Chapter 14

"Dad," Joan said as she came down the stairs. "Why can't I have photographic memory?"

"It's not as great as you think," Gaia said.

"Why? You don't have to study, homework is easy."

"And you get to remember every horrific detail that's happened to you? Yeah, who wouldn't want it?"

"Gaia, this is the family." Will said. "This is Luke," Will indicated a curly hair boy about her age. "And this is Kevin," Will indicated a good-looking boy, slightly older than Gaia, and in a wheelchair. Eh, too much Ed memory.

"I hope you don't mind looking down at me just to talk to me," Kevin said in self-pity sarcasticness.

"Actually," Gaia said, "My best friend and boyfriend, well, ex-boyfriend, I guess now, was in a wheelchair."

The smile dropped from Kevin's face instantly. "What do you mean he was in a wheelchair?"

"He got surgery on his lower spinal cord. He's walking now. Took a while to get used to having to look up at him, since he'd been in a wheelchair when I met him."

"He- So, it worked?"

"Yeah. They said there was only twenty percent chance that it would work, but he took it, and, well he's walking now."

"See, champ," Will said, clapping his hand on Kevin's shoulder, "You shouldn't give up hope."

"Yeah," Kevin said, still in a sort of daze.

"And I'm the science geek," Luke said.

"And I'm the freak, nice to meet you all," Gaia said. "Look, if you don't mind, I'm going to go back upstairs."

"No, go ahead," Helen said. "Let me know if you need anything."

Joan walked into her room to find Gaia staring longingly at the phone. "You can use the phone, you know."

"And call who?"

"Ed?"

"Yeah, but given my luck, his phone's will be bugged."

"Do you ever let yourself make a mistake? Have fun?"

"Yes. Making friends. That was my mistake. When I moved to New York, I planned an no friends. No friends means no attachments, so I could pick up and leave at a moments notice. But Ed would not give up, the stubborn bastart that heis.We became friends, then Mary came along, Sam, Heather, Ella, Jake. You can't forget the traitors, the deceivers. Josh, Tatiana, Natasha, George, Ella, except she turned good right before she died."

"Why does Loki want you?"

"Think about it. What is the worst trait that prevents you from fighting? Fear. And look who comes along, his fearless little niece. So round some scientists together, capture her, say 'we are not responsible for any injuries that may happen during this proceedure, please sign here', try to make clones of her, try to turn fearless himself with special injections, and ta-da, master plan. Didn't quite turn out the way he hope though."

"He tried to clone you?"

"Wild imagination, my uncle."

There was a long pause of silence before Joan spoke. "How do you put up with it all?"

"You start to built a wall when your mom dies and your dad abandons you."

Gaia was silent before she said, "Why am I talking so much about myself, when back in New York I never let a single detail slip?"

Joan thought about it for a while, then remembered what God said. "Everybody has a secret. We have to tell it at some point or another."