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Being here, his feet in the dirt, his hand against a tree, brought Michael comfort. Some of the weight stacked on his heart eased, just a little.
Sorrow slid in to replace it. Sometimes he missed his father so much he almost couldn’t stand it.
Like now. Help me, Dad. What would you do?
Another leaf, vibrant red, fell from the young tree and floated in his direction. Michael smiled and caught this one too. He stepped back to the tree and leaned against it, letting it lean back against him. He slid the two fallen leaves between his fingers and scanned his surroundings for the hundredth time. Whoever had been texting him knew how to move through the woods without leaving a mark. No broken branches or twigs. Nothing disturbed. No malice, no ill intent.
This didn’t feel like Calla. Last night had, for sure. But this, this texting, it didn’t feel like her at all. She didn’t play games, and this definitely felt like a game. But there was something else, and he couldn’t put his finger on it.
He glanced at the patio again. No movement, no sign of danger.
Maybe the clue was here, in the woods. Calla was a sixteen-year-old Fire Elemental. She would have set these woods on fire to send a message. Or she would have burned down Adam’s apartment complex. She wouldn’t taunt him with texts and then ask him to meet her in a bar.
A bar.
Calla wouldn’t have asked to meet in a bar at all—she wouldn’t be allowed.
So his tormentor was over twenty-one. That narrowed it down to about a bazillion people.
Well, not really. It couldn’t be any of the middle- or high-schoolers who agreed with what Calla was doing. Who else did he know who was over twenty-one?
Bill Chandler, Becca’s father. He was a Guide himself, but he was in hiding now, trying to keep Becca safe. He was also terrified of the Guides coming to town. He wouldn’t have started a bunch of fires. Michael was honestly shocked he hadn’t called yet to yell at Michael for letting his neighborhood get destroyed.
Bill was an ass**le, but he wasn’t behind this.
He scrolled through the text messages again, stopping on the one of Hannah at the fire. Fierce in her fire gear, then gentle and patient with her son.
Sudden fury welled up in Michael’s chest.
He rolled forward onto his knees and punched the dead tree. Bark splintered and wood creaked. A few dead branches cascaded down around him. His knuckles were bleeding.
He wanted to do it again.
No, he wanted to do it to whoever had texted him.
Focus. Figure this out.
Another name came to him. Tyler?
Tyler.
Michael tried to make that work. Tyler had made it his life’s goal to torment Michael—until he’d revealed himself to be a full Fire Elemental, just as cursed as the Merricks were. He’d saved Michael’s life a few weeks ago, shooting a Guide in the head just before the man was going to kill Michael and Chris in their own living room.
Would Tyler do something like this? Why?
Michael couldn’t connect the dots there, either, but he also couldn’t eliminate Tyler entirely.
Who else? A complete stranger? A new Guide in town wouldn’t taunt him. They wouldn’t be like, “Hey, let’s grab a beer.”
They’d just shoot him.
Michael took a long breath and brushed bark off his knuckles. He picked up a dead branch and started snapping small pieces. He needed to think of a contingency plan, somewhere to send his brothers if he didn’t survive this meeting tonight—because he wasn’t naïve enough to think it was just a talk.
And he sure as hell wasn’t telling them about it.
Snap. Snap. Snap. Each piece was easier to break than the last, the wood dry and lacking any energy.
His fingers went still. He studied the dead tree again. There was a gap of bark where he’d slammed his fist into the trunk.
