Chapter 1: The Voice in the Mirror

The day Carter Ellison told me he wanted to break up, I got into a car accident.

My heart barely had time to break before my car did. The air outside was thick with late summer heat—the kind that settles over you, makes every breath feel thick. I kept hearing Carter’s voice, cold and sharp as the glass that would soon explode around me, echoing in my mind as headlights blurred past. My hands trembled on the steering wheel, but I kept going—because honestly, what else was there to do?

I didn’t die.

What died was the part of me—the version of me—that loved him.

I’m another voice inside Lillian Avery’s body. Call me Quinn.

I always show up when Lillian’s in the worst kind of pain.

The first time I showed up, Lillian was eight, kidnapped and locked in a trunk so tight she could barely breathe.

That night, one of the kidnappers threatened, “If we don’t get the ransom, we’ll cut her up and dump her in a stew.”

I opened my eyes inside her body.

Lillian was always timid, always crying. Me? I’m calm. Strong. Cold-blooded.

I told the softly sobbing Lillian, “Don’t be afraid.”

She stopped sobbing. Then, panicked, her voice echoed inside: “Who... who’s speaking?”

“It’s me. I’m inside you. You can call me Quinn.”

During the days waiting for the ransom, she talked to me every day:

“Quinn, are you a split personality?”

“Are you someone I imagined?”

“Do you really exist?”

“Luckily, I have you with me, Quinn. With you here, I’m not afraid anymore.”

I taught her how to work the ropes loose from her wrists, and when the kidnappers weren’t paying attention, how to stretch out from the trunk and leave clues.

A passerby called the police. She was rescued and sent home.

I was supposed to disappear.

But when she got back, it was like no one cared she’d returned.

Her father was always busy. He never sent a message the whole week she was gone. Never even got a ransom note.

Her stepmother squeezed her hand, crying, “Thank God you’re back, you’re safe.” Then, under her breath, “Those idiots—couldn’t even do one thing right.”

Her stepbrother patted her head, his hand drifting down, lingering too long at her waist as he laughed, “Hey now, Lillian’s had it rough—gotten thinner, too.”

Lillian’s body shook uncontrollably. She pleaded in her mind:

“Don’t go, okay, Quinn? Stay with me. I’m scared. Please, I’m so scared.”