THE SECOND ED SLAMMED HIS PARents" bedroom door shut, he began to have second thoughts. He had known this would happen. He shook his head and paced back and forth on his crutches while Gaia eased herself down on the foot of the bed, staring at him the way people stare at dangerous lunatics on the subway. He couldn"t let this nervous energy go, though. He had to keep feeding off the adrenaline-no matter how sick it made him, no matter how manic he appeared. He couldn"t put this off anymore. Now was the time. Before Gaia went out into the street, quite possibly never to return.
"What is going on?" Gaia asked impatiently. "We all need to get ready, Ed."
"I know," Ed muttered. He kept pacing. The crutches dug into his armpits, chafing his skin. He hardly noticed. "That"s why I need to talk to you."
"So talk," Gaia replied.
Nice. Well, he could always count on her to be blunt, that was for d.a.m.n sure. "The thing is this," he began. Then he stopped. His face burned with the embarra.s.sment of a five-year-old. Never in his life had he felt like such a toddler. Not even when he was a toddler. The sooner he did it, the sooner it would be done.
"The thing is what?" Gaia pressed.
"This is the thing, I"m so worried about you going out there, Gaia." He was still procrastinating, but he couldn"t help himself. Aside from skating and cracking inappropriate jokes, procrastinating was one of his greatest talents. It was one of the few things he could always fall back on. "We both know the stakes here. I mean, it"s so dangerous, I"m having a lot of trouble letting you-"
"We"ve been over this, Ed," she interrupted, but her tone was softer. "You have to let me go, okay?"
"I know, I know," he muttered. Finally he stopped pacing and turned to her. "Look, I know you"re going out there to save Sam, and I know you will. And I know what he means to you, and I know this is the wrong to time to say this, but I have to say it, Gaia. I have to. Because what if I don"t have another chance to say it? I don"t know if I"ll see you again, but if I don"t, I could never live with myself-"
"Ed, you"re babbling," Gaia interrupted. She smiled and arched an eyebrow.
"I love you," Ed blurted.
Her smile vanished. Ed"s pulse was racing. The sound of it filled his ears. She wasn"t reacting. Her expression was utterly blank. Maybe he"d made a big mistake. But no; he"d done the right thing-no matter how painful the consequences. Even if she stood and bolted from the room (which seemed a very likely possibility), he"d freed himself. He"d exorcised the demon. The secret that had been festering inside him was finally out, whether it meant anything to her or not.
"I am in love with you," he continued, suddenly consumed with a strange, brazen confidence. Maybe it was just that his inner torment had ended at last. "Not puppy love, not platonic love, not any of that s.h.i.t. I have been in love with you since the first day I saw you-since the first day you saw me in the chair, and you still treated me like you"d treat any other a.s.shole. And I love you even more now than I did then. And if I see you again after today, I"ll love you more then than I do now."
Gaia started shaking her head. Her face went visibly pale. Her lips parted, standing out in stark red relief against her white skin. "I should..." The words were hoa.r.s.e, barely comprehensible. "I should have..."
"What?" Ed pressed. The confidence subsided as quickly as it had appeared-and now anxiety threatened to strangle him. "What?"
She stared into his eyes. "I should have run away yesterday. But I couldn"t. Because of you. I don"t know what I"d do without you. I mean, I don"t know what I"d be without you." Now she was babbling. But her incoherent jumble of words was the sweetest music Ed had ever heard. "I think that I..."
Ed suddenly realized that he had pitched forward on his crutches so much that he was in danger of falling over. He straightened, every single cell in his body poised to hear her finish that sentence-the sentence that could quite possibly make the impossible a reality, that would even make the danger that awaited them seem insignificant....
But then, something shifted behind her eyes.
"I think that I should get going," she finished.
A long breath flowed from Ed"s lungs. So. He"d been dreaming. Not that he was surprised. It was okay, though. Yes. As long as she could stay alive, Ed could live with everything else. The rest would work itself out later. He nodded and flashed her a quick smile, then turned and opened the bedroom door.
"I don"t believe it," he breathed.
Had he not been in grave danger, had Gaia not just broken his heart for the hundredth time...well, the sight that greeted his eyes would have seemed like some incredible, erotic fantasy come to life. Because standing there, in a small semi-circle in front of the door, were five Gaias. Five carbon copies of the same girl. Clones. The realization sent a terrible chill down his spine. Loki wanted clones, and now he was getting them. It was beyond perverse. There wasn"t a word for it.
Gaia appeared at his side. "You"re sure you all want to do this?" she asked the FOHs as they slipped into army jackets and black sungla.s.ses.
"Beats going to cla.s.s," Megan said.
The others giggled. Even Heather.
Ed swallowed. He"d explained the danger to all of them-as had Gaia-but he had a feeling they hadn"t thought much past putting on the outfits. They saw it as more of a game. Which, in the long run, was probably a good thing.
" G.o.d, we kick a.s.s," Carrie murmured.
