Spirit (26 page)

H
unter woke up in a hospital.

It took a moment to realize he should probably be grateful to be waking up at all.

An IV was in his hand, one of those oxygen cannulas strung around his face. Nothing really hurt, but at the same time, he had no desire to climb out of this bed, either. A dull, unsettling ache clung to his bones.

He tried to move his legs.

They worked. They hurt, but they worked.

He wasn’t handcuffed to the bed, either, so that was a plus.

One of the Merrick twins was asleep in the recliner on the other side of the room. His T-shirt said
I Google Myself.

Gabriel.

Hunter wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“Hey,” said Hunter.

Nothing. He tried again.

Finally, he grabbed the box of tissues on the small table beside the bed and threw it.

Gabriel sat up with a start. He grabbed the box and tossed it onto the window ledge. “Dude, you’re lucky you’re hurt or I’d be shoving this right up your—”

“Save it. What happened?”

“Oh Em Gee, Hunter, you are so
welcome
,” Gabriel said in a lilting falsetto. “I had a
blast
saving your life.”

He couldn’t be too mad if he was cracking jokes.

Or maybe he was furious. Sometimes it was hard to tell with Gabriel.

“Maybe if you told me what happened, I could get around to the thanking you part.”

Gabriel’s face lost the mockery. “When we realized that the shopping center was a false lead, we had to make a decision: find you, or get out of the area before the school blew up.” He shrugged, and mischief sparked in his eye. “So we flipped for it.”

“Thank you for finding me.”

“You should be thanking the coin.”

Hunter didn’t say anything for a long moment. Gabriel waited.

Then Hunter looked away. “I’m sorry I lied about the shopping center. I just—I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt—”

“We knew you were lying.”

Hunter blinked. “What?”

“We knew. How do you think we found you so fast?”

“And you still came after me?”

“I’m not sure anyone has ever told you how this whole
friendship
thing is supposed to work, but . . .” Gabriel stared at him, hard. “Yeah, you idiot. We came after you.”

Hunter wasn’t sure what to say to that.

So Gabriel kept talking. “It took some time to find you. And then we saw that dickhead pointing a gun at you. I tried the trick you mentioned, the one about stopping the spark before the gun could fire.”

Hunter remembered the flash, the way the gun had exploded in Silver’s hand. “So what happened?”

“Yeah, so I don’t have enough control for all
that
, but I kinda like how it worked out anyway.”

Now Hunter understood. He could read between the flippant answers. “Thank you.”

“If I’d let you die, I couldn’t have kicked your ass for going after Noah Dean.”

Hunter propped himself up on his elbows. “Of everything, why are you still pissed about
that
?”

For the first time, Gabriel’s expression showed true fury. “Because, jackass, you should have taken me
with you
.”

Hunter dropped back on the pillow, wondering if he should punch Gabriel or hug him. “So that night you knocked me down the stairs—you weren’t mad that I might have been screwing over your family. You were mad that I left you
behind
?”

“Hell, yes! Nicky never wants to do that stuff.”

Hunter was touched. “I’m getting all misty.”

“Fuck you.” Then Gabriel’s expression changed. “You look really different without all the piercings.”

Hunter’s hand flew to his face. They were all gone. “What happened?”

“You had an MRI.” He glanced at the clock over the television. “Your mom will be back soon.”

“She was here?”

“She’s been sleeping here.”

She’d been
sleeping
here? “How long have I been in the hospital?”

“Two days.”

“What happened to Silver?” Hunter paused, remembering the feeling of the power driving into his enemy. “Did he die?”

Gabriel looked like he was bracing himself for Hunter’s reaction. He glanced at the doorway before pulling his chair closer. “Arrested.”

Hunter shoved himself upright again. “He’s still alive?”

“Oh, your blast of power did a lot of damage, but not enough to kill him. We dragged him out. We needed someone to take the fall for all of it—kidnapping kids and hiding them under the school, including you. It’s the only thing that covered everything: your disappearance, the shoot-out at our house—”

Hunter was incredulous. “Where do you guys fit into that?”

