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adjusting the physics book on his lap. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Keon shake his head in frustration, but the kid was just going to have to deal. Sam couldn't render himself mute for two weeks' worth of studying and exam taking.
    Mike's whole forehead scrunched up, and he looked like he was suddenly reconsidering their living arrangements. "Well, at least cut the smiley face act. You're freaking people out, and we can't be driven from East Asia."
    "Right," Sam said, attempting to force down the corners of his mouth. "No problem." For a split second he tried to concentrate on his book, but then he found himself looking around the room, Gaia thoughts flitting in and out of his mind. The East Asian room was the most comfortable, quiet study nook in the library, but only a select few people knew about it. Mike had found out about the cozy chairs and relatively private tables from one of his frat brothers and had let Sam and Keon in on the secret. Today they'd shown up early enough to stake a claim in the prime corner, right at the end of the stacks.
    Sam had promised Keon he was ready to cram. Get down to business. Study like it was going out of style.
    But he couldn't stop thinking about Gaia.
    He could still feel her hands on his shoulders. Her tongue grazing his lips. Her --
    "Is it Heather?" Mike whispered, causing Sam's little fantasy world to disappear in a poof of guilt-tinged smoke.
    "Is what Heather?" Sam asked, glancing over his shoulder. Had she found him at the NYU library? Had she tracked him down? Somehow Sam wouldn't have been surprised to see her sauntering through the room, ready to grab his arm and force an in-depth analysis of the big blowout.
    "The I-just-got-me-some look on your face," Mike said with a grin.
    "Shhhhhh!" Keon exploded.
    "Give me a break," Mike hissed. He looked back at Sam. "Did you and Heather get busy last night or what?"
    Sam sighed in relief and righted himself in his chair.
Getting busy
wasn't exactly the phrase he would have used to describe what had gone on between him and Heather over Thanksgiving. Before he'd walked out on her. Before he'd gone back to his dorm. Before he'd found Gaia there. Waiting for him.
    "Not exactly," he said, pushing himself back in his seat.
    "Then what is it, Moon?" Mike asked, his brown eyes twinkling. "Some other girl?"
    Sam cleared his throat. "I thought we were studying," he said, highlighting a random sentence on the glossy page of his physics text. He could feel that Mike was still staring at him, so he kept pretending to read until the kid gave up and flopped back in his chair, the cushions letting out a little hissing sound as air escaped through the seams.
    Swallowing hard, Sam forced his eyes to the top of the page and started to read for real. The mention of Heather had brought him back down to earth, hard. Yes, they'd fought. She'd told him to leave. But he knew Heather, and he knew she said a lot of things she didn't mean. Which meant that she was still technically his girlfriend. Which meant that Thanksgiving night in his dorm, he'd cheated on her. With the one person she hated more than anyone else on the planet.
    Sam had no clue what to do about Heather. He had even less of a clue how to proceed with Gaia. She wasn't a normal ask-her-out-on-a-date-and-don't-forget-to-bring-flowers type of girl. That had been proven many times over since the first time he'd met her.
    With a deep breath, Sam pushed Heather and Gaia out of his mind and picked up his notebook, flipping it open to the first page of notes.
    Suddenly he was glad to have something as important and all consuming as finals to command his attention.

ELLA'S SALVATION
    ONE LITTLE E-MAIL MESSAGE WAS all it took.
    Even after Heather. Even after Marco. After David. After her father. After every deranged, psychotic, evil, slimy, grime-covered, bad-cologne-wearing midnight assailant. Even after dealing with each and every one of these hateful beings, Gaia could quite honestly say she