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“We’ve been down this road already,” I told him. “I already tested the bark and the soil around the tree. I didn’t find any signs of poison.”

Surprise flashed in his eyes, like he was looking at me for the first time. “You can do that?”

“Of course.”

“Well, then you’re much smarter than you look.”

I tried not to be offended by that.

Apparently, I didn’t do a very good job because he quickly added, “I only meant, you’re kind of cute and small.”

Rane hit him with a granite stare. “Are you flirting with my friend?” She pushed back a step. “In front ofme?”

“No, of course not, baby! I meant she’s cute like a teddybear.”

Rane snickered. “I was just kidding.” She punched him lightly on the arm.

Storm wrapped his arms around her. “You drive me crazy, you know.”

They werebothdriving me crazy. Especially when they started kissing again. Very, very loudly. Where was a total sensory blackout spell when I needed one?

“Ok.” I used one of my hands to cover my eyes. The other I used to pry the two of them apart. “Storm, you stay here. And Rane…” I dragged her to the other side of the table. “…you stay here. Or we’ll never get through this.” I bravely opened my eyes.

I almost shut them again when I saw they werestillgiving each other googly eyes. If this was love, I was totally going to stay single for life.

“So, back to the dead tree.” I looked at Storm. “You mentioned you had proof that the neighbors killed the tree?”

He nodded. “I do. I knew they were killing the tree, so I’ve been watching them, waiting to catch them in the act. And I did!” He reached into his jacket, pulled out a bundle of photographs, and slapped them down on the table.

Rane squinted at the top picture. “Those are my neighbors, all right.” She tilted her head to the side. “But what are they doing?”

I leaned in for a closer look.

“They’re in their garden.” Rane slid the photograph aside, revealing the one underneath. “Putting cables in the ground?”

“Oh!” I gasped. “I know what they’re doing!”

Rane stared at the photo for a few more seconds before looking away. “Ok, I give up. What are they doing with those cables?”

“They’re running power toward the tree,” I told her. “Slowly killing it with electricity.”

Rane coughed. “I didn’t know people could do that.”

“It’s an old trick,” I said. “A sneaky way to kill a tree.”

“I suspected they were doing this,” Storm said quietly. “An unusual amount of electricity is running through the ground near the tree.”

“You can feel that?” I asked in surprise.

“I’m a lightning elemental. Sensing electricity is one of my abilities.”

“But if you could feel all that electricity around the tree, why didn’t you tell Rane? Why stalk around and act so suspicious?”

He sighed. “Her parents never would have trusted me if I didn’t have evidence.” He tapped his finger against the pile of photographs. “And now I do. I just picked these up from the photo shop down the street.”

Rane grabbed the pile of photographs with one hand. Then she linked her other hand in Storm’s. “We’re going to show these to my parents. We’re going to tell them what you did for us. Then they’ll see you for the person you truly are!”

Storm didn’t look convinced of that, but he followed Rane anyway.