Chapter 2

A gasp tore from my lungs. Air, clean and sterile, filled them.

My eyes snapped open.

Light. Blinding, painful, beautiful light.

I could see.

I blinked, disoriented. Fluorescent lights hummed above. Rows of desks stretched before me. Teenagers, heads bent, pencils scratching.

The SAT.

My heart pounded, a frantic drum against my ribs. This room. I knew this room.

I looked at the digital clock on the wall. 9:58 AM. October 13th.

The date. The exact date. The exact time.

Minutes before it happened. Before the darkness.

My gaze shot to my hands. No calluses from years of massage. Smooth. Younger.

I was back.

Panic, raw and overwhelming, clawed at my throat. I was back in the SAT testing room, moments before my life was stolen.

My eyes scanned the students. There, in the third row, Vic Stone, smirking as he looked at another student's paper. And two seats over, David Miller, quiet, intense, his eyes darting around the room.

The culprit was right there in the exam room. David' s words from my previous life echoed in my mind.

Who? Why?

The proctor' s manual stated, "Maintain a quiet and secure testing environment."

My old life, the years of blindness, the massage clinic, the overheard conversation, the knife... it all felt like a vivid nightmare, yet the memory was seared into me.

The clock ticked. 9:59 AM.

Any second now.

I had to stop it. I couldn' t let it happen again. Not to me. And if David was right, someone here was dangerous.