Chapter 1

The email glowed on my laptop screen.

"Congratulations, Ava Miller, you have been awarded the National Innovators Scholarship."

Stanford. A full ride.

My breath hitched. This was it. Everything I worked for.

I yelled, "Mom! Dad! Grandma! Come see!"

They walked into my room. My mother, Dr. Evelyn Miller, an English professor, her smile tight. My father, Richard, an architect, always seemed reasonable. My grandmother, Beatrice Hayes, a retired head nurse, her eyes sharp.

"I got it!" I spun my laptop around. "The National Innovators Scholarship! Stanford!"

Silence.

Not the cheers I expected.

My mother' s face, usually so polished, twisted.

"You what?" she hissed.

Father' s jaw clenched. "No."

Grandma Beatrice stepped forward. "You foolish girl."

"What? What' s wrong?" My voice trembled.

"You think you' re better than us?" Mother snatched the laptop. "Better than Sophie?"

Sophie. My twin. Less academic. Always... favored.

"This isn't for you," Father growled. He grabbed my arm, his fingers like steel.

Pain shot up to my shoulder.

"You' re a disgrace," Mother shrieked, her voice cracking. She slapped me. Hard.

My cheek stung. Tears welled.

"This was supposed to be for Sophie!"

Grandma Beatrice' s eyes were cold. She held a small syringe. "This will calm you down, dear."

"No! What are you doing?" I struggled, but Father held me tight.

A sharp prick in my arm.

Darkness swirled.

My body felt heavy, then light.

Muffled voices.

"The cabin."

"Blizzard' s coming early."

"She won' t last the night."

Cold. So cold. I was in a sleeping bag, the zipper rough against my face.

The air was thin, biting. Snow.

I was in our mountain cabin. Unheated. Remote.

They left me here.

To die.

My own family.

The cold seeped into my bones. My eyelids fluttered.

Darkness.

Then, gasping.

I sat bolt upright in my own bed. Sunlight streamed through my window.

My heart hammered against my ribs.

My arm. No needle mark.

My cheek. No sting.

I scrambled for my phone. The date.

It was the morning the scholarship results were due. The day the nightmare began.

I was back.

A second chance.