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  Or...

  Or, just maybe, he himself had no clue. This Sigmund Harte, with his slick riding leathers and a sweet smile, had no idea he had been setting fires all along. Ash decided to change his tack. “So who do you evict these people for?” he asked mildly.

  “Oh, that’s no secret. This real estate company is trying to gentrify parts of McKees Rocks. Clegg Holdings, they’re called.”

  As in, Brian Clegg’s holdings. And Brian Clegg sent a firestarter to his place for a reason.

  Cooper cleared his voice. “So, what do Clegg Holdings want with our place?”

  “They want to see if it’s for sale. And the boss told me you’re building a gorgeous new house here and told me I have to go inside and have a look. If it’s okay with you, of course.”

  The lack of guile in Sig’s face could have been the result of years of practice, but Ash somehow doubted it. His trip to see Cooper’s extended clan had taught him an interesting truism: those with a lot of power were some of the best-shielded people around. In many cases, he had shaken hands, even exchanged hugs while drinking a good bit of glogg, and they hadn’t slipped once. He wouldn’t have even known they were powerful elementalists.

  Even once he knew, he had not even been able to tell their element – unless they let him.

  This man, Sig, was a lovely young creature who had no idea of his own powers, his talent, or his nature. And he sure didn’t know he was the one setting the fires.

  But Brian Clegg had known – and Brian Clegg had sent him to torch their new construction.

  “I don’t mind you walking the grounds, but the property isn’t for sale,” Ash said after some thought. “And you can’t go inside the house. Sorry... our liability insurance won’t allow it.” And our fire insurance won’t either, he thought to himself.

  Cooper gave Ash a quizzical look, which Ash returned with a benign smile. “You were right to call me,” he told Cooper. “Uncle Owen would be interested indeed. It seems Sig and the two of us are kindred souls. Let’s take a walk around with him and show him where the buildings used to sit.”

  The snow of early January had melted about a week ago, and even though they would likely get more soon, the frozen ground was brown with dead grass and turned earth. A band of trees separated the house from the railroad easement, while the easement itself was overgrown with samplings. A few more mature trees, gray and ghost-like in the mist, braced the bank of the Allegheny in the distance.

  “Watch your step,” Ash said as he set out in a direction designed to avoid the crater and the egress from the tunnels connecting to Hank’s rowhouse. “We have gopher holes all over the place. But there’s still much to see, and a lot to talk about.” After a prolonged discussion involving local history, and after some speculation as to where the old factory buildings used to stand, Ash leaned against an old sycamore tree and tilted his head at Sig. “I’ve been looking for a P.I. to do some work for our little company, provided you’re available?” Ash ignored Cooper’s flash of horror and focused on Sig’s reaction entirely.

  “Oh, that would be great! I just got out of the Army and got licensed, but retraining has been hard. I’ll take any work I can get.” Sig’s seemed genuinely grateful.

  So he didn’t seem to be a member of Brian Clegg’s inner circle – or he was a fabulously good liar. Ash waved his hand through the trees, where the icy river rolled along as though his dilemma didn’t involve it at all. “There’s an old concrete dock over there, where they used to unload the barges. The goods got trucked to the Arsenal for making munitions or were loaded on trains. The local tracks are no longer in service, but the train company still has an easement.”

  “Oh, neat!” Sig took the bait with glee. “A dock! Do you have a boat?”

  “No, not yet, anyway. But we use the dock as a place to meditate. Do you meditate, Sig?”

  Sigmund Harte gave him a confused look. “Never thought about it.”

  “Maybe you should,” Ash said non-commitally. “If you ever decide to try it, let me know.” He faked a shudder. “The breeze from the river’s colder than I guessed, and I don’t know about you guys, but I’d love a cup of coffee.” He produced a disarming smile. “Would you like to come over for a cuppa, Sig? I can tell you what kind of investigating I need done, and you can tell me more about your skills and your rates.”

