Spirit

“You’re right,” said Silver. He pointed the gun at Hunter’s head. “I do what needs to be done.”

He pulled the trigger.

The gun exploded. Hunter saw the flash, but that was it.

Then Silver was yelling and the smell of gas was in the air.

Then Hunter felt fire. Somewhere distant, but a raging fireball, heading this way.

The kids must have started a fire as they fled, somewhere farther down the line.

Maybe it was the blood loss, but Hunter was having a hard time figuring out what was going on.

Especially when Michael stepped out of the darkness and slammed Silver into the concrete wall with enough force to break the stones. Rock crumbled around him. Silver crumpled to the ground.

Hunter felt himself lifted by the shoulders. He opened his eyes but didn’t remember closing them.

Gabriel was dragging him.

But he was looking at his brothers. “We need to do something! I can feel it building!”

Fire. He could feel fire building. Hunter could feel it, too, a swelling rage coming fast.

“Did they . . .” started Hunter. He had to wet his lips and really think to string a sentence together. “Did the kids make it out?”

“Yeah. They got out.” Gabriel didn’t sound entirely happy about that.

Hunter could feel the heat, the rage in the air around him.

Then he felt the fire, true fire, barreling through the tunnel.

His mind was trying to panic, but he could barely lift his head. At least it let him string a sentence together. “Gabriel! We need to stop it!”

Too late. Hunter felt the fire wash over him. Heat seared his lungs and scorched his cheeks, blinding him for an instant.

But then he felt Gabriel’s power in his element. His friend was trying to harness the energy, to keep it from spreading.

There was too much. He couldn’t handle it all. This fire wanted to explode from these tunnels, and Gabriel couldn’t hold on to it.

But then another source of power joined Gabriel’s. Nick, trying to choke oxygen from the fire.

Not enough.

Chris, pulling power from the steam in the pipes, the trickles of water on the walls.

Not enough.

The fire was weakening, slowing, but not enough.

Rubble scraped against pavement, and it took Hunter too long to realize what that meant. Silver was getting to his feet.

And he was pulling power, lots of power, from the air around them. Hunter felt it building and knew Silver could kill the Merricks, right here in these tunnels, using their own power.

So he did what he’d been told never to do. He added his power to theirs.

And like a final link clicking into place, the five of them formed a perfect circle. Everything hesitated. The destructive power was right there, in Hunter’s control, lighting up his vision like a power grid. Waiting for direction.

Hunter looked at Silver.

Then he shoved every ounce of power in his direction.

Hunter felt the force of energy leave his body and slam into Silver’s.

And then he didn’t feel anything at all.

CHAPTER 34

Hunter woke up in a hospital.

It took a moment to realize he should probably be grateful to be waking up at all.

An IV was in his hand, one of those oxygen cannulas strung around his face. Nothing really hurt, but at the same time, he had no desire to climb out of this bed, either. A dull, unsettling ache clung to his bones.

He tried to move his legs.

They worked. They hurt, but they worked.

He wasn’t handcuffed to the bed, either, so that was a plus.

One of the Merrick twins was asleep in the recliner on the other side of the room. His T-shirt said I Google Myself.

Gabriel.

Hunter wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“Hey,” said Hunter.

Nothing. He tried again.

Finally, he grabbed the box of tissues on the small table beside the bed and threw it.

Gabriel sat up with a start. He grabbed the box and tossed it onto the window ledge. “Dude, you’re lucky you’re hurt or I’d be shoving this right up your—”

“Save it. What happened?”

“Oh Em Gee, Hunter, you are so welcome,” Gabriel said in a lilting falsetto. “I had a blast saving your life.”

He couldn’t be too mad if he was cracking jokes.

Or maybe he was furious. Sometimes it was hard to tell with Gabriel.

“Maybe if you told me what happened, I could get around to the thanking you part.”

Gabriel’s face lost the mockery. “When we realized that the shopping center was a false lead, we had to make a decision: find you, or get out of the area before the school blew up.” He shrugged, and mischief sparked in his eye. “So we flipped for it.”

“Thank you for finding me.”

“You should be thanking the coin.”

Hunter didn’t say anything for a long moment. Gabriel waited.

Then Hunter looked away. “I’m sorry I lied about the shopping center. I just—I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt—”

“We knew you were lying.”

Hunter blinked. “What?”

“We knew. How do you think we found you so fast?”

“And you still came after me?”

“I’m not sure anyone has ever told you how this whole friendship thing is supposed to work, but . . .” Gabriel stared at him, hard. “Yeah, you idiot. We came after you.”

Hunter wasn’t sure what to say to that.

So Gabriel kept talking. “It took some time to find you. And then we saw that dickhead pointing a gun at you. I tried the trick you mentioned, the one about stopping the spark before the gun could fire.”

Hunter remembered the flash, the way the gun had exploded in Silver’s hand. “So what happened?”

