By luck—or his twin’s calculated avoidance, he wasn’t sure which—Michael had answered the phone. Chris had agreed to work for Nick today. Hunter had already been planning on going with Becca to visit her father. Gabriel would be home alone with a pile of textbooks.

Pretty much a guarantee that Nick wouldn’t be getting on a bus anytime soon.

Then again, sitting next to Tyler was quite possibly the only thing worse than facing his twin again.

Tyler shifted closer. “No wonder you could never fight back.

I didn’t realize Gabriel Merrick had a twin sister—”

“Shut up,” Nick said.

“Or what? You’ll huff and you’ll puff and you’ll blow this place down? Or do you only know how to blow—”

“Shut up.” Nick glared at him and didn’t bother keeping his voice down. “Fuck you, Tyler. You might have Quinn fooled, but I know what you’ve done. Michael might give you a free pass because you lost your sister and he feels some shred of re-sponsibility for it, but—”

“Don’t you dare talk about my sister.”

“You think losing someone gives you a free pass to be a raging ass**le? It doesn’t. You’re not the only person who knows loss.”

He’d hit a nerve. Tyler was breathing heavily now, his fists clenched. “Shut up, Merrick.”

“No, you shut up. You want to hate us because of what we are? Fine. Hate us. Punch me, burn me, call the Guides, whatever. But I know the truth. I know what you are. I know what you can do.”

“You don’t know anything.”

Nick knew Tyler was a breath away from snapping, but he couldn’t stop. Standing up to Gabriel had changed something in him. For the better, for the worse, he had no idea. But just like Adam poking him in the side this morning, demanding to know what Nick wanted, Tyler’s presence was like a constant jab, over and over again.

And Nick wanted. It. To stop.

He leaned forward, holding Tyler’s gaze. “I know you’re probably scared to death that the wrong person is going to find out you’re just as cursed as the big, bad Merricks. Guess it’d be pretty hard to cry to Mommy and Daddy, then, huh? Or do you think they’d pull the trigger themselves? God knows they’ve been dying to do it to us for years.”

“I’ve never killed anyone,” Tyler hissed.

“How do we know?” said Nick. “It’s not like you don’t spend every waking moment consumed by hate. God, for all we know, you could have been behind the fire at Seth Ramsey’s—”

Nick broke off and stopped short. “Holy shit.”

The fire at Seth Ramsey’s. Five years ago. It had killed Seth’s parents.

And Nick’s.

“Shut up!” Tyler yelled. His eyes were wide and panicked, his expression fierce. “Shut the f**k up, Merrick. I didn’t start that fire.”

Nick almost couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t even identify this emotion. Rage. Bewilderment. Shock. Sorrow, all over again. “It was you. You started it. Not Gabriel.”

“Wrong,” said Tyler. He was shaking his head fiercely.

“Wrong.”

“I’m not wrong. It was you.”

“It was both of us,” he cried. “Don’t you get it? Just like last night. It was both.”

Nick stared at him.

Tyler climbed down from the risers. He headed for the door.

Quinn and Adam had gone still in the middle of the dance floor. Nick had no idea how long they’d been watching.

Quinn glanced between Nick and Tyler, and finally ran after Tyler. The front door to the studio slammed.

It left Nick reeling, unsure where his emotions wanted to settle.

He was very aware of Adam’s eyes still on him.

Nick looked at him. He couldn’t speak. He wasn’t sure what he would say.

“So,” Adam said. His expression was some amalgamation of curiosity, pity, and resignation. “More secrets, huh?”

CHAPTER 29

Quinn caught up to Tyler in the parking lot. There were only two vehicles left: his truck, and a black sedan across the lot that some parent must have left here to come back for later. She grabbed Tyler’s arm before he could jump in his truck and take off.

She expected him to spin in a rage and shove her away, but he didn’t. He just stopped. He didn’t look at her.

“Are you okay?” she said softly.

“No.” His voice sounded thick.

“Is what he said true?” she said. “The fire that killed his parents—did you—”

“I don’t know.” He turned to look at her, and where she expected to find rage and fury, his expression only offered torment. “I don’t know, Quinn. I was sixteen years old. My sister was dead. I hated Michael Merrick with everything. I don’t—”

His voice broke, but he caught it. “Gabriel Merrick hated us, too. They all did. I don’t know for sure which one of us started it. But I know I wasn’t the only one. I didn’t have that kind of power, the way the whole house went up in a flash. Not then.”

“But . . . but you’ve called the Guides against the Merricks.

You’ve tried to have them killed. You stood in your kitchen and told me you’ve never hurt anyone with your power. What was that about?”

Now she got the fury. “What was I supposed to do?” he snapped. “My parents wanted to kill them for what they’d done to Emily. Was I supposed to stand up and say, ‘Guess what, guys. I’m one, too! Let’s get cake.’ Do you have any idea what it was like for me, knowing what I was, knowing my parents were calling the Guides to come to town to kill off the true Elementals? Knowing I might have played a part in killing my best friend’s parents? Do you have any idea?”