Chapter 1

Ava sped out of the cabin and past Anabelle, who had just finished arranging the pokers and marshmallows on the table next to the fire.

Where are you going?" Anabelle called out. “Ava? Ava!”

She dashed off without even checking her direction. Walking back from the cafeteria, she saw a queue of people and knew they might see her tears. What Kim and Tia did to her would be public knowledge. The mocking would only increase in intensity.

Ava had to go to the office near the lake, which was shining brightly. 

There was a tightness in her chest. Whenever she breathed, she wheezed. She reached for her inhaler and made many failed attempts to exhale, finally succeeding after a few minutes.

The medicine was quickly ingested by her. Another round of wheezing. A second drag was taken. She gradually regained her breathing capacity.

Ava snarled, "I detest them," as she clenched her inhaler in her hand. "They're the worst," she said.

The moon was full, and its reflection in the lake was hazy. Even it was making fun of her like the rest of the campers.

She couldn't take another second there.

Ava slung her backpack over her back and ran headfirst into the woods.

She walked for an unknown amount of time. When the track narrowed and branched, it became more difficult to follow. A piece of bark grazed her shin when she tripped over a log on the walkway. 

Ava continued on, oblivious to her surroundings by her own sorrow. Maybe that was the route back to the parking lot, maybe it wasn't; she had no idea. As the buses hadn't run in days, she had no means to go home. Yet, she resisted returning home. Her goal was to escape.

She had to scramble over the trees that had grown too close together to allow her to pass. The full moon was hard to see through the trees, but she could always feel its gaze.

Finally, Ava reached a grove of trees that prevented her from continuing. She was too tired to find another route past them, so she threw herself down a stone.

After a while, her beating heart calmed down. All of her rage and humiliation dissipated, leaving just a little, burning coal of shame in her gut.

Ava had not anticipated any of this happening.

She had her heart set on attending the downtown park's summer concert series. The new art show debuting at the museum next week was on her agenda. She preferred to spend her free time either seeing the city on her own or hanging out with a handful of her male classmates. not at camp surrounded by harpies.

Ava was no longer trapped in a sphere of safety. As she had hoped, her desire was granted. There was no one else there but her.

And she was lost.

From where she was perched on the boulder, Ava gazed around but saw no indication of either a trail or any other human presence. Fear seeped in slowly. 

She couldn't have found her way without the use of a map or compass, neither of which she had.

Taking out her phone, Ava made a quick call. There is still no signal. Unfortunately, the GPS was useless.

Some surrounding shrubs made a rustling sound, suggesting that something was moving around in there.

She stopped moving completely. “Hello?”

Ava raised her mobile device to the sky, illuminating the area around her. The beam of the flashlight was too weak to see more than a few feet ahead, casting harsh shadows on the surrounding plants and trees.

There was a gentle, repetitive crunch of feet on pine needles that surrounded her.

"Is anyone there?" Her hold on her inhaler tightened as her fear caused her throat to constrict once again. Ava snuck around a tree and peered stealthily into the shadows. Perhaps it was a deer. 

"If that's you, Tia, you'd best pray I don't find you. I'll—I'll beat you up! The shrub trembled. As Ava whirled around, she saw nothing.

Her own breathing was the only thing she could hear. Everything in the forest seemed to have disappeared, leaving behind only the strange silence. The moon has vanished as well.

Ava started walking in a random route while maintaining a wary watch on the trees around her. She regretted not staying closer to the path. She fancied it even more if she could just take a helicopter down the mountain.

Whenever she started walking again, the shuffling sound picked up where it had left off, and the footsteps would halt each time she paused. 

She sped forward, running as swiftly as she could over logs and around stones, and so did the footsteps.

She moved slowly to avoid a large tree. In front of her eyes, a pair of golden lights blinked rapidly.

Ava recoiled in horror, but the lights vanished the second she did. She stopped moving completely. Her heart was racing.

The gaze had been lowered, as if from an animal rather than a person. The sound of it rustling in the bushes was audible to her.

Someone was following her.

She raised her phone to have a better look around, hoping to catch another glimpse of eyes. Behind her, a twig snapped. Ava threw her inhaler on the ground when she gasped and twisted around.

She stretched down, but all she could feel was dirt. Her heart was racing. It hurt her to breathe. Ava's scalp started itching from the constant awareness that she was being watched, and she stopped caring about her inhaler.

As she retreated, she silently prayed to the night sky. "I beg of you, please release me. Never again will I act so foolishly."

In the blink of an eye, a massive Lunacrest creature appeared in front of her. When she took a step back, her heel snagged on a low rock. 

This caused Ava to stumble. As she dropped her phone, it went flying. The battery became loose, the back came off, and the screen went dark.

As she tripped and landed on the floor, something heavy, hot, and hairy struck her body.

Ava's heart was ripping out of her chest in agony.

"Help." She managed to cry out as she began to pass out.

No one was around to hear her cry into the darkness.