I had awoken in darkness so many times, I was surprised to find myself in the light. This was not the wide emptiness of the shadow world like I had expected. This was a fresh and bright world filled with green and blue.

This was the garden behind Polly's house.

Only it was no longer the run-down, overgrown mess that I knew. Here—wherever here was—the garden was in perfect condition. The flowers were blooming, the topiaries were perfectly trimmed, and the fountain was flowing freely. And on marble edge of the fountain sat...

Lillian.

This was not the Lillian to which I had grown familiar. This version looked more like the Lillian I had first met in Luc's old apartment—beautiful, but off. There was some tweak of her face that unsettled me like some deep primitive intuition was warning me that whatever stood before me was wrong. Unnatural.

Dangerous.

Unlike the Lillian I'd met in real life, this one didn't speak. It just smiled at me.

"What do you want?" I asked and then started at the sound of my own voice. I had expected this weird empty space to be soundless, like talking inside my own head.

The form of Lillian shifted, effortlessly morphing into...

Luc.

Was that an answer?

Or some trick to try and lure me in?

The Malix's facsimile of Luc smiled, too. His green eyes shone like emeralds under direct sunlight. He was wearing one of his crisp white shirts over a pair of well-worn jeans. His black hair was perfectly tousled, though I noticed it was shorter than I knew it. If I could look past the strangeness of this copy, too, I might've been happy to run into his arms.

He stood up from his seat at the edge of the fountain and took a step towards me.

I took a step back. "What do you want?" I asked again.

The fake Luc kept walking towards me. I scrambled backwards, wondering where I could run.

Nowhere. Unlike the garden in real life, this one had no gap in the hedges. It was walled in from every side.

In a second, the fake Luc was right in front of me, towering over me. The stranger took hold of my shoulders and leaned in, close to my face. Up close, the wrong-ness was all the more apparent. It was like his skin was a suit that didn't quite fit whatever was underneath.

It leaned closer. I tried to angle away, but there was no escaping it.

Then, the Malix shifted forms again. The figure shrank, staggering back. Brown hair lopped into an uneven cut, dark circles under their eyes. It was me. Me, but wrong. It was like looking into a funhouse mirror.

What the hell was it trying to tell me?

As if it had heard my question, a strange voice croaked out of my imposter's mouth. "I waaant him."

I remembered what Lillian had said about its mutation. How, when it consumed her, her desires got twisted into its own. How it shifted from wanting to attack Luc to obsession.

It wanted Luc... because Lillian had wanted Luc.

"Then why do you need me?" I sputtered.

"Heee... wiiill... looove... usss..." my creepy doppelganger said.

A cold realization took hold. I understood, then. Somehow, in its weird, monstrous logic, it thought that if it became me, then it would get what it really wanted.

It wanted Luc to love it... as he loved me.

I wanted to laugh. The stupid Malix had no idea. It wasn't a matter of taking my place. Luc and I weren't together anymore. The love we had was broken. No amount of stolen flesh would change that. No matter how much it wanted him...

But something prickled at the back of my mind. An idea, quickly forming. If Lillian's desires caused it to mutate...

My double pushed its face so close to mine that I could feel its breath. It reminded me of the Malix's first form, all flame and swirling heat. Its breath was too hot for a living creature, like the heat escaping from a wood stove.

"So, you love him, huh?" I choked, strangled by the heat.

The Malix loosened its grip on me. The copies of my brown eyes glinted hungrily. "Yesssss."

"Really love him?"

My fake face scowled, twisting strangely. It didn't seem to understand.

I took a deep breath. I didn't know how it would react to what I was going to say next, or even if it was smart enough to understand. But this was the only plan I had. "Then you have to let him go."

It did seem to understand. Its eyes went wide for a moment before they narrowed into a fierce glare, twisting up the unsettling copy of my face. "Miiiiine," it hissed, pushing out its too-hot breath.

"If you love him, really love him," I gasped through the heat, "then you want him to be happy. You want him to be safe. You want what's best for him..."

It didn't respond. It just continued to hiss.

Was I getting through to it?

"...even if that isn't you."

The thing's eyes flared, shifting from my familiar brown to a terrifying molten red. The pupils lengthened, stretching out into horizontal slits. Its face was no longer a mocking of my own, but a monstrous scowl.

"Miiiiiine," it hissed.

"No! Not yours. If you love him, then you know it can't continue like this. As long as you exist, he'll never be safe. He'll never be happy. You have to let him go!"

It didn't like that.

Its form was no longer even close to human. It shed its false skin and was now just red and meaty. It had no face, no skin, no eyes or nose... Just a mouth. It released me, and I thought I might make a break for it. But it stepped back just long enough for it to unhinge its jaw. Its maw opened wide, flaming and hot.

Then it rushed at me.

✦

Their magic could hold me no longer.

I wanted him.

I would have him.

I stepped out from beneath the roots. In the water at my feet, my new face stared back, eyes shining red, replacing her brown. I smiled back, then looked at the others who had joined us.

The room was full of people waiting for us. Enemies in cloaks, ready to fight. I smiled. This would be fun. They had tried this before. It had been a good battle even though I had lost. But I wouldn't lose again. I smiled, thinking of the crunch of their bones between my ready hands.

