I'm glad you felt bad for Kalen. I think I really did him a disservice in the first half of the book by not showing the reasons behind his inaction. The cluelessness is just part of him, although I think it gets worse the more depressed/discouraged he is. But the apathy and inaction are a direct result of his whole "look what happened the last time I did something I really cared about" thing and I should show that when it's possible.

Oh, how I wish Devin could stay this way. I was mad at him the first time I wrote most of these stories (because of reasons lol) and it didn't really sink in how happy and (relatively) sane he was at the beginning. It makes me sad.