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“Oh, I don’t know,” Jazz said. “Remember when you jumped into the river wearing—”
“Yes,Jazz. I remember that because it only happened a few days ago! Can we please get back to the fact thateveryoneknew Owen and Seth were Extraordinaries before I did? I’m the one who stalked them! And how is it that I—oh my god, would youstopsticking your tongue down her throat! I’m young and queer and in a fragile place right now. I don’t need to see that!”
Gibby pulled off of Jazz’s lips with a wet smack that would most likely haunt Nick’s dreams for the rest of his days. “She’s amazing.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “Yes, fine, Jazz, you’re beautiful and smart, and I’m so annoyed that you figured it out before me.”
“It’s okay, Nicky,” Jazz said, pulling out a compact from her backpack. She puckered her lips in her reflection, fixing her smudged lipstick. “Not all of us are capable of seeing what’s clearly right in front of us.”
“I feel like you’re insulting me.”
She pursed her lips as she folded the compact and stowed it away. “I wouldn’t dream of it. But now that we’re all in the know, what are we going to do about it?”
Gibby nodded. “We should—”
“Do nothing,” Nick said.
Jazz blinked. “What’s that now?”
“We should do nothing,” Nick repeated. “It has nothing to do with us.”
“Seth’s our friend,” Gibby said. “And he’s more than that to you, whether you realize it or not. He needs us, Nick.”
“Oh, does he? Funny. Because if he needed us, he would have told us the truth a long time ago.”
“That’s not fair—”
Nick groaned into his hands. “Fair? You want to talk about fair? My dad—theonlyparent I have left—was put in the hospital because of what they did. He somehow got in the middle of a fight he wouldn’t have been involved in had they not been trying to kill each other. He got hurt because of them. He could’ve died.”
“That wasn’t Seth’s fault,” Gibby said weakly. “He was trying to do everything he could to stop Owen before people got hurt.”
Nick shook his head as he dropped his hands. “Obviously he didn’t do enough. If—” He swallowed thickly. “If it’d been worse, what then? What if… what if my dad had died? Would you still say he did everything he could? He sat across from Owen. Almostdaily.Seth knew who Owen was, and yet he did nothing to stop it. That’s not what heroes do. And Seth is no hero. He’s a coward. And don’t even get me started on Owen. He’s… there’repillsand…”
Gibby took a step toward him, hands balled into fists at her sides. “Seth only did thisbecauseof you! Everything he is, an Extraordinary, Pyro Storm, isbecauseof you!”
Nick’s knees felt wobbly. “What the hell are you talking about? He didn’t—”
“Your mom died,” Gibby spat. “And it sucked, Nick. For us because we didn’t know how to help you, but more for you and your dad, okay? Both of you were so lost in your grief, and it tore at all of us. And Seth made a choice. You forget, I think, that the samething happened to him. Before, he was only Seth Gray, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. But After, he promised himself he would do everything he could to make sure you never had to go through that again. He always… since he was little.” She sighed. “It was the train accident, Nick. It changed him into something else or activated something already in him. But he always felt guilty about it. That he was given a gift at such a high cost. He never wanted anything to do with it. Not until after your mom died. He saw what it did to you. He loved you so much that he put on a mask to keep Nova City safe. To keep your father safe. To keepyousafe.”
Nick ground his teeth together. “Which means he lied. All this time, he lied to me. He kept this from me. Kept all of it—”
Gibby’s head snapped up. Her eyes were blazing. “Maybe if you weren’t so self-centered, you could’ve figured it out on your own. Like I did. Like Jazz did. Jazz finds out, and she protects his secret. I find out and do all I can to help him. And what do you do when you find out? You bitch and moan about what it does toyou.”
“That’s not fair! My dad is—”
“Your dad got hurt, and that’s awful. But that wasn’t Seth’s fault. It was Owen’s. It was a trap for Seth. Don’t you get that? Owen was trying to kill Seth, Nick. Your dad was collateral damage.”
“I don’t care. It’s on both of them.”
Gibby looked away. “I can’t believe…” She shook her head. “Whatever. You do what you want, Nick. You always do. I’m going to go help my friend because he needs me.”
She turned and pushed the door open. It fell shut behind her.
“Huh,” Jazz said, staring at the door. “That didn’t go like I thought it would.”
“Of course it didn’t,” Nick groused. “That’s what happens when people lie to each other.”
“Huh,” Jazz said again. Then, “Are you going to yell at me now? If you are, I’d like to know in advance so I can cry to make you feel better.”
