beep beep beep beep!
Syn's heart pounded, his hazel eyes wide. The sterile hum of the medic room faded as Mia's face shifted.
Her shapeshifter guise melted away.
The maid's features—his old crush, her sharp cheekbones, her coy smile—dissolved.
Long black hair, a delicate, cut face, and soft brown eyes he hadn't seen in years appeared.
"Olivia?" he gasped, his voice cracking. His body tensed on the medical bed, wires tugging at his arm.
The beeping of Mia's—no, Olivia's—ventilator was a sharp reminder of reality.
His childhood friend, the girl he'd raised in the Backdrop, was here.
He'd left her behind for the army. Vera and Pako said she was lost, presumed dead.
"You were a shapeshifter all along?" Syn yelled, his voice raw. His hazel eyes searched her face, his mind racing, struggling to connect the dots.
Olivia's brown eyes flickered, her pale skin flushed with a faint blue tinge. Her shapeshifter nature was bare, her bandages stark against her fragile frame.
