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He considered his answer for a ave it "Dissonant," he said finally

"Meaning?"

Another long pause "Unstable"

H," he said, the shadow of a smile on his lips "In music, consonant chords are points of arrival Rest There’s no tension," he tried to explain "Most pop music hooks are consonant, which is why eable Boring Dissonant intervals, however, are full of tension," he said, holding o It makes limited people uncomfortable--frustrated, because they don’t understand the point, and people hate what they don’t understand But the ones who get it," he said, lifting a hand toBeautiful" He traced the shape of my mouth with his thumb "Like you"

37

HIS WORDS WARMED ME THROUGH EVEN AS HE pulled his hand away I was sure lance at the door

I got it But still "I like hearing about your ability," I said, my eyes on his mouth "Tell me more"

His voice was level "What do you want to know?"

"When did you first notice it?"

When his expression shifted, I realized I had asked hinized that shuttered look He ithdrawing again Shutting down

Shuttingon with hi distant, but he wasn’t gone yet So I quickly said so else "You saw ht?"

"Yes"

"When I was hurt"

"Yes," he said again To anyone else, he would have sounded bored But I was learning, and now I recognized so that never fell fro up against so raw, and I wanted to knohat it was

"You’ve seen other people ere hurt," I went on, keeping ht "Including Joseph"

He nodded again

And then I had an idea I pinched my arm I watched Noah to see if there was any reaction There wasn’t, as far as I could tell

I pinched it again

He slitted his eyes "What, exactly, are you doing?"

"Did you see nore you"

"When you first told me you saw me," I started, "in Dece, through h soht? But you didn’t have a--a vision just now, did you? So there’s so his face as I spoke "Don’t you want to knohat it is?"

"Of course," he said indifferently

"Have you tested it?"

His eyes sharpened, then "How could I? You’re the only one I’ve seen that knows"