  CHAPTER 25

  Paul leaned his neck into the crook of Russ’ arm as they sank into the comfort of Hank’s sofa. He felt like hiding from the whole group sprawled along the fireplace seating. The talk of ‘getting rid of’ someone with a dangerous, out-of-control talent made his head spin with an oncoming panic attack.

  “We don’t know who he’s working for,” Mark said forcefully. He launched himself to his feet and began pacing hard enough to wear a path in Hank’s new faux fur carpet right in front of Ellen’s armchair, as though he was trying to guard her from all hazards known and unknown. “He was sent here to set a fire, and you invited him right into our rowhouses!”

  “Into my home, to be specific.” Never did Ash sound so cutting before.

  “But your home connects to our homes, and even though we’re only renting, and we’re just your boy-toy’s family, Ellen could’ve been hurt! Or worse!”

  “First, don’t ever call Cooper my boy-toy. Second, I was aware that all of you were gone,” Ash said. “This man needs help, just like many of us need help. If you want to prevent a killing, and if you want to keep your woman safe, I suggest you befriend him and teach him all you know.”

  “Because that’s a really brilliant idea.” Sarcasm dripped with Mark’s every word.

  “It’s not like he’ll just walk away,” Hank said, breaking his brooding silence. “Even if this guy Sig just completed Clegg’s errand and reported back, he’d be drawn back to this place. Power calls to power, remember?”

  “And some power needs to be eliminated.”

  His own twin brother had never acted this cold, this ruthless. A dread rose within Paul and the dinner he’d just eated ate turned into a leaden ball. His first instinct had been to turn his face into Russ’ chest and hide in what suddenly became a protective embrace.

  But, no. No more hiding. He had been forced to sequester himself from the rest of... of everyone, whether talented or normal, ever since his powers had manifested years ago. This could’ve been him, just like this guy Sig with a talent that was both unrecognized and untrained.

  Not out of control. Merely untrained.

  Because all it took was training. A bit of what Uncle Owen had to teach, a bit of stubborn will, some ingenuity, and Sig would be a welcome friend and not somebody to fear.

  Paul extricated himself from his lover’s arms. He stood up. “Who wanted to kill me, Mark?”

  His brother turned to him, startled. “What?”

  “There must’ve been someone who wanted to do away with me. I bet you there’s more than one person in our extended clan who still thinks I pose too much risk to us all. Not just because I’m strong, but also because what I do can be discovered by the outsiders by interfering with their systems. And then what?” The nervous pit in his stomach heated up, and his skin began to tingle.

  He knew what would come next.

  Judging from his wide eyes, so did Mark.

  “You don’t have to spell it out,” Paul said in a hoarse whisper as he fought for control. “But if you try to kill an innocent stranger who’s unaware of who he even is, you’ll have to kill me too.” Slowly, he raised his hands.

  “Don’t!” Mark cried out and threw himself in front of Ellen. Then quickly, as though he realized he was putting her in the line of fire, he jumped away from her.

  “Don’t do anything hasty,” Cooper chimed in, his voice low. “I’ve caused damage, and I’ve regretted it afterward.”

  “And I still regret the damage I have caused you, Cooper,” Paul said without meeting his eyes.

  He wasn’t meeting anyone’s eyes. His gaze was defocused, seeing everyth
ing and nothing. Keeping the world around him less defined helped him feel his own power currents.

  Feeling them was the first step toward controlling them.

  Except he was well past the first step.

  Paul smiled.

  A sharp, delicate lighting arced from all five fingertips of his left hand and landed on the fingertips of the right. He relished the current passing through his body like heat, like a much weaker variety of the pleasure he felt when he was with Russ.

  Down his legs and through the ground and up the other leg again, and out his hand and into that lovely, sparkling arc where electric current dissociated air into glowing plasma.

  So pretty.

  He waved his fingers, gently, slowly. He focused on the stop-and-go feeling of downtown traffic, and the discharge pulsed through the air with loud pops.

  Ozone filled the air, bright and fresh and not all that healthy. “Open the windows, Hank,” Paul whispered from his zone.

