It was a lazy Sunday afternoon when Mia first saw the ad. A shimmering banner on a sketchy movie-streaming site promised: “FaceApp Pro APK v3.9.0 – 2021 – Unlock All Premium Filters – No Root Required.”

“Don’t download the APK. Tell her. Tell—"

She paused mid-scroll. The stock photo on the ad showed a woman morphing from tired to radiant, from frowning to smiling, from middle-aged to twenty-something. Mia had downloaded the free version of FaceApp before—the one that made you look old, then young, then swapped your gender for a laugh. But Pro? That was for influencers and people with eight dollars a month to spare.

But her eyes—her eyes were wrong. They tracked left and right too fast, like they were scanning. And in the reflection, just for a second, she saw the app’s purple mask flicker over her face.

“Let’s find someone new.”

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