Spirit

Hunter stopped, feeling his hands curl into fists. His breath was fogging in the air again, and Michael reached over to kick up the heat.

“It doesn’t matter,” Hunter finished. “I took my stuff and left.”

“Was this today?” said Michael. “Is that why you were so keyed up at Home Depot?”

Hunter shook his head. “Yesterday.”

“Yesterday?” Michael glanced over. “Where did you go last night?”

“I slept in the jeep.” His voice was small. “Behind Target.”

To his surprise, Michael reached over and smacked him on the back of the head. “Are you insane? Jesus, Hunter, you should have called the house.”

“Why?” he snapped. “So your brothers can keep giving me shit?” They were rolling to a stop at the end of Old Mill Road, just one turn away from the Merrick house. Hunter grabbed the door handle. “I don’t need this.”

Michael grabbed his arm. “Stop.” He didn’t let go, and turned the truck one-handed. “They might be giving you shit at school, but if you’d called and said you had nowhere to go . . .”

Hunter jerked free. “I can take care of myself.”

“Oh, really? Is that why I’m blasting the heat right now?” They were pulling up the driveway. Michael threw the truck in park in front of the garage. “Come inside and get something to eat. Your dog could probably use some water, too.”

It was the mention of Casper that made Hunter pause. His dog’s head was hanging over the seat back, his tongue lolling out from the heat blasting in the cab.

“Fine,” said Hunter. “But you can’t blame me if I end up punching Gabriel in the face.”

“Don’t worry,” said Michael. “He usually deserves it.”

Silver was fiddling with his weapons again, laying them out on the table.

He’d been pissed off all evening.

Finally, Kate couldn’t take it anymore. “What’s your problem?”

His eyes flicked up. “You very nearly gave us away.”

“I told you it was a bad idea to follow them.”

“I wouldn’t have had to follow them if you’d been able to get more information from Hunter Garrity.”

She scowled. “I’m trying. He made me get out of his car. What do you want me to do, throw myself at him?”

“I have doubts whether you can do even that effectively.”

“Shut up.” But she kind of agreed with him.

Silver gave her a look that stopped her heart in her chest and made her very aware that he was holding a loaded weapon. “Let’s remember our roles here.”

She held his gaze and didn’t apologize—but she didn’t say anything else, either. Her heart had restarted and was kicking up a rapid pace.

She had to clear her throat to speak around the thunderous rush of blood in her ears. “What should we do next?”

“The more I consider it, I rather like your idea of spending time around all of them,” said Silver.

She snorted. “I almost had an invite back to their house today, but Nick Merrick’s girlfriend is a bitch.”

“Not their house. I’m thinking somewhere more public. Somewhere with the chance to see if they take the bait to cause a little damage.”

She fought the urge to sulk. “Somewhere you can watch me?”

“You should not be so dismissive of my protection.”

“Fine. Whatever. What did you have in mind?”

His eyebrows lifted, and his hands went still on the weapon. “A little less attitude, perhaps.”

She raised her own eyebrows and stared at him, waiting.

Silver pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. “You’ll go to this.”

Kate took it. She’d seen and ignored the posters around school. “A school carnival? Seriously?”

“Seriously. It’s public, they’ll likely all attend, and I can observe without being noticed. It’s also tomorrow night.”

“And what should I do while I’m there?”

“You’ll make sure you haven’t blown our cover.”

A new edge had found its way into his voice, matching the darkness in his expression. Kate looked at her nails and did her best to ignore it. She’d barely spent any time with the Merricks—she couldn’t imagine she’d blown their cover.

But she kept thinking about Hunter, and the way he’d thrown her out of the car.

She’d touched him, and he’d caught her arm. Had he figured it out somehow?

She glanced up at Silver, but he was looking back at his laptop. “And if I have?”

“You’d do well to run.”

“From them?”

He met her eyes. “From me.”

CHAPTER 10

Gabriel and Nick Merrick were sitting at the kitchen table when Hunter followed Michael into the house. They were identical twins, but Hunter had never had a moment’s trouble telling them apart. Their powers were so different that they registered differently against his senses. When he’d first met them, he hadn’t known what that meant—he’d never spent any time around full Elementals. But once he knew their abilities—Nick’s affinity for air, and Gabriel’s for fire—he wondered how he’d ever missed it.

Nick had a thick textbook open on the table in front of him, with a notebook beside it. He looked irritated, and he was watching Gabriel break Oreos into a bowl of milk.

“You know,” Nick was saying, “you could actually make dinner for a change.”

“I am making dinner.”

They hadn’t spotted him yet.

Hunter didn’t exactly want to remedy that.

But Casper didn’t care, he just followed Michael into the kitchen, his tail waving like a banner behind him.

Hunter watched their expressions change, saw their eyes follow Casper as his nails clicked across the ceramic tile, then watched them swing their gazes around to the kitchen doorway.

The silence lasted about three seconds.

