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CHAPTER 1

Gabriel Merrick stared at the dead leaf in his palhter in his pocket, but that always felt like cheating He should be able to call fla had been stuck in the corner of hisscreen since last winter But the leaf only seeonohter to that

A knock sounded on his bedroom wall

"Black," he called Nicky always slept late, always knocked on his wall to ask what color he earing If he didn’t, they ended up dressing alike

Gabriel looked back at the leaf and it was just that, a dead leaf No hint of power Behind the drywall, electricity sang to hi fila-ed to burn through the clouds left some trace of his element If the poas there, Gabriel could speak to it, ask it to bend to his will

If the poasn’t, he had nothing

His door swung open Nick stood there in a green hoodie and a pair of khaki cargo shorts A girl on the cheer squad had once asked Gabriel if having a tas like looking in aa cheerleader was like being an idiot all the tiood question He and Nick shared the same dark hair, the same blue eyes, the saht now, Nick leaned on a crutch, a knee brace strapped around his left leg, evidence of the only thing they didn’t share: a forlanced away fro?"

Gabriel flicked the leaf in the wastebasket beneath his desk

"Nothing You ready for school?"

"Is that your trig book?"

"Yeah Just nment"

Gabriel always attempted his ht Math had turned into a foreign language soh, rade, when their parents died, he’d co for hi challenge Math ca He was in second-year calculus, earning college credit

Gabriel was stuck in trigono sick of it

Gabriel flipped the book closed and shoved it into his backpack His eyes fell on that knee brace again Two days ago, his twin’s leg had been broken in three places

"You’re not going to make me carry your crap all day, are you?" His voice ca he’d intended

Nick took it in stride, as usual "Not if you’re going to cry about it" He turned toward the stairs, his voice rising to afalsetto "I’m the school sports hero, but I can’t possibly carry a few extra books"

"Keep it up," Gabriel called, slinging the backpack over his shoulder to follow his brother "I’ll push you down the stairs"

But he hesitated in the doorway, listening to Nick’s hitching steps as he descended the staircase, the creak of the banister as it supported his weight

Gabriel knew he should help He should probably be taking the place of that crutch That’s what Nick would do for hih the doorway

That broken leg had been his fault Thank god Nick could pull power from the air, an element in abundance He probably wouldn’t even need the brace by the end of the week

And then Gabriel wouldn’t need to stare at the evidence of his own poor judgeted for their Ele pure Elementals, they should have been put to death as soon as they came into their powers Luckily, their parents had struck a deal with the weaker Elementals in town

A deal that had led to their parents’ deaths

Their oldest brother, Michael, had been able to keep the deal in place until a feeeks ago, when Tyler and Seth, two of the other Elemental kids in town, had attacked Chris It started a snowball of events that led to an Ele to town to do aith the Merrick brothers for good

He’d al dance, they’d been attacked

They’d fought back the only way they kne But Gabriel had let Nick call stored his twin for more power When Nick fell, the accident had practically shattered his leg if they weren’t full Eleht, Gabriel couldn’t keep him safe The Guide had kidnapped Nick and Chris, had held them prisoner

Becca and Hunter had found the Ineffective and out of control, just like always

But now they were safe, and things were back to norood Move on No use co He hadn’t even said a word about what had happened on the field

As far as Gabriel was concerned, he didn’t need to

Just like witha failure

Gabriel pulled onto Becca Chandler’s street and glanced in the rearviewon his thuainst the

"Nervous?" said Gabriel

Chris looked away frolared at him

"No"

Nick turned in his seat "Make sure you open the door for her Girls eat that crap up"

"Nah," said Gabriel "Play it cool Make her work for it"

"For god’s sake," Chris snapped "She just broke up with Hunter, like, yesterday, so it’s not like that Okay?"

Jesus Soain

"But she asked you for a ride"

Chris looked back out the"I offered"

Nick turned his head to look at his twin "Very nervous," he whispered

Gabriel smiled and turned into Becca’s driveway "Very"

"Would you two shut up? "

Becca aiting on the front step, her arms around her knees and her hands drawn up into the sleeves of a fleece pull-over, dark hair hanging down her back

"She looks upset," said Nick

She did, her eyes dark and shadowed, her shoulders hunched

Orout ehtened when she saw them, and she sprinted for the car almost before Chris had time to jump out and hold the door for her