Chapter One

Sami sat up in bed, gasping for breath, sweat dripping off her forehead. Lately, her dreams had been getting more and more vivid, almost as if she was living through other people's memories. She looked down at the wet patch on her bedspread and groaned. Ten years old and here she was still wetting the bed. As she got out of bed, the metal springs creaked loudly and, cursing her traitorous bed, she tiptoed her way to the bathroom to clean herself up.

The next morning, Sami was helping herself to an apple when she heard them. The voices. Eerie whispers that haunted her night and day. They were inconsistent, sometimes there sometimes not. Yet the voices were growing more and more powerful. Some days they were shouts and cries, other days they were mere whispers shadowing her, filling her head with their mindless thoughts. But today it was different. These voices were not mere whispers, they were screams of anguish and horror. Their feelings of despair and terror filled her and shook her to the core. She felt their pain and, clutching her head, she fell to the floor. Crying out in agony, she writhed on the floor as the pain overcame her. She heard more voices, whether these were real or not she did not care. Hands touched her, lifted her struggling body, a sharp sting and then she was greeted by darkness.

'Darkness, my old friend...' Sami screwed up her poem and threw it at the bin, missing it by an inch. She groaned in frustration and went to pick up her badly aimed paper ball from the floor. As she bent down to pick it up, the floorboard by the door creaked almost as if someone was standing outside. She frowned and stood up slowly. 'Maybe', she thought, 'Peggy and John are home early.' She looked out her window, but no car sat in the driveway. Cautiously, she picked up her biro and crept towards the door. As she was reaching the door, the handle turned and she froze, terrified. The door burst open!

"Happy Sixteenth!"

Sami breathed a shaky sigh of relief as her best friend, Anna, and her adoptive parents tumbled into her room.

"I thought you guys were burglars or murderers coming to kill me!" She joked, half truthfully.

Anna laughed and flicked her perfect, blond ponytail over her shoulders. "You can't be serious, Sami! God, you're so paranoid!" She threw a glance at Sami's biro, still in her hand and smirked. "At least you were prepared." Sami rolled her eyes and flopped onto her bed. Lying on her bed Sami's mind drifted back to the fatal fire of Renfall Tower, just a few days after her tenth birthday. Her thoughts started to stray a little, as the voices penetrated her peaceful mindset. It was clearer now, what they were saying. They weren't always pleasant thoughts, some were downright disgusting while others were mildly pleasant. Now, though, they were talking about her and Sami didn't like what they were saying. "Shut up! Shut up!" She sat up, her hands over her ears as though it could keep the voices at bay. Peggy and John stared at her with an expression of mixed shock and dismay, while Anna watched her with an air of curiosity. She flushed under their gaze and hid her face in her hands in embarrassment. It was John who spoke first. "So where are we going to celebrate?"

The Palace was a favourite in the town. Sami walked in behind Anna feeling a little self-conscious, but as usual, Anna stole the limelight with her incredible looks and figure. Feeling a little relieved, Sami melted into the crowd that gathered around her gorgeous best friend. For a moment, it was peaceful, as if she was swimming but she soon found herself being pushed, poked and grabbed by the people around her. She looked around wildly, panicked. Many people had started to scream and run, although Sami couldn't see what they were running from. Then, coming out of nowhere, a small pebble-shaped object landed by Sami's feet. She looked down, confused by it.  Then smoke started to come out, not normal grey smoke,  but a pastel coloured lilac smoke. More confused than ever, Sami stood still and stared at the vapour issuing from the object. As she inhaled its sweet scent, she felt a dizziness overcome her and she collapsed to the floor, coughing violently. Then she blacked out.

The morning after her birthday, Sami woke up with a massive headache. She was sitting in bed, trying to figure out what exactly happened last night, when she realised the bed she was in wasn't hers. She froze in shock. What had happened last night? Why was she in a strange bed?