“Out of town. Weekend college visit for Nick. Missed the whole thing.”

Hunter opened his mouth. Closed it. “Wow.”

“It’s helpful that Layne’s dad is smoothing things over with the cops. Mike keeps saying that guy is brilliant with spin.”

“What about the kids?”

“They said what we told them to say. You think they wanted to take the fall?”

“Are they all safe?”

Gabriel lifted one shoulder. “Confused.” He paused. “There’s no sign of Calla. We’re trying to figure out exactly who’s involved so we can try to keep them out of trouble.”

“More Guides will come.”

Gabriel nodded. “I know.”

Then they fell into silence for the longest time, until Gabriel pulled his chair even closer and rested his arms on the bed rail. “How did that guy know where to find you?”

Hunter looked away from him, at the speckled tile of the hospital ceiling. “Just lucky, I guess.”

Gabriel hit him on the top of his head. Hunter swung around to glare at him.

“Try again,” Gabriel said.

Hunter was so sick of lying. He sighed. “I turned on her phone.”

“Why? Why did you do that?”

“I didn’t realize he’d get there so fast.”

Gabriel waited, but Hunter didn’t say anything else.

“That doesn’t answer the
why
,” Gabriel finally said.

“I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt. I was going to kill him. And if I couldn’t do it, I was going to blow up the school with him in it.”

“Jesus, I could shake the crap out of you.” Gabriel shoved him in the shoulder. “When you’re going to do awesome stuff,
let me in on it.
”

Hunter had to look at the speckled ceiling again. “I didn’t expect to survive it.”

Gabriel’s voice was quiet, no mockery at all now. “Why?”

Hunter was suddenly so tired. “Go away, Gabriel.”

“No.
Why would you do that?
”

Hunter squeezed his eyes shut. His lashes felt wet, and he pressed his fingertips against his eyes. “Because Kate sacrificed herself for me. She was the only person who’s ever trusted me.”

“Dude. Hunter. No. She wasn’t. She was just the only person you’ve ever trusted
back
.”

Hunter opened his eyes. Gabriel was right. He should have trusted the Merricks long before this.

He had a lot to make up for.

“I’m sorry I was a shitty friend,” he said.

“I’m not sure ‘shitty’ covers it.”

“I can’t believe I almost killed you two weeks ago.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “I can. You’re kind of a moron.”

A dark-haired nurse knocked at the door and didn’t wait for a response before entering. She had a tray of food. “I’m glad to see you’re awake,” she said brightly. Her voice carried a touch of an accent. “Feeling hungry?”

“Not really.”

“Leave it,” said Gabriel. “I’m always hungry.”

She set the tray on the table and plugged a stethoscope into her ears. “May I get your vital signs?”

Hunter held out his arm for the blood pressure cuff.

She tightened the Velcro, then traced a finger lightly over the tattoo above his elbow. “Ah,” she said. “My favorite proverb.”

“It was my dad’s, too,” Hunter said.

“Did he serve in Afghanistan?”

“Yes. Just six months.”

“Wait a minute,” said Gabriel. “Someone knows what the secret tattoo says?”

Hunter gave him a look. “It’s not a secret. It’s on my
arm
.”

“Enough with the suspense already. What does it say?”

“Nothing important,” said Hunter.

The nurse smiled and released the pressure in the cuff. “It says,
The first day you meet, you are friends. The next day, you are brothers
.”

Gabriel lost the smile.

Then he clapped Hunter on the shoulder.

Hunter frowned at him. “What was that for?”

“Brotherhood,” he said. “Welcome to the family.”

H
unter sat in the grass and closed his eyes. The sun was warmer here, the air more crisp, as if Kate’s body drew power to this spot even after her death. He could swear he smelled cinnamon and apples.

He touched his fingers to the grass and opened his eyes.

“I wish I could stare at you right now,” he said.

Air swirled through the small clearing, lifting dead leaves and rustling the foliage.

