“Don’t mock it, Hunter.”

Hunter shook Jay’s hands off. “We were just talking. You’re acting like she was trying to—”

“I don’t care what she was trying to do. I’m trying to tell you that it can be hard to distinguish what you want from what others want. You’re going to want to help everyone, and that’s not always a good thing.”

“How is that not a good thing?”

His uncle leaned back against the table. “What if I wanted to help every criminal I had to arrest? What if your dad went on assignment and empathized with the bad guys?”

“Did you really just say ‘bad guys’?”

Now Jay didn’t smile at all. “You need to take this seriously. Your abilities are going to get stronger. That means it’s going to be more difficult instead of less.”

“So I can’t ever have a girlfriend.”

“You’d probably be better off if you had lots of girlfriends. You know what your dad used to tell me when I was your age?”

“What?”

Hunter’s dad spoke from the doorway. Even in khakis and a polo shirt, he looked like he’d stepped right out of a recruitment poster. “He’s too young for that, Jay.”

“If you’d walked in here five minutes ago, you wouldn’t think so.”

Hunter wanted to roll his eyes, but his dad was a lot less tolerant of attitude than his uncle was. He kept his voice mild. “Uncle Jay is overreacting.”

“Is this about the girl I just saw walking down the driveway?”

“Clare.” Hunter couldn’t read his dad’s expression, but the man wasn’t an idiot. He’d probably figured out half of it already. “She’s in my government class. I did a presentation on firearms and she had some questions.”

“Did you answer them?”

Hunter wasn’t ready for a question. He was ready for lecturing. “Most of them.”

“Good.” He looked at Jay. “Thanks for coming over. You have time to stay for dinner?”

That was it?

“You’re not mad?” said Hunter.

His dad glanced at him. “Not yet.”

Hunter frowned. “Yet?”

“You’re about to teach yourself a lesson a lot more effectively than I ever could. I’ll be mad if you don’t learn it the first time around.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will.” His father looked back at Jay. “The file for this weekend is upstairs if you want to take a look.”

His uncle straightened. “Sure. I have time.”

“File?” Hunter’s ears perked up. If Uncle Jay was involved, that meant it was Elemental business. His father worked private security jobs on his own. “You have a job this weekend?”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” said his father.

“Let him listen,” said Jay. “You said it’s just surveillance for now, right? He’ll be doing it himself soon enough.”

Hunter’s dad smiled and smacked his brother on the back of the head good-naturedly—but his eyes were serious. “I said, it’s nothing he needs to worry about.”

“You know I can keep a secret,” said Hunter.

Hunter’s dad lost the smile. “It’s not about keeping secrets. I don’t want you in on this stuff any sooner than you need to be.”

“But why? You tell me about your private-duty stuff all the time. But this is the stuff I should be learning—”

“No,” said his dad, and his eyes were fierce. “It’s not a game, Hunter. You’re not ready.”

Hunter gritted his teeth. He took every lesson seriously. He followed every rule his father laid out. His skills with a rifle could rival real sharpshooters. Any challenge his father set, he could do it. He had done it.

“I know it’s not a game,” he said.

“Good. Then forget we mentioned it.”

“Is this because I brought a girl home?” Hunter wanted to punch the wall, but he was well practiced in maintaining control, especially when his father was around. He kept his voice even. “You said you weren’t mad.”

“I’m not. And this isn’t a punishment.”

“What good is all this training if you’re never going to let me use it?”

“Hunter.”

“Maybe if you would let me have the chance—”

“Hunter. I said no.”

That tone was final, like throwing up a wall. A point of no return. For a bare instant, Hunter wanted to knock it down, to rebel and throw a fit.

But that would just make his father throw up a new wall, a stronger one.

His father wasn’t waiting around for him to make a choice, anyway. He turned and started through the door, saying, “Lock up when you’re done in here.”

Like Hunter would sit down here and sulk.

Actually, he would have if his dad hadn’t said something.

Now he stood back and waited for his uncle to go through the doorway, then flipped the light switch and locked the door.

But he stopped Jay at the bottom of the stairs.

“Hey,” he said, his voice low, “what did Dad tell you about girls?”

His uncle laughed and clapped him on the shoulder, and Hunter thought he was going to brush off the question.

But Jay leaned in and lost the smile. “Use them before they use you.”