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  them. My father certainly isn’t the man I thought he was. Ella told me so much, and yet I feel like I know even less.

  I don’t know who my parents were.

  I don’t know who my father was.

  I don’t know who I am.

  I don’t know anything at all. But I’m going to find out.

  sacrifice

  But then she saw the blood. It had poured into a thick black pool around her head, almost like a halo. It was more blood than anyone could stand to lose.

  WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK WAS utterly deserted. No freaks. No druggies. No rapists. Gaia was always amazed at how peaceful the park looked when it was empty. It had been hours since the hot dog vendors had closed their umbrellas and pushed their gleaming metal carts home. The last chess match of the day had ended with the evening light, and now the tables stood empty. By now most NYU students were safe in bed. Sam included.

  Allies

  Gaia sat beside Ella on the edge of the large fountain in the center of the park, drained of its water. There was nothing to do but wait. Wait for Loki to show up. If he even would.

  But Ella seemed certain of it.

  “Are you scared?” Gaia asked. The information would be helpful to her, a way to gauge the situation.

  “Yeah,” Ella admitted quietly. “I’m terrified. How about you?”

  Gaia shook her head. “I’m never afraid.”

  Ella laughed anxiously, peering down a pathway into the shadowy, skeletal mass of trees. “I almost believe you,” she said.

  “I’m serious,” Gaia said. “I was born without the gene that makes you scared of things.” The words just sort of fell out of her mouth. But it was a first. It was the first time she’d admitted her condition to someone outside her family.

  But Ella didn’t even seem to hear her. She slid off the concrete wall and began pacing around, unable to keep still.

  “Have you figured out yet what you’re going to do with your half of the money?” Gaia asked.

  Ella shook her head. “Maybe I’ll go out west.” In the dim lamplight her face was deathly pale—like ivory. Or bone. “Maybe I’ll settle down and try to remember what it’s like to be a photographer.”

  “Sounds nice,” Gaia said, even though she knew Ella was lying. The shakiness in her voice betrayed everything. Ella didn’t believe she was going to make it out of thispark alive. Not that Gaia could blame her. It was best just to keep talking, to keep Ella’s mind off her terror. “Do you need a roommate?” Gaia joked.

  Ella laughed. “You have to fix things with Sam.”

  A gust of wind blew. Gaia shivered. “Sam and I were never a couple to begin with. There’s nothing to fix.”

  “Don’t lie to me, Gaia,” Ella said, but her tone was very gentle. “You two have been dancing around each other for so long, but neither one of you has made an attempt to be honest with how you feel. That’s why it was so easy for things to come between the two of you. You let it.”

  Gaia couldn’t believe this. One day Ella was shooting at her; the next day she was giving her advice about the boy she’d stolen from her. But Gaia was willing to accept it. There seemed to be a kernel of truth to what Ella was saying. And maybe Gaia hadn’t been a hundred percent honest about her own feelings. She had just kept waiting for him instead of taking the initiative herself.

  Next time, Gaia vowed, it’ll be different.

  She cringed at the thought of all the rotten things she had said at the restaurant. She had called him a liar. She had told him never to touch her again. The memory of it waslike a dagger twisting in her chest. Then again, he had slept with Ella. But at least she understood the scenario a little better. . . .

  It probably didn’t matter, though. Gaia might have no experience with guys, but she knew all about rejection. Oh, yes. And after the way she’d acted, no one would be dumb enough to give her another chance.

  “THIS IS THE FINAL CALL FOR THE Midtown Direct train to Dover, making the following stops. . . .”

  Perpetual Motion

  Once again Sam trudged through the waiting room of Penn Station as the announcer rattled off the list of stops for the next departing train. He was beyond exhausted. He was in a strange, hallucinatory state that came only with sleep deprivation. The white fluorescent lights were all too bright. His vision was blurred. He had circled the main concourse more than a dozen times, asking Amtrak ticket agents if they had seen a tall, gorgeous, angry-looking blond at some point in the last twenty-four hours. Sam knew how ridiculous the question was—but he figured it was worth a shot. Anything was.

