Through the fire, p.12
Through the Fire, page 12
"You were being pissy," Nick announced. Chris rolled his eyes, and Nick looked away. "No, I was mad, though. Mad at the idea I might hurt Stephanie."
"Oh. Okay, so it's still emotion-driven. But that's a lot more than we knew. That's good information. You wanna try anything else? Like a thunderclap or something?"
Nick, feeling like he'd regret it, said, "A what?" and Chris's smile brightened.
"You know, a thunderclap. Like Hulk does. Whoom!" He brought his hands together in front of him, hollow palms making a surprising amount of noise in the quiet quarry. "Focusing the power to see if you can knock trees over, or something."
"Trees."
Chris, defensively, said, "Sometimes he knocks trees over," and Nick chuckled despite himself.
"Yeah, all right, yeah. Get out of the way." He waved Chris to the side, then walked a few steps ahead of him to make sure he wouldn't be caught in the by-blow. Assuming there was any. He brought his hands together lightly a couple of times, feeling like an idiot doing a practice run for a stage fight, but trying to concentrate on what it would feel like to have that rush of power focused through the concussion of his palms. It felt almost alive inside him, like it would oblige because it was eager for him to try it out. "I don't like this, Chris."
"I know," Chris said, surprisingly quiet for a guy who'd just been geeking out over a Hulk-style thunderclap. "But you know I'm right, too. Honestly, Nicky, I don't care if you decide never to use it, once you've got a handle on how not to. But you gotta know how."
"Yeah." Nick exhaled, focused on a darker cut in the quarry up ahead of him, and forcefully brought his hands together.
A thoom! of power thundered out, cutting a thin focused line through the snow and kicking up a glittering spray of ice and pine needles. It hit the craggy wall of stone with enough force to send shards exploding from the rock, hard enough to shake the walls of the quarry. Snow collapsed from ledges and trees, hitting the ground in clouds of white that rolled back toward Nick and Chris, who both stood frozen in an aftermath that still rattled the air.
An unexpected thrill of glee shot through Nick, so bright and sharp and unlooked-for that it felt like someone else's emotion, something alien and intrusive in his own mind. He inhaled too sharply, trying to banish it, and the sensation grew even more alert, then fled abruptly, lost beneath Chris's awed, "Holy shit, man. You've got defensive and offensive moves."
"Yeah." Nick watched the snow settle as the reverberations faded away, and shook his head. "I don't think I want to do any more right now, Chris. This is…something happened in my head just now and I didn't like it."
Chris sharpened. "Something like what?"
"I don't know. It felt like…" Nick closed his eyes, trying to chase the feeling that had popped up. He could almost see a streak in his mind, a path where it had gone, and a presence at its other end. "I think maybe it was Saboac. I think maybe…maybe it knows where I am. I think maybe…I can find it, too."
"That—what? Where is he?"
"I don't know. North? Still north," Nick said with more confidence. "Maybe homing in on Sterling. We can find him, Chris. I can find him so we can kill him and get this over with."
"Nick, I don't think—"
The sound of a distant vehicle cut through Chris’s opinion. They both fell silent, turning toward it, although Chris cut a look toward Nick that said the conversation wasn’t over yet. A minute or two later, Tyler’s SUV pulled up behind the Dodge, and Stephanie spilled out of it before the engine was dead. She flew at Nick for a worried hug, and he caught her, burying his face in her hair.
"We're fine. Things just moved fast last night and we didn't have time to call. Sorry." He met Chris's eyes briefly, but his older brother shrugged it off, obviously not caring how Nick spun the story.
"It's a four hour drive to Denver from Steamboat Springs!" Stephanie protested. "How could you not have time to at least text?"
"It's not a good idea to make personal connections in front of bounties," Chris said unexpectedly. "Nick called as soon as he could."
Stephanie's eyebrows drew down. "Oh. Okay, I guess that kind of makes sense. Still, I was worried! And what the hell are you guys doing out here? This is the middle of nowhere."
"I know. I needed some air to get my head clear after the bounty.”
“This is Colorado,” Tyler said as he got out of his truck. “There’s nothing but air out here.”
