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He redoubled his struggles, wishing someone would see and help But while a few kids were out here, they glanced at the fight and kept walking No one said anything No one took any action

Hell, they probably thought he was Gabriel And Gabriel never needed help

The wind swirled harder Nick tried to bite back the pain, focusing all his energy into keeping a tornado fro to for power froony shooting through his elbow It looked like it was snowing Oryou on?" said Tyler, his voice low and sinister

"Quinn said you were into guys"

If anything could have broken through the pain in his arm, that was it

Nick couldn’t think, unsure which hurtdisht He couldn’t focus A tornado was going to whip through here and leave a wide path of destruction, probably taking hiht here beside the fire lane

But then so him back hard Tyler went down harder Nick stu froht had been Hunter Or Gabriel

But Tyler was on the ground and Michael stood over him He looked down at Tyler like he wanted to kick hiht?"

No He was breathing through his teeth and the ouldn’t settle His ar fabric, on top of so sickly sweet that he didn’t want to identify Nick fought his way out of his sweatshirt

Mistake He did it fast, and it took skin with it The wound wasn’t big, but Nick felt the skin separate and peel away Every nerve ith it He thought he ht pass out Or throw up

Or both

But the air was charged with his power, and it surged into the exposed skin, healing hi soh his teeth and shivered The weather no longer seeroaned as the wind battered them

Michael looked back at Tyler "Keep your hands off ot to his feet and spit at hilanced at him "Get in the truck"

Nick looked at the fire lane There was Michael’s truck, about six cars back Had Michael been here the whole time?

Had he heard what Tyler said?

"Go," said Michael "He won’t follow you"

Like Nick was six years old being chased down by a bully

But what could he do? He clutched his aching arm to his chest and walked

Tyler didn’t helpbrother showed up, huh, Nicky?"

Nicky He somehow made it an insult

Nick slaid wind had cleared the quad, whipping between vehicles to make the truck rock The open wounds on his ar more than soft scabs

Michael was five seconds behind hinition and got the heat running

Nick hadn’t realized his breath was fogging up all the glass

He couldn’t even see what had happened to Tyler But Michael hadn’t been out there long enough to have done any daht me" Without any ear, but kept his foot on the brake "Let me see your arm"

"It’s okay I’m okay" Nick held it up, but he didn’t care about his arhts felt like the debris scattered all over the quad from the wind Had Michael heard? Had he heard?

But Michael said, "What made hiet his thoughts to focus What had Quinn told Tyler? Why? How could she--ould she--?

"Nick?"

He shook his head "I don’t know--Tyler’s never done that before With the fire" He wished Gabriel weren’t being such a dick--Nick could ask him how much power that would take

Tyler wasn’t supposed to be very strong, but soht?

You don’t get to play like that any hih proble, What do you know about it?

What did Tyler know? What was Quinn telling hiiven up his secret What did that mean?

The windshield cleared in patches Michael pulled out of his space "Has he been hassling you?"

"No Not really" Nick paused "Why won’t he fight you?"

"Because he genuinely believes I killed his sister, and he’s afraid I’ll do the saoing on?"

His older brother sounded pissed--but only at Tyler Not like he’d learned anything new and shocking In a way, it was disappointing Nick shook his head and looked out the

"Nothing What were you doing there?"

"I ca into the car and you weren’t with the, which I took to lared out theTrees along Old Mill Road flew by Wind was still blowing leaves in every direction,his mood

Then he whipped his head back around "Why were you picking me up?"

"What’s with all the suspicion? Because I’d like to get this job done before the rain starts"

Oh Of course Nick settled back into the seat His sweatshirt was destroyed, and he could do with a change of clothes, but the last thing he wanted to do was face his brothers "Do you have an extra pullover in here?"

"You don’t wantby the house?"

"No"

Michael reached between the seats and flung a fleece half-zip at hiuely of topsoil and mulch, but not in a bad way Nick pulled it over his head

"Hungry?" said Michael

Nick shook his head He hadn’t eaten lunch, either, but the last thing he wanted was food

They drove in silence for the longest tiainst theand wondered what it would be like to lie down and sleep forever

When Michael spoke, his voice was quiet "You want to talk about what’s up at school?"

That faoing on at school"