  No one would give him an answer.

  His stomach growled as he passed a pizza counter. The only money in his pocket was a handful of change. Cab rides to both JFK and LaGuardia airports had left him flat broke. Right now he didn’t even have enough money to take the subway. He was going to have to walk the thirty blocks back to his dorm.

  The strange thing was, he didn’t even mind.

  He was beyond caring about anything. He took the escalator up to the street level. Gaia was gone. She had to be. He had been all over the city since yesterday. He would have definitely run into her by now. Well, no . . . actually, that was ridiculous. The city was huge. He had to keep searching. His body was aching, hungry, and tired, his feet blistered and sore. And yet he continued the perpetual motion, his mind with a single purpose.

  If Gaia was on this planet, Sam was going to find her.

  ELLA HUGGED HER ARMS TO HER chest, trying to ward off the chill that was seeping deep into her bones. Loki would soon be descending upon them. By now he had no doubt learned about the money, about her betrayal. She could see him now, in that beautiful apartment, pacing the floor like an animal out for blood.

  Peace

  It probably would have been smarter to run. But Gaia deserved the chance to confront the man who had systematically ruined her life—all for some twisted notion of love he believed he felt for the girl. Ella wasn’t about to let her face him alone. In a way, Ella needed this confrontation as much as Gaia did. She had a few choice words of her own to put a final cap on their long-drawn-out saga. Ella had been with Loki long enough to know that the only way to be free of him was to destroy him.

  “What if he doesn’t come?” Gaia asked.

  “Don’t worry—he will.”

  The wind kicked up, swirling around the two of them. Something faint and delicate fell out of the sky, brushing as soft as a feather against her cheek. Then another. And another.

  “It’s snowing,” Gaia whispered.

  She held her hands up to the sky to catch the flakes. The faint glow of the city illuminated the edges of her golden hair, making her look asgraceful and fragile asa porcelain doll. Ella could see in Gaia’s face that for a moment there was no Loki, no Sam, no worries or plans. For a moment there was peace.

  That’s when she noticed the man in the black coat and ski mask coming toward them.

  He’s here.

  Ella’s heart clenched. This was it. She could tell that it was definitely Loki, just by the way he carried himself. He wastall and lean, and hisstrides were graceful, determined—unlike the hulking clods he usually sent out to do hisdirty work. Ella’s shallow breaths quickened in her throat. He wouldn’t shoot her . . . at least not right away. Loki would want her to know whose debt she was paying.

  Gaia turned her head away from the sky. Her arms immediately fell to her sides as her gaze zeroed in on the figure. So much for her moment of peace.

  “That’s him, isn’t it?” she asked.

  “Don’t say anything just yet,” Ella warned. “Let me talk to him first.” Her legs were shaking, and her mouth was dry. Yet even though her body was betraying her, Ella had never felt more sure of herself. She knew she was doing the right thing.

  “I’m glad to see you finally made it,” Ella called out. “We have a lot to talk about. . . .” Her voice trailed off. Through the holes of the ski mask Ella saw a pair of cold black eyes staring past her. Lok
i didn’t have black eyes. His eyes were blue.

  “It’s not him,” Ella whispered to Gaia.

  “What? Who is it, then?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “But it’s not Loki.”

  Loki must have decided against making a personal appearance and opted to hire a professional instead. How typical. Ella’s eyes smoldered. Even in death he rejected her. He didn’t even think enough of her to say good-bye in person.

  At last the dark figure came to a stop right in front of the fountain. Whoever he was, he was as tall and thick as a tree, with muscled arms and legs that were nearly triple the size of Ella’s own. She knew there was no way she was going to be able to defend herself against him. He wassimply too powerful and no doubt trained aswell asshe was. As she desperately struggled to brace herself against the edge of the fountain, her slippery fingers lost their grip. The assassin raised his thick arm across his chest. Seconds dragged on like hours as his arm swung out toward them. Ella’s muscles tightened in anticipation of the inevitable blow. She held up her arms to shield her head and waited for what seemed like an eternity.

