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CHAPTER 1

Gabriel Merrick stared at the dead leaf in his palm and willed it to burn

It refused

He had a lighter in his pocket, but that always felt like cheating He should be able to call fla had been stuck in the corner of hisscreen since last winter But the leaf only seeonometry textbook

He was seriously ready to take the lighter to that

A knock sounded on his bedroom wall

“Black,” he called Nicky always slept late, always knocked on his wall to ask what color he earing If he didn’t, they ended up dressing alike

Gabriel looked back at the leaf and it was just that, a dead leaf No hint of power Behind the drywall, electricity sang to hi fila-ed to burn through the clouds left some trace of his element If the poas there, Gabriel could speak to it, ask it to bend to his will

If the poasn’t, he had nothing

His door swung open Nick stood there in a green hoodie and a pair of khaki cargo shorts A girl on the cheer squad had once asked Gabriel if having a tas like looking in aa cheerleader was like being an idiot all the tiood question He and Nick shared the same dark hair, the same blue eyes, the same few freckles across their cheekbones

Right now, Nick leaned on a crutch, a knee brace strapped around his left leg, evidence of the only thing they didn’t share: a for

Gabriel glanced away from that “Hey”

“What are you doing?”

Gabriel flicked the leaf in the wastebasket beneath his desk

“Nothing You ready for school?”