9  678  12.04  Chapter 2  12.04  I stood on the steps, watching this hellish scene unfold with cold detachment. I felt no pity, only the icy sati- sfaction of vengeance…

8  A battered van was parked crookedly in the center of the courtyard, its doors wide open, the driver’s seat empty. Behind it, a coffin, tied with a black satin…

7  “No! I didn’t…” Isabelle frantically tried to cover the phone, but the guards held her fast.  “You didn’t?” the masked man sneered, his voice like ice. “Then how did…

6  Isabelle thrashed wildly, breaking free from her bodyguards, her red-painted nails pointing straight at my face. “Aria Vance, you bitch! You’re in on it with the Skull Gang, aren’t…

5  Isabelle’s stare was like a poisoned needle, fixed on Lily’s face. The little girl flinched and hid behind Marcus.  “What is that little brat doing here?” Isabelle shrieked, her…

4  The sharp scent of antiseptic filled the air. My parents were lying in their hospital beds, still unconscious. I sat between them, holding their hands, the warmth of their…

3  My head snapped up. Two bodyguards were dragging my parents into the courtyard. My mother’s hair was disheveled, and a trickle of blood ran down my father’s temple.  “Dad!…

  2  “Ms. Vance? Ms. Vance, are you alright?”  Elder Kinsman’s voice pulled me back to the present. I blinked, realizing he was now kneeling on the ground  before me. …

1     I have a gift-by touching an object, I can locate its missing owner. People like me are called Trackers.  Once, Elder Kinsman paid me a fortune to find…

19  (Patrick’s Perspective)  When I was five, on my way home, I saw a little dog drooling in front of the lamb stew stall.  He was lost, so he picked…