Angie blinked into the mist gathering outside her window. Thirteen years had passed since her near-death experience. She had survived. But there was no desert to be seen anymore. There were only forests. Her room was tucked away in a lonely corner of a huge estate. Since her abduction, this remote residence in Northern California had become her prison.

  She stared down at the yoga mat. It was time for her morning routine. She pressed her toes to the floor and lifted her body into her favorite pose—downward dog.

  She trembled as she stretched her limbs. Her every movement was watched. The shadowy figure had reappeared. He stared silently at her as she struggled to hold the pose. Had a demon taken possession of him? He sometimes wore a porkpie hat and had appeared in several of her dreams. His clamminess had become unmistakable. Angie winced again, but for a different reason. The morning catfight with her sister was coming up. Angie’s life was hard.

  "Angie, get dressed. You’re going to be late."

  Angie ignored her.

  “Come on. Get dressed.”

  Angie emitted a disapproving grunt.

  “You’re boring.”

  Angie swiftly cut Heidi off. “Heidi, get out of here! I mean it.”

  “Angie, you bore me.”

  Angie closed her eyes. Chewing a grenade seemed tempting at the moment. “I can’t believe I’m related to you.”

  “But you’re still a bore.” Heidi giggled as she refused to drop the subject.

  “Hey, listen, Angie. Gonny wants to hang out with us. It’s her birthday.”

  Angie slipped out of her yoga pose and gave Heidi a stern look. “No.”

  “Why not?” asked Heidi, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

  “I don’t even know her. Besides, who else is coming? Nobody likes her.”

  “Angie, you’re coming. It’ll be fantastic.”

  “Really, why would I? Her invitation probably sucks.”

  “If you don’t come with me, I’m going to smack you really, really hard. Go on, keep doing your stupid yoga pose. I’m so tired of having a conversation with your butt every time I come here. I think I’ll give it a good smack for a change.”

  “Heidi, get out of here. Before I really smack you. You might not like that either,” said Angie, irritated.

  “Don’t test me, Angie. You’ll regret it. You think you’re so superior.”

  Angie pointed to the door. “GET OUT! I’m sick of you and your bullshit!”

  “I’m warning you. Don’t threaten me. All you ever do is talk.”

  “Get out of here, Heidi! I mean it this time!” Angie’s voice rose to a feverish pitch.

  Then it happened...

  WHACK

  Angie felt a ringing in her head. Then a loud bang as she left her body. She looked down at her crumpled body on the floor while Heidi stared at it in disbelief.

  “Angie, what are you doing?” asked Heidi as she completely freaked out.

  A fallen light fixture had hit Angie. Heidi panicked, then tried to apologize.

  “Angie, I’m sorry. I didn’t smack you. It was the light on the ceiling.”

  Angie stared at her lifeless body as she watched Heidi go into a fit of hysteria.

  “OMIGOD, Angie. You’re dead!” screamed Heidi as she dashed out of the room, leaving Angie hovering over her rather attractive “corpse.”

  “Help! Help!” yelled Heidi as her screams echoed through the halls of Rupert Manor.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Heidi had been born in the mansion, the secluded residence of the mysterious trillionaire Rupert DeMillbrook. He had become an arch-monopolist and was dubbed the “Asteroid King” by the fawning global media. He was the first to solve the riddle of asteroid plunder. With great ingenuity, he had made tremendous profits in space, on the moon, and even beyond Mars, enabling him to dominate many other industries and crush all rivals.

  Rupert’s security team invaded Angie’s room. They circled her nervously as she lay on the floor in her black yoga shorts and matching tube tank. She had nicknamed Rupert’s security people “The Watchers.”

  Earlier that morning, she had scribbled a prophetic statement in her journal:

  Today. I’ll make my ascent.

  They were bold words. Angie was certainly rebellious by nature. She slept naked, despite the numerous cameras mounted in the manor house and possibly even in her bedroom. Her life at Rupert Manor had been mentally constricted, but she had at least been physically secure—until now.

  Long ago, Rupert had told Angie that she had been adopted. She had been five years old then, when the mysterious lightning accident had occurred. Her mother, she’d been told, had not survived the ordeal. Still, Angie had always distrusted Rupert.