  Electric arcs grew like vines from his fingertips, twisting and in an embrace. With a sharp crack of his will he shaped them into a heart before he drew one more breath and clapped his hands on an exhale.

  They dissipated into a shower of sparks.

  The show was over.

  Stunned silence met him. Then, slowly, Hank began to clap. Ellen joined, then Ash and Cooper. He felt a pat on his shoulder from Russ, who had gotten up at some point.

  Only Mark stood in morose solitude.

  The rest of the group quieted down, waiting for his brother to have his say.

  “I never meant to imply that you should be killed.” His voice was petulant and defensive. “I only meant to say that Sig is an unknown danger.”

  “We are all an unknown danger,” Ash said mildly. “Won’t you apologize to your brother?”

  “I thought I just did,” Mark spat.

  “No, you did not. And heaven help me if this is what I have to look forward to for the rest of my life!” Ellen heaved her pregnant bulk out of the chair, walked across the carpet to Paul, and touched his hand with her finger.

  Paul smiled. “You might get zapped.”

  “But only zapped, Paul. You’re doing great!” She drew him into a careful embrace as though she was still uncertain of her fate, but she did it, full contact and all. Tears sprang to his eyes at her gesture.

  “What is it?” she asked. “Are you getting hormonal too?”

  Ignoring the attempt at levity, he shook his head. “No, it’s just... this is the first time I’ve gotten a hug from anyone since I was a little kid. Anyone aside from Russ, that is.”

  “Oh, man.” Cooper shook his head. “Here, then, let’s make up for it.” As they all huddled around him and drew him into a piled-on embrace, they also pulled him toward the center of the room.

  A whiff of something hot and plasticky drifted to his nostrils just as Hank looked down and shook his head in dismay. “Are your feet okay, Paul?” he asked.

  Nothing felt amiss. “Yeah, why?”

  “Because,” Hank said with an amused smirk, “you melted footprints into my new rug.”

  AS PAUL SAT in the uncomfortable classroom chair, waiting for his other fellow students of “Introduction to Weather Hazards” to arrive, Uncle Owen’s words echoed in his mind: “Keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer.”

  He looked out the window. Clouds massed over the institute the way they always seemed to in Pittsburgh, and when he unshielded himself a little and reached out with his other sense, static electricity hummed in every little ice crystal that vibrated against another in the churning, wind-driven cloud.

  Paul allowed himself a self-satisfied smile. This was progress – he was more aware of other electrical fields, and being aware of their existence made it possible of not overwhelming them with an accidental discharge of his own.

  Snow was coming. He knew that much from Ash now, and from his class reading on storm formation.

  Russ wasn’t teaching this class. Now that they were together, Paul took care not to make him regret moving in. Most of the furniture Russ had decided to keep was already seated in Paul’s formerly empty house, and the closet in the bedroom was divided into a messy Paul section, and one belonging to the tidy Russ.

  He’d have to step up his organizational skills, Paul knew, if he wanted to prevent arguments down the line.

  “Hey,” Russ said, as though summoned by Paul’s drifting thoughts. “I’m just snagging a kiss before people show up.”

  Paul looked up and smiled. “You’re so quiet. And so early, geez!”

  “Teachers are always early. And Susan Meriden’s teaching, and she knows we’re together, so pucker up!”

  Energy crackled between them. “Ooh, it’s just as well I stopped by. Here, let me help you with that!” Russ pulled him into a generous embrace.

  As their lips met in a chaste greeting, Paul dropped his shields just enough for Russ to get the full and unadulterated view – and taste – of Paul that was hidden to the ordinary eye.

  Once energy equalized between them, Russ let go of him, and raised his eyebrows in a query. “So what’s gotten you so riled up? Or is it just the weather brewing?”

  “That guy, Sig. When we talked to uncle Owen last night, he was pretty sure on what he’d be doing.” The group Skype call had included their whole little group, even the sullen Mark and the irritated, pregnant Ellen.