Help him. That girl's voice—the scarred one—echoed inside of our head.

I was helping him.

I would save him.

I would kill them all, and then we would be together.

Forever.

Another voice spoke up. He won't be safe with you.

The first girl chimed in. He won't be safe until you're gone.

Help him, they said. Help him.

I ignored them. I was helping him.

Help him, they whispered again. Help him.

I. AM.

A growl shook through me.

The cloaks in front of me shifted in response, crouching and ready to strike.

What were they waiting for?

Beyond the front line of cloaks stood the white-haired one. White hair, white eyes. She was the one who had commanded the army. Power bled off of her. I could see the beams that radiated from her eyes.

She would be a worthy opponent.

She opened her mouth to call to her army. "This is our chance to end this!"

She's going to kill him, came the scarred one's voice in my head. You can save him.

Yes. I'll kill her.

And another will replace her.

I'll kill them, too.

They won't stop until he's dead.

He won't be safe as long as you exist.

I growled again.

I would save him. I would protect him.

Save him by setting him free.

"Go!" the white-haired one cried. "Kill them both! Do not hesitate!"

Her blue-cloaked army surged forward.

I stood my ground. Yes, this was going to be so much fun.

As they closed in I swung wide. My hit sliced into them, pushing them back. Some were cut in half. The water at our feet quickly turned red.

I flexed my bloodied hand. Yes. I was stronger now. Stronger than ever.

The white-haired one smiled at me. She raised her arm and pointed it to the sky.

No, not at the sky.

I turned and saw she was aiming straight at him.

Help him, the voices cried in chorus.

Easy.

As the white-haired one released a shot, I crouched and leapt in front, swatting it out of the air. The shot ricocheted and slammed into the wall with a loud explosion. I landed in the water, standing between her and him.

The white-haired one was not daunted. She took another shot.

I leapt again, but this time it clipped the shoulder of my new body. It stung and that sweet red poured out of the gash in her flesh. I wanted to taste it, but I didn't have time. The white-haired one took aim again.

I'LL KILL HER.

She won't stop until you're gone.

It's you or him.

I bared my fangs and released a shattering scream. The cloaks all cowered under the deafening sound. But not the white-haired one. Never the white-haired one.

She would not be easy to defeat.

We know how.

How?

The scarred one took control of our eyes, focussing in on the white-haired being.

Take her, she said, and then kill the both of you.

I scowled. That was what the yellow-haired one had tried when she had split us. When she had tried to kill us.

I refused.

I wanted to be with him.

She won't stop, came the voices. She won't stop.

She won't stop until you're gone.

She won't stop.

I didn't want to leave this new body. It was so fresh. And it was what he preferred.

But he couldn't die. He couldn't die.

Help him.

I looked back. He was there, still suspended in the tree.

His green eyes bored into mine. I could feel his power as it tried to probe my mind.

Rachel? he called. Are you still in there? Can you hear me?

I smiled. He was searching for the scarred one. He wanted this girl, this body. He wanted me.

The white-haired one took another shot, directly at me. This one hit my stomach. Red gushed out, pouring into the water. I clutched my hand to my side and a flame jutted out from the wound, searing it shut. If I wasn't careful, I'd burn right through this body.

Burn her instead, the voices chanted, pulling my attention back to the white-haired one. Burn her.

I wanted to. I hated her. The white-haired one was ruining my new body. I hadn't even gotten to play with it.

I marched through the water, towards her, cutting down any others that got in my way. They were no match for me. Only her...

The white-haired one didn't shrink back from my approach. Instead, she took aim at Luc. Her white eyes were like a dare. Come closer.

The voices were a constant chorus in my head. Chanting, chanting, chanting...

Set him free.

Let him go.

Kill her.

Burn her.

Save him.

Set him free.

Kill her.

Kill her.

Kill her.

SAVE HIM.

They were right.

The white-haired one would not stop...

I lunged forward as Matilda released her shot.

✦

I retched, gagging up blood and water. The water was mostly blood now, too. I was soaked with it, one way or another. My stomach burned, and my shoulder was still bleeding through the burn.

What had happened? One minute I was deep in the mind of the Malix. The next, my body was my own again. Bloody, but my own.

My eyes darted around the room, searching for where the Malix had gone. I expected to find another hulking creature standing over us, ready to kill. But the room had gone still and silent. The blue-cloaks had stopped fighting.

All eyes were on Matilda.

Matilda was floating over the water, her long white hair almost glowing. It whipped around her head like a white flame. And her eyes, once like opals, were now rubies—a bright, shining red.

My plan had worked!

It had listened to me.

I wasn't sure if it would, but it had taken on my desires, just like it had with Lillian.

Matilda looked down on all of us, her head tilted to one side. She cackled, the laugh coming out like a shriek. "What're you waiting for, you bastards?" she screamed, her voice as shrill as the Malix's scream.

And then she burst into flame.

The blue-cloaks began scrambling. There was a lot of screaming, and then—

A huge blast rocked the room and a horrible shrieking filled the air.

In a bright bloom of white light, Matilda's body was torn apart, eaten away by the heat like she was under the direct hit of an atom bomb. A shockwave shook the room and I was sent flying through the air.