Storm (Elemental 1)

Hunter stopped and turned to look down at her. A line appeared between his eyebrows. “You’re serious.”

“Yeah.”

“But—” He frowned. “The way people hassle you at school. You work with dogs. I mean—your mom’s a nurse, for god’s sake. And then, you said Drew tried—on the field last night.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I never thought what it would be like for a girl, but—”

God, she wanted to punch him! “What the hell are you talking about?”

“He’s a Fifth,” said Michael, stepping up beside her.

“Yeah.” Hunter glanced at him, then back at her. That line still hung between his brows. “Like you.”

She shook her head, wishing people would stop assuming she was with the Merricks. “I’m not one of them. Tyler only thought that because I saved Chris that night.”

“You are, Becca,” he said. “You have to be. I can tell—”

“Hunter, I’m not.”

“You are.”

She glanced at Michael and Gabriel, hoping they’d look as skeptical as she felt, but they didn’t.

They looked intrigued.

This was ridiculous. They were wasting time. She looked back at Hunter. “Fine. Prove it.”

“People hassle you, right? Too much.” He tapped his chest. “It’s because our element is all about the spirit. Life. People are drawn to that—”

She scoffed and turned away. “People aren’t drawn to me, Hunter.”

“Hey.” His voice sharpened. “Just because they aren’t nice doesn’t mean they aren’t drawn to you.”

She froze and looked over her shoulder at him, remembering how he said he’d been hassled—to the point that his father had to teach him to physically defend himself.

“Lots of people are bullied,” she said. “Every day. It doesn’t mean they have superpowers.”

He walked back to her. “Not superpowers,” he said softly. “Maybe—maybe just a stronger connection to this element.”

“You felt the power in the sunlight,” said Michael.

Gabriel was nodding, too. “That night in Chris’s bedroom. The fire reached for you—”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” she said. “Nick was making the fire flicker.”

But her conviction was wavering. She kept thinking about the way she’d felt the connection to Nick’s power, that morning in her driveway.

“I knew it right away,” said Hunter. “That night at the party, the way you wanted to help that stupid girl puking in the bushes, or how you wanted to warn Chris about Tyler, or—”

“Maybe I’m just a nice person!” she cried.

Hunter looked startled. “You can’t be both?”

She faltered. This was too much. She couldn’t debate it now. They needed to be looking for Chris and Nick—not arguing over something impossible.

“You saved Chris,” said Michael. “You fought Tyler and Seth for him.”

“But—” She hesitated, unsure whether to give his theory any credence. “I never had some weird event when I hit puberty. I never started setting fires or causing earthquakes or—”

“How about something humanitarian?” said Hunter. “Think back to middle school. Did you volunteer at your mom’s hospital, or in a nursing home, or anything like that?”