Chapter 2 The swap

Juniper woke with a start.

Her breath was shallow, her heart thumping in her chest. She sat up, pushing the tangled sheets away from her body. The soft weight of the card beneath her pillow was the first thing she felt as her fingers brushed against it. She pulled it out and stared at it for a moment, still half-dazed from sleep.

She hadn't expected anything to happen.

Except something had.

Her apartment was the same-cluttered, cozy, the familiar scent of jasmine candles still lingering in the air. The window was open just enough for the cool breeze to drift in, carrying the sounds of the city-car horns, distant voices, the low murmur of life. But there was a strange quality to it now, as if everything had shifted slightly, as though the world had altered imperceptibly while she slept.

Juniper looked down at herself.

Her body felt-wrong.

She looked at her hands. No longer the soft, slight hands she was used to, but something more polished, elegant. Her nails were longer, neatly manicured, a deep red. She held her breath and glanced down at her clothes: a sharp, black blazer and a perfectly pressed white shirt. Her skin felt taut, different, as if it belonged to someone else.

The card fluttered from her fingers and landed on the bed beside her. She reached for it again, but the words on it had changed.

"You are now Selene Voss."

"Your new life begins now."

Her mind reeled. Selene Voss? She didn't even know who that was, let alone why she would be inhabiting her life.

Slowly, she swung her legs over the side of the bed. The room was tastefully decorated with expensive-looking furniture, minimalist and sleek. She glanced at the nightstand and saw a picture of a woman with platinum blonde hair, sharp features, and a cold, aloof expression. The name beneath it read: Selene Voss.

This was real. She wasn't in her own body anymore.

Juniper stood up, the weight of her new clothes unfamiliar. She moved cautiously toward the mirror on the far wall, her reflection confronting her with a stranger's face. She barely recognized herself. The woman in the mirror-Selene Voss-was everything Juniper was not: commanding, refined, and polished. Selene's dark eyes stared back at her with a sharpness that felt as though they could cut through anyone in their path.

What had she gotten herself into?

The clock on the wall read 7:45 AM. There was a sense of urgency in the air, a feeling that time was already slipping away.

Suddenly, her phone buzzed on the nightstand. She hesitated before reaching for it, expecting an unfamiliar interface or someone else's contact list, but the phone was exactly as it should be. Her own contacts. Selene's contacts.

A message popped up.

"Selene, your 9:00 AM meeting with the board is still scheduled. Do you need anything before then?"

Juniper blinked at the message, her fingers frozen over the screen. She didn't know anything about this woman, her life, or what her job even was. And yet, there was no time to figure it out. It seemed there was a meeting to attend-one she was already late for.

Panic began to bubble in her chest, but she squashed it down. There were no instructions, no manual, no one to tell her what to do next. It was just her, this body, and this new life that she had no idea how to live.

She quickly dressed in the outfit she found lying on the bed-a designer black suit, tailored to perfection. She was barely aware of the movements of her body as she pulled on a pair of sleek black heels, adjusting her appearance in a small mirror by the door.

Her reflection stared back at her-a woman she didn't know.

After a deep breath, she grabbed the phone and sent a quick reply to the message:

"I'm on my way."

She moved toward the door, her hand hovering over the handle. She wasn't sure what to expect when she stepped outside. Would she walk into another world? Or would everything remain the same?

With a final, quiet breath, she opened the door.

The world beyond was nothing like the sleepy streets she was used to. She stepped into a sleek, modern apartment building lobby, with marble floors and high ceilings. A doorman in a crisp uniform greeted her, but Juniper-now in Selene's body-simply nodded at him as if she knew exactly where she was going. She didn't.

A black SUV was waiting outside, its tinted windows reflecting the morning sunlight. The driver, a tall man in a black suit, opened the door for her. As she slid into the backseat, she tried to collect herself, the weight of the situation crashing down on her. She was someone else. A powerful someone else.

But for now, she had to play the part.

The car sped through the city, weaving through traffic, until it pulled up in front of a high-rise building. The words "VossTech" were boldly displayed across the top in sleek, metallic letters. Juniper stared at the building with a sense of foreboding. She knew nothing about this company-nothing about what Selene Voss did for a living or what was expected of her.

Inside, the elevator rose quickly. The lights inside it were bright, cold. As the doors opened, a wave of voices greeted her-lawyers, assistants, executives all bustling in every direction. The sheer chaos of the environment felt overwhelming, and yet no one seemed surprised to see her. They just nodded or smiled in her direction, as if she were Selene-like she belonged here.

A woman in her early thirties, dressed in a smart blazer and pencil skirt, approached Juniper.

"Ms. Voss, good to see you. You have about ten minutes before your meeting with the board. Is there anything I can get you?"

Juniper blinked. She had no idea what was happening. No idea what this meeting was about. Her mouth went dry, and she could feel the eyes of the woman-and the others-waiting for her response.

For a moment, she felt like an imposter. Like everything was about to fall apart.

But then something inside her shifted. A piece of Selene Voss's confidence flickered within her. She stood straighter, pushed past her nerves, and gave a small, curt nod.

"I'm fine. Thank you."

The woman gave her a small smile and walked off, leaving Juniper standing in the hallway, heart racing.

Her first instinct was to run-to leave this strange life behind and find her way back to her quiet shop and her own identity. But that wasn't an option.

Not now.

With a final, steadying breath, she moved toward the boardroom.

There was no turning back.