Wired by Francine Pascal

with—as a friend or as more. Now that he’d asked and Kai had answered, Ed intended to do platonic prom the way it was supposed to be done.
    With his determination firmly screwed in place, Ed figured, it couldn’t be too long before his emotions fell in line as well. Right?

Scientific Fun Park
    OLIVER RUBBED AT HIS EYES AND gazed back at the computer screen for what seemed like the umpteenth time. He hadsome of the world’s most skilled hackers in his network of partners, and once again they had not let him down. His operatives had uncovered the computer report that outlined plans to procure “more” samples of Gaia’s DNA. “More” meaning they—whoever “they” were—already had “some.”
    And he was pretty sure he knew how they had gotten it.
    With a flash of anger he thought back to his interaction with Gaia near St. Vincent’s. She had turned her back on him, shutting him out for what he suspected was truly once and for all. She had thought she was being secretive, but he knew. He knew she was up to something.
    It was Loki who had originally given Gaia the gift of fear, some time ago. But Loki’s gift had come in the form of a serum that emulated the chemical composition of fear. It had been false, smoke and mirrors, and Gaia had seen through the facade. But there must have been a new procedure—one that involved gene manipulation.
    Loki had fears of his own. Namely that Gaia’s genetic makeup—her unique,
invaluable
genetic makeup—had been altered irreparably.
    His plants and hackers had recently discovered word on the cyberstreet of research for powerful new anti-anxietals. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Just at the same time that madmen were cutting into his niece, treating her biochemical background like some kind of scientificfun park. Just at the same time that the local burnouts were buzzing on a new drug called Invince.
    A new drug that dulled the effects of fear.
    He didn’t think it was coincidence.
    And he couldn’t allow it to continue.

Unexpectedly Normal Impulse
    THE FIRST THING GAIA NOTICED WAS the light The light was wrong. As in, it was dark. Growing dark. Dusk She squinted and shook her head slowly, as if clearing out cobwebs.
Ow
. Okay, that was a bad idea. Shaking her head—however slowly—drew attention to the undeniable fact of sharp stabs of pain banging against the inside of her skull.
A headache
, she assessed.
Do I have a headache?
    She reached up to touch the spot on her forehead that seemed to be the nexus of the problem area, only to be greeted with a nagging soreness in her arm.
Okay, more than just a headache
, she realized. With great care she eased herself to a seated position, takingmental stock of every last twinge of discomfort. She was alarmed to find that there were quite a few and that they were manifest in most of her body’s various extremities.
What happened?
she thought blearily.
    Logic—and, of course, history—suggested that it was the postfight hangover she almost always experienced after a major physical exertion. It was rare for her to be so completely wiped as not to remember the fight itself, but she supposed it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility. Given the throbbing baseline of pain that thrummed through her skeleton insistently,
anything
was possible. More than possible. Likely.
    She glanced around. Indeed, the light was wrong. It was nighttime.
Think, Gaia
, she commanded herself.
What’s the last thing you remember?
    The last thing she remembered was daylight and Ed’s hospital room. Having a conversation with Ed. Wishing him well with Kai.
Crying
, she thought, filled with contempt and self-loathing at the memory. And then…
    Walking home… and seeing the boys. Three of them. They had been breaking into a house. And in a moment of what was either supreme bravery or the most inane act of foolishness in which she had ever