Chapter 1

My name is Caleb Fowler, and I was murdered by my own family.

It wasn't quick. It was a slow, agonizing death that stretched over ten years, starting the day my twin brother, Ethan, was chosen.

He was always the chosen one.

In our previous life, two women, one old and smiling, the other young and hard-faced, came to our town. They promised Ethan a rare comic book, luring him toward their van.

But then Ethan' s special power activated. A "System," he called it. A voice in his head offered him a choice: swap places with his identical twin.

He didn't hesitate.

One moment I was watching from our porch, the next I was in the back of their van, the world turning into a dizzying blur. Ethan stood where I had been, a triumphant smirk on his face.

They sold me.

They sold me to a family deep in the Appalachian mountains, the Bentons. A clan of survivalists who bought me to be a future husband for their non-verbal daughter, Molly. For a decade, I lived a nightmare of abuse and forced labor, a ghost in a life that wasn't mine.

Meanwhile, Ethan lived my life. He soaked up the love of our parents, who, relieved to have their "difficult" son gone, showered him with affection they never gave me.

When I was finally found by the police, a broken, scarred young man, Ethan used his System's second and final swap.

I was back in my old room, and he was the bruised, traumatized victim. He had a forged diary ready, filled with entries detailing how I, Caleb, was jealous and had orchestrated his abduction.

My parents believed him instantly. They looked at me, their real son, with fear and disgust. They saw a damaged thing, a stranger.

They decided to have me committed.

I overheard their plan, their hushed whispers about putting me away in a psychiatric hospital for everyone's safety. The final betrayal shattered the last piece of me. That night, I locked the doors and set the house on fire. We all died together in the flames.

But the universe, or maybe the devil, gave me another chance.

I woke up in my childhood bed. The air was thick with the smell of frying bacon from our family diner downstairs. It was the day of the abduction.

I walked to the window and saw it all happening again. Mama Rose, the old trafficker, was smiling sweetly at Ethan, the comic book in her hand.

This time, I didn't just watch.

I ran downstairs and out the door, pushing past Ethan.

"Is that for me?" I asked, putting on my best naive expression, the one our parents always fell for. "I love comics."

Mama Rose' s eyes lit up, seeing an easier target.

But Ethan, my dear brother, was also reborn. He knew what was at stake. He shoved me aside, a flash of panic in his eyes.

"No, no, he's the smart one," Ethan said quickly to the women, his voice a little too high. "I'm the one you want. I'll go with you. I'm much easier."

He was desperate. He couldn't let me get the System. He had to be the one taken to activate it.

As Mama Rose and her accomplice, Jennifer, led him to the van, Ethan leaned in close to me, his voice a venomous whisper only I could hear.

"Nice try, Caleb. You think you can steal my power? You'll never win."

I just smiled.

He had no idea. He had just sealed his own fate, and I was going to make sure it was a thousand times worse than mine.