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“It’s okay. Tell me now.”
“He had Chris, and Nick and I thought—we thought we could take him.” He gave a soft laugh, a broken sound with no humor behind it. “We were wrong. Nick had the wind, but the Guide took control of it. Then Nick was hurt—”
He stopped, his eyes fixed on the ground. His silence said enough.
“You got away?” said Michael.
Gabriel nodded. “Barely. I hid.” He sounded ashamed.
“Where?”
Gabriel’s eyes flicked up, and for the first time, Becca saw the spark of his usual defiance. “The last place he’d look for me.”
“In the water,” she said.
Gabriel lifted his head and looked at her, then shrugged off Michael’s hands.
He’d clearly forgotten she was there—if he’d ever noticed at all.
Then he ran a hand through his wet hair, pushing it off his forehead. “Yeah. In the water. Almost all night.”
“All night?” said Michael, his eyebrows raised.
Gabriel pulled at his wet clothes. “Yeah. All night.”
“Do you have any idea where he took them?” asked Michael.
“No.”
Michael sighed. “Well, let’s go back to the house. The Guide came looking for me last night, too; maybe he’ll show up again.”
Now it was Gabriel’s turn to raise his eyebrows. “You got away by yourself?”
“Maybe you’re not the only tough guy around here.”
Gabriel stared at him for half a second, as if trying to decide whether Michael was making a joke—or picking a fight. He didn’t say anything, just turned to walk.
As they started off across the field, Becca couldn’t help wondering about a Guide who could take out Chris and the twins—especially after the demonstration she’d seen at the bridge—but not Michael.
Tough guy or not, the facts weren’t matching up.
CHAPTER 36
Becca walked between the brothers. She hadn’t picked the arrangement, but it made her feel like a needed barrier. Gabriel was still pulling heat from the sky, and it was like walking next to a sunbeam.
Her phone chimed, and she fished it out of her pocket. Sunlight glinted across the face.
Her mom, asking if everything was all right. She tapped out a quick response. Hunter’s rock bracelet bounced against her wrist now that the chain wasn’t trapped under her sleeve.
Gabriel glanced down at what she was doing. “Who are you texting?”
His voice still echoed with the pain and uncertainty she’d heard in the woods. She wanted to give him a hug, but Gabriel didn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d take it well.
“My mother,” she said. “Checking up.”
“Your mom’s nice,” said Michael. He glanced down, too.
Then he caught her wrist and hauled her to a stop. “Where did you get these?”
