At the same time, he wished he’d never gotten involved.
“I told you,” he said woodenly. “I didn’t see anyone.”
He could still feel Michael watching him.
His cell phone chimed. Gabriel grabbed it, glad for an excuse to look away.
Layne. Please be Layne.
No. Hunter.
Fire at 116 Winterbourne. In?
Gabriel stared at the display. Then he texted back.
Don’t have the car.
Hunter’s reply was lightning quick.
Pick U up in 5.
Gabriel shoved the phone into his pocket and realized Hannah and Michael were both staring at him now. He scraped his chair back. “I’m going out.” He glanced at Hannah. “Sorry I couldn’t help you.”
“Where?” said Michael.
“With Hunter,” he said, going through the doorway.
“Where?”
“Out,” he called back. He grabbed his backpack. “Remember, you told me to make friends.”
CHAPTER 16
Last night’s fire had wanted to play. This one was a raging wall of hot fury. Gabriel stood beside Hunter in the shadows of the neighbor’s storage shed and felt the power wash over him.
The entire upstairs of the split-level was consumed, flames blazing through shattered windowpanes. Winterbourne Way was one of those residential neighborhoods that took two weeks to build, where each house had exactly a quarter of an acre of land and everything looked identical.
Except this one would look like a charred mess in the morning.
Three fire trucks lined the road out front, firefighters and EMTs scurrying around in the front yard.
No one was screaming tonight. He couldn’t even hear smoke detectors.
The fire was making him jittery, like the fury was seeping into his skin and begging him to throw a punch or something.
Gabriel jammed his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, wishing for his lighter. He’d left everything in the jeep, not wanting to take the chance of losing something and being tracked back here. Knowing someone was investigating these fires made him cautious.
“What do you think?” he said.
Hunter shifted the reflective coat under his arm. The helmet sat at his feet, reminding Gabriel that he hadn’t saved everyone last night. “There’s a lot of power to this one.”
“No shit. Is anyone trapped?”
Hunter looked at him sideways. “Don’t know. Want to go see?”
Gabriel kept thinking of what Hannah had said about an arsonist. Did that mean someone else could be here, watching this same fire from the shadows, pouring his own desire for destruction into the flames? Another Elemental, maybe?
It felt odd, to consider that he might be sharing the darkness with another guy who shared his affinity for fire.
“There are firefighters in there,” said Hunter.
Gabriel knew that. The fire practically screamed with rage when the water from the hoses hit it. With the amount of fury pouring from the house, he had a strong suspicion that the fire wanted to kill them.
He put out a hand. “Give me the jacket.”
This time, Gabriel was glad for the cloak of smoke and darkness. The girl he’d rescued last night didn’t know he wasn’t a firefighter, but real firemen probably would. He could hear them talking to each other, yelling orders about checking the walls.