Chapter 2

She scrambled to her feet and clambered to the small pond not too far from her.

The person who stared back at her was someone she did not know.

Aside from the color of the hair, there was nothing that resembled her old body, the body she grew up with. Before her was someone who spent a long time in a salon to glam up for an event. Her voluminous hair made her already small face smaller, more dainty, almost elfin. Her peach-blossomed eyes narrowed as the face drew closer to the water, inspecting every side and angle. Lia bit her lips, the person on the water did the same. She made face, the other did too.

Lia pulled back.

“Oh damn.”

She tentatively peered at her reflection again. Yes, that was her alright. She looked away at the water and then looked back again, with the hopes that every time she did, the face reflected on the water would change back to the person Lia had been looking at for the past twenty-six years.

But to no avail.

No matter how many times she moved, how many times she caused the water to ripple, it was the same dainty face looking back at her, doing the same things.

She took in a breath and tried to sort out her feelings. Which did not really take long because there was not a lot to sort out when she was feeling…nothing. There was nothing inside her. No panic, no surprise, no anything.

Or maybe she was surprised for a different reason. She was surprised at her own calmness when she thought she ought to be more panicky than this.

She sat on the ground and thought of her situation. She seemed to be in someone else’s body. If that was what they call transmigration or soul switching, Lia did not know, much less bother to understand.

It was not like she was believing in her new world either. It was unbelievable alright. But there was not much she could do. She laid back on the grass, arms wide and closed her eyes, feeling the air on her skin.

“What now.”

She guessed she could accept this. In the other world, her life was wrapped up in the modernities required in the times, but it was also chaotic. Fewer woods even. Unlike in this world where she was now, where there seemed to be no other person in the area.

A small smile escaped her lips. She could live like this, away from everyone, spending her days in solace. That would be ideal.

Lia almost fell asleep again when she heard hurried steps, coming to her direction. She rose, body tensed and alert. Her modern, sheltered life did not prepare her for physical attacks. She could only tune in to the sound and hoped that whatever or whoever that was would change direction, away from her place.

“Lia? Lia!”

Oh shit. She uttered without a sound, for fear that even a single hiss would tell her location.

She held her breath as she listened closely. The steps were coming closer and closer. That was definitely the sound of a female voice. And she was calling for Lia. Someone who knew her? That was not good.

She set aside her memories of a previous life and racked her brain for any memories of the old girl who lived in this body. The memories flashed like a bad TV signal.

She grew frantic as the steps came nearer and nearer, causing the pictures in her head to jump from one scene to another without forming a solid recollection. The wood was eerily quiet that just a single sound, just a single shift in steps sounded louder than it should have been.

Lia scanned the clearing, looking out for other possible threats that might come in all directions. She did not have any weapon to defend herself.

Her body tensed when she felt the footsteps ceased behind her. She did not dare look back and could only gulp and wait.

“Thank goodness, you’re here,” Lia felt arms wrapped on her shoulders. “I didn’t know what I would do if something happened to you.”

Someone who knew the old Lia, someone who might discover that she was a fraud. Lia tried to think back faster even if the flashes of memories caused her to feel dizzy. She silently cursed herself for not doing so earlier.

“Lia?”

Bracing herself for anything that might happen, she looked back to offer a small smile, fingers crossed that the other person would not notice anything.

She turned around and came face-to-face with the most beautiful face she had ever seen. The face the original owner knew so well. Lia tried to put a name to the face and came up with two words.

“The Witch.”