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Wake up"

Nick opened his eyes and looked at his brother

Gabriel was kneeling there in the charred leaves and undergrowth, holding hiainst a tree, his eyes tense and worried

Nick was struck with déjà vu They’d been eight or nine, riding bikes through the woods, ju the creek the way they’d done a thousand ti the ground soft and muddy Gabriel, in the lead as usual, made the jump with little difficulty

But his bike had ht it and sank into the mud, stuck It had stopped Nick hadn’t His head had cracked into a tree

He’d woken up just like this, staring into his twin brother’s panicked eyes

"My bike broke," he mumbled now

"Not this time" Gabriel smiled, but there was still a shadoorry behind it

Of course he’d share the exact same memory at the exact same moment

"How do you feel?" said Gabriel

"Oh Stellar"

"No--I ht about it "Not yet"

Gabriel sighed, but he didn’t let hio

"Tyler?" said Nick

"He ran," said Gabriel His voice grew dark "As soon as you collapsed If you think you can stay upright, I’led to find his hands, and he grabbed Gabriel’s wrist "No--no" He paused, trying to ’s events But one thing was clear--they’d come here with the intent to out Tyler’s abilities Nick remembered the power in the air, the way his fear hadwinds that attacked Tyler until fire consuht Not Tyler

It should have been satisfying It wasn’t

"Our fault," he said

Gabriel shook his head "My fault" He paused "I should have helped you"

Now Nick re true clarity "You let hi!

You let hi, Nick He did" Gabriel looked away "I should have helped you before it got to that point"

Nick shoved his hands away "Yeah, thanks Thanks forto snap the trap"

"An hour ago you got all shitty because I wanted to defend you! What the hell do you want from me, Nick? What?"

I want you to knohat I want

Nick put a hand against the ground and pushed himself to his feet He wavered for a second, but Gabriel didn’t grab hi to his jeans, and his jacket was srabbed him, but really, he didn’t look any the worse for wear

The air was happy he ake He felt better with every breath, as if he inhaled pure power

He started walking toward the car

After a ed to catch up with him

"Give me the keys," he said "You’re in no shape to drive"

Nick wanted to protest, but his tas probably right He pulled them out of his pocket and handed them over He didn’t look at Gabriel when they cli hadn’t solved anything So Tyler was a full Elemental So what? When the next round of Guides came to town, they could add hiain, 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 Adao to hell The phone was co 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 craith it

After a few minutes, Gabriel pulled his phone out of his pocket and held it out "Here Use hed and shoved it back in his pocket

Silence again This time, more strained than before, if that was possible The terees

Nick was al here calmly

"Fuck this," said Gabriel He yanked the wheel abruptly, sending thehway By so 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 ht, 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 ht, and he took a second to get it together before continuing "I know I deserve it After keeping the fires fro 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 knoe are fighting"