Megan grinned at her. "I am totally keeping these pants-"
"Okay, okay," Gaia interrupted gently. "Let"s do it." She hesitated, then took a moment to look each of them in the face. "I can"t thank you enough. You have no idea how much you"re helping me. I-I was wrong about you. All of you."
"What ever," Megan said with a laugh. "This is exciting! It"s like, so glamorous or something. Like playing spies. I don"t know. It"s cool."
Gaia nodded. Her smile grew pained.
Ed"s body went numb. They really didn"t have any idea what they were about to do, did they? But that was okay. Their ignorance would protect them. Or so Ed desperately prayed. No, at this point, they could only hope that Loki wouldn"t hurt somebody who knew nothing. Why would he? It wouldn"t do him any good. He watched as Heather handed Gaia the last army jacket and pair of black sungla.s.ses. Then Gaia strode forward and opened Ed"s door.
"Gaia," Ed began. "I-"
"I"ll be back," she promised again.
And then she was gone.
TOM WAS CERTAIN THAT HE WAS dreaming. He must have fallen asleep while on watch in his car. He jerked upright, biting down hard on the inside of his cheek.
Telltale Clues The pain was real.
He could taste salty blood in his mouth. It sent a surge of joy through him.
Gaia was there: alive and well, not twenty feet away from his parked car. She was standing tall, her long blond hair cascading over her shoulders-dressed in those old clothes she loved so much: the tank top, the ratty army pants, the jacket.... She was real. All he needed to do was hustle her safely to his car.
He threw open the door, then froze. His joy turned to instant horror.
Walking out of Ed Fargo"s lobby was Gaia. Another Gaia. Dressed the same way. Then came another. And then another. And then another... until there were six Gaias standing on the sidewalk in a loose huddle. All identical. All dressed in the exact same outfits, with the exact same sungla.s.ses. Tom"s eyes narrowed, searching for subtle differences. To his relief, there were a few: the girls were of differing heights and body types. Some were taller than others. Some were more slender. So there was no way... there was no way his twin could have cloned her already. Cloning meant producing a newborn, not a fully developed human being.
Didn"t it?
The answer made no difference. He thrust the thoughts aside; they were born of panic and irrationality. Tom had covered every possible base since he"d spoken with Ed. Loki could not have gotten to her yet. This was something else. It had to be something else. Something Gaia had concocted.
And then it hit him.
Decoys.
Of course. His daughter was absolutely brilliant. She was attempting to escape- Without any warning, the six Gaias dispersed. They sprinted toward the intersection and fanned off in six different directions. Instant chaos ensued. The other two black sedans peeled off the curb, nearly crashing into each other with a loud screech. His colleagues were clearly just as baffled as he was.
Focus, Tom, focus!
He slammed the door shut, then turned the ignition-his eyes zeroing in on each of the girls for less than a tenth of a second at a time, searching for the telltale clues that couldn"t be mimicked: the graceful gait, the musculature... and most of all, the training. The real Gaia would keep her eyes in front of her. The real Gaia would use her surroundings to get a complete picture of any potential threats-a car mirror, a storefront window, whatever was at hand.
There.
Yes, the one who was already furthest from the lobby, halfway down the next block. The one staring at her feet. He slammed his foot down on the gas pedal, not taking his eyes off her even for an instant. But she was too d.a.m.n fast. It was nearly impossible to maneuver the car and keep watching her. The last thing he needed was to hit some innocent pedestrian, and ruin all three of their lives....
She turned the corner at Second Avenue. Downtown.
d.a.m.n it. Tom was forced to run a red light. He swerved, nearly colliding with a double-decker tourist bus. A horn blared. He didn"t hear it. He kept close to the curb. There was only Gaia. She ducked into an alley on East Second Street.
He almost smiled. He should have known she would go for an alley; now there was no way to follow her by car. He slammed on the brakes. The deafening screech shattered the early-afternoon calm. At least five people ran for cover on the street, turning to look at him. It was a risk to attract such attention to himself, but an acceptable one. He jumped from his car and ran after her. n.o.body would get a good look at his face; they were all too stunned. And should the idling car be towed, it was untraceable.
"Gaia!" he shouted.
The green jacket flew behind her like a cape. She was so close, maybe thirty feet away. And running toward a dead end: a brick wall, laced with obscene graffiti.
"Gaia, please!" he gasped. He dug down for any more strength he could muster from his legs, pulling within just a few feet of her. "It"s me. Your father..."
She ignored him completely. But she was forced to slow down. The wall blocked her path. Her head darted left, then right. With no other choices left, Tom took two hard steps and jumped headfirst for his daughter, tackling her to the rugged pavement.
"Ow!" she shrieked.
That voice.
Tom rolled off her, scrambling to his feet. To his utter horror, he found himself staring into a pair of hazel eyes, capped by a crooked wig. It was the face of a stranger.
"No," he hissed out loud. "No..."
"What"s the matter?" the girl snarled. "Not who you expected to see?" She smiled, then stood and dusted herself off. "That hurt. You should really be more careful." She peered over his shoulder, back toward the street. "Maybe I should call the cops or something. I mean, you, like, attacked me."
