Chapter 1

My name is Elara Vance, and I have been dead for five years.

I am a ghost, trapped in the place I was murdered.

The old lakeside cabin.

Tonight, the internet is loud. A famous YouTuber, Chad Logan, is making an announcement. He calls himself "The Exterminator."

"Get ready, Logan Legion! Tomorrow night, we're going live from the most haunted place in Connecticut! The Lakeside Cabin!"

His face is lit up on millions of screens. He grins.

"We're going to confront the evil spirit of Elara Vance. The psycho foster kid who died of an overdose. It's time for an exorcism!"

A live chat scrolls by, a river of hate.

Good! Get that demon!

She was a monster. My cousin went to school with her.

Finally, someone is cleaning up that place.

I watch, a cold, powerless knot of nothing. They are talking about me. The monster. The delinquent. The ungrateful charity case.

That is the story my family sold to the world.

In their mansion miles away, they are watching too. I can feel it.

My adoptive parents, Mr. and Mrs. Vance, probably watch with disgust. They hated the scandal. They hated me for not being perfect.

My adoptive sister, Seraphina, the perfect daughter, is probably feigning sadness for the camera of her phone, for her own followers. A single, perfect tear for the troubled sister she never loved.

And Ethan. My brother. The Vances' real son.

He was my protector once. Now he is a successful lawyer. He is probably watching, his face a mask of guilt and confusion. He believed their lies. He abandoned me.

My only hope is buried under the floorboards of this rotten cabin.

A journal.

And an SD card.

They hold the truth. And tomorrow, the man who wants to destroy my memory might be the only one who can set me free.