ARIELLE

tomiwrites02 YA&Teenfiction

“I can’t do this.”
The words landed like a slap.
“Obviously,” I said, because sarcasm was the only thing keeping the rest of it from spilling out.
He shook his head, jaw tight. “Not like this,” he said. “It wouldn’t be fair to you.”
There it was again—the barricade—the invisible line labeled ‘not yet.’
“Fair,” I repeated. “That’s what you’re worried about?”
*****
Arielle had always known she was good at observing people.
She just never imagined she was one of the experiments.
Halebridge was supposed to be her second chance: scholarship student, art major, quiet job at the campus café. A new life she could build with her own hands, away from her suffocating relationship with her mother back at home. But then the cracks appeared:
An old photograph she doesn’t remember surfaces, questioning the validity of her childhood,
A locked tower no one would talk about that gave off eerie vibes,
And twin strangers on campus who looked at her like they’d been waiting years for her to arrive;
Carlos, the handsome but intense graduate student, and Carla, the sharp-eyed artist whose gaze felt both like an accusation and a warning.
As Arielle’s paintings turned darker, so did her dreams. Memories she had no idea she made began to surface. When a threatening message appeared in her inbox, Arielle realized someone wasn’t just hiding the truth. They were willing to destroy her life to keep it buried.
Because she was never just Arielle. She was Subject A.
Now, with only a cryptic sister, a haunted protector, and a stack of illegally gotten files to guide her, Arielle has to answer questions no one wants her asking:
Who was she before she became “Arielle”?
What did they erase to make room for this new life?
And why do the people trying to save her look as guilty as the ones hunting her?
In a campus where every locked door hides a history and every kindness might be a strategy, Arielle must decide how much of the truth she’s willing to remember—and what it will cost her and everyone she loves if she does.

Unfold