formerly broken leg.
Gabriel glanced away from that. âHey.â
âWhat are you doing?â
Gabriel flicked the leaf into the wastebasket beneath his desk. âNothing. You ready for school?â
âIs that your trig book?â
âYeah. Just making sure I told you the right assignment.â
Gabriel always attempted his math homeworkâand then handed it over for Nick to do it right . Math had turned into a foreign language somewhere around fifth grade. Then, Gabriel had struggled through, managing Cs when his twin brought home As. But in seventh grade, when their parents died, heâd come close to failing. Nick started covering for him, and heâd been doing it ever since.
Not like it was a big challenge. Math came to Nick like breathing. He was in second-year calculus, earning college credit. Gabriel was stuck in trigonometry with juniors.
He was pretty frigging sick of it.
Gabriel flipped the book closed and shoved it into his backpack. His eyes fell on that knee brace again. Two days ago, his twinâs leg had been broken in three places.
âYouâre not going to make me carry your crap all day, are you?â His voice came out sharp, nowhere near the light ribbing heâd intended.
Nick took it in stride, as usual. âNot if youâre going to cry about it.â He turned toward the stairs, his voice rising to a mocking falsetto. âIâm the school sports hero, but I canât possibly carry a few extra booksââ
âKeep it up,â Gabriel called, slinging the backpack over his shoulder to follow his brother. âIâll push you down the stairs.â
But he hesitated in the doorway, listening to Nickâs hitching steps as he descended the staircase, the creak of the banister as it supported his weight.
Gabriel knew he should help. He should probably be taking the place of that crutch. Thatâs what Nick would do for him .
But he couldnât force himself through the doorway.
That broken leg had been his fault. Thank god Nick could pull power from the air, an element in abundance. He probably wouldnât even need the brace by the end of the week.
And then Gabriel wouldnât need to stare at the evidence of his own poor judgment.
He and his brothers had always been targeted for their Elemental abilities. Being pure Elementals, they should have been put to death as soon as they came into their powers. Luckily, their parents had struck a deal with the weaker Elementals in town.
A deal that had led to their parentsâ deaths.
Their oldest brother, Michael, had been able to keep the deal in placeâuntil a few weeks ago, when Tyler and Seth, two of the other Elemental kids in town, had attacked Chris. It started a snowball of events that led to an Elemental Guide coming to town to do away with the Merrick brothers for good.
Heâd almost succeeded, too. After the Homecoming dance, theyâd been attacked.
Theyâd fought back the only way they knew how. But Gabriel had let Nick call storms that were too strong. Heâd begged his twin for more power. When Nick fell, the accident had practically shattered his legâif they werenât full Elementals, he probably would have needed surgery.
That night, Gabriel couldnât keep him safe. The Guide had kidnapped Nick and Chris, had held them prisoner.
Becca and Hunter had found them. But Gabriel couldnât do anything. Ineffective and out of control, just like always.
But now they were safe, and things were back to normal. Nick was his usual self. Lifeâs good. Move on. No use complaining. He hadnât even said a word about what had happened on the field.
As far as Gabriel was concerned, he didnât need to.
Just like with math, Nick was used to his twin being a failure.
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Gabriel pulled onto Becca Chandlerâs street and glanced in the rearview mirror at his younger brother. Chris was chewing on his thumbnail, leaning