The girl behind the counter wasn't Julie. This lady was younger, a brunette with long legs and a smile that showed every tooth. "Are you Joe?" I heard the question, but my eyes were busy tracing the line of her throat down to where her top dipped low “I am Heidi," she said, supplying the name I hadn't asked for. Her eyes were huge, and when she smiled, it was so open and unguarded that it seemed to light up her whole face...

Part One White. The brightness felt like a physical force, blinding me. A name escaped my lips, "Anna," but the voice was a croak I barely recognized as my own. A rhythmic beeping drilled into my skull, constant and maddening. I couldn't move, couldn't even turn my head to find its source. I just wanted it to stop. "Anna." A voice was talking to me, a low murmur of questions I couldn't grasp. The only answer I had was her...

Part One The words appeared on the screen with no greeting, no apology, just the message. “At training. Need you. Come now!” Then there was the address of the gym. Alison stood in the kitchen with her hands still damp, the tea towel bunched in her fist. Oh God, he must be hurt, she thought. She felt a thrill that he needed her, a thrill that he had reached out to her. Not Laura, her! Behind her, the tap dripped into the w...