Secret (Elemental) Page 23

  Or maybe he was afraid.

  Nick swallowed that back. If he admitted fear now, he’d lose more ground with his twin. He’d be the creepy freak who couldn’t solve his own problems. The weak one.

  “Where are we going?” said Gabriel.

  “Tyler’s parents’ shopping center,” Nick said. “Quinn said he’s been guarding the place every night. From vandals or something.”

  Just as he said it, they crested the hill, and the lights from the 7-Eleven sign broke through the darkness. Nick could see the big SUV in the parking lot and knew Tyler was there.

  He wanted to keep on driving.

  Instead, he hit the turn signal and pulled off the road just past the shopping center, killing the lights as the car drifted to a stop along Ritchie Highway.

  Then he turned off the engine and sat there.

  He didn’t want to do this. Everything felt wrong.

  “How does Quinn know?” said Gabriel.

  “What?”

  “How does Quinn know what Tyler is doing at night?”

  “Apparently she walks over here sometimes. That’s her apartment building.” Nick pointed.

  Gabriel was quiet for a minute. “So do you think she and Tyler—?”

  “Come on,” Nick said. He didn’t want his brother to finish that thought. He climbed out of the cab.

  Nick wished he’d chosen more concealing clothing than a white T-shirt under a jacket. Gabriel was a shadow in a dark hoodie and charcoal-gray jeans. They stepped over the guard rail to slink through the trees beside the road.

  The 7-Eleven sign grew larger with each step. Nick could hear his own breathing, faster than Gabriel’s. When they came to the tree line, Nick hesitated, not wanting to lose the cover. To cross the street, they’d pass directly below half a dozen streetlamps.

  He expected his brother to move on without him, leading the way to disaster.

  But Gabriel stopped, too, and looked at him.

  “What?”

  “You tell me, Nicky.” Gabriel’s voice made small clouds of steam in the air.

  Nick froze. Those words seemed loaded with more than just an inquiry about what to do next.

  He had to look away from his brother, so he put his eyes on the strip mall. “I don’t want to cause damage to someone else’s property. There have been enough fires.”

  “Let’s go back in the woods. Burn some leaves.” Gabriel fished a lighter out of his pocket and tossed it.

  Nick caught it. “Why?”

  “It’ll lure him out. If he’s a pure Elemental, he’ll sense it.”

  “Even from here?” They were at least a hundred feet from the parking lot.

  Gabriel nodded and started walking back into the dense darkness of the woods.

  Nick followed, sliding the lighter between his fingers. “What if he ignores it?”

  “Then he’s not a full Elemental and I can go punch that mofo in the face.” He stopped once they were out of sight and pointed to the ground. “Here’s good. The leaves are dry underneath and they’ll smoke more. I don’t want anyone to see it from the road yet.”

  Nick held up the lighter. “You still need these?”

  “No, but you do. I don’t want him to sense my power.” He paused and glanced around, surveying the area. “It might be better if he thinks you’re alone.”

  “So we’re setting a trap.”

  “Yeah. See if he’ll come after you again.”

  “Lucky me.”

  Gabriel studied him again, as if trying to figure him out. “Do you not want to do this? We can say screw it and get coffee or whatever.”

  Yes. Let’s.

  Wait. No. Talking would be a bad idea.

  Nick cocked an eyebrow. “You want to run from a fight?”

  “No, Nick!” Gabriel snapped, closing the distance between them. “I want you to tell me what the fuck is going on.”

  Nick ignored him. He flipped open the lighter and struck the igniter. Then he dropped and touched the flame to the dead leaves trapped under the damp ones. The fire caught immediately, sending smoke curling between them, turning the air hazy.

  “Go,” Nick said. “Hide.”

  Gabriel swore, but he turned his back and walked. He didn’t go far. Nick could still sense his presence nearby—like he could still sense his agitation. No, his fury.

  It was probably a good thing Nick had the car keys.

  He fed oxygen to the fire, and thicker smoke bloomed from the smoldering leaves. Nick called for a gentle breeze to push the smoke toward the strip mall, despite Gabriel’s assurance that Tyler would sense the presence of his element.

