The video began with no warning. No subject line. No message. Just a quiet, flickering image.
Liora stood in the center of a dimly lit room, surrounded by the warm glow of candles. She wore a deep burgundy dress that flowed like liquid around her. She didn’t speak. She didn’t need to. Her gaze met Gwen’s through the screen patient, calm, almost expectant.
The camera slowly panned behind her, revealing the room around her in gentle, steady motion.
Worn wallpaper peeled at the corners. A grand, dusty mirror leaned against the far wall. An ornate staircase curved upward into shadow. Then Gwen saw it just for a second a tall, narrow window with colored glass in a familiar blue-and-gold pattern.
Her heart dropped.
She knew that place.
It was the old townhouse at the edge of downtown, the one everyone called The Holloway House. It had been abandoned for decades, but Gwen had been inside once as a kid snuck in on a dare with a couple of friends. The others had turned back, but Gwen had gone up the stairs alone, just for a minute. She remembered the dust, the strange quiet… and that same window, faded but intact.
But now it looked different alive.
As the camera turned back to Liora, the screen pulsed softly with golden light.
Gwen inhaled sharply, suddenly aware of a heat blooming inside her, as if something was unfolding beneath her skin. Her breath hitched, hand flying to her chest.
She felt her body shift gently, smoothly, like clay being reshaped.
Her hips widened slightly, the angle of her pelvis tilting forward with a new softness. Her waist drew inward, curving in ways that hadn’t been there before. The swell of her breasts rose beneath her shirt, fuller than before, pressing snugly against the fabric.
Her neck felt longer. Her face tingled.
She reached up instinctively and felt her jaw less angular now. Her cheeks were smoother, subtly lifted. Her lips were fuller, plumper, as though touched by warmth. Even her eyelashes seemed longer, brushing softly against her skin when she blinked.
She looked into the black reflection on the laptop screen. The face staring back wasn’t entirely unfamiliar but it wasn’t quite her old face either. It was something new. Something in-between.
And I don’t feel scared, she realized.
That was the strangest part. The shift in her thoughts wasn’t just in noticing her appearance it was in how she felt about it. She should’ve been panicking, should’ve wanted to stop. But instead…
She felt calm. Curious. Even… beautiful?
The video cut to black.
No words. No instructions. Just the lingering image of Liora’s quiet gaze and the memory of a forgotten house Gwen now knew she had to return to.
The Holloway House.
She leaned back in her chair, pulse steady but her thoughts spinning. The changes weren’t just happening to her body. They were starting to take root in her mind. And something inside her, a part she hadn’t noticed before wanted to see where they would lead.