Freak (12 page)

Reluctantly, Tom flipped to the next photo in the pile and his mouth went dry. The same two girls, same day, but this time Yuri was in the picture. His face smiled out from between the heads of the two girls, his hands wrapped around their shoulders. A family.

It was all Tom could do to keep from crushing the photos in his hand.

From there, he knew what he would find. There were pictures of Natasha and Tatiana through the years. Pictures of Tatiana growing up, riding horses, practicing archery, firing a gun. And then, the very last photo was the one Tom was looking for but hoping he wouldn't find. His blood ran cold as he lifted it and held it up to the light.

Yuri. No doubt about it. He was older, grayer, and more frail but had the same cold, determined look on his face that Tom remembered so well. He had his arm around Tatiana, who gazed stoically at the camera, her palm pressed into the barrel of a rifle that stood in front of her. In the photo, Tatiana was only a year or so younger than she was now.

Yuri was alive. Everything Natasha had told him was true.

Tom dropped the picture back into the box, slammed the lid shut, and headed for the door. He had to find Gaia. He had to find her
now.

Irrevocably Stupid

JAKE SAT DOWN GINGERLY ON THE
couch next to Gaia and pressed a bag of frozen green beans against her cheek. Gaia winced, a shot of pain streaming right through her temple, then reached up and took the bag, holding it in place. Jake pulled away and leaned forward to study her face, his brow creased. She couldn't even imagine what the bruise looked like, considering how tender and puffy it felt.

“You know, with the lives you Moores lead, you might want to stock fresh steaks in your fridge,” Jake said with mock-seriousness.

Gaia scoffed and the pain radiated along her jawbone. She grimaced and closed her eyes. That guy packed even more power in his punch than she'd imagined.

“Sorry. I won't make you laugh again,” Jake said, raising his hands. His perfect face was unscathed except for a small scrape on the underside of his chin.

Gaia was just leaning back into the couch, ready to collapse and really
focus
on her new obsession over who might be chasing her, when the door to the apartment burst open. Her father barreled in, his hair sticking up slightly on top, panic radiating from him like visible energy. Gaia sat up straight
again and Jake instantly got to his feet. The moment Gaia's father saw them, his entire demeanor changed. His shoulders lowered from up by his ears back to their normal position.

“You're here. Thank God,” he said. Then he came around the coffee table and saw Gaia with the frozen food package against her face. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he checked his emotions. “What happened?”

“We got jumped,” Jake replied.

“By professionals,” Gaia added, moving her jaw around to see if she could. It hurt a little too much so she closed her mouth again.

“Damn it,” Tom said, turning away from them. He brought his hand to his face and Gaia looked up at Jake. What was going on?

“You know who did it, don't you?” Gaia asked, ignoring the little aching shoots around her cheekbone.

“I have my suspicions,” Tom said. He hung his head for a moment and then took a deep breath. There was a heavy sense of foreboding in the air. Something bad was about to happen. Her father turned around again and looked her in the eye. “You're not going to like this,” he said.

“Shocker,” Gaia said under her breath. Jake sat down next to her, sitting a bit closer. For a moment Gaia thought he was going to reach for her hand
again, but he didn't. Instead he pressed it into his thigh as if he was concentrating to keep it there.

Gaia's father sat down at her other side, a few inches away so that he could turn to face her. Gaia held her breath and pushed the frozen beans a little more firmly into her face, bracing herself.

“Gaia, Yuri . . . your grandfather . . . is alive.”

Gaia blinked. “Mom's dad?”

“And this is a bad thing, I take it?” Jake put in.

Tom shot him a look that told him to keep out of this discussion. Gaia quickly decided to check her tongue as well. There had to be a good story behind this. Back when Yuri was alive he was a serious menace—a person her mother had gone to the ends of the earth to escape. Loki supposedly murdered him years ago. This revelation was just one more sud in the soap opera of Gaia's life, but it was a big one.