“Yeah, so I don’t have enough control for all that, but I kinda like how it worked out anyway.”

Now Hunter understood. He could read between the flippant answers. “Thank you.”

“If I’d let you die, I couldn’t have kicked your ass for going after Noah Dean.”

Hunter propped himself up on his elbows. “Of everything, why are you still pissed about that?”

For the first time, Gabriel’s expression showed true fury. “Because, jackass, you should have taken me with you.”

Hunter dropped back on the pillow, wondering if he should punch Gabriel or hug him. “So that night you knocked me down the stairs—you weren’t mad that I might have been screwing over your family. You were mad that I left you behind?”

“Hell, yes! Nicky never wants to do that stuff.”

Hunter was touched. “I’m getting all misty.”

“Fuck you.” Then Gabriel’s expression changed. “You look really different without all the piercings.”

Hunter’s hand flew to his face. They were all gone. “What happened?”

“You had an MRI.” He glanced at the clock over the television. “Your mom will be back soon.”

“She was here?”

“She’s been sleeping here.”

She’d been sleeping here? “How long have I been in the hospital?”

“Two days.”

“What happened to Silver?” Hunter paused, remembering the feeling of the power driving into his enemy. “Did he die?”

Gabriel looked like he was bracing himself for Hunter’s reaction. He glanced at the doorway before pulling his chair closer. “Arrested.”

Hunter shoved himself upright again. “He’s still alive?”

“Oh, your blast of power did a lot of damage, but not enough to kill him. We dragged him out. We needed someone to take the fall for all of it—kidnapping kids and hiding them under the school, including you. It’s the only thing that covered everything: your disappearance, the shoot-out at our house—”

Hunter was incredulous. “Where do you guys fit into that?”

“Out of town. Weekend college visit for Nick. Missed the whole thing.”

Hunter opened his mouth. Closed it. “Wow.”

“It’s helpful that Layne’s dad is smoothing things over with the cops. Mike keeps saying that guy is brilliant with spin.”

“What about the kids?”

“They said what we told them to say. You think they wanted to take the fall?”

“Are they all safe?”

Gabriel lifted one shoulder. “Confused.” He paused. “There’s no sign of Calla. We’re trying to figure out exactly who’s involved so we can try to keep them out of trouble.”

“More Guides will come.”

Gabriel nodded. “I know.”

Then they fell into silence for the longest time, until Gabriel pulled his chair even closer and rested his arms on the bed rail. “How did that guy know where to find you?”

Hunter looked away from him, at the speckled tile of the hospital ceiling. “Just lucky, I guess.”

Gabriel hit him on the top of his head. Hunter swung around to glare at him.

“Try again,” Gabriel said.

Hunter was so sick of lying. He sighed. “I turned on her phone.”

“Why? Why did you do that?”

“I didn’t realize he’d get there so fast.”

Gabriel waited, but Hunter didn’t say anything else.

“That doesn’t answer the why,” Gabriel finally said.

“I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt. I was going to kill him. And if I couldn’t do it, I was going to blow up the school with him in it.”

“Jesus, I could shake the crap out of you.” Gabriel shoved him in the shoulder. “When you’re going to do awesome stuff, let me in on it.”

Hunter had to look at the speckled ceiling again. “I didn’t expect to survive it.”

Gabriel’s voice was quiet, no mockery at all now. “Why?”

Hunter was suddenly so tired. “Go away, Gabriel.”

“No. Why would you do that?”

Hunter squeezed his eyes shut. His lashes felt wet, and he pressed his fingertips against his eyes. “Because Kate sacrificed herself for me. She was the only person who’s ever trusted me.”

“Dude. Hunter. No. She wasn’t. She was just the only person you’ve ever trusted back.”

Hunter opened his eyes. Gabriel was right. He should have trusted the Merricks long before this.

He had a lot to make up for.

“I’m sorry I was a shitty friend,” he said.

“I’m not sure ‘shitty’ covers it.”

“I can’t believe I almost killed you two weeks ago.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “I can. You’re kind of a moron.”

A dark-haired nurse knocked at the door and didn’t wait for a response before entering. She had a tray of food. “I’m glad to see you’re awake,” she said brightly. Her voice carried a touch of an accent. “Feeling hungry?”

“Not really.”

“Leave it,” said Gabriel. “I’m always hungry.”

She set the tray on the table and plugged a stethoscope into her ears. “May I get your vital signs?”

Hunter held out his arm for the blood pressure cuff.

She tightened the Velcro, then traced a finger lightly over the tattoo above his elbow. “Ah,” she said. “My favorite proverb.”

“It was my dad’s, too,” Hunter said.

“Did he serve in Afghanistan?”

“Yes. Just six months.”

“Wait a minute,” said Gabriel. “Someone knows what the secret tattoo says?”

Hunter gave him a look. “It’s not a secret. It’s on my arm.”

“Enough with the suspense already. What does it say?”

“Nothing important,” said Hunter.