  That’s when the assassin backhanded Gaia across the face.

  GAIA FELT LIKE HER HEAD HAD just collided with a brick wall. What the hell had happened? Why was this guy coming after her? Wasn’t Ella the target? There was no time to question this mysterious turn of events, however.

  Fists Like Bullets

  Never let your opponent catch you off guard. . . .

  Her father’s words resurfaced in her mind. Gaia had let her guard drop once, but she refused to let the hulking brute catch her a second time. There was no time to think about who this man was or why he was out to get her—the only thing she had on her mind was survival.

  Immediately Gaia was on her feet, fists raised in defiance.

  The man in the ski mask greeted her challenge by raising his right fist and striking out at her with his left. Gaia recognized the move immediately. It was straight out of the Go Rin No Sho. Not only washer opponent strong, but he clearly had yearsof martial artstraining as well. Not that she’d expected anything less.

  Gaia met his fist with a successful block. Her entire body was buzzing now with adrenaline, primed to match him move for move. Out of the corner of her eye Gaia saw Ella stand up.

  “Get away from her!” Ella screamed. She lunged forward and delivered a forceful kick to the side of his knee. On a person of regular size and strength the move could easily cripple an opponent, but the man in the ski mask just looked at Ella as if she were an annoying little flea. He clamped his hand around her throat, his fingers nearly reaching around the circumference of it, then threw her against the cement rim of the fountain as if she were a rag doll.

  Not good. Not good . . .

  Ella was writhing in pain—but she was also struggling to get back up.

  “Just stay down!” Gaia ordered.

  The man in the mask thrust his powerful fist in Gaia’s face, just barely grazing the tip of her nose. Instinctively Gaia grabbed his thick wrist with both hands and rammed the toe of her boot deep into his shin. It waslike kicking a rock wall. He didn’t even flinch. His fists flew at her like bullets. Right jab. Left. Left hook . . . Gaia’s arms blocked every hit with exhausting speed, accelerating in velocity as he quickened his moves. There was no time to think, only to react. He drove her back and kept coming up on her, keeping her on the defensive. This was bad. Very, very bad . . .

  Gaia leaped back several feet to gain distance between her and her opponent. As he charged at her, Gaia grabbed his wrist a second time and bent it, using his own strength against him to push back his fingers. The man in the mask grunted in pain. In a fraction of a second Gaia delivered a strong roundhouse kick to the neck that knocked him slightly off balance. He staggered a little while Gaia took another leap backward to gain some distance.

  She stared deeply into his eyes.

  Who are you? What’s your connection to my father? But even as the inevitable questions surfaced, the attacker regained his balance, then leaped in the air and executed a flawless front snap kick aimed right for her stomach. Gaia dodged the assault, then took after him. Sailing into the air, she launched into a flying side kick, focusing all of her power and energy into her legs at the center of his chest. The bottom of her boot had just barely connected when the man clamped his hands onto her foot, then twisted it. Her body followed the complete rotation, spinning her 360 degrees in the air.

  She knew she had been defeated even before her head hit the pavement.

  ELLA WATCHED FROM THE SAFETY of the fountain, filled with a sense of horror and helplessness as Gaia’s head hit the ground. Desperately she wanted to intervene, to help Gaia in any way she could, but her arm had been badly broken in the fall. Nausea and pain overcame her as she stared down at her lifeless arm, with its shard of gleaming white bone protruding from her broken skin. There was nothing she could do.

  Brave

  Gaia lay still. The assassin stood over her.

  I can’t take any more of this, Ella thought as she looked away. A steady stream of tears poured down her face. Why would Loki want his niece dead? Anguish shredded her insides as she thought about how insanely foolish she had been, taking all of her frustrations out on Gaia. It was her fault that her life had turned out badly. And all the time she had been blaming her foster daughter. They should have been friends. Partners. Allies instead of enemies—

  Yes!

