we can jump off and soar into the air. We land in the gravel and leave long skid marks, just to run back to the swings and try to get more air.

"Hey remember when I said I wanted to show you something?" Liam asks while pumping his legs back and forth.

"Yeah," I say as I mimic his actions. I watch him pass by me on his swing and he goes to jump off again but this time when he is midair, he vanishes. I hear him land in the gravel and see his skid mark but I don't see him. I instantly jump off the swing completely freaked out.

"Liam?" I call out to him. He appears next to me and I stare at him wide-eyed.

"What the hell was that? What did you just do?" I gasp while he closes the gap between us.

"It's what I wanted to show you," he tells me softly. I reach out and gently touch his forearm. He suddenly vanishes but I still have a grip on his wrist. It looks like I'm holding onto an invisible cylinder. After a few seconds,  my hand disappears too. I whip it away and it quickly goes back to normal.

"How can you do that?" I ask, amazed and confused at the same time. He appears in solid form in front of me again.

"Just like our thoughts and your manipulations, I don't know how or why. It started slowly a few months after I was able to read minds and I've learned to control it. I've even been able to extend it to other objects like your hand," he explains. I'm speechless. I have never seen anything like this.

"You have a real invisibility cloak," I say in awe and he shrugs in agreement.

"Why haven't you shown this to me before?" I ask him, still amazed at what I just saw. He scrunches his hair with his hand and I watch as he slowly strolls over to one of the wooden benches. He releases his hand from his hair as he drops onto it and then rests his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands in front of him. His change in demeanor has me wondering if he's ashamed of this ability. He doesn't seem nearly as excited as I am about it. His gaze is to the gravel as I walk over to him. I drop onto the bench next to him but he still doesn't look at me.

"It's why I distanced myself from you after our sonnet. You said we have nothing left to hide and I did. I felt like I was lying to you or something but I just wanted to figure out how to show you," he explains. "And then you took it the wrong way and went boating with Derek and all that. I regret being quiet for so long, I shouldn't have completely withdrawn myself from you but I wanted to make sure I trusted you before I showed this to you. When people find out I have this...talent, they become selfish. They see ways in which I'm useful and try and use me."

I pull his hand into mine and he finally flits his blue eyes over to mine. He releases a sigh and I can tell this secret was weighing on him.

"Who else knows?" I ask.

"Well, my mom knows. And I've shown a couple of other people like us. But that's all."

I'm taken back, "Your mom knows? And wait... does she use you?" I know he prepared himself to tell me all of this but it doesn't seem to make it easier.

"Yes, she knows everything. I was completely freaked out when I first started to read minds. I was young and went to her immediately after it started. We were living in Iowa at the time scraping by, so when she found out I was able to become invisible, she had me start running errands for her. She'd send me into grocery stores to sneak out food. Into stores to get clothes... and then eventually into banks to get money," he lets go of my hand and it falls back in his lap. "I'm a thief Ellie. We move from state to state stealing things and faking our lives. I asked you what your parents do so the next time we move, I have a profession for my parents all set up. My mom has been a doctor, lawyer, political adviser, accountant, you name it. We make up stories that get us through the few months we are in a city and then after I am able to get us enough money to move again, we leave. My mother is terrified to stay in one place, but I don't know why."

There is a sudden breeze in the air around us and I can't tell if it's his words or the change in weather that's giving me goosebumps. I know he can hear the million questions I have swirling around in my head so I debate on what to ask verbally. I bite my lip before cautiously asking, "What about your dad? What does he know?"

He scoffs before answering, "He's gone." I can feel the bitterness in his words. "He was a teacher in our old small town so everyone knew him. One day he didn't show up to his classroom and it only took a few hours to figure out he took all of our money and left town without us. I was still in grade school and it wasn't long before everyone knew we had been dumped. My mom likes me to tell everyone that he's out of town now. She doesn't want the sympathy looks or the questions about where he wandered off to. A part of me wonders if we move around so much because she's looking for him. She's gotten good at shielding her thoughts from me. "

I nod and realize I should drop any questions I have about his dad. I can tell he doesn't enjoy talking about him. I switch back to his mom.

