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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, Nick. 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.”
o;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—
