Fate's Exchange (Twisted Fate, Book 1)

Chapter 5

All kinds of scenarios flashed through my mind before I became fully conscious. I pictured myself still tied to the tree in the woods and realizing the cloud had been a part of my imagination. How could that be real? Maybe it was a dream, or some loser had roofied me at a party, and I was taking the scenic route on a really long-ass trip.

For all I knew, it had all been real, and this was the illusion. I could still be on the cloud or in a fiery hell dimension somewhere, sentenced to eternal damnation for wickedness that wasn't really a sin.

The last thing I thought to expect was waking up with my head plastered to an open page of my journal, drool soaking the paper, while I sat at the L-shaped mahogany desk in the left-hand corner of my bedroom.

How did I get home?

I jerked up so fast my chair flew back and smacked against the drawers at the bottom of my bed's white frame. Panic kicked in. I patted down every inch of my body while staring in the full-length mirror on the back of my closet door, making sure nothing had changed.

It hadn't.

Oh, thank God (I think).

I wouldn't have minded if I'd somehow grown out of the A-cup I'd been cursed with, but everything else was exactly the same as when I died. All in all, I still looked twelve instead of sixteen, seventeen in a month.

For once, I was just fine with that.

"Aly, honey?" my mom called, poking her head into my room. "Tina's on the phone. She said you weren't answering your cell."

I twisted at the hip, smiled, and nearly ran to her. It was so good to see her, comforting in a way nobody my age would ever admit.

"Five minutes, okay? You're still grounded."

The urge to be held evaporated like steam.

"Wait. What? Why?" Was I in trouble because I had died? That was so not my fault!

"Nice try, honey, but you are still grounded."

She smiled, and for the first time, I noticed how pretty she was, for a mom. Short like me, with near-white hair that I had inherited. I just hoped that mine wouldn't fade out to dull nothingness by nineteen like hers had.

"Mom..."

"I don't care how good your grades are, Aly. We don't skip class."

"That's not what I was going to say." I sighed and rolled my eyes. Then it clicked.

It must be Friday again.

That's when I had been grounded, one week before I died.

How the hell had that happened? I sat down on the edge of my bed and stared blankly at the maroon walls. Why is this happening to me? I liked things that made sense: math, history, rules that had order. This? Not even close.

"Alyssa, you are wasting your five minutes arguing with me."

I glanced at my phone, then at my desk. The flip calendar on the wall confirmed it. The circled dates only went up to the Friday before I died. Somehow, I'd been sent back.

"Alyssa." My mom sighed. "Do you just want me to tell Tina you are grounded?"

I jerked my gaze back to her. Talking was the last thing I wanted. After dying, gossip was low on my list of priorities, like playing little league after starring in the majors.

"No, no. I just..." I swallowed and forced a smile. "I love you."

She shook her head. "I love you too." Then, with a grin, she added, "You're still grounded."