  It wasn’t necessary—or maybe it worked too well. In less than a minute, Nick sensed another presence in the woods. He pulled wind through the trees, asking the air for information.

  Nicotine and male sweat. Curiosity and irritation. Tyler.

  Nick thought of the way his skin had practically melted off his wrist, but he held his ground.

  “Starting a little fire?” said Tyler.

  “Something like that,” said Nick. He kept his attention on the burning leaves. Tyler hadn’t reacted to the fire, and Nick sensed no power in the space between them. Maybe he was wrong.

  “Don’t tell me,” said Tyler. “You think you owe me one for messing with your brother.”

  What? Who else had Tyler—

  Oh. Oh. The lighter in his hand, the fire on the ground—Tyler thought he was Gabriel.

  Infuriating. Even Tyler knew he couldn’t stand up for himself.

  Sudden wind whipped through the trees, responding to Nick’s anger. It swirled around them, buffeting the flames, pulling the smoke into the beginning of a spiral.

  “Wrong,” said Nick. “I think I owe you one for messing with me.”

  He had the satisfaction of seeing Tyler look startled, but then his expression settled into something closer to determination. He started forward, heedless of the wind and the flames.

  Nick instinctively took a step back—but he didn’t need to. His wind grabbed the flames and pulled them high, feeding oxygen to the fire, creating a barrier between him and Tyler.

  Tyler stopped, but his eyes narrowed. “You think a little wind and fire are going to scare me?”

  “Looks like it’s scaring you now.” Nick held his ground, but his heart was in his throat. He remembered the pain of his wrist under Tyler’s grip. The smell of his skin burning. He fed power into the wind, letting it draw the fire higher, until the flames began to pull sideways, spreading to surround Tyler.

  This was like the leaves with Quinn. Only terrifying, as he realized that leaves wouldn’t hurt anyone, and a spinning plume of fire could have very real consequences.

  Focus.

  “Think you’re something?” said Tyler. “You want to call elements against me? Fuck you, Merrick.”

  And then he sent the fire driving outward.

  Nick felt it—maybe the air warned him, or maybe Tyler was stronger than Nick had imagined. But the circle of fire flared outward, reaching for him, full of murderous rage.

  Nick sent the wind a flare of power himself, full of vengeful rage about every single thing Tyler had ever done to him. The circle paused, hesitating in a vibrant red glow that encircled Tyler.

  Then it snapped, collapsing inward, attacking Tyler with fire. The other boy’s clothes lit up like he’d been doused in kerosene. Then the tight coil of wind caught his body and flipped him in the air. He came down in the leaves, a pile of burning clothes and rage.

  Holy shit. Gabriel really had set him on fire.

  Or maybe Nick had.

  The leaves caught, sending black smoke to swarm around them. Between the smoke and the fire, Nick was going to lose sight of Tyler in a moment.

  And if Tyler wasn’t a full Elemental, he was going to die in minutes.

  From the way Tyler’s face contorted, it might only be seconds. He looked like he was screaming, but he wasn’t making a sound. His hands scrabbled at his throat
.

  Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Nick hadn’t come here to kill someone.

  Where the hell was Gabriel?

  Nick was torn between sucking the oxygen out of the air and forcing it into Tyler’s lungs. Was he burning to death or suffocating? It didn’t matter. The atmosphere was too focused on destruction now. Thunder rolled overhead. Lightning hit a tree. Ozone charged the air and flaming branches rained around them.

  Tyler’s eyes rolled back in his head. Another lightning strike somewhere off to Nick’s left.

  “Damn it, Gabriel,” Nick called. “Stop! Help me!”

  Tyler’s cheeks were red and raw. His eyes fell closed. Nick reached forward and grabbed the other boy’s jacket. The zipper was hot from the flames and burned his palms. Nick flung all of his power into the space between them. He did this with Gabriel all the time—stopped fires before they caused too much damage. He could do it now.

  Stop this, he pleaded with his element. Heal him.

