Gabriel sent it away, toward the entrance, toward the ceiling, promising better things to burn.

And suddenly smoke billowed around them.

Only to retreat when Nick sent it away again.

Gabriel pulled Layne into his arms. She was limp, her skin clammy and warm. Her head flopped onto his shoulder.

But she was breathing.

“She’s okay,” said Nick. His voice was rough and worn. “I made sure she kept breathing. I just couldn’t keep her conscious.”

“Come on. We need to get out of here.”

Gabriel cleared fire from their path, and Nick pushed the smoke ahead of them, working together wordlessly, the way they always had when they played with fire for fun. He headed for the north entrance to the library, knowing firemen would be waiting at the south side.

Layne made a small sound and shifted against him.

“You’re all right,” he said. “We’re getting out.”

Her eyes opened a crack. “Gabriel?”

The sound of her voice almost made him cry with relief.

“Yeah. I’ve got you.”

Her eyes fell closed again. “You’re supposed to . . . math test.”

“I thought maybe this was more important.”

She pressed her face against his neck. Her skin was flushed and hot, but the whisper of her breath against his skin was the greatest feeling in the world because it meant she was alive.

He ducked his head so he could speak into her ear. “Did you see who started the fire?”

She nodded but Nick grabbed his arm and hauled him to a stop.

“Yeah,” said Nick, an odd note in his voice. “It was him.”

Gabriel looked up. They’d made it to the center of the library, an open space under a skylight. Ryan Stacey was lying in the middle of the floor.

Surrounded by a pattern blazing into the carpet.

A huge, flaming pentagram.

CHAPTER 41

Gabriel was still staring when Hunter appeared at his side.

He looked surprised to see Layne and Nick but then more surprised at the pentagram on the floor.

Not to mention the kid lying inside it.

“He’s dead, isn’t he?” said Gabriel.

“No. Not yet.”

Gabriel glanced at him. “You didn’t shoot the firefighters, did you?”

Hunter gave him a look. “No, but we don’t have much time.

They’ll be blasting through here with hoses any minute.”

“Too bad we can’t just shoot him,” said Nick.

“Why can’t we?” said Gabriel. He walked forward, into the circle, scattering flames with every step. He kicked at Ryan’s leg, but the other boy remained motionless. Layne shifted in his arms again, reminding him that he couldn’t linger here. “This idiot can’t be an Elemental I’ve fought with the guy three times, and he’s never called on anything.”

“Then why’s he lying in the middle of a pentagram?” said Hunter.

“And there’s power here,” said Gabriel. “If he wasn’t feeding rage into the fire, then someone was.” He paused, reading the flames around him. He felt eagerness. Expectation. “Someone still is.”

Hunter had the gun in his hand again.

“Are you always armed?” said Gabriel.

“Since we started worrying about Guides, yeah.”

Gabriel thought of all those fires, the focused fury that had made him wonder if he hid in the night with some other guy who shared his affinity for fire. Each fire had been a celebration of sorts. Nothing had been subtle.

Like the pentagram, those fires were a message.

He just couldn’t figure it out.

And there wasn’t time to stand here puzzling it through.

“Can you two drag him out of here?”

“No!”

A female voice. They all turned.

Calla Dean stepped out from behind a flaming bookcase, easily as comfortable in the middle of all this fire as Gabriel was.

“Leave him.”

Hunter lowered the gun. His voice was full of shock. “Calla.”

“You look surprised,” she said.

“He’s not the only one,” said Gabriel.

She reached down and plucked a plume of fire from the carpet, letting it hover in her palm, feeding it power until it started to spiral off her hand. “You’ve been messing with all my pretty fires.”

“You?” said Nick. He glanced between Calla and Ryan.

“But . . .”

“Oh, he started all of them. I just helped them along.” She rolled her fingertips through the flame she’d created. “The first one was an accident, I think. He and one of his idiot friends were goofing off at the house next door, putting lighter fluid in water guns. I just fed a little power into it, and the whole place went up like a match.” She snapped her fingers. “He liked that.

It got a little addictive. For both of us, I think.”

Then she made a face, similar to the one she made when the broccoli was missing salt. “Though he was kind of a pain to follow around.”

“You killed a fireman,” said Hunter, his voice tight.

“I didn’t kill anyone,” she said. “He did.”

“But you drove the fires,” said Gabriel. “It was your rage I felt ”

“Oh yeah?” Her eyes flashed with the brightness of the flames in the room. She smiled and crushed the fire in her palm.

“Prove it.”

“You’re drawing the Guides here,” said Nick. “They were already watching this area, but ”