"That's so on brand for you," Maya laughed. "You finally get a bestie and she's violent."
"And mythical," Isabella added with a small smile.
The girls giggled again, sipping their drinks and munching on fruit skewers. Isabella leaned back and let the sun hit her face, but even the warmth didn't shake the strange emptiness growing in her chest.
Everything was perfect. It always had been.
And that was the problem.
This garden, her friends, the award show she was getting ready for tonight—it was all a dream come true. Her life was pristine, curated. Controlled. Just like her friends, sitting across from her in coordinated outfits, faces airbrushed and filtered even in real life.
But in the beast world?
