Mary, Emily, Mason, and Caleb were four close-knit teens who disappeared without a trace during there birthday party. They were kidnapped and taken to a dark, miserable place-somewhere not on Earth, a world filled with cold-hearted, cruel people. They struggled to survive for six long months, but eventually, they managed to escape and find their way back to the woods, where they had once felt safe.
However, their return to the familiar forest didn't bring peace. Lost and confused, they wandered the woods for another six months, fighting to survive. Their time in that cruel place had changed them, leaving scars both physical and mental, while the memories of the torment they faced haunted them every step of the way.
As their 14th birthday approached, the teens returned to the exact spot where they had escaped a year before. There, beneath the full moon, they gathered one last time. With a sense of inevitability, they stared at the moon in silence, a strange stillness in their eyes. As the clock ticked down to midnight-their 14th birthday-they fell lifeless, as though their time in that dreadful world had sealed their fate forever.
The world was left wondering what really happened to them. Were they victims of something otherworldly? Or had their fate been sealed the moment they were taken?
"What the hell?"
I took a step closer to the mirror, staring at my reflection in disbelief. The person looking back was still me, but at the same time it wasn't. I had the same thick, dark, curly hair. The same hazel eyes. The same olive skin with a light dusting of freckles (ugh) scattered across the bridge of my nose.
But my curls were now streaked with highlights. And not the subtle, golden-brown ones that sometimes appeared during the summer. No, these were an aggressive, dazzling blond that went from the roots of my hair all the way to the tips. It looked like I had spent a full day getting my hair done in some upscale salon. Never mind that I had never set foot in such a place since the day I was born.
My eyes appeared somehow wider and more luminous. The colour brighter, my eyelashes darker up against them. And, when I looked closely, my pupils seemed to be slitted almost like a cat.
I looked down at my body. My skinny arms-which had always refused to gain any definition no matter how hard I exercised-were lined with flat, wiry muscles. My bony shoulders were now curved and smooth. My scrawny legs were toned like a dancer. I reached down and lifted my shirt, revealing two subtle lines running vertically down my perfectly flat stomach, hinting at the rock-hard abs underneath.
My whole body was rippling with strength. Like liquid steel.