dance changed against her will, turning from something she was doing with the music into something she was doing because of the music, as if the very song animated her body. Her next leap left her in the air for a moment too long. She almost lost the beat, and spun to find it. One foot, pivot, step, leap.
This time her height, her suspension in the air, was downright inhuman.
She stumbled on the landing, from shock more than anything. Nick caught her, his hands warm and steadying on her elbows. Quinn braced her hands on his chest, unsure whether she should shove him away or not. Her breaths came quick.
Frightened. She was frightened. She’d felt his power in the air.
Exactly how high had she gotten?
She yanked the earbuds free. “Did you do that?” she demanded.
His expression was guarded, but he nodded. “Yes.”
She didn’t say anything for the longest moment, letting her breathing settle.
She could still hear the song, tinny and distant from the headphones. Music was in the air, drawing at her limbs. Not frightening. Exhilarating.
Quinn grinned. “Can you do it again?”
An hour later, Quinn was sprawled on his bed, watching Nick rifle through a dresser drawer. She’d learned about his brothers, how they were marked for death because of their abilities. She’d learned about their deal with Tyler’s family to keep the Merricks hidden from discovery—a deal that created a rift in the Elemental community, putting the Merricks on one side, and the Morgans on the other. She’d learned about the rockslide that had killed Tyler Morgan’s sister, right in front of Michael Merrick.
She knew about the Guides who’d tried to kill him and his brothers more than once—and who would try again, when they had the chance.
The front door slammed downstairs, and Quinn sat up on the bed. One or more of his brothers were home. She slid her phone out of her pocket and wanted to tell Nick to get the lead out.
But he was so adorably anxious about seeing Adam that she didn’t want to rush him. “I think I always knew there was something about you,” she said.
He didn’t glance up. “Yeah?”
“That suffocation thing—you did that to Gabriel once, didn’t you? That day I made you dinner and he came home acting like a real shit?”
Nick’s hands went still. “Yeah.”
He sounded ashamed. Quinn snorted. “Too bad you didn’t follow through.”
He turned to look at her. “It’s not a game, Quinn. I could have lost control.”
“Well, you sure didn’t seem to mind using it on Tyler.”
Nick turned away and shoved the drawer closed with a bang, moving on to the next one.
Quinn came and crouched next to him. His hair was still slightly damp from a shower—which he’d taken alone, despite her offer to keep up appearances—and he smelled slightly sweet and musky at the same time, like one of those guy-brand body washes.
“What’s up?” she said. “You okay?”
He turned his head to look at her. “I hate that guy.”
“Really? I didn’t get that from the warm welcome you gave him in the driveway.”
“I don’t want to talk about Tyler.” He slammed another drawer and moved on to the bottom one.
“What are you looking for?” she asked quietly.
“Something that doesn’t make me look like I spent twenty minutes doing exactly this.”
“Are you sure you don’t have a spandex suit under those clothes?”
“I do, in fact. Little surprise for later.”
Quinn snorted. “What you’re wearing is fine.” And it was: a soft blue T-shirt that clung to his body and made his eyes almost vibrant.
“Are you nervous about what you told me? You said you were in danger.”
He gave up on rummaging through the drawer. “We are. We’re always at risk of someone coming to town to kill us all.”
“The Guides, right?”
“Yeah. But we try to keep our heads down and not reveal our talents. That’s one of the rules: we have to demonstrate our abilities to earn a death sentence. When we were younger, Tyler and Seth used to beat the shit out of us to try to force us to use our powers, but we’re stronger now and they mostly stay away.”
Until this afternoon, she thought. But then she picked up on what Nick had said, that Tyler and Seth used to beat the shit out of them. Like his twin brother, Nick was tall, and landscaping gave his body some solid definition. She couldn’t imagine anyone beating the shit out of him—but then again, if everything he’d told her was true, maybe he’d been afraid to fight back.
“I just don’t understand why,” said Quinn. “What do they care?”
Nick glanced over. “We scare them.”
“They’re scared of a little breeze?”
“Remember Homecoming? Remember the tornado that formed over the soccer field? Ripped out a few trees?”
“Yeah?”
Nick gave her a significant look.
“No way,” she said.
“Way.” He grimaced. “I lost control of it. Ended up breaking my leg in three places.”
More events were clicking into place. “You said you threw out your knee playing soccer.”
“It made for a good cover story.” He looked away from her eyes. “Air is everywhere. I heal fast.”
“Can you fly?”
She couldn’t keep the hushed wonder from her voice, and Nick smiled. “No. Too much weight. I can’t focus the air pressure enough for that.”
“What does air pressure have to do with anything?”
“Are you kidding? Air pressure is awesome.”
She rolled her eyes. “You are such a nerd sometimes. You’re lucky you’re hot or you couldn’t get away with saying things like air pressure is awesome.”
“Seriously. Air pressure affects everything. Haven’t you ever heard the expression nature abhors a vacuum?” He grinned. “Actually, we were doing this experiment in class once where Dr. Cutter was trying to prove a point with a balloon, but I kept making it pop—”
“You are the only person alive who would use superpowers to be more dorky.”
“They’re not superpowers.”
That sounded a lot like the difference between to-MAY-to and to-MAH-to to Quinn. “Would it be okay if I told Becca?”
Nick hesitated. He lost the smile.
She rushed on. “I know it’s your secret. I don’t have to tell her. I—well, she’s dating Chris, too, so maybe he could tell her . . .” She stopped. “What? What’s that expression?”
“Becca knows,” Nick said gently.
“Becca knows,” said Quinn. “Like . . . how long?”
“Since that party at Drew McKay’s house. Tyler and Seth came after Chris, and chased him and Becca into the water.” He hesitated. “According to Chris, he lost control of the current. She almost drowned. He dragged her out.”
Quinn sat up straight, rotating to face him from the bench seat. “Becca almost drowned and she didn’t tell me?”
“Quinn—she couldn’t