Dread threatened to smother him, to bring him to his knees. He"d lost her. And he knew the reason. He"d spent so much time away from her that he couldn"t spot the telltale clues anymore. He"d failed her yet again.
His cell phone started ringing. George, no doubt.
"See ya," the girl muttered, hurrying away from him.
Tom grabbed the phone from his suit pocket, watching the girl go. "George," he gasped, still trying to catch his breath. "I"ve lost her-"
"She"s headed for the Chelsea loft right now," George interrupted. "We have confirmation. Meet me there."
Tom opened his mouth, but George hung up- before Tom had a chance to tell him that in this case, confirmation meant absolutely nothing.
HEATHER.
Today, for the very first time, I saw the truth. Many truths, actually.
I"m not in Ed"s heart anymore. Not a trace of me. He"s in love with Gaia. More than he ever was with me. It"s in everything he says, any exchange at all; two words, one word-it doesn"t matter. It"s in his eyes. And she loves him just as much. She hides it better, but it"s still so obvious. I hope she"s not trying to hide it from Ed because that would be the most screwed-up waste of a relationship.
I can"t even believe I"d let myself say something that cheesy about anybody, much less about the two of them. But the thing I realized in Ed"s bathroom, after they left me there alone, was that... I can. I don"t know what it is, but I think that maybe the truth finally cut through because I was finally ready to accept it. After the first few seconds of being alone in there, a new feeling started to take over. It started to feel like I was kind of washing the old Heather away. Officially. I sc.r.a.ped all the self-pitying skin from my face, and I had this kind of revelation.
Maybe helping Gaia wasn"t the most selfless thing I could do. After all, I used it as an opportunity to dazzle my own friends. To regain my social status. I"d been hiding too much for too long-my family"s money problems, my trouble with Ed, my sister"s anorexia .... The truth is, I was sick of drifting apart from the people I need most. I needed to a.s.sert myself again. Hey guys, want to do something really far out and crazy? And skip school at the same time? And pretend to be Gaia Moore, beautiful and mysterious freak of nature? And they went for it. It was just the right thing at just the right time. I was helping myself, and I know it.
So maybe the most selfless thing I could do-the only way I could truly make up for all the self-serving ways I"d manipulated Ed-was to give up Ed himself.
And I guess, without really saying anything in the last moment in the bathroom ... I guess that"s what I did. I let him go.
Which really, really sucks.
frenzy
Gaia could only stand and watch, immobilized. Never before had she felt like such a failure.
IN SPITE OF THE OVERWHELMING odds against her, Gaia knew she had one advantage: she was alone. She could hide more easily and attack with greater surprise. True, she"d been invited. True, Loki was expecting her. But the other "Gaias" had hopefully confused him. Just a little. Just long enough for her to pounce.
confusion As she crept toward the rear of the nondescript warehouse-turned-loft from an alley on 26th Street, her gaze swept in either direction. The front of the building may have been ornate and majestic, but the back facade was a decrepit display of neglect-especially at the ground level, where the windows were black with soot, or cracked. Loki"s men were nowhere to be seen. She crouched beside a bas.e.m.e.nt window, smashed it with her foot, then climbed carefully through the jagged remains and dropped down into a deserted boiler room. Moving swiftly and silently, she ran through a maze of dank, narrow hallways until she found an entrance to a side staircase.
Hold on, Sam, she silently pleaded, dashing up stairwell after stairwell. I"m almost there....
When she reached the fifth-floor landing, she stopped dead in her tracks.
So much for being alone. She could not believe what she saw-or rather, who she saw standing at the door. It was her uncle, dressed as always in an impeccable dark suit. The hard, deep-set blue eyes were unmistakable. Her father"s eyes were softer. Not that they concealed any less. It was just the luck of the genetic draw, a twist of fate.
"Gaia?" Oliver whispered, sounding just as surprised as she felt. His voice was tremulous. "What are you doing here?"
He stood with his back against the hallway door and a pistol in his hand-flanked on either side by two faceless, heavyset men in leather jackets and black pants. They were also armed. Gaia didn"t get it. What the h.e.l.l was going on? Didn"t he know she was coming? Unless... he isn"t Loki. But he still would have known about the loft, wouldn"t he? Confusion overwhelmed her. She couldn"t even muster a reply.
"You"ve got to get out of here," Oliver whispered urgently. "It"s not safe."
"I..." Gaia stammered, not even knowing where to begin.
Oliver brought his finger to his lips, imploring her to stay quiet. "Please, Gaia," he whispered, "You need to go. You can"t be here now. Loki is in one of the lofts down the hall, and we think he may be holding Sam Moon hostage in there. Please, just wait downstairs for me and let my people handle Loki."
Gaia shook her head. She may not have understood what was going on, but she was certain of one thing. "If Sam is in there, then I"m going in too," she said.
The two men exchanged angry looks.
"Gaia, please," Oliver begged. "Don"t do this. It"s too dangerous."
"Forget it," she replied.