Tom quickly recounted the story—Gaia heard all about Natasha's confession and the information and the confirmation. She took it all in, going a little more numb with each word that was spoken.

“So Natasha wanted me dead because she thought I was going to take Tatiana's job,” Gaia said slowly, when her father was through.

“Basically,” Tom said. “But it's not just a job. It's a lot more than that.
A lot
more.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Gaia said.

“So there's some freak out there positioning himself
to kidnap her and train her to be the head of an international terrorist cell?” Jake asked.

How keen,
Gaia thought sarcastically. She couldn't believe she was having this conversation. Couldn't she ever just have a talk with her father about the weather, her grades, the messy state of her bedroom?

“I took a few of the pictures,” Tom told her, reaching into the breast pocket of his suit jacket. “Was this man there tonight when you were attacked? I doubt he'd come himself, but you never know.”

Gaia took the picture from her father and her brow creased in confusion. “What's Tatiana doing with Dmitri?”

“Dmitri?” her father asked. “Who the hell is Dmitri?”

Gaia's mouth went dry. She had a feeling she knew what was coming, but the very idea, the very
thought
made her feel so indescribably, indubitably, irrevocably Stupid, she wished there was some way to shut her ears against hearing it. But she couldn't, so instead, she closed her eyes.

And then, her father said the words she wanted least to hear. “Gaia, this man's name is not Dmitri,” he told her. “It's Yuri.”

Why
can't things be different? I know . . . I know . . . everyone in the world wishes things were different, but I don't understand. I don't understand what went wrong.

Well, that's not exactly right, is it? I do understand what went wrong. I had a disease. I had treatments. I developed a disorder. And that disorder was responsible for atrocities I will never be able to reconcile myself with. That atrocity killed people. It killed a lot of people. It killed the woman I loved. And yes, these things are hard to bounce back from. Nearly impossible. To ask someone to forgive what I've done . . .

But that's just it.
I
didn't do those things. It wasn't me. It was him. It was all him. And if there's one person who should understand that, it should be my brother. He was there. He saw it all—what I went through as a young boy, how I changed as I
grew into a man. He of all people should know that I have no control over Loki's actions. He of all people should
know.

I wish he would die. I wish he would just wither and sputter and die.

Not my brother. No. Not Tom. Of course. But Loki. Why won't he die? Why won't he go away and leave me alone? Why do I have to live with this? What did I do? Where did I go wrong? Am I being punished for some crime in a past life? Is this some kind of test? Twins are born, one perfectly normal and blessed, the other mad and cursed? Is this my test?

At least Gaia knows. At least Gaia can forgive. And she's the last person I would have expected it from. She's just so young. How can she understand? How can she forgive the person who murdered her own mother?

But it wasn't me. Not me. Not me. Him.

I need my family back. I need them. Don't they see that I need
them? I need someone to ground me. To stay with me. To talk to me and . . . and . . . to
see
me. See me and not him. If they won't let me . . . if they won't come . . . then how can . . . how can I . . .

This struggle. It's too much. How can I . . .

But it wasn't me. It was him. It wasn't me.

Why won't they let me in? Why . . . why . . . why . . . ?

He couldn't stop thinking about the fact that she was out there somewhere with that Jake jerk, possibly doing things that he didn't even want to think about.

The Female Spectrum

ABOUT HALFWAY THROUGH THEIR
second set, Sam decided it was time to bail on the Dust Magnets. He hadn't imbibed as much alcohol as his buddies had, and his judgment was still intact. To him, the Dust Magnets' music sounded much like the soundtrack the devil might play in hell.

Sam walked toward the subway, his thoughts gradually turning toward Gaia and her new boyfriend—if that's what he was. He definitely didn't seem like Gaia's type. Sam thought Gaia went for the more intelligent, laid-back, scruffy-around-the-edges type. Guys like him.

But then, he knew firsthand that it was possible to be attracted to two very different people at the same time. Look at his own track history: He'd moved right from Heather Gannis to Gaia Moore. Those two occupied completely opposite ends of the female spectrum.

