Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

ZEPHYR

“I just want her to like me. Why won’t she like me? I’m always nice to her. We’ve been friends forever.”

“She does like you. You’ve been friends forever. She just doesn’t like like you. Maybe because you’re only nice to her because you want her to like you.”

The air whispers the snatch of conversation to me, and I resist the urge to nod in agreement. Neither of the speakers can see me—and if they could, they probably wouldn’t want my input anyway. But the advice giver is completely right. I’ve eavesdropped on enough situations like this to know it. Anyway, isn’t it common sense that nobody wants to be treated well only for what they can give? Do humans really still not get that, even after so many thousands of years of existing?

How hard is it to understand the concept of treating people nicely because they’re people ?

“You’re never going to believe who I just saw going into a hotel with his ex!”

I perk up a little. Maybe it makes me shallow, but I like gossip. That’s why the breeze brings me so much of it. We both get a little down-spirited by all the bad things we learn, so occasionally, a bit of gossip acts as a palate cleanser.

“Zeph!”

Blinking, I turn to look at Flame. He has that exasperated expression he gets when he’s been talking to me and I haven’t been listening. It’s not my fault, though. There are so many voices talking to me all the time that I can’t pay active attention to all of them. I would have heard his words later. Probably.

“Yes?”

He eyes me suspiciously. “You didn’t hear any of that, did you?”

I shrug. “I don’t think so. Was it important?”

Sighing, he says, “Does somebody else want to do this?”

I turn to see who he’s talking to—I thought I was alone out here on the deck until he spoke—and am surprised to see Flame’s boyfriend, Bran, and Perry. I smile at them. They’re both so nice, and things have been easier since we had humans join us.

“You’re doing fine,” Bran encourages Flame in a soothing voice. “Zeph can’t help it that he’s so distracted. He’s listening now.” He glances at me. “Right?”

“…their divorce has been final for three years, and it’s not like they had kids. Why would they need to meet at all?”

“Right,” I confirm, giving the breeze a little “tell me later” push. This seems like it might be important. “I’m listening.”

Flame waits a beat, studying me to make sure I’m actually focused on him, then says, “The new guy starts tomorrow, so if you can’t stay focused, try to stay out of his way. He’s human, and we haven’t decided yet how to tell him the truth about us.”

“Or if we even should,” Perry adds.

I nod. “Sure. I can stay out of his way. I do have a question about him, though.”

Flame smiles, looking relieved and happy. “What?”

“What new guy?”

The smile disappears, and Perry groans. “No. Come on , Zeph. We’ve been talking about this for months. You were there. You agreed!”

“Sorry?” I shrug. “I guess I mustn’t have been listening that well.” Even as I say it, the air whispers about the noxious fumes being spilled by a factory elsewhere, distracting me.

“It’s not Zephyr’s fault,” Bran says, capturing my attention again. “We should have checked that he’d heard us. We know it’s difficult for him to stay focused.” He pats my shoulder. “Are you still listening?”

“I’m listening,” I promise. “You’re being nice to me.”

“I’m just saying, it’s not normal to meet up with your ex at a hotel when you both live in the same town. Not unless you’re hoping nobody notices.” Ooh, that really could be interesting. Are they planning to get back together? Or plotting something dastardly? Maybe they already did a dastardly deed when they were married, and there’s a chance someone’s going to find out, so they’re meeting to plot how to keep it a secret. I set the air to finding out more details.

“…Cody was managing to keep up, but now that he’s about to start college, he doesn’t know if he’ll have the same amount of time to spend on it,” Bran is saying, and I make myself pay attention. Cody is his brother who manages our website and social media. He’s due to start school at UCLA next month, which I’m both happy and sad about. Cody’s one of my favorite people, and I’m going to miss having him here in the house… but he’s so excited about going to college and getting to stretch his brain that I can’t be too upset.

Ohhhhh, okay. I think I do remember them talking about this. Cody’s said a few times that he’s not really qualified enough to manage the website and other stuff now that it’s found its feet and started getting the attention we needed. He wanted to find someone to help him, but the secrecy issue is important. It’s not like we can tell just anyone that we’re incarnated elements—or, as Cody calls us, superheroes. I like that. It makes me feel like I’m actually adding value to humans’ lives, even if they don’t know it.

“We all agreed that we’d hire somebody to take over,” Bran explains. “He starts tomorrow so Cody can show him how everything’s set up and work with him for a few weeks, make sure he’ll fit in.” He pauses and pulls a face. “As much as anyone can fit in here.”

“Basically, Cody’s going to make sure he’s ‘cool,’ so if he does somehow find out the truth, we won’t have to worry that he’ll do something drastic,” Flame adds.

I nod. “Okay. So the new guy is going to take Cody’s job, but Cody’s going to train him up first.” Makes sense. “Who is this guy? Did we interview people?” I’m pretty sure I would remember that.

“Aether and I did the interviewing, with Cody,” Perry says. “But we all discussed the applications first and agreed on a shortlist.”

“And then we all discussed the outcomes of the interviews,” Bran adds, “before voting on who we were going to hire. It was a unanimous vote.”