  A few years earlier, she had written in her journal:

  I’m an orphan. It sucks. Heidi, she sucks ass. Rupert? He’s just fucking lost. He talks to us on the intercom only a few times a month. It’s humiliating. It sucks. One day. I’ll discover the truth. That’s a promise I made to myself. Mom, can you hear me?

  Angie hovered over the crowd gathered around her bedroom. Her limp body had been laid on her bed while everyone waited for the doctor to arrive. Heidi clutched Angie’s feet and began massaging them. The morning chaos had brought back a number of memories for both girls.

  Heidi's mother had died in a freak boating accident. At least that was the official version. Heidi had been only four years old at the time. Her mother had been a wealthy society lady and a professional gold digger. Poor Francine Fang. Angie thought wistfully about her unfortunate fate. Her ashes had been locked in her old bedroom. But was her bedroom haunted? No one knew for sure where those rattling noises were coming from late at night.

  Heidi had become a frustrating puzzle for Angie. The two girls could not have been more different. Heidi was addicted to smartphones and social media, while Angie hated all aspects of the digital world. She would sit in a lotus position in her dark bedroom closet for hours, keeping as still as possible.

  But she made a few exceptions. She watched yoga videos on the internet for days and was self-taught in her practice. Despite her accomplishments, she was a misunderstood and feared yogini at her high school.

  She had intentionally distanced herself from the cliques she encountered at Norbert Weiner High and became extremely unpopular. She had been nicknamed “The Zone Girl.” Rupert, of course, owned the entire high school. But Angie, despite her royal connections, was still considered an oddball, strutting through the hallways in her black yoga tights, showing off her equally provocative crop tops and the imposing abs underneath them. She also wore black flip flops.

  Who had created this fashion sensation? Heidi, of course. Angie had become a colossal embarrassment to her. Heidi had made it her life’s mission to help Angie shop for the “right” clothes.

  “Don’t worry about it, Angie. At least by the time I am done with you, you’ll be a killer underdog. The kids will hate you, but you’ll be better dressed than they are,” said Heidi with a big grin.

  Angie’s brief memory tour was interrupted when she felt the energy shift in the room. She looked down at the scene below her with a casual expression on her face. Her body was still lying on her bed as Heidi grew more and more agitated.

  “Angie, this really sucks. Please stop this nonsense. Your behavior is totally unacceptable. Listen, let’s go to the mall and find some hot shorts. Then match them with some sports bras. Maybe some tube tops, who knows? Then we’ll head over to Gonny’s dressed all in black. I’m curious why she wants this particular outfit today, but it’s going to be really great. Listen, Angie. Can you hear me? You’re acting so weird. Can you please just stop that?”

  Dr. Henderson, the estate doctor, finally stormed in. Angie ignored him. Instead, she focused on a green light flickering in her closet. It looked strangely familiar, but then a dubious figure flashed by, and Angie dodged it in a panic.

  WHOOSH

  The near-miss had forced Angie back into her body.

  “Your daughter is fine, Mr. DeMillbrook. Her vitals are stable. She has the body of an Olympic athlete. We checked her from top to bottom. It was just a ceiling light that barely grazed her head. There is no serious concussion. I’m going to give your two girls some medication. They’ll be fine.”

  Angie opened her eyes. She stared at the anxious crowd in front of her as she struggled to formulate a question for her father, but finally said, “Dad, do I have to go to school today? I just want to stay home and rest.”

  Dr. Henderson slid his phone closer to Angie. A single word emerged from the phone, radiating the authority of a distant emperor.

  “No.”

  That was it. The oracle had spoken. Now it was Heidi’s turn for a brief audience.

  “Daddy, can Angie celebrate with me tonight?”

  After a split second, the oracle again answered with a single word.

  “Yes.”

  The phone fell silent. Heidi clapped her hands. She whooped in triumph and beamed at Angie.

  “Angie, we’re going shopping. Take a shower and put on some new clothes. That’s an order!”

  When the girls were alone, Heidi carefully inspected her messy hair in front of the mirror. It was long and gorgeous. After a tense pause, she released her poison dart.

  “Angie, stop being such an attention whore. It’s annoying as hell.”

  Heidi checked her revealing crop top and pajama shorts as she elicited a long-suffering frown from Angie.

  “What a crappy morning,” said Heidi as she surveyed her feet. Every one of her toes was impeccably manicured.

  “Yeah, it’s been shit,” lamented Heidi as she grimaced and walked out.