“Okay, so I needed some space.”
“There’s nothing but—”
Stephanie ducked, without really leaving Nick’s arms, and pitched a handful of snow at Tyler. His "Hey!" sounded injured, but Stephanie shrugged unrepentantly. "I wouldn't have had to if you'd been going to keep your damn mouth shut."
Chris gave Nick a quick, cocky half-grin. "I like her."
"Me too."
Steph shivered. “Is there some reason we have to be standing out here freezing to death? Can we go now?”
“What happened here?” Tyler had gone past them and was walking heel-to-toe along the sharp line that marked the path Nick’s thunderclap had taken. “That doesn’t look natural.”
A band of heat warmed Nick’s chest from within, like a warning. “Who knows? Yeah, let’s go. I’ll drive out with Chris and we can head for Denver International.”
Stephanie’s gaze went careful. “I’d like you to come with us, if we’re going to leave. I don’t want to spend our last couple hours together, uh, apart.”
Nick glanced toward Chris, who shrugged. “Whatever.”
Still carefully, Stephanie said, “Maybe Ty could ride out with Chris.”
“What?” Tyler’s voice shot up high enough to startle birds, and Chris’s expression went black with irritation, but Steph sparkled her eyes and her voice went sweet and cajoling.
“C’mon, you’re not going to kill each other if I’m alone with Nick for a while, are you?”
"Nah." A sharp-edged grin slid across Chris’s face. "Not worth my effort."
Tyler bared his teeth, making an obvious effort to not come back with a pointed rejoinder. "Look, I'm sorry about last night, okay? I didn't mean to be an ass."
"I know," Chris said, shortly. "That's part of why you were. Go on," he said to Stephanie. "Fine with me, whatever."
That was hardly a ringing endorsement, but Nick gave his brother a tight smile of thanks. Tyler curled his lip but sighed. “Fine, whatever, okay. But I’m taking the doughnuts with me.”
“Oh, see, breakfast of champions,” Chris said. “Maybe you’re okay after all, Ty. Did you bring milk? Coffee? No? Never mind. You're a lousy date.” He went and got in his truck with a martyred expression, while Tyler got doughnuts from the back of his truck, then handed Stephanie the keys.
“Don’t wreck it.”
“Oh, well, I was totally going to, but now that you’ve said not to…”
“Yeah, yeah.” Tyler sneered and headed for the Dodge.
Stephanie watched him get into the truck, then turned to Nick with a rueful smile. “They’re going to kill each other, aren’t they.”
"I seriously doubt it. Ty wouldn't stand a chance." Nick crawled in the Highlander’s passenger seat and checked the back seat, where an entire box of bakery-style doughnuts still sat. “I thought he was taking these.”
“We bought a lot. Give me a jam one, will you? Or maybe wait until we’re off these skinny trails. I don’t think we’re supposed to be driving up here, Nick.”
“No.” Nick smiled faintly. “Probably not. Is it okay if I eat one now?”
“Eat as many as you like.” She got the SUV turned around and drove out, silent while they followed their own tracks back, and finally, once out on the main roads again, said, “What happened, Nick? You look awful, and I didn't want to leave you alone with your brother for that long. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. It's not Chris. But what we gotta do isn't going away, Steph. This is going to take more than a couple of days. You and Tyler need to go home."
"Well, I’m okay with driving in to Denver so we’re not going back and forth all over the place before flying out, but we can squeeze out today before we start being in danger of missing mid-terms, Nick. And even if it's not okay or fair, you know Tyler's right. His dad or my parents can probably make it good with the school if we miss the tests."
"Don't do that. First off, you shouldn't because it isn't right or fair, and second, if you do and keep hanging out it's gonna be rubbing Chris's nose in it the whole time you're here. But also…" Nick looked at the sugar-coated surface of his doughnut, trying not to feel the flutter of energy inside his chest. It didn’t feel drained from their experiments, and he wasn’t confident that it wouldn’t erupt into explosiveness again just because he’d directed it a couple of times. It felt like imminent danger, coiled within him.