I have zero memory of that. “Did I vote?”

All three of them nod. Huh.

“I must agree with the majority, then.”

“Or you weren’t listening,” Flame points out.

“Mm. That’s possible, too.” The air stirs around me, giddily murmuring about Ted and Brenda, who are arguing in a hotel room because they never told Ted’s elderly mother they were getting divorced, and now she’s visiting from Spain and expects to see them living together in wedded bliss. “Wow, how did they think they were going to keep that secret?”

“Zeph!” Flame throws up his hands in exasperation. “Are you not listening again?”

“I’m listening!” I protest. “We all voted to hire this guy…” Shit. Did they say his name?

“Storm,” Bran supplies, grinning. “Storm Lattimer.”

Wait. That’s got to be a test, right? He’s checking to see if I’m listening. “Storm? Really?” I look at Perry, who shrugs.

“It’s what he put on all the official papers and the name we used for his background check. Legally, that’s his name.”

I scratch my head. “Huh. That was my name once.”

“Was it?” Bran seems genuinely surprised, but Perry’s grinning and even Flame seems less serious than usual.

“Yeah. A few lifetimes ago. I didn’t think humans usually picked names like that for their kids.”

“Humans do all kinds of stuff,” Flame reminds me. “How do you think River got his name?”

That’s a good point.

“Storm Lattimer,” I repeat. “Don’t yell at me, but I guess he’s qualified? To do Cody’s job?”

“More than,” Perry assures me. “That was what Cody wanted—someone who can take us to the next level. Storm has a bachelor’s degree in marketing with a double major in marketing and web design, a master’s in social media management, and five years’ experience in the field. He’s worked closely with a PR team, so he’s picked up a lot of tips and tricks there. A year ago he was promoted to team leader.”

Promoted? I frown. “If he’s a team leader for a company that’s big enough to need a social media team?—”

“Marketing team,” Bran corrects.

“—then why does he want to come and work for us?”

“We asked him the same thing,” Perry says. “According to him, he’s burnt out on corporate life and wants an opportunity to get off that track. He likes the idea of working for a non- profit. Our background check showed that he has a history of volunteering with conservation charities and organizations, so we think he’d be a good fit.” He hesitates. “Aether liked him. Took one look and didn’t want to even do the interview, just hire him.”

“He did?” I blink a few times. “That’s strange.”

Flame and Perry exchange a look before Perry adds, “He said Storm was meant to be with us. That this is the first incarnation where this has happened.”

“Huh.”

“We’re just going to have to pretend,” Brenda concedes finally. “We can manage that until your mother leaves. The truth would give her a heart attack, and I don’t want that on my conscience.”

“Don’t you think that’s interesting?” Flame presses.

“Very,” I agree. Brenda can’t seriously think she and Ted will be able to pretend to be in love? Unless they still do love each other? But then why did they divorce? “His mother probably knows him well enough to guess when he’s lying.”

“And we’ve lost him,” Flame mutters.

“Zephyr,” Bran says loudly. “Could you focus for just a minute more, please?”

I look at his serious face and smile. “I’m so glad you’re one of us now,” I tell him.

He smiles back. “Me too. You guys are going to keep me sane when Cody goes to college. Now, tell me what we’ve been talking about.”

Hasn’t he been paying attention? That’s not like Bran. Still, he’s always so nice to me; I’ll cover for him this time. “Cody’s successor is starting his job tomorrow,” I explain. “His name is Storm Lattimer, and he’s really qualified to expand on everything Cody’s done for us. He’s going to work with Cody for a few weeks, just to see if he vibes well, and then he’ll take over when Cody moves to LA. He doesn’t know about us, yet, so we have to be careful—though Aether really liked him in the interview, so we’re probably safe there. Not like Ted.”

They all stare at me.

“I’m so going to regret asking this,” Flame says. “Who’s Ted?”

I frown. “How do you know about Ted? Wait, do you know why he and Brenda got divorced?”

Flame throws up his hands. “I give up.”

“On what?”

“Relax,” Bran tells him, wrapping an arm around his waist. “Zeph knows what he needs to know. Zephyr, what are you going to do while Storm is in the house?”

I have to do something? Oh, I know this—I have the answer.

“There’s no way my mother will believe we have separate bedrooms.”

“Share a bedroom?” I gasp. “How can he think she’ll agree to that?”

“Zeph!” Flame exclaims, but Perry intervenes.

“Leave him alone.” He pauses. “Wait, is this still Ted and Brenda? Why are they sharing a bedroom if they’re divorced?”

“So his mom doesn’t find out,” I explain. “Brenda doesn’t want to give her a heart attack.”

Perry looks at Bran. “Does that make sense to you?”

“Not even a little bit, but now I really want to know more. Ow! Tone down the sparks, hot stuff.” Bran slaps at the tiny spark that landed on his arm, simultaneously stomping on the one that landed on the deck. “Some of us aren’t flame retardant.”

Flame’s offended growl is funny. “Why would you want to be? And Zephyr,” he turns on me before I can get distracted, “what is your only job while Storm is here?”

“Don’t give him a reason to guess what we really are.”