Then Gabriel’s expression sharpened, and he said, “Look, Michael brought home a dog and a—”

“Gabriel. Leave him alone.” Michael grabbed a bowl from a cabinet and filled it with water.

Hunter had no idea how this was going to go, and he didn’t really want to be standing here, waiting around to find out. He could sit on the front porch while Casper got a drink.

Before he could move to take a step, Nick cleared his throat. “You help Mike with a job or something?”

“Yeah.”

“Want something to drink?”

Hunter hesitated, like this could be a trap. But Nick was just looking at him, waiting for an answer.

So Hunter shrugged. “Sure.”

Then he tensed, realizing he’d probably walked right into it, that Nick would say something shitty like, “Too bad,” or he’d throw a glass of water in his face, or—

Or he’d just walk to the fridge, fetch a bottle of Gatorade, and toss it.

Hunter snatched it out of the air but hesitated before unscrewing the cap. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Gabriel watched this whole exchange. “What the hell are you doing here?”

There was something reassuring about the hostility. This, Hunter could deal with. He took a sip and made Gabriel wait for the answer. “Your brother blocked my car and forced me into his truck at Home Depot.”

Nick’s eyebrows went up. He looked at his older brother, who was dropping into a chair at the end of the table. “Really.”

Michael shrugged but didn’t say anything. He reached for the package of Oreos.

“Gee, Mike,” said Gabriel. “I’m sure that didn’t look sketchy at all.”

Michael didn’t answer him; he just looked up at Hunter. “What are you going to do tonight?”

Hunter shrugged and leaned against the doorjamb, swirling the Gatorade in the bottle. “I’ll be all right.”

“What’s tonight?” said Nick.

Then the front door slammed, and a pair of feet came down the hallway. Hunter moved to the side, and Chris appeared in the doorway, his eyes narrowed. “You’re here.” He tossed car keys on the counter. “Well, that was a wasted trip.”

Hunter raised his eyebrows. “Meaning?”

“Becca made me swing by your house before I dropped her off.” Chris made it sound like Becca had asked him to swing by the county dump. “You weren’t in school and then you didn’t return her texts. She was worried.”

Becca was worried. Hunter was oddly touched.

Then Chris said, “Your grandfather said you left.”

Hunter’s chest tightened until it was hard to breathe again. His grandfather said he’d left? Like he’d just walked out?

“I figured you’d skipped town,” said Chris. He dropped into the chair next to Nick. “Guess we’re not that lucky.”

“Guess not,” said Hunter. His hand gripped the Gatorade bottle so tightly the plastic crackled. His thoughts were spiraling like a tornado, and he couldn’t make them settle. His mother had watched—his grandfather had—his mother—his—

“Casper,” he called. “Hierr.” The dog shot to his side and nosed at his hands. Hunter glanced at Michael. “Will you drive me back now?”

“Why don’t you wait,” said Michael. “Have some dinner.”

Hunter glanced at the bowl of crushed cookies in milk. “Thanks, I’ll pass.”

“You going to sleep in your car and skip school again?” said Michael.

Well, that changed the tenor of the room. Hunter couldn’t look at any of them now. He could feel them staring, and that was bad enough.

“Forget it,” he said. “I’ll walk.”

The night air stung his face when he stepped out of the house, and Hunter pulled the hood of his sweatshirt higher against his neck. No one followed him.

Good.

He was dirty from helping Michael, and a hot shower would have helped ease the soreness across his shoulders, but that would have to wait until tomorrow morning. He wasn’t sure how long he could keep using the school gym showers without someone noticing he wasn’t going to class, but he’d do it as long as he could keep it up.

Your grandfather said you left.

Hunter swallowed. Stupid old man. Like he wanted to be there anyway.

He thought of the Merricks, sitting around the kitchen table, a room full of aggression and old wounds—but full of camaraderie and solidarity, too. The brothers didn’t always get along, but they knew each other.

His grandfather didn’t even know that Hunter would never have hit a girl.

His grandfather hadn’t even hesitated before hitting him. Hunter had to swallow again.

God, stop being such a wuss.

His father would be so disappointed.

Hunter rubbed at his eyes.

His cell phone chimed, and he yanked it out of his pocket, stupidly hoping it would be his mother.

It wasn’t.

Bueller . . . Bueller . . . Bueller.

Kate. Hunter smiled and wanted to kick himself. He stared at the text and wondered how to respond.

He felt a flicker of guilt at the way he’d thrown her out of his jeep.

Sneakers ground on pavement behind him, and Hunter whirled, hands up. Then the air sparked with Gabriel’s presence.

He shoved the phone in his pocket and kept walking.

Gabriel fell into step beside him.

Hunter didn’t even glance over. “Leave me alone.”

“Having a good cry?”

He wasn’t, but Hunter set his jaw anyway. “Go to hell.”

“So yesterday,” said Gabriel. “Remember when I flipped your tray?”

“No. I forgot all about it.”