"I don't care about Chris except as an auxiliary to you," Stephanie said with quiet intensity. "I'd rather not make him uncomfortable, but it's more important to me to be here for you."
"Right now I need Chris." Nick glanced sideways to see hurt and confusion flicker across Stephanie's face. "I know you don't understand why, since I haven't said much nice about him, but I need him, not you. You should go home." The energy in him didn't take up as much space as the too-hard beating of his heart, or the anguish that squeezed his lungs. "This thing here could take quite a while, and I don't want you dragged into it. You need to go home, and we should—" He drew a ragged breath. "We should stop seeing each other. You shouldn't be stuck waiting for me, when I don't know how long this is going to take. Go back to California and have fun."
Steph's confusion remained, but the hurt slowly morphed into outrage, and she actually pulled over to the side of the road so she could turn toward him. Nobody would care. They weren't on the main road yet, just a smaller one with trees on both sides and very little traffic. "Do you think you're breaking up with me? Now?"
"I am breaking up with you," Nick whispered hoarsely. "Steph, what's going on, I don't want you to be a part of it. It's dangerous and it's—"
"You always do this," Stephanie said, rough with emotion. "You've talked about it. You talked about it being part of why you went to college as early as you did, and why you never came home again until now. I've seen you do it with friends when you felt like they were getting too close. I've even seen you drop a psych class because it wanted too much of you. You run instead of dealing with it, whatever 'it' is. I don't want that to happen with us, Nick. I get that you and your brother have some major shit to work out. I don't get why you won't let me in on all of it—"
"Because it's a lot worse than you think it is, Stephanie!"
She paled and he saw her pulse leap in her throat, but her eyes were worried, not afraid. She reached for his hand with cold fingers. "What is?" she asked, very softly. "It's obviously got to do with your dad, Nick, and…look, the way Chris is protective of you? The way you got out of the house as soon as you could? The way you two clearly have a shit-ton of trauma to unpack now that he's dead, and the way you shy away from anybody really getting to know you? Nick, were you…what did he do to you?"
The feeling in his chest convulsed, like bands of plasma shooting off the surface of the sun. It clawed into the places inside him that held the answers Stephanie was looking for. He thought it would launch from them. That maybe that's where it had started the night before, when he'd thought Chris was in trouble, or just a while ago, when Chris had jumped off a damn cliff. The out-of-control sensation was much worse—much stronger—than it had been when he’d tried the thunderclap. Stronger, even, than when he’d blocked the barrage of snowballs. The feeling of being watched returned, and Nick took a shaking breath, then another one, trying to hollow the power out before it erupted again, and finally said, "Nothing anybody can change."
"You can change it," Stephanie said gently. "Maybe you can't change what happened, but you can change it by talking to me about it, Nick." There was an ache in her voice to match the one in his chest. "Or to somebody, if not me."
"I can't—!" The words burst out of him and he dragged them back, breathing hard. "Chris is the only one who can understand, Steph."
"Chris is even more messed up than you are! At least you got out of whatever happened with your dad. He stayed. He needs at least as much help as you do, and I don't see how you're going to get it from each other." Stephanie's hands tightened over his. "Please don't push me away, Nick. Let me help you get through this. If you've got to stay with Chris, okay. But let me stay, too, okay? And when you can…if you can…you tell me what you can. Okay?"
Nick closed his eyes, pushing the bands of fire within him down. Hoping they wouldn't surge and destroy everything around him again. Wondering how the hell he could say that to his very stubborn girlfriend, and being fairly certain he couldn't. "It isn't safe, Steph."
"I'm old enough to decide that for myself, babe."
"Not in this case," he whispered, opening his eyes again. "I…I know more about what's going on than you do, and…"
"Nick, he's dead. Your dad is dead."
The grendel power twisted inside him again, searching for something to hold on to. "It's not just my dad, Stephanie."
Stephanie, sharply, said, "Is it Chris?"
"What? No!" Nick recoiled, staring at her in genuine distress, then slowly folded in on himself, shoulders sagging. "No. No, it's not Chris, okay? Chris is…Chris is good,” he said more softly. “Better than he thinks he is. Better than I give him credit for. And he understands."
