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"Fire," said Tyler
"Where?" asked Quinn Nick didn’t sense it, either--but then again, he wasn’t a Fire Eleer rode the wind It had nothing to do with the stor to do with the s betanting to kill Tyler and wanting to hug hiside the woods She could smell the smoke now, a prilared at Tyler and clireed But he wasn’t focused on her He was focused on the woods She wondered how er "This guy isn’taround You saw that"
"He didn’t shoot me in the dance studio," she said "Didn’t you tell me that they don’t kill normal people?"
"They kill anyone," said Tyler, "if it leads to the greater good He didn’t kill you in the dance studio because you weren’t a threat"
"Well, I’un fired in the woods, and Nick and Tyler both jerked her down and against the truck Adam crouched beside them
"I am not helpless!" she snapped But her heartbeat was in her ears, blocking other sounds
Nick was practically breathless Too pale He’d healed his head wound, but she wondered how et to the house?" he said "Everyone’s number is on the wall Call Michael Tell hi you," she said
"Damn it, Quinn, I can’t help theunshot Everyone froze
The wind kicked up, a sudden gust that lifted her hair The air terees Nick went paler, if that was possible "He’s hurt He’s hurt He’s--"
Another shot
"Go," said Tyler "If you can get to a phone, call nine-one-one"
"We’ll go," said Adaed her, not leaving any roou dead leaves and trees and anything it could find to burn Nickto be at his side when he found his brother’s body
Stop thinking like that
But he couldn’t sense Gabriel now The fla what sunlight crept through
More fire was good, right?
Or did it ing of its own accord?
Nick stuht his arled and wrenched his arm away from him His head still wasn’t ready for thisin burning leaves
"Fine," said Tyler He took a step closer to Nick and the fireNick alone, too "Do it your way Face this guy while you can barely stand up"
"Fuck you," said Nick, despising that he wasn’t even strong enough to find his brother on his own "I don’t want your help"
Gabriel Gabriel, Gabriel, Gabriel Where are you?
"He’s not dead," said Tyler
"You don’t know that"
"I do" Tyler reached down and scooped up a handful of fire, letting it burn fro ball of flame suspended over his palm
Nick stared He’d seen Gabriel do this hundreds of ti to see the same show of power from Tyler
"Fire likes him," said Tyler "It likes lanced up at Nick "If I can follow the fla s the s him and Tyler, too, and Nick could keep the smoke dense around them But Gabriel was hurt--the air or their twin connection or whatever had told Nick that much
In a flash, Nick realized that all this panic he was feeling wasn’t just his own Fear bled through the s the very air to find Nick’s senses
I’ll find you, he thought I’ll save you
He re hide-and-seek with Ja his senses fully
Seek
In hisaround hi pinpoints on alike hell
The Guide, a flare of power so bright that Nick wondered how the guy had snuck up on theht Not far Maybe fifty feet straight ahead
Nick’s te the s debris and fla his skin
"This way," he said to Tyler, and started walking
Tyler caught his ar harder It ruffled Nick’s hair and fed hi "He shot my brother"
Then he jerked free
Nick kept hishis wind swoop and whirl, re his demonstration for Quinn, the way he’d surrounded her with leaves
This time, he did it with fire
He did it carefully, the way he’d done for Quinn, slowly at first, enough power that it wouldn’t be noticed right away But then he sent it spiraling high enough to block forwardit faster and faster, until he could see it, a near tornado of fire, trapping the Guide inside At the saen into the fla thepower to the fire, until it was a spinning web of energy and destruction
For an instant, Nick felt a rush of victory He’d close this knot, collapse the flaht not die, but he’d lose consciousness
Then he could die fros
But then power flared back at hiht cone of power loosened, like a skein of yarn being shaken free
"Oh, shit," said Tyler Nick could feel his struggle to keep the fire where it needed to be--but the air pressure was too strong