Secret (34 page)

The kind of plan Nick was
expected
to talk him out of.

‘Sure.’ Nick met his eyes. ‘Let me get my coat.’

Common sense would have dictated that they bring Hunter along. He was a Fifth, and a powerful one, and they were literally playing with fire.

But Nick was already on edge, and he wasn’t sure he could handle the pressure of being with two people on opposite ends of a spectrum: one knowing his secret, one not.

So he and Gabriel went out alone.

Nick drove. Gabriel usually claimed the driver’s seat, but Nick needed to be in control of
something
or he was going to go to pieces. He’d snatched the keys out from under his brother’s hand in the front hall, ready for Gabriel to protest.

But his twin had just shrugged and said, ‘Fine. You drive.’

Thick clouds hung overhead, blocking the stars, cloaking the road in darkness. The rain had stopped, but those clouds would only need a little
push
to start dumping water again.

Rain could’ve been a safety net. Maybe they should have brought Chris.

If nothing else, for conversation. Gabriel wasn’t saying a word. He’d been silent for
miles
. Nick could feel the tension like a vibration in the air, mixing with the cool humidity, as if his brother’s uncertainty created a whole new level of energy.

Gabriel was waiting for Nick to spill, to pour out his problems the way he usually did. Nick was the thinker. The talker. The analyzer. Gabriel was all about action. If Nick presented a problem, Gabriel provided a solution — even if his idea of a
solution
was a fistfight.

Not having a way to solve this problem, this
distance
, was making Gabriel nuts. Nick could tell.

And a petty, vindictive part of Nick reveled in it.

That lasted about twenty seconds. Then he felt like crap.

He glanced over. ‘Hey. What’s your plan?’

‘To set him on fire.’

‘Seriously.’

Gabriel’s eyes were on the windshield, his voice dark and full of anger. ‘I am serious. I’m sick of him fucking with you, Nicky. I don’t know what he’s doing to you and Quinn, but I know something is up.’

So all that silence had left Gabriel with time to draw the wrong conclusions.

‘We’re not setting him on fire,’ Nick said.

‘Fine. What do you want to do?’

The words were a challenge. Nick wasn’t sure how to respond. Honestly, he wished they could simply walk up to Tyler and ask what the deal was. He was so tired of
fighting
.

‘I don’t know yet,’ he said.

A bolt of lightning cracked the sky in front of them, followed by a roll of thunder. Gabriel’s power flared in the air. He wasn’t tired of fighting. If the eager tension in the atmosphere was any indication, he was ready for a
battle
.

Suddenly, Nick didn’t want to be out tonight. He didn’t want to be picking a fight. Maybe he’d used up all his emotion earlier in the evening. Maybe Michael’s talk about Emily and Quinn had softened the edge of his anger against Tyler.

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.

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.