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His eyes hardened, and she realized she’d struck a nerve. “Because I can’t accidentally destroy an entire town if I have a temper tantrum. You’ve seen the damage they can do. I know you have.”
“You aren’t the only person who lost someone,” she said quietly. “Their parents died in a fire, didn’t they?”
“Yeah, so did Seth’s.”
She hadn’t heard that. Quinn thought about the carnival fire that had killed seven other students. Or the earthquake that had destroyed the bridge near school—and almost killed Becca. Or the arson attacks that had destroyed half a dozen homes—including hers—and killed people in the community. Whole families devastated because of a temper tantrum, as he called it.
She didn’t want Tyler to be right. But a tiny part of her agreed with him. Maybe Gabriel had been saving people, but she knew enough about Nick’s twin brother to know he had a cruel streak every inch as wide as Tyler’s.
“Nick is my friend,” she said quietly. “I don’t care what he is.”
“You should.”
“I don’t. He’s never hurt anyone.”
“How do you know? Have you asked him?”
That question drew her up short. She thought of Nick in the woods behind his house, showing her what he could do. Relax.
It’s only wind.
But then he’d told her about the accidental tornado on the soccer field. The storm that had shattered his leg. His abilities had let him heal in record time. What if a normal kid had been caught up in that storm?
What else could Nick do by accident?
“I trust him.” She hesitated. “He warned me to stay away from you.”
Tyler snorted. “Wait, let me put on my surprised face. You want to stay away from me? There’s the door.”
Quinn didn’t move.
Tyler’s eyes didn’t leave hers. “Where was friendly ol’ Nick Merrick when your brother was smacking you around? I don’t see him putting those powers to good use to protect you.”
“He didn’t know,” she whispered.
“Why not? Too busy with another guy?”
She flinched. It was just a little too close to the truth. “Just because Nick didn’t know about my brother doesn’t mean he should be killed.”
“If a lion escapes from the zoo, do you think they should let it run loose, or do you think they should shoot it before it hurts someone?”
“They can shoot a lion with a tranquilizer dart.”
Tyler circled the table, leaning down over her. His voice was intense, but his words were soft. “Or that could piss it off so it causes more damage.”
Her eyes flicked to his lips. She had no idea why he was sex-ier while he was arguing, but there it was.
“In fact,” he said, “I have a theory.”
“What’s that?” she said.
“If a Guide comes to town to kill them, he’s going to have to be good. Really good. He’s going to have to figure out a way to take them all out at once.”
Quinn swallowed. She didn’t like that he sounded happy about that. He was so hard to classify in her brain: protecting her, kissing her, defending her.
All while wanting her friends dead.
“Why?” she whispered.
