Chapter 1

My sister, Emily Shaw, was found with her heart cut out. Yet, somehow, the authorities ruled it a suicide. They claimed she simply jumped into the river.

My parents bankrupted themselves fighting for the truth. For their trouble, my father got his legs broken, and the constant threats drove my mother completely insane.

From inside the psych ward, I watched the news on a flickering TV mounted on the sterile white wall. The screen was filled with images of other young girls, their bodies floating in that same river.

"Evelyn," my father whispered over the phone, "your sister... her death was horrific. We found out she somehow signed an organ donation form. Not long after, they found her in pieces."

He pleaded, "You're the only daughter we have left. Please, Evelyn. No matter what happens next, you have to stay alive. Live for her."

After hanging up the phone, I grabbed a heavy metal rod and took out the doctor with a brutal blow. As he crumpled to the floor, a vicious grin spread across my face.

If they think they can just parcel my sister out to the highest bidder, they're dead wrong. Every part of her belongs to her, and I would rather see it all burned to ash than let it live on inside someone else.

*****

When I kicked open the front door, the first thing I saw was my mother, Jennifer Shaw. Her hollow eyes rolled slowly in their sockets until they landed on me.

"Emily? Is my girl home?" she rasped.

My father, Max Shaw, was sitting there with a heavy cast covering his leg. The second he saw me, his eyes flooded with tears.

I staggered past them and threw open my sister's bedroom door.

My once-vibrant, cheerful sister lay on the bed like a discarded doll, utterly still. Her skin was a ghostly, water-logged white.

Behind me, Max leaned heavily on his crutches, his sobs breaking into ragged heaves. "They butchered her, Evelyn. They just gutted her like an animal. Her organs were gone."

When I stared at her lifeless face, blood in my veins began to scream for vengeance.

I was Evelyn Shaw. Emily Shaw was my identical twin.

She was the smart, bright one. I was always the freak.

I had always had a short fuse and a taste for the dark side.

When the neighbor's cat scratched me, it ended up in the dumpster with a snapped neck. When a classmate called me a loser, I sent them to the ER with a shattered jaw.

Everyone saw me as a monster, except for Emily. She would cup my face in her hands, look me dead in the eye, and smile, "Don't be scared, Evelyn. I've got you. I'll always protect you."

Eventually, I was diagnosed with severe violent tendencies and an antisocial personality disorder. The doctors deemed me a danger to society.

My own parents signed the papers that sent me to a psychiatric hospital, where they forced pills down my throat until my mind was a dull fog.

In that living hell, where I was barely human, Emily was my only visitor.

She would grip my hand through the cold iron bars of my room, her eyes crinkling into those perfect crescents.

"Evelyn, I'm the only one who really knows you. You aren't sick. Just play the game, okay? Do what the doctors say, and you'll be home before you know it. I'm waiting for you."

I listened. I nodded. From that day on, I stopped fighting. I mimicked "normal."

I wore the mask so well that even the head shrink thought I was a success story. We were actually discussing my release date.

But then came the phone call from Max that plunged me back into an icy abyss.

I never imagined she would be gone before I got out.

The tiny flame of light she had kept alive inside me was snuffed out.

And the monster she had tried so hard to tame finally broke its chains.

I looked at my reflection in the hospital mirror, a face identical to hers, and let a twisted smile spread across my lips.

I was going to make every single person who hurt her pray for a death that would never come.

I forced my fingers to relax, exposing the bloody marks where my nails had dug into my skin.

The sting helped clear the fog in my head. "Who did it?" I asked, looking at Max.

He let out a howl of pure agony, pounding his useless, broken legs.

"What's the point? They're untouchable, Evelyn! They're monsters with money!

"The city's gone to hell. So many kids Emily's age are tricked into signing some kind of organ donation form. A few days later, they vanish. They're found in the river, with their hearts and livers carved out. Their bodies were so bloated that you couldn't even recognize their faces.

"They tried to pay us off with a fat stack of cash to shut us up. Like money could ever replace my daughter's life!"

The key pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. I walked out of the house and sat on the curb, my mind racing.

I was just starting to doze off when a woman with a kind-looking face approached me.

"Sweetheart, it's getting dark. Why aren't you heading home?" she asked.

I smirked, looking pathetic on purpose. "I'm an orphan. I don't have a home."

Her eyes practically twinkled. She reached into her bag and pulled out a lollipop and a clipboard.

"Tell you what. Sign this for me, and I'll give you a treat, okay?"

I nodded numbly, scribbled my name, and snatched the lollipop, popping it into my mouth.

I didn't even have time to taste the sugar before the world went black.