Chapter 1
The water stares back
Amelia's head was on fire.
Not literally, but it sure felt like her skull was trying to crack open from the inside. She sat up in bed, gripping the sheets, her heart thudding like she'd just run from a ghost-or worse, gym class.
"Ughhh," she groaned, squinting at the dark. The power was out again. Of course it was.
She swung her legs off the bed and paused. Her fingers ached. Her nails were sharp. Too sharp. Not like the time she accidentally glued on fake claws for a Halloween prank. No-these were curved, glowing faintly, and... real.
"What the-" she gasped, scrambling off the bed like it was on fire.
She ran straight to the bathroom, flicked the switch. No light. The moon outside spilled silver across the tiles, enough for her to see-
Her reflection.
And fangs.
Fangs.
She leaned closer, gripping the sink. "Okay, okay. This is a dream. A really weird, scary-"
The bathtub water gurgled behind her.
She turned.
And there, in the rippling surface of the water-was her mother.
Alive. Smiling. And kissing her dad.
Amelia staggered back, hitting the wall. Her mom had been gone for years. A ghost. A mystery. A silence no one talked about.
So why was she there? In the water. Clear as day.
And why did Amelia suddenly feel like she didn't belong to this world anymore?
She blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Still there.
Her mom, Elvira-black curly hair, golden skin, that same little scar under her lip from when she fell chasing chickens as a kid-was alive. Smiling. Wrapped in the arms of Amelia's dad, like she'd never been gone.
"Nope," Amelia muttered. "This is a dream. A hallucination. A delayed result of those suspicious meat pies from lunch."
She stepped closer to the bathtub. The water shimmered like glass, and for one second, she swore Elvira's eyes met hers.
"Amelia," the reflection whispered.
Amelia stumbled back so fast she hit the door.
"She just said my name. Nope! Nope! Nope!"
Her breathing turned shallow. Her skin felt hot and cold at the same time. She looked down at her hands again-still claws. And her reflection? Now it looked like her... but off. Like there was something-or someone-else watching from behind her own eyes.
"What is happening to me?" she whispered.
A knock shattered the silence.
"Amelia? Are you okay in there?" her dad's voice came from behind the bathroom door, muffled but full of concern.
Amelia panicked.
What was she supposed to say? Hi Dad, did Mom fake her death? Also, am I turning into a monster?
She reached for the tap, twisted it hard. Cold water rushed in, breaking the surface and wiping the vision away.
By the time she opened the door, her claws had retracted. Her fangs were gone. She looked almost normal again. Almost.
Her dad blinked at her. "You look pale. You're sweating. Did something happen?"
Amelia opened her mouth to lie. To say she had a nightmare or the flu or literally anything else.
But then she looked into his eyes.
And realized they were the exact same eyes her mom had just kissed in that tub.