“And I don’t. And I won’t, unless you decide to explain things to me.” Stephanie looked back as Chris’s truck pulled up behind them. Tyler got out, but Chris, visible as a shadow in the driver’s seat, just leaned over the wheel and waited. Nick could all but feel his brother’s gaze, in the same way he could feel that other presence watching him.
Tyler pulled the back door open and stuck his head in. "Everything okay? What's going on?"
"Nick thinks he's staying in Colorado without me."
"Oh, yeah. Good luck with that." Tyler closed the door and went back to the Dodge as Stephanie let go a snort of laughter.
"At least somebody's on my side here."
"Steph, if I knew how to explain it to you without you thinking I'm nuts, I would. But I don't, so can we just…can we just move on, please?"
"Move on with breaking up, you mean?"
Regret lanced through Nick and he felt his expression collapse, although he managed to say, "Yeah," loudly enough to be heard just before Chris opened the door behind Nick.
"What the hell is going on here? Are we just hanging out on the roadside all day now or something?"
"I told you," Tyler said, opening the Highlander's back door again. "Steph doesn't want to go home."
"Of course I don't! I want to help Nick—"
"I get that, and I appreciate it, but Nick and me, we gotta…we're going to try to find the guy who killed our dad, and that's..."
Stephanie breathed, "Oh, shit," and shifted her gaze to Nick. "That's what this 'stuff' you've got to take care of is? Nick, that could—that could take forever."
"I know. That's why I told you to go home without me!"
"Well, why didn't you tell me what you were going to do?"
Nick rolled his jaw, looking for an answer that would make sense. The reason was he hadn't been thinking of it like that, exactly. Not as something he could explain away as easily as a manhunt. He'd been thinking of it as a monster hunt, and that took too much explaining.
Chris came to his rescue. "Because we're bounty hunters, Stephanie, not cops. We're supposed to collect people who've skipped out on bail, not go out and find killers ourselves. Tell me you're not about to argue with him on this."
A flush of confusion ran over Stephanie's cheeks. "I...well, I mean…"
"So if we could just talk you into going home, it would be easier," Chris said. "We could do what we have to do, and—"
"And fuck up Nick's whole life?" Tyler asked. Chris's shoulders tensed and he pulled away from leaning in the truck door and turned toward Tyler with a kind of control Nick recognized. Tyler either didn't recognize it, or didn't care. Smart money was on getting out of the way, when somebody looked at you with that kind of control, but Tyler swung out of the back door and squared up with Chris.
"You know I'm not wrong, man. I get that finding whoever killed your dad is important, but realistically it could take months or years or even never happen. You're really gonna talk Nick into staying with you to do that when he could go to med school and make a difference in hundreds of lives? Thousands of lives?"
"It's not like that, Ty—"
Tyler, eyebrows rising, turned on Nick, who edged Chris aside to climb out of the Highlander. "Isn't it? Are you telling me you won't stick it out until you find the guy, no matter how long it takes? I know you're telling yourself you'll just take a couple weeks and then if it hasn't worked out you'll come back to school, but do you even believe that?"
Guilt surged through Nick, heating his face the same way Stephanie had just flushed. "Maybe? I mean, I did…"
Stephanie climbed out, too, and came around the front of the SUV. "Look, Chris, I know you don't think you're trying to hold Nick back, but—"
Alarm flared through Nick, trying to get its claws into the grendel power inside of him. "Steph, he's not—"
"Then he should be letting you come back to Cali to finish your degree, Nick," Tyler snapped. "He's got to let you be who you are, not who he wants you to be."
Chris, almost beneath his breath, said, "Jesus, what do you think I've been trying to do his whole goddamn life," then half-shouted, "Fine, all right, fine, go with them, Nick, I'll figure it out on my own. I always do."
"No! No, Chris, look, I think I've got a line on this—on what happened." Nick stumbled over the explanation and cast a frustrated look toward Tyler and Stephanie. "I think I can track him, with—with—you know, with what I learned."
