She blinked and looked back at him. “Yes. Let me get one of the EMTs so your brother can sign for you to go.”

It took twenty minutes, but eventually he was sitting beside Michael in the front seat of the work truck. Now that they were alone, Gabriel wondered if his brother’s relief would morph into that anger Michael always carried around. Normally Gabriel would poke at him, provoke him into a fight.

Right now he just wanted Michael to yell, to slice into some of this guilt that had Gabriel in a choke hold.

But his brother didn’t say anything.

After they’d pulled into the driveway, Gabriel moved to slide out of the cab, but Michael caught his arm.

Gabriel braced himself.

Michael said, “Take your clothes off in the garage, and put them in the bin. Don’t touch anything until you take a shower.”

That was it?

Gabriel stared at him for a moment. It felt like he needed to clear his throat again. “Why?”

“You’ll see why when you look in a mirror.”

Michael went into the house and left him to strip down to his shorts. Here in the light of the garage, Gabriel could see his hands and forearms were blackened with soot. His clothes were practically unrecognizable. Even his shoes wouldn’t be salvage-able.

They all went in the trash.

Gabriel paused with his hand on the door. The air was cold and he didn’t want to stand out here too long, but he wondered if this was it, if Michael would be waiting to lay into him now.

But his brother was just cleaning up the dinner dishes, so Gabriel went upstairs to take a shower.

Michael had been right: Soot lined his face, and his hair was full of charred bits of leaves and bark. His hands left prints all over everything. After he toweled off, he took one of those Lysol wipes to the sink and the light switch. Oh, and the door.

Destroying the evidence.

He couldn’t stop thinking about his parents.

The summer of Michael’s senior year, Seth and Tyler and the other Elementals in town had gotten serious. They’d tried to kill Michael. Their parents had taken the whole family over to Seth’s house to talk.

It had turned into a full-scale battle.

Gabriel’s anger had started a fire. At twelve, he’d had no control of his abilities.

nket of flame no, bigger than that. A carpet of flame, the size of his bedroom. The fire singed the edge of his jeans, and he told it to find something else to burn. It wouldn’t hurt him, but it could definitely burn his clothes off.

The flames flicked higher than his head, now that he was sitting. One of the trees at the edge of the circle caught and started to burn.

Then another.

“Easy,” he breathed, feeding it his own energy, trying to pull it back, to keep it contained. Usually when he played with fire, Nick was with him, choking oxygen from the air if the flames got to be too much.

The fire listened, waiting for guidance.

Curious, Gabriel gave a little push.

For an instant, it felt incredible, the strength no, the potential in the flames surrounding him. He could level this whole forest with a thought. So much power, right at his fingertips, awaiting his direction. True control.

And then he lost it.

Seven trees caught and blazed. Eight. Nine. Fire suddenly stretched as far as he could see. Gabriel tried to rein it in, to pull the fire back to his area, but now it had fuel to burn and it didn’t care what he wanted.

The flames mocked him, each crack and snap a taunt. Burn.

Tags: Brigid Kemmerer Elemental
Source: readsnovelonline.net