So maybe she does still have feelings for me,
Sam thought as he approached the entrance to the F train.
If she does, I know I can still win her back.
The problem was, he couldn't stop thinking about the fact that she was out there somewhere with that Jake jerk, checking up on Dmitri—Dmitri, who was
Sam's
friend. Sam should have been the one helping Gaia. Jake had
nothing to do with it and yet he'd run out of the club with her as if it was his place—his job.

As if he was Gaia's boyfriend.

Sam's heart turned as he tried to blot out the mental images that threatened to take over—Gaia and Jake holding hands, Gaia and Jake kissing, Gaia and Jake going back to her apartment. . . .

He had never felt quite this jealous in his life.

It was time to get home and go to bed and put an end to this awful night. In the morning, the situation would look brighter. In the morning, he could come up with a plan to get back into Gaia's life. Sam was about to descend the steps to the subway station when he heard his cell phone ringing. He grabbed it out of his jacket pocket and checked the caller ID screen, smiling when he saw Gaia's name and number.

See? She can't stay away,
he told himself.

Stepping away from the subway entrance so a pack of people could squeeze by, Sam hit the talk button and lifted the phone to his ear.

“Hey, Gaia. What's up?” he said.

“Sam, are you sure Dmitri didn't tell you where he was going?” Gaia demanded. Her tense tone of voice made all the hair on Sam's arms stand on end.

“Whoa, slow down. Are you okay?” Sam asked.

“What did he say the last time you saw him? I need specifics,” Gaia said.

Sam's brow creased as he leaned back against the
low wall surrounding the subway entrance. “Uh . . . not much. We mostly talked about me . . . my new place . . . my new job. . . . ”

“Just think for a second. Did he say
anything
about where he might be?” Gaia asked impatiently.

“No. Nothing,” Sam said, pushing himself up straight again. “Did you try calling him?”

“His cell phone was disconnected.”

“Gaia, what's going on?” Sam asked. “Is Dmitri in danger?”

He heard her draw in a breath and then blow it out right into the speaker—right into his ear. “Listen, this is really important,” she said. “If Dmitri contacts you, try to find out where he is and don't, I mean
do not
tell him where
you
are, okay?”

Her voice was full of concern. Concern for him. But why? Dmitri was their friend. He'd done nothing but help them since the day they'd met him—the day they'd found him held captive in the same compound Sam had called home for months. What did they have to fear from Dmitri?

“Gaia,” Sam said, lowering his voice as a couple strolled slowly by. “You have to tell me what's going on. What did Dmitri do?”

“I can't get into it right now, but you have to trust me. The man is dangerous,” Gaia said. “I can't believe I let him get so close to us.”

Sam swallowed hard. Gaia sounded upset—more
upset than he'd heard her sound since her father went missing. He felt his protective nature kick in.

“Is there anything I can do?” he asked, gripping the phone. “Do you want me to come over?”

“No, it's okay,” Gaia replied. “I have to go. Just . . . call me if you hear from him.”

“Okay,” Sam said.

But Gaia never heard it. The line was already dead. Sam swore under his breath and turned off the phone, feeling suddenly helpless and trapped. How could she just call him and say all those things to him with no explanation? He'd been
living
with Dmitri for weeks, for God's sake. What had he done to put Gaia so far over the edge?

There's nothing you can do,
a little voice in his mind told him.
She'll come to you if she needs you.

But the thought was small comfort. For as long as he'd known Gaia Moore, Sam had never seen her come to anyone for help.

Actual Tears

“LET ME MAKE SURE I HAVE THIS
right—Sam Moon was
living
with Yuri?” Tom blurted, pacing back and forth in front of the coffee table.

Gaia and Jake sat on the couch,
looking like two wide-eyed little kids that were being scolded by their father. They watched him warily, like they were afraid that at any moment he might spontaneously combust and take them with him. He didn't blame them. He
felt
like he was about to explode.