2: THE VILLAINESS? OH, HELL NO!

Emily's pov

My head felt like someone had used it to test a concrete wall.

I groaned and shifted against the pillows. Every move sent a dull ache through my skull, and my eyelids weighed a ton. My mouth tasted like cotton, and somewhere close by a monitor beeped in a slow, steady rhythm.

The last thing I remembered was a truck, a terrified little boy, and my stupid book landing on my face. Was the kid okay? Why did my whole body hurt like I'd been run over by an actual truck?

Oh. Right. I had been.

"Great," I whispered, trying to sit up. The room spun, and I dropped back onto the pillows. I'd saved a child and earned a headache that could end civilization.

I opened my eyes, expecting a hospital curtain and a nurse who'd rather be anywhere else. Instead, a crystal chandelier hung over me.

I blinked. Twice. It stayed.

Cream walls. Tall windows. A vase of fresh flowers beside a television that cost more than my monthly salary. A thin tube ran from the back of my hand up to a bag on a silver pole, and I didn't recognize the hand.

"Either I died and went to heaven," I muttered, "or someone seriously overestimated my insurance."

The door burst open before I could look around any more. A woman rushed in, followed by a man and a few medical staff. She was elegant, but her face was pale and tears already shone in her eyes.

"Lani!" She grabbed my hand and pressed it between both of hers. Her perfume was heavy and sweet, and her fingers were ice cold. "Oh, my baby! Thank God, you're awake!"

The man came around to the other side of the bed and touched my forehead, studying me like I might vanish if he looked away. "Darling, can you hear me? How do you feel?"

I stared at them. Who were these people? And why was a stranger calling me Lani?

"Sorry," I said, tugging my hand free. "Who are you?"

The woman's smile dropped. The man went still. Behind them, one nurse glanced at the other.

"What do you mean, who am I?" the woman whispered. "Lani, it's Mommy."

I coughed on nothing. "Okay, that's concerning."

"Charles!" She spun toward the man, her voice cracking. "She doesn't recognize me!"

"Rosa, calm down," he said, though his jaw was tight. He turned back to me. "Sweetheart, look at me. Do you know who I am?"

I studied his worried face. "No?"

His hands curled into fists at his sides. "I'm your father."

"My what?" I said, gripping the blanket.

"Your father, darling," Rosa said, tears running down her cheeks. "Please don't frighten us like this."

Voices piled on top of each other. Someone asked about memory loss. Someone else wanted the doctor. Rosa kept stroking my arm while Charles fired questions at the staff, and my head throbbed with every word.

"Could everyone stop talking at once?" I said, pressing my palms over my ears.

Silence lasted about two seconds. Then the door opened again, and an elderly woman hurried in, her silver-streaked hair neat, her eyes red and swollen. She cupped my face in shaking hands.

"My precious girl," she said. "Grandma Camille has been praying for you since dawn. You frightened us half to death."

Another one? Had a family reunion started without sending me an invitation?

"Who is Lani?" I asked, looking from face to face.

Every expression in the room changed. Charles stood so fast his chair scraped the floor. His face had gone gray. "Get the doctor," he barked at a nurse. "Now!"

The doctor arrived with a clipboard and shone a penlight into each of my eyes, then held up two fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Two," I said.

"Your name?"

"Emily Authur," I said. "I'm twenty-seven."

He glanced at the others and scribbled a note. "Do you remember what happened before you came here?"

"A truck hit me while I was saving a kid," I said, rubbing my temple.

"Do you know where you are?"

"A hospital," I said. "An extremely expensive one."

Rosa choked on a sob and sank into the nearest chair. The doctor didn't smile. "Emily, can you tell me who these people are?"

I looked around the bed at the strangers crowding it. "No idea."

"We'll need more tests to see whether the accident affected her memory," he told Rosa, who pressed a hand to her mouth.

"Why does everyone keep calling me Lani?" I asked.

Charles took my hand again, his thumb trembling against my knuckles. "Because it's your name, sweetheart. You're Kailani Vincent. You're our daughter."

Kailani Vincent. The name rang somewhere in the back of my head. I knew it from somewhere. I dug at my memory, but it slid away every time I reached for it.

My pulse sped up. I threw off the covers and stood, my knees wobbling.

"Miss, you shouldn't be up yet," the doctor warned.

I ignored him and stumbled to the bathroom. I locked the door while Rosa called, "Emily, wait!"

Finally, quiet. I gripped the edge of the sink and stared at the marble. "Okay. Think. You're alive, you're in a hospital, and you somehow have a whole family," I told the faucet.

I splashed cold water on my face, lifted my head, and screamed.

The woman in the mirror wasn't me. Flawless skin, full lips, crystal-clear blue eyes. Thick red curls fell down her back to her hips.

I grabbed a handful. It bounced. I tugged, and my scalp stung. I turned my hands over under the light. Long fingers, pale pink nails, not one chewed edge. Nothing about them was mine.

"No, no, no, no." I leaned closer until my breath fogged the glass. I pressed my fingertips to my cheek, then my jaw, then my mouth, and the girl in the mirror did the same. My long black hair was gone. So were my brown eyes.

Fists pounded the door, rattling the frame. "Lani? Open up!" Charles shouted. "Someone get another key!"

"Please, Charles, don't scare her," Rosa begged from somewhere behind him.

I backed away and knocked a soap bottle into the sink. My hands shook so hard I couldn't catch it. Kailani Vincent. Where had I...

The book.

The villainess. The woman who chased Edward Bernard through the whole novel until Nikolai Bernard killed her.

My knees nearly gave out. "It can't be," I whispered, gripping the counter.

I stood there with my forehead against the cool door and counted to ten, then to ten again, until my breathing slowed enough to fake. Then I unlocked it with trembling fingers. Everyone rushed me, but I barely noticed. I was staring at the young woman standing behind Rosa, tears streaming down her face, one hand pressed to her mouth.

"Kailani!" she cried. "Oh my God, what happened to you?"

"Zelda, darling, she doesn't recognize any of us," Rosa said, wiping her eyes.

Zelda.

My breath stopped. Zelda Graham.

Zelda stepped closer, her lower lip trembling, her face crumpling. "Lani, I'm your best friend. Did you hit your head? Please, say something!"

I looked at her, then at Charles, Rosa, and Camille. Zelda Graham stood in front of me, and Kailani Vincent's face was in the mirror. Only one explanation fits. I was inside the book I'd spent three days cursing.

"If you're Zelda Graham," I whispered, staring at my shaking hands, "then who the hell am I?"

Rosa gripped my shoulders. "You're Kailani Vincent. My daughter. Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

Kailani Vincent. The villainess. The woman who was supposed to die.

"Oh, fuck," I whispered.

The room tilted. Black spots crawled across my vision, the voices thinned to a ringing, and I hit the floor.