  “Your instincts were right,” Russ murmured, patting his shoulder with a soothing hand.

  Paul jerked his head up, meeting his gaze. “Is it wrong to be afraid of a person with a talent? ‘Cause Mark wasn’t all wrong, y’know.”

  A long silence followed, punctuated by a sigh. “No, I guess not. I guess I’ve always regarded any kind of high voltage as a kind of a ‘talent,’ you know? A power that’s dangerous and around us, and something we need to control and make safe for everyone else. The only difference is, with talented people, you get different varieties of the same. Ash and his water, for instance.” Russ shuddered. “Talk about creepy!”

  “Really?” The ability to stay underwater for half an hour or more was nothing short of neat to Paul. Then again, Hank’s Void scared him, and Sig’s fire had him secretly sharing his brother’s concerns for the safety of them all. He thought about electricity, and handling fallen power lines. “But electricity isn’t personal. It doesn’t have intent, as I do, for instance.” He let a little arc jump from his pinky to his thumb.

  “Show-off,” Russ said with a laugh. “And so casual, too. You’re getting good at this.” He drew a breath in thought. “But if you think electricity doesn’t have personality, you’re wrong. And you don’t control everything it does, even when you generate it. It’s very much a power of its own, and it has a kind of, a...” he gave him a sheepish look, “I guess an intelligence of sorts? A mind? Ash talks of the river as though it had a real spirit. Old Man Allegheny, and all that. And that’s pretty out there – except I think of the charge in those clouds out there the same way.” He paused. “How does fear fit into this for you?”

  Paul shrugged, and instantly hated himself for doing it. It made him feel like an indecisive dork, just jerking his shoulders up and down instead of standing his ground with a thoughtful expression on his face, like Cooper would do. Or like Ash. Giving words to his feelings was unexpectedly hard. “I... um... I’ve always been afraid I’d hurt someone, so that part’s not new to me at all. Not even with you, because I figure you have your own limits.”

  They both grinned. There was a reason why any kind of penetrative sex, even oral, sounded like a bad idea – the thought of a charged lightning rod in the wrong place made Paul shudder, no matter how intrigued and willing Russ had been at the time.

  Just, no.

  “But I’m not used to being afraid of other people. And now this new guy, Sig, I want to help him, but by the same token he could torch the whole block with just a temper tantrum.”

  “And...?”

  “And you could be in
side,” Paul whispered. Before he knew it, his arms were around Russ, and Russ was running soothing hands up and down his back.

  “And the others, too,” Russ said.

  “And the others.”

  “But we can still help this guy. I don’t know how these things go, but is it really a ‘help him or kill him’ scenario?”

  “I’m not sure,” Paul said in a voice so low, he could barely hear it himself. “My folks didn’t say much in front of me. And now I think I know why.”

  “Oh, babe.” Soft lips caressed Paul’s ear. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I’m away now, and I’m under control. Mostly, anyway.” Paul stiffened as a fellow student entered the classroom, followed by two more. He slowly, hesitantly detached himself from Russ. “Thank you. It just could be that you saved my life.”

  Not by instructing him in the theory of things, but by being able to ground him, to absorb his power. To keep him from destroying the trappings of civilization for blocks around as he struggled to get a grasp on his untrained gift.

  They kissed chastely despite the filling classroom.

  Russ cast a covert look at the students who were either carefully not watching, or who were caught staring in shock. “See you at home, okay?”

  Paul nodded. “Text me if you want me to pick up anything for dinner.” They both knew Paul didn’t have anything to text with – this little pretense slipped out just so he could feel normal in front of all these people who all had cell phones, and who didn’t trip the breakers by touching a light switch in the morning.

  Understanding dawned in Russ’s eyes. “No need. I’m taking you out.”

  As soon as Russ walked out the classroom’s gray industrial door with its wired glass pane window, a hum rose behind Paul.

  “Aww, you two are so cute!”

  He looked. Ashley, a future electrician, grinned at him.