  It took a moment, but the wind listened. The fire died down to nothing more than a few spirals of flame dancing in the breeze. Wind licked between them, settling, stealing the redness from Tyler’s cheeks.

  For an instant, Tyler didn’t move. Then he sucked in a rough breath of air. Then another.

  “Jesus,” said Nick, feeling a bit breathless himself. “You’re not dead.”

  Tyler’s eyes opened. Nick let him go, expecting to see pain, confusion, fear.

  He saw derision.

  “Not dead yet,” said Tyler. He grabbed Nick’s jacket with fistfuls of flame and shoved, true power in the motion. Nick’s back hit a tree.

  But that didn’t hurt half as much as the bolt of lightning that hit him next.

  CHAPTER 25

  “Nick. Nick.”

  Gabriel’s voice. He sounded almost panicked. Hands gripped Nick’s shoulders, shaking him. “Come on, Nicky. Please. Come on.”

  Nick couldn’t remember how to open his eyes. It felt like he’d been hit by a truck.

  “No, you idiot,” Gabriel said, that panic giving way to choked relief. “You were hit by lightning.”

  Were his eyes open? He couldn’t see anything. Was he talking?

  “You’re talking,” said Gabriel. “Open your eyes.”

  He didn’t want to open his eyes. The air was dancing on his skin and it felt wonderful.

  Dancing. Adam.

  Nick wished he could apologize. He wished he could fix it.

  “Come on, Nick,” said Gabriel. “You’re scaring me.”

  He was kind of scaring himself. He felt disconnected, like his body ached, but he couldn’t feel it yet.

  Next time, he was so making Gabriel play bait.

  Gabriel choked out a sound, half laugh, half sob. “I will, Nick. I promise.” It felt like he was patting Nick’s cheek. “Come on. Wake up.”

  Nick opened his eyes and looked at his brother.

  Gabriel was kneeling there in the charred leaves and undergrowth, holding him up against a tree, his eyes tense and worried.

  Nick was struck with déjà vu. They’d been eight or nine, riding bikes through the woods, jumping the creek the way they’d done a thousand times. A storm had washed away part of the creek walls, leaving the ground soft and muddy. Gabriel, in the lead as usual, made the jump with little difficulty.

  But his bike had made a rut. Nick’s bike caught it and sank into the mud, stuck. It had stopped. Nick hadn’t. His head had cracked into a tree.

  He’d woken up just like this, staring into his twin brother’s panicked eyes.

  “My bike broke,” he mumbled now.

  “Not this time.” Gabriel smiled, but there was still a shadow of worry behind it.

  Of course he’d share the exact same memory at the exact same moment.

  “How do you feel?” said Gabriel.

  “Oh. Stellar.”

  “No—I mean, can you walk?”

  Nick thought about it. “Not yet.”

  Gabriel sighed, but he didn’t let him go.

  “Tyler?” said Nick.

  “He ran,” said Gabriel. His voice grew dark. “As soon as you collapsed. If you think you can stay upright, I’m going to find him and kill him.”

  Nick struggled to find his hands, and he grabbed Gabriel’s wrist. “No—no.” He paused, trying to make his addled brain sort out the evening’s events. But one thing was clear—they’d come here with the intent to out Tyler’s abilities. Nick remembered the power in the air, the way his fear had manifested itself in damaging winds that attacked Tyler until fire consumed him.

  He’d been the bully tonight. Not Tyler.

  It should have been satisfying. It wasn’t.

  “Our fault,” he said.

  Gabriel shook his head. “My fault.” He paused. “I should have helped you.”

  Now Nick remembered. His thoughts were straightening out, finding true clarity. “You let him burn! You called lightning! You let him—”

  “I didn’t call that lightning, Nick. He did.” Gabriel looked away. “I should have helped you before it got to that point.”

  Nick shoved his hands away. “Yeah, thanks. Thanks for making me play bait, and forgetting to snap the trap.”

  “An hour ago you got all shitty because I wanted to defend you! What the hell do you want from me, Nick? What?”

  I want you to know what I want.

  Nick put a hand against the ground and pushed himself to his feet. He wavered for a second, but Gabriel didn’t grab him.

