Chapter 1

The last thing I saw was my mother Karen' s cold face.

"You were born to serve Brittany," she said, her voice flat.

I lay in the hospital bed, too weak to even lift a finger. My heart monitor was beeping slower and slower.

They said it was organ failure, a sudden, aggressive illness.

I knew better.

It was the "Exchange System."

My whole life, my successes, my health, even my near-perfect SAT score meant for Stanford, all siphoned off to my older sister, Brittany.

She was the "genius," the popular influencer, living a life I could only dream of.

A life built on my stolen achievements.

My father, Rick, just stood by, a shadow in the corner, never meeting my eyes.

"The system needed your health for Brittany," Karen continued, as if discussing the weather. "She had a little scare."

A little scare. I was dying.

The beeping stopped. Darkness.

Then, light.

I gasped, sitting bolt upright in my own bed, in my own room.

Sunlight streamed through the window. My old alarm clock read 7:00 AM.

My body felt... strong. Healthy.

I looked at my hands. They were fine.

A calendar on my desk showed the date. It was a month before the SATs.

Just after the PSATs.

I was alive. I was back.

The memories of my death, of Karen' s words, were vivid, chilling.

"It wasn't a dream," I whispered.

My heart pounded not with fear, but with a cold, hard resolve.

This time, things would be different.

This time, I knew about the Exchange System.

And I knew its rules.