CHAPTER 003—I'M NOT THE SAME SERAPHINA.

After the system vanished, Seraphina lay motionless, staring at the ceiling. She tossed one way, then the other, pulling the blanket tighter around herself. Nothing worked.

"Why can't I sleep?" she half-shouted at the empty room.

The system's voice answered immediately. [You can't sleep because you think too much.]

"Who exactly are you?" she demanded, no trace of amusement left in her voice this time.

[I'm a system here to guide you onto the right path. No more foolish decisions.]

Her fists clenched. "You—"

[Me, what? What happens if I don't help you? Who knows what might happen this time around?]

"What is this fucking system supposed to be?"

[Hey. Don't call me that. I have a name.]

"A name?"

[Of course. I'm called Pixy.]

She couldn't hold back her laugh. "Pixy?"

[Take a deep breath and you'll be able to sleep. Bye.]

"Hey—hey!" she called after it, but there was no response. "Shit."

She took a deep breath anyway, closed her eyes, and immediately saw Tristan and Grace shoving her off the edge again.

"No!" she screamed, jolting upright.

"What the hell," she muttered, drenched in sweat despite the air conditioning humming steadily above her.

FLASHBACK

"Sera!"

Her mother's scream ripped through the darkness.

"Save us! Please!"

Seraphina stood frozen, tears streaming down her face. Behind her, zombies crashed through the broken gate.

She looked at her parents. Then at Tristan's mother.

"You can't leave us!" her father shouted, his voice cracking. "We're your parents!"

Her lips trembled. "I... I have to save them first."

"Sera!" Her mother reached for her with shaking hands. "We're your family!"

She squeezed her eyes shut. "I'll come back," she whispered, more to herself than to them.

She never did.

A zombie lunged. Her mother's scream tore through the street. Blood splashed across the pavement.

Seraphina didn't dare look back. She grabbed her mother-in-law's hand and ran.

The memory shifted.

Grace crouched in front of her, a smile curling across her lips. Her shoe ground against Seraphina's bleeding wound.

"Does it hurt?"

Seraphina cried out.

"Please—"

Grace leaned closer. "You did this to yourself."

"I saved all of you," Seraphina sobbed. "I abandoned my parents. I risked my life for that crystal. I gave you everything."

Grace laughed. "Who asked you to?"

Tristan's voice followed, colder than winter wind. "Nobody forced you. You were just... useful."

A shove against her back.

She fell. The hungry dead rushed toward her.

She screamed.

PRESENT

"I'm alive," she whispered. "This time, I'm alive and well."

The blueprint flickered into view again.

[You have been selected as the host of this system.]

"You again?"

[Missions will increase your chances of survival.]

[Ignoring a mission may lead to penalties.]

[Rewards include skills, storage space, weapons, and abilities.]

"And what kind of mission is that?"

[You'll know when the time comes.]

Seraphina didn't trust it one bit. "I survived without you before. I can do it again this time too."

[Incorrect.]

"Huh?"

[Without this system, host's survival probability is 2.5%.]

She went silent.

"2.5 percent," she repeated slowly. "Doesn't that basically mean I'm as good as dead?"

[Correct.]

Another blue screen opened beside the first.

[Beginner mission: survive seven days.]

[Reward: storage space, ten halo points.]

[Penalty: none.]

Seraphina stared, saying nothing for a long moment.

What's a halo point? she wondered.

[Halo points can be exchanged for nearly anything you need: food, water, crystals, shelter. Whatever you require.]

"So with halo points, I could get what I need without suffering for it?"

She caught herself, shaking her head. "No. I survived without you before, and there's no reason I need you this time either. I did it once. I can do it again. I just won't make the same mistakes twice."

"I don't need you," she muttered.

The system faded away.

She glanced at her calendar. Still three years before the apocalypse. She circled the date in red, then pulled out a notebook.

I need to get everything under my control.

She wrote it all down: the exact date the zombies first appeared, the first building to collapse, the location of the old safe house, where the hidden supplies had been stashed, the route she'd taken to retrieve the crystal.

She looked over the finished page and allowed herself a small smile.

"I have everything under control."

She closed her eyes and finally slept.

Very early the next morning, her phone began to ring.

She tossed in bed, groaning. "Who in the world is disturbing my beautiful sleep?" She grabbed the phone and froze the instant she saw the name.

Daisy.

In her previous life, she'd ignored every single warning Daisy ever gave her, every sacrifice Daisy had made on her behalf. She never found out if Daisy survived the end of the world. She'd let herself believe, for years, that Daisy was just one more person who didn't like her.

Her parents. And Daisy. The two things she'd failed most completely.

She answered immediately. The moment she heard Daisy's voice, tears spilled over before she could stop them, rolling down like something inside her had finally broken open. She pressed a hand over her mouth to keep from sobbing out loud.

"Come meet me at the coffee shop near campus," Daisy said, and hung up before Sera could respond.

She didn't wait. She threw on the first dress she found and was there within minutes.

She hugged Daisy so tightly it nearly knocked the wind out of her.

"Sera?"

"You're going to kill me," Daisy wheezed.

Seraphina let go and dragged her toward an empty table.

"You look like you've been crying," Daisy said, studying her face.

Seraphina forced a smile. "I'm sorry, Daisy."

"For what?"

"I'm really sorry."

"For what, exactly?"

"For never listening to you."

Daisy laughed. "What's gotten into you?"

"I'm fine."

"Then why are you acting so strange?"

"Am I?"

"Did you even look in a mirror before coming here?" Daisy asked, already pulling out a compact. "Look at this makeup. Your eyes are puffy."

They both burst out laughing, and Daisy spent the next few minutes fixing her face for her.

"I'm taking you somewhere," Daisy announced.

Seraphina nodded, and they linked arms and headed out.

She walked straight into someone.

She looked up. Tristan Hayes.

He smiled, the same smile that had once charmed her completely, the one that had turned her into someone she didn't recognize.

The smile that used to make her heart race now made her stomach turn.

She leaned toward Daisy. "I think I'm going to throw up."

Daisy shoved her forward dramatically, and Seraphina couldn't help but smile despite herself.

Tristan noticed the look on her face. "You look pale," he said, stepping closer, his hand nearly brushing her cheek.

She dodged.

He reached for her hand instead. She yanked it away before he could touch her.

He froze. "So... you're avoiding me now?"

For the first time, she met his eyes without flinching, and there was nothing left there but disgust. She walked past him without another word, leaving him standing confused in the middle of the walkway.

Grace rushed over to him, reaching for his arm. He didn't react, his eyes still tracking Seraphina as she walked away.

"Sera!" Grace called sweetly.

Seraphina didn't turn around. She already knew exactly who she was dealing with.

Grace's smile faltered. It was the first time, in all the years they'd known each other, that Seraphina had ever ignored her completely.

On the way home, a speeding truck slammed into several parked cars.

People screamed. Seraphina stopped walking, looking around in confusion.

This never happened in my past life.

Her face drained of color. She remembered this stretch of road clearly. This accident had never occurred before.

Is the future already starting to change?

The system flared to life.

[Warning: timeline divergence detected.]

[Future accuracy: 99%.]

95%.

90%.

85%.

80%.

Seraphina stared at the numbers falling in real time.

"No," she whispered. "If the future keeps changing, then everything I know—"

"—could become useless."