He’d thought coming here would give him some kind of closure. But instead he missed her more intently. Every brush of air, every scent of earth, every sound of water hitting the distant beach reminded him of their last night together.

“I’m going to stay with the Merricks for a while,” he said. “I’m still working some things out with my mom. I mean—Michael was right. She was wrong. But I was, too.”

This felt stupid, talking to grass.

But he swallowed and found he couldn’t stop. “I was wrong about my dad, too. I think—I think he would have liked you.”

His voice broke.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

The breeze kicked up fiercely, lifting his hair and drying the tears that swelled in his eyes. Then the air went calm, soothing against his skin.

And he felt her in that, too.

“I couldn’t kill him for you,” he said quietly, touching his fingers to the grass. “I failed again.”

A hand rested on his shoulder. “You didn’t fail,” said Michael.

Hunter didn’t say anything to that.

“You kept Silver from killing those kids.”

“I didn’t kill him. I should have killed him.”

“Vengeance isn’t a solution, Hunter. I think your dad knew that. And I think you know it, too.”

He was right. Hunter wasn’t ready to let go of the vengeance yet, but he was right.

Michael hesitated. “My dad used to say something that made me nuts. ‘If you can’t fix what went wrong—’ ”

“Then fix what you can make right.” Hunter looked up at him. “My dad used to say that, too.”

“Good advice.”

Hunter looked back at the ground. The air felt peaceful.

“Thanks,” he said to Michael. “For bringing me here.”

“You ready to go? Or do you want more time?”

Hunter touched the grass one last time. Then he stood. “I’m ready. Let’s go home.”

Spirit
Playlist

Anytime I write a book, there’s a song that kind of kicks it off for me and gets me in the mood for that character. With
Spirit
, I didn’t have a song that was talking to me. I’d listen to old music, write a chapter, scratch my head and write a little more, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I asked for lots of song suggestions on Twitter, and while there were tons of great suggestions (many of which made it into this playlist), none of them really
fit
Hunter. Then I heard
Some Nights
by fun, and I knew I had Hunter’s theme song. Every word fits.

So this was the first year I didn’t watch
American Idol
. (Brigid, meet deadline.) I didn’t know about Philip Phillips until everyone else already did. But the instant I heard this song, I knew it would be part of the playlist for
Spirit
. I had a discussion with Alicia (my amazing editor), during which I was discussing some plot choices, and I said, “This book isn’t about Hunter finding romance. It’s about Hunter finding
himself
.” Hunter just needed a little guidance to get there, and this song really reminds me of his relationship with Michael.

This song is catchy and clever and dark and hilarious, and for some reason, it reminds me of Hunter’s relationship with Kate.

Heh. I love this song. Pink is a total badass. Or as Kristin Feliz would say, a BAMF. Totally makes me think of Kate.

This is totally the perfect song for gearing yourself up for something difficult. Fits the book and totally fits my life. Love it.

This song has nothing to do with the book. But for some reason, I downloaded it, and I couldn’t stop listening to it while writing
Spirit
. Look, they’re not all going to be cool songs, okay? (But come on. You want to do the dance now, don’t you?
Down down, do your dance . . .
)

I just loved this song the first time I heard it. It’s so unusual to hear a song sung by a woman promising not to hurt a
guy
. It’s a ballad (sort of), and I loved the turnabout. Perfectly fit Hunter and Kate’s story.

I didn’t hear this song until
Spirit
was in edits, but I found myself with a lot of necessary revisions, and this song totally fit the mood. Fast, driving beat, and absolutely perfect lyrics for Hunter.

Usually I listen to songs by Florence + the Machine and I have no idea what they’re about. I just listen and like them. This song is no different, but the song moves me and made me think about Kate differently, letting me soften her edges. So in that way, I’d say this is Kate’s song.

Oh, this song has Kate and Hunter written all over it. Kate knows who she is and what she wants, and then she meets Hunter, and ends up questioning everything she thought she knew. (And Tristan Prettyman has an awesome voice!)