Page 5 of Shadow Bonds

“You’re in the healing center. How are you feeling?” she asks.

Healing center… I glance down at my body. A body that looks a little healthier than… than myrealone.

Shit…this really happened. Someone switched my body with this one.

Dawn still stares at me, waiting for a reply and I try to think back to what she asked and focus on that instead of having another panic attack.

“Tired but okay.” I reach up to my head and relax when I don’t feel any pain.

“Do you remember anything?” she asks, and the concern on her face makes me want to answer her genuinely.

“I remember… waking up in a strange house and meeting four dickheads.”

She tries to contain her smile but fails. “And anything before that? Of your life as Sena?”

I freeze, realizing she still thinks I’m her… The girl in the mirror.

Swallowing hard, I shake my head while trying to figure out how to explain what happened to me.

Dawn nods and writes something on the notepad in her hands and then gives me a sad smile. “It’s not uncommon for a head wound like yours to cause amnesia.”

Amnesia… She thinks I’ve lost my memory and not that I’ve swapped bodies with someone else. Which now that I think about it, sounds even crazier.

If I say anything when I don’t know where I am or who these people are, I might end up in a straitjacket instead.

Maybe I’ll stick with the amnesia for now. At least until I can figure out how I can get out of here.

“So, you’re saying she actually has amnesia?”

I jump and turn to the right, spotting four pairs of angry glares.

How the fuck did I not see them?

“Yes. The head wound was deep. It caused damage to the temporal lobe and even though I’ve healed the injury, it looks to have already caused some damage,” Dawn answers them before looking back at me.

“I can’t give you your memory back, but there have been many cases where people recover them partly or fully over time.” She pats my hand in a soothing gesture. “Don’t give up hope yet.”

I nod, playing along with this farce of a lie but the minute I glance over at the guys, I can see none of them buy it, their suspicion slashed across their faces in droves.

“Thesedickheadswill meet you at home,” Hazel Eyes grits out.

“Can’t I just go?” I ask Dawn, hoping I can just get out of here.

Hearing my words, the four guys put a pause on their little dramatic exit.

“You said I was healed,” I remind her.

Her eyes grow sad, and she takes a seat beside me. “Sena, you’re a female Shadow. It’s what we call human females that have a percentage of Shadow DNA.”

I shake my head. “No… I?—”

She takes my hand. “I know you don’t remember this, but you were matched with these four Shadows when you were a child.”

I glance over at the guys as the room grows thick with tension. Their expressions quickly morph from annoyed to outright hostile.

“Where am I?” I ask her, fearing I might already know the answer if any of the horror stories I heard growing up is true.

“The Shadow Academy,” she says, and just like that, my whole world tilts on its axis.

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