Chapter 1

Tessa's POV

A hormonal condition pushed my weight to two hundred pounds, and for three years, this boarding school made sure I never forgot it.

The ringleader was the guy every girl worshipped.

And beside him stood his girlfriend, the one who always stepped in at my worst moments with a soft voice and a sympathetic look, like she was doing me a favor.

Everyone called her an angel. Only I knew the truth: every time she "helped," things got worse.

One day, she handed me a candy in front of everyone. "Here. Something sweet always helps."

I didn't feel like I had a choice.

That night, a demon showed up at the foot of my bed.

"Congratulations. You ate the pact candy. I'll grant you three wishes — money, beauty, lifespan. You name it, I'll make it happen."

My whole body shook. Three years of humiliation, and finally there was a way out. Wealth, beauty, revenge. All I had to do was ask.

Then the demon's expression shifted, eyes full of cruel amusement.

"There's a catch, though. The real pact-holder is someone else. Whatever you wish for, the one who gave you that candy gets double."

The words I was about to say died in my throat.

Then, slowly, I smiled.

Double?

That's way more interesting than three wishes.

---

"Look who it is. Put on a few more pounds over the weekend?"

I've barely made it through the classroom door when a mud-stained physics textbook slams into the back of my head. Chase is perched on a desk, legs swinging, while the room erupts around him.

I don't say anything. I just crouch down and pick up the book. The pages are falling apart, and someone has drawn a fat pig across the cover in red marker.

"Chase, come on." Sutton's voice is sweet enough to make your teeth ache. 

She reaches into her pocket and holds out a pink candy. "Ignore them. I had this shipped from Europe — it's artisanal. A little sugar never hurt anyone."

Her eyes look genuine. But out of the corner of my eye, I catch the smirks Chase and the others aren't even trying to hide.

I know the candy isn't kindness. But if I say no, the next ten minutes will be trash stuffed in my desk and spit in my water bottle.

I take it. Unwrap it. Put it in my mouth.

"Thanks," I say, looking at the floor.

Sutton smiles, satisfied, and turns back to Chase like the whole thing was nothing, just a small accessory to the image she's spent years building.

That night, I lie in my dorm bed feeling sick. The candy had a strange taste, something metallic underneath, like rust and rot.

At midnight, the lights start flickering wildly.

I sit up. My roommates have gone silent — not just quiet, but absent. No breathing, no sound from outside, no ticking from the clock on the wall. The whole world has stopped.

Moonlight filters through the curtains, and the dust hanging in the air is frozen in place, perfectly still.

Time has stopped.

"My, my… so much rage packed into one person."

A boy materializes at the foot of my bed, shrouded in black smoke, a pair of curved horns rising from his head. He sits cross-legged, casually tossing a candy identical to the one I swallowed earlier, his dark red eyes fixed on me.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Erelius." He grins, and his teeth are sharp. "Congratulations, sweetheart. You ate the pact candy. In exchange, I'll grant you three wishes. Money, looks, lifespan. Name it, and it's yours."

My heart slams against my ribs. Joy floods through me, huge and violent.

Three wishes.

I could lose the weight. I could be beautiful. I could completely remake the body everyone's laughed at for three years, make Chase get on his knees, watch Sutton's perfect face fall apart in front of the whole school.

The thoughts come fast and bright, and I can feel myself shaking with every breath.

But I dig my nails into my thigh, and the pain snaps me back.

Nothing comes free. Especially not from a demon. And Sutton is one of the most selfish people I've ever met. There's no version of reality where she hands me something this powerful out of kindness.

I meet Erelius's eyes. "What's the cost? If I make a wish, what happens to me?"

He blinks. For a second, he actually looks caught off guard. "Huh. Centuries of doing this, and you're the first one to ask a question before jumping straight to wishing."

He shrugs, grinning wider. "Fine. Consider it a bonus. If your wish is too big — say, a billion dollars or ending the world, something that breaks the rules keeping reality together — I take your life. Your soul too. Gone."

"And Sutton?" I press. "She's the one who gave me the candy. Does she get something out of this?"

The demon's eyes light up. He leans in close, and the cold radiating off him hits my face. "Sharp. The real pact-holder is her. Here's the rule: whatever you wish for yourself, she gets double. And if you wish for too much and I have to take your life? She walks away clean. Gets to keep everything."

There it is.

I'm the buffer. The disposable one. Sutton handed me that candy fully expecting me to blow my wishes on getting rich or getting beautiful, let the demon destroy me, and sit back and collect double.

Cold. Genuinely cold.

I look at the anticipation on Erelius's face, waiting for me to fall apart, and feel something quiet settle in my chest.

Double for everything I wish for myself.

So what happens if I wish for something that hurts me?

I look up and hold his gaze, and the smile pulling at my mouth isn't a nice one.

"Alright. We have a deal."