"So where was your mom when I first met you? And why do you keep your house packed up?" These are only two of the very many questions I have,  but he is starting to look frustrated.

"My mom does her own thing during the day. We have the money now to do whatever we want so sometimes she travels or books spa days or who knows what else. She blows through money, I steal and then we move. We leave our house packed up so we can move away at any time. This is usually after about three months of being anywhere."

I suddenly hate his mom. I know I shouldn't because he doesn't seem to, but I hate this person I don't even know. How could she use her son and force him to be constantly on the move?

"Ellie, please don't judge. Please, I'm just being honest."

I stand up from the bench and face him, "It's wrong Liam. You're the kid and she's the parent. She should take care of you and not use this ability you have for her own selfish reasons. How can you let her? Do you like moving around so much?" He pops up from the bench and I can tell he's furious with me now.

"She took care of me when we had nothing. I'm seventeen Ellie, what am I supposed to do? Runaway? I can't buy a house or rent an apartment and I still have to graduate before getting a real job. I have three months until I turn eighteen and things might change then but right now, I take care of her. So that's it." I understand his logic but it still doesn't make it okay.

"Well, we can go away after we graduate. We can go to college and you can just worry about yourself for a while. Stay in one place for more than a few months," I say breathlessly as he throws his hands in the air.

"I'm not going to college, Ellie. Sorry but it's not for me."

Suddenly confused, I ask, "You told Derek that you may have been up for a football scholarship at your last school. If you don't want to go to college, why would you have wanted a scholarship?"

He shakes his head and I'm even more confused when I catch a slight grin, "I lied to agitate Derek. I knew it would piss him off if he thought I could be better at him than something so I said I was a quarterback at my old school."

I shake my head, "You didn't play football? What about lacrosse?"

"I did play both of them, although I was a receiver, not a quarterback. I'm much better at lacrosse by the way. I just fibbed about the scholarship. I've never been to the same school long enough to ever have been offered anything like that." Fury flashes inside me and I cross my arms as I step away from him.

"So what, you're going to continue to run away every few months to new cities? And if so, what was the point of finding me?"

"I wasn't expecting to like you in this way, Ellie. I wanted to find you to warn you about Ian, get information about your abilities and leave. But now, I don't want to leave but you're going to soon," he says before taking a deep calming breath. Our eyes are locked and I can tell we are both flustered. We're facing each other but I have my arms folded across my chest and his hands are stuffed into his pockets. If anyone walked by right now, it would be obvious that we are fighting.

After a few moments of silence, I finally break it by saying, "So what? This is going to go on until we graduate and then I'm just supposed to say goodbye to you when I go off to college? Forget this all happened?" He shakes his head and kicks the pebbles beneath him.

"I don't know Ellie, but I don't want you to forget me," he mutters, and then he grabs my shoulders to pull me into him. I keep my arms crossed while being stubborn, but he hugs me anyway.

"Can we just take one thing at a time? Figure this out as we go? I feel like we are getting ahead of ourselves here," he asks but I don't respond right away. I finally found someone that understands me and I might have to let him go. If he or his mom decides it's time to move again, I just have to say goodbye.

I found someone amazing who shares these abilities I don't understand and makes me feel normal, so of course, he comes with a catch. I pull away from him and his sparkling eyes look hopeful.

I squeeze his hand as I confess, "I'm sorry Liam, but I can't get close to someone that's just going to leave at any random time. I'm already in too deep and if I fall any harder, I'm not going to be able to let you leave me when your mom decides she's ready to move again. So if that's what this is, then I want you to drive me home and keep your distance. It's what's best for both of us."

I say it but my hammering heart tells me I don't know if I mean it. I'm standing strong but at any second, I could shatter into a million pieces. But it's better to walk away now before I can really get hurt.

He stands there, taking in my words and I'm desperate to get into his head and see what he's thinking. And then, finally, in the silence he lets me in.