Chapter 1

The air in the mountain lodge was thick with unspoken anxiety. SATs were tomorrow morning, a make-or-break test for our college dreams. We were at this "study retreat," a fancy name for being stuck in the middle of nowhere, supposedly to focus. The last shuttle to the distant testing center was due any minute.

"She'll be here," Ethan insisted, his jaw tight. He kept glancing at the winding dirt road.

He meant Brittany, his childhood friend, my then-boyfriend's perpetual shadow. She was, as usual, late. Deliberately so, I knew from a life I wasn't supposed to remember.

Sarah, the student council president and a good head on her shoulders, tapped her foot. "Ethan, the shuttle won't wait forever. We all need to get there."

Other students murmured agreement, their faces etched with stress.

"She promised," Ethan said, his voice rising. "She's just... taking a few pictures. It's scenic."

Scenic. I remembered those selfies from my past life, Brittany preening by a waterfall while we all stewed. That memory was sharp, painful.

In that other life, I'd argued, pleaded, and eventually, with the others, practically dragged Ethan onto the shuttle. We'd made it. We'd aced our SATs, gotten into our dream Ivy League schools. Brittany, left behind, had spiraled. A tragic headline, an overdose. And Ethan, twisted by grief and Brittany's manipulative narrative even from beyond, had blamed me. His final act of blame was pushing me from my dorm balcony the day I was leaving for college.

The push that sent me back here, to this exact moment.

This time, my objective was different. Cold, hard, and clear.

"Ethan's right," I said, my voice calm, cutting through the tension.

Everyone stared at me. Sarah's eyebrows shot up. Ethan looked momentarily stunned, then a wave of relief, and something like gratitude, washed over his face.

"Ava?" Sarah questioned, confused.

"We should wait for Brittany," I continued, meeting Ethan's gaze. "It's important to him." My family's resources, a fact I kept carefully hidden to protect Ethan's fragile ego and maintain a facade of normalcy, could get me to the SATs, no matter what. Let them wait. Let the dominoes fall as they were meant to, but this time, I'd be the one nudging them.

Ethan puffed up, vindicated. "See? Ava gets it."

The other students exchanged uneasy glances. The minutes ticked by. The shuttle driver honked, impatient.

Finally, Brittany sauntered in, phone in hand, oblivious or, more likely, indifferent to the storm brewing in the room. "Hey guys! Sorry, the lighting was just perfect by the old mill."

The shuttle driver threw his hands up. "That's it, folks. Last call was ten minutes ago. I'm off." He slammed his door and the engine rumbled, then faded down the road.

Panic started to ripple through the group.

Then, the rain started. Not a drizzle, but a sudden, violent downpour. The kind that turns dirt roads into rivers. Within minutes, a roar echoed from the valley. A flash flood. The only road out was gone. Cell service, already spotty, died completely.

Real panic set in. Shouts, tears, accusations.

Amidst the chaos, I pulled out my satellite phone, a device my father insisted I carry in remote locations. "Don't worry," I said, loud enough for everyone to hear over the storm. "My father is sending a helicopter."

The announcement dropped like a bomb. Silence, then a barrage of questions.

I kept my expression neutral. "He always has one on standby for emergencies." This was an understatement, but it served its purpose. Hope, tinged with awe and a new awareness, dawned on their faces. Ethan stared at me, a complex mix of emotions I couldn't quite decipher, but his earlier gratitude was now mixed with something else, something unsettling. Brittany just looked annoyed, as if the flash flood was a personal inconvenience I was only now bothering to solve.