Chapter 1 JUMP SCARE

KIA

I'd never been more scared of my own reflection.

Grey eyes stared back at me beneath dark circles I'd spent thirty minutes perfecting with makeup. Black veins crawled across my cheeks, and fake blood splattered the once-white dress hanging off my shoulders. I tilted my head until my neck gave a satisfying crack before flashing the mirror my creepiest smile.

"Yeah," I muttered. "That's the stuff of nightmares.”

My ringtone shattered the silence.

I jumped, clutching my chest before glaring at my reflection. "You're supposed to scare everyone else, not me."

I snatched my phone off the bed without taking my eyes off the mirror. The girl staring back looked possessed.

Perfect.

Hannah Grace would be proud.

I swiped to answer, but my thumb slipped, opening a Seattle entertainment article instead.

Wilde Group Heir Rhys Wilde Announces New Scholarship Program with University of Washington.

I rolled my eyes and backed out of the page. Yeah, right. Another ‘life-changing’ scholarship with acceptance odds worse than actually getting into UW. Rich people really loved their PR.

"Hey," Noah said when I picked up, and just the sound of his voice made my stomach do that stupid butterfly thing. "You still coming tonight?"

"Obviously." I turned side to side, checking the dress from every angle. "I've been getting ready for like an hour."

"An hour? It's a costume party, not a wedding."

"It's called dedication, Noah. Look it up."

He laughed, and I grinned at the mirror like the idiot I was becoming around him. Three days. I'd known him three days, ever since I toured University of Washington's campus as an actual accepted student instead of just another senior with a dream and a maybe. And somehow he already knew exactly how to get under my skin in the good way.

"Okay, dedication queen," he said. "Send me your address, I'll come pick you up."

"Sure, give me a sec."

I pulled the phone away from my ear to text him when it buzzed again, another call cutting straight across the screen. Summer.

I almost let it ring out.

"Where are you?" She didn't even say hi, just launched straight in, voice sharp enough to cut glass. "We're parked down your street right now.”

“Oh, you are?”

“Seriously? Don't tell me your dad grounded you again,” she hissed.

I could practically picture the look of disgust she always gave me whenever I said or did something that didn't go her way. I rolled my eyes.

"Actually, I've got another ride." I picked my prop knife up off the dresser, turning it so the fake blood on the blade caught the light. "You guys can go ahead without me."

There was a pause. The kind Summer only did when she was deciding whether to be offended or just annoyed.

"Fine," she said, in the tone that meant it wasn't. "Whatever. See you there."

She hung up before I could answer, which honestly worked out fine for me.

Summer Whitlock had been my best friend since fifth grade, if you could call it that. She'd also gotten into UW, because of course she had, and lately every conversation with her felt like a reminder that I existed in her orbit and not the other way around. I was counting down the days until I didn't have to be Summer's friend anymore. Just Kia. My own person, with my own people, who'd like me because they wanted to, not because our moms used to be close.

I texted Noah my address and set the phone down, turning back to the mirror one last time.

"Wait until they see my flexibility moves," I told my reflection, admiring the dress, the blood, the whole unsettling effect. Hannah Grace could bend herself into shapes that shouldn't exist. If I could pull off even half of that tonight, people would have no choice but to talk to me.

I grabbed the knife, tucked it into my belt to complete the costume, and crept to my door to lock it. Sneaking out the front was for people who didn't have a perfectly good window. Our house was a one-story bungalow, and mine sat close enough to the ground that I'd been climbing out of it since I was twelve.

I pushed it open, swung my legs over the sill, and dropped into the dark backyard. The sky was pitch black, a sliver of moonlight illuminating the narrow walking trail that led outside our wooden fence and into the woods enclosing our backyard. If I hadn't played in these woods since I was a kid, I'd probably have been shivering in my sandals right now, wondering what wild animal was out to get me. But I lived in Issaquah, Seattle. It was probably just a black-tailed deer or, worst-case scenario, a coyote. No big deal.

Carefully, I unlatched the fence gate, sliding my hand beneath it to lift it slightly as I pushed it open so it wouldn't scrape against the gravel and make a sound. Once I stepped out, I broke into a run. I knew the woods well enough that I didn't have to stumble around in the dark trying to find my footing on the way to the highway.

I could already see the glow of car taillights through the trees and hear the distant honking of vehicles on the highway just a little farther ahead. I stopped paying attention to my surroundings, focused solely on catching Noah's car before he drove past my house.

I never saw it.

My toes slammed into something hard, and the next thing I knew, my arms were flailing as a scream tore from my throat. A bloodied body lay at my feet.

I caught myself just in time, instinctively yanking the prop knife from my belt for self-defense, even though I didn't know the first thing about fighting.

"Freeze!" a voice barked.

Blue lights burst through the trees, voices overlapping as officers shouted to one another.

"Drop the weapon!" another gruff voice ordered.

I let go immediately, the fake bloodied knife falling into the dirt beside me as I threw an arm over my eyes. The flashlights were so bright that all I could see were blinding white spots dancing across my vision.

"Help!" I shouted. "There's a dead body over here!"

Someone appeared behind me, and before I could even register what was happening, both my arms were twisted behind my back. Something cold and metallic snapped around my wrists.

It hit me then.

I was being arrested.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked, blinking against the lights still trained on my face. "I swear I didn't do anything."

"You're under arrest for murder. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

I stared at him.

"Murder?" My voice cracked. "I don't even know who that is."

The officer ignored me, tightening his grip on my arm and pulling me away from the body.

"No! Wait!" I twisted to look over my shoulder. "Who is it? What happened?"

Nobody answered.

Two paramedics in white protective suits stepped forward, crouched beside the body, and carefully rolled it onto its back.

My heart lurched into my throat.

Grey and black hair fell across a bloodied face. One eye was gone. His jaw sat at an angle I didn't even know was possible. For one terrifying second, my mind refused to recognize him.

Then I saw the scar on his upper lip.

The tiny crescent-shaped scar he'd gotten after I'd accidentally headbutted him when I was six. My world stopped.

"D...Dad?"

The word barely escaped my lips. A tear slipped down my cheek as my knees threatened to give out beneath me.

"Move along," the officer holding me said firmly.

I barely heard him.

The last time I'd seen my dad, he'd stopped by my room to make sure I wasn't still mad at him for refusing to let me go to the frat party.

Now…

Now he was dead.

I ripped my arm free from the officer's grip and hurled myself toward the stretcher.

"Dad!"

A guttural scream ripped from somewhere deep inside me.

Before I could reach him, what felt like a million needles stabbed into my back. My entire body convulsed as electricity surged through me.

The last thing I saw was an officer lowering a Taser before darkness swallowed me whole.