Chapter 1: RavenBane is not a regular city.

~ Gwen ~

I arrived in RavenBane with two suitcases, a broken heart I refused to acknowledge, and absolutely zero idea what I was getting myself into.

The city looked nothing like Boston. Boston was bright and loud and had the city vibes. RavenBane was... quieter. Greener. Like someone had taken a perfectly normal city and tucked it inside a forest. Everything had this strange stillness to it that made me feel like I was being watched.

I told myself it was just the grief messing with my head.

My parents died three weeks ago. A road accident in Boston that was so bad the police advised us not to look at the bodies. 

I didn't cry at the funeral. I didn't cry at the airport. I didn't cry when I boarded the plane alone with two suitcases and a one-way ticket to a city I had never heard of, to live with an aunt I had never met. I was fine. Totally fine.

Aunt Anne was waiting for me at the arrivals section holding a little sign with my name on it.

She was tall, pretty in a sharp kind of way, with dark hair and nice eyes that were a little too alert. She hugged me before I could even say hello, squeezing me so tight I heard my spine pop.

"I am so sorry about your parents, baby," she said into my hair.

"Thank you," I said. "I'm fine though. It's been three weeks."

She pulled back and looked at me like she was trying to figure out if I was serious. 

I gave her my best unbothered smile and she seemed to accept it, nodding slowly. Good. I did not come all the way to RavenBane to cry in an airport.

We walked to her car and I was ready for normal small talk. You know, how was the flight, are you hungry, what do you think of the city so far. Normal aunt stuff.

What I got instead was, "You smell so human. Is that what living among them for so long does to you?"

I blinked. "Sorry?"

"Nothing, nothing." She waved it off and started the car.

I decided to let that one go.

Then, about ten minutes into the drive, she glanced at me through the mirror and said, "We have a few humans in our neighbourhood. Please don't shift in front of them or do anything silly."

I stared at the back of her head.

"Don't... shift?"

"Hmm." She was already distracted by the road, completely unbothered, like she had just asked me to take off my shoes at the door.

I sat quietly for the rest of the drive and started seriously wondering if my aunt was okay. Like, mentally. 

I hadn't spoken to her much before this — just a few calls after the sheriff found her contact and reached out. She seemed normal on the phone. Warm, even. But this in-person version of her was saying things that made no sense and looking at me with those sharp eyes like I was a puzzle she was trying to solve.

The neighbourhood she lived in was deep in the woods. The houses were big though, spaced apart, surrounded by trees, and oddly beautiful in a way I wasn't expecting. Hers was at the end of a long path and it was huge — two floors, wide verandahs, amazing smart door.

Inside was something else entirely.

Animal skins. Everywhere. On the walls, draped over chairs, hanging near the fireplace. I'm talking full pelts, various sizes, displayed like trophies or decoration or both. I stood in the entrance hall and slowly turned in a circle taking it all in.

Okay. So my aunt was an eccentric hunter type. That explained nothing about the shifting comment but fine. Fine.

"I have to go to work," Aunt Anne said, appearing behind me with her coat already on and her keys in her hand. "I'm so sorry I can't spend time with you and show you around. I trust your sense of smell will help you find your way around the house."

"My... sense of smell."

"Here." She held out a black card. "For whatever you need. Food, clothes, anything."

I took it slowly. "Aunt Anne, you live in the woods."

"The woods are lovely." She was already heading for the door. "Oh, and I enrolled you in college. I knew I wouldn't have time once you arrived. The files are in the cupboard in the sitting room and you can take any of the cars in the garage. I trust you can figure out the rest." She winked at me and then she was gone.

The door clicked shut.

I stood alone in the animal skin house in the middle of the woods in a city I had never been to, holding a black credit card, and I thought, okay. Okay. This is fine.

I am fine.

I turned on the Bluetooth speaker I found on the kitchen counter, connected my phone, and played the first song on my playlist at full volume. 

If I was going to spiral, I was going to do it with good music. I danced my way through the kitchen, opened every cupboard, checked the fridge — she had stocked it completely. Vegetables, meat, juice, snacks, leftovers already packed in containers with little sticky notes on them that said things like Monday dinner and when you're sad, eat this one first.

I stopped dancing for a second.

Okay, she was a little sweet. Weird, but sweet.

I found the cupboard she mentioned and pulled out a file with RavenBane College printed across the front and my full name underneath it. Inside was an enrollment letter, a schedule, a campus map, and some other documents I skimmed through without fully reading. I had told her on the phone that I wanted to study Mass Communication. That had been my dream for as long as I could remember — telling stories, being on camera, making noise in the most professional way possible. And she had actually listened.

I smiled at her thoughtfulness and wondered why mom never talked about this amazing sister of hers.

I found the room with my name on a small piece of paper taped to the door — even that she had prepared — and I pushed it open. It was big and clean and smelled like fresh linen. My kind of room. I dropped my bags, kicked off my shoes, and started to undress