  He looked down at himself. Pieces of leaves clung to his jeans, and his jacket was smudged with bits of soot where Tyler had grabbed him, but really, he didn’t look any the worse for wear.

  The air was happy he was awake. He felt better with every breath, as if he inhaled pure power.

  He started walking toward the car.

  After a moment, Gabriel jogged to catch up with him.

  “Give me the keys,” he said. “You’re in no shape to drive.”

  Nick wanted to protest, but his twin was probably right. He pulled them out of his pocket and handed them over. He didn’t look at Gabriel when they climbed in to the car.

  This whole evening hadn’t solved anything. So Tyler was a full Elemental. So what? When the next round of Guides came to town, they could add him to the list. When Tyler came after him again, he could mess with Nick all that much more effectively.

  This sucked.

  Nick pulled his cell phone out of his pocket to see if fate had inspired Adam to send him a message.

  Fate told him to go to hell. The phone was completely dead. Either the lightning had killed the battery, or it had killed the phone completely.

  Great. Nick slammed it into the center console.

  The tension in the car was thicker now than when they’d first left the house. Nick’s skin crawled with it.

  After a few minutes, Gabriel pulled his phone out of his pocket and held it out. “Here. Use mine.”

  Yeah, right. Nick shook his head.

  His brother sighed and shoved it back in his pocket.

  Silence again. This time, more strained than before, if that was possible. The temperature in the car dropped ten degrees. Nick was almost shaking with the effort of sitting here calmly.

  “Fuck this,” said Gabriel. He yanked the wheel abruptly, sending them careening into a parking lot along Ritchie Highway. By some miracle, they avoided striking a parked car.

  “Are you insane?” Nick grabbed the handle over the door. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Parking.” Gabriel jerked the car into a parking place in front of a coffee shop. It wasn’t Starbucks, but instead a huge café with leather couches and oak tables and hot sandwiches.

  Nick had brought a girl here once. After a movie or something. He couldn’t remember her name. Tonight, it was packed.

  “What are we doing here?” Nick said.

  Gabriel kept his eyes on the windshield. He didn’t say anything for a long moment. “I can’t do this, Ni
ck. I know—” His voice caught, and he took a second to get it together before continuing. “I know I deserve it. After keeping the fires from you. But this—this doesn’t feel like something you’re doing.” He peeked over at Nick.

  Nick couldn’t move. He couldn’t even look at his brother.

  “What happened last night?” Gabriel said. “When you were talking to Hunter?”

  Nick’s head snapped to the side. Gabriel was referring to whatever had led to Nick looking like a hot mess on the stairs, but all Nick heard were Gabriel’s words. My brother has enough freaks pining after him.

  He must have looked fierce because Gabriel put his hands up. “I don’t want to fight with you,” Gabriel said. “Christ—I don’t even know why we are fighting.”

  Nick swallowed and looked at the windshield.

  “You don’t have to tell me,” Gabriel said after a minute. “I—I wish I knew why you won’t.”

  It sounded like it cost him something to say that.

  “I want to tell you,” said Nick.

  The words fell out of his mouth almost against his will.

  And as soon as he said them, he realized how true they were. He wanted to tell Gabriel about Adam. He told his brother everything, and now he felt more strongly about another human being than he ever had, and he couldn’t breathe a word about it. The mental strife was choking him.

  No, the terror of losing his brother was choking him.

  But wasn’t he doing that anyway?

  I can’t do this, Nick.

  Nick couldn’t, either. He cleared his throat and nodded at the front of the café. “I probably should have picked coffee when you suggested it earlier.”

  “Pick coffee now.”

  Sit. Talk to me. That’s what his brother was saying.

  Nick took a breath. He nodded. “Okay.”

  The café had looked crowded from the parking lot, and getting up close to the front door confirmed it. Every table seemed occupied, but the line for the register wasn’t too long.

  Still, someplace this packed wouldn’t exactly be conducive to the kind of discussion Nick had in mind.

  Then again, Gabriel probably wouldn’t flip out in the middle of a crowd of people.