  Miraculously Gaia leaped to her feet. Ella was amazed by her stamina, even though Gaia looked a little unsteady. She and the man circled each other, arms and legs flying in a tangled mass. The assassin moved with effortless grace, as if he had hardly broken a sweat, while Gaia fought fiercely, matching punch for punch, kick for kick.

  Ella’s heart throbbed with admiration. She had never seen anyone so brave in her entire life.

  LUCKILY THE BLOW TO THE HEAD disoriented Gaia for only a few seconds. The pain throbbed, but she was still able to fight. The pain also had the added benefit of enraging her.

  Crash

  The man in the ski mask came at Gaia with a knee strike. She turned, thrusting her elbow hard into his solar plexus. She waspure, pulsating adrenaline now, operating at full throttle. Her reaction times were instantaneous; the force of her kicks had doubled in strength. There was even a flicker of surprise in her opponent’s eyes as she fought on. Every last cell in her body was running at peak performance.

  But Gaia knew she couldn’t last too much longer. She was going to run out of gas very soon.

  Furiously Gaia smacked him with an elbow to the jaw. He rammed his heel into her sternum with a back kick. Gaia gasped in pain. He followed with another knee strike and a kidney punch. Gaia spun and struck at his neck with one, two, three hits. With concentrated force she drove the heel of her hand up into his nose, sending the towering man reeling, with blood soaking into his ski mask.

  Gaia’s stinging lungs devoured the air. Already the adrenaline rush was beginning to subside, and exhaustion was kicking in. She had only a few seconds left before collapse. The man’s eyes flared with anger as he plowed toward her.

  Just hang on . . . just for a few more seconds . . . , she told herself. Her vision was getting dimmer, and the sounds of Ella’s crying were growing more distant. As he barreled toward her, Gaia planted her feet firmly on the ground. He thrust out his arm. As soon as he was within striking distance, Gaia reached out for it. Using his own weight and momentum, she turned with her back to him and leaned forward, flipping him over her shoulder. He landed with a heavy, certain thud.

  Gaia’s muscles quivered in rebellion, begging for rest.

  She turned slowly, prepared to fully immobilize her opponent, when suddenly she felt a pair of large hands reaching for the collar of her coat. Before she knew it, he’d planted his feet on her stomach. Rocking backward, he threw her clear over his head.

  As Gaia sailed through the air, the last thing she noticed was that the snow had stopped.
>
  GAIA DIDN’T GET UP THIS TIME.

  The Sum Total of a Life

  And now that she was lying on the ground unconscious, Ella knew she was going to be next.

  Clutching her broken arm with her good one, Ella wobbled to her knees. Slowly she inched backward, her nerves screaming at her the entire time, in a miserable effort to get away.

  But the assassin wasn’t interested in her.

  Instead he remained standing over Gaia, staring down at her unmoving body. The man then opened his coat and pulled out a gun.

  In a flash of horror Ella finally understood what was really going on.

  This wasn’t one of Loki’s men. This guy worked for Mr. Xi. He was the assassin Ella had hired herself to kill Gaia.

  And he was about to finish the job.

  The full weight of shame came collapsing down on her now, burying her like in the rubble of an earthquake. Tears wrenched from the very depthsof her soul and fell on her arms in heavy drops. So this was what her whole life had come to. Of all the things she could have done with it, this was its sum total.

  Through the blur of tears she saw the assassin press the barrel of his gun to Gaia’s forehead.

  “Ella Niven sent me to kill you,” he stated.

  “Don’t!” A strangled cry rose up from Ella’s throat. Maybe there was still a chance to do something right. Something honorable. “Don’t shoot her!”

  The assassin put his finger on the trigger.

  “There’s been a mistake!” she sobbed. “I’m the one you want! She’s Ella Niven! I’m Gaia Moore!”

  His cold black eyes flashed from Gaia to Ella. Doubt flickered there, as though he didn’t want to believe her. But then he took the gun off Gaia’s head. Ella crawled forward and tilted her own head up toward him. The barrel felt cold against her skin.