At age fourteen, I was looking forward to what the future had in store for me.

As a child prodigy and recent university graduate, I was self-assured in my abilities. Life seemed to offer infinite possibilities, and opportunity after opportunity showed up at every corner.

Suffice it to say, I was more than a little surprised when I was diagnosed with brain cancer two years later.

The doctors gave me no more than six months to live.

I am Vera Blanc, daughter of the multi-millionaire stylist Emmanuel Blanc. I've lived a pretty luxurious life, thanks to my father's wealth. He's one of the richest people on Earth.

My mother? She was one of Russia's top models, and died when I was only two years old.

My father has always been so resolute. You could say that success was encoded into his DNA. He always gets what he wants - From childhood and onward, I regarded that as a fundamental truth.

And this time was no exception: he promised to save me, and he did.

I don't know exactly what happened. My father never told me the details. All I remember is moving back to our house in Paris, where I underwent another procedure with a new team of medics.

After the operation, I felt better. Much better.

The medics left me with more than a future; they completely rewired my brain to function like a computer.

My father paid those medics to build an incredible machine that can be fed a remarkable amount of data. In layman's terms, it's much like uploading a file to the Internet.

The downside is that I can only retain transmitted information for a short period of time. One to two weeks, tops, then it starts to fade away.

But that's nothing special compared to the OTHER side effect.

What's even more extraordinary is that as soon as I recovered, I started to hear... voices. Or rather, other people's thoughts.

I can literally read other people's minds. It's a little like tuning in to a radio. If I concentrate enough, I can hear what someone is thinking.

This doesn't mean I have full access to their innermost thoughts. My range is limited to what they're thinking at the precise moment I read their mind.

One day, my father called me into his office. He warned me, to never reaveal to anyone the powers I hold. He said that they would treat me as a test subject, dissecting me like an animal!

I then asked him if he could turn me back to my previous life. As fun as it was, I didn't like this "gift" anymore. But he said he couldn't, it would be too dangerous to have another surgery.

So, I told him I wanted to use my powers to do something good. Why have this ability if I can't use it? I felt like I haven't contributed at all to this world.

In the beginning, I didn't understand why my father wanted me to help this guy. 32 years old - former FBI agent - very skilled in using a gun. Not an ordinary detective.

He introduced himself: "My speciality is impossible cases. Anything involving the supernatural, occult, or paranormal? I'm there."

And that's how all it started. I must admit, I'm more than a little scared and intrigued by this new 'job.'

But one thing is certain: My near-death experience has prepared me for every possible curveball the world has to throw.

The sights, sounds, and people in this vast globe are out there waiting, and I don't plan to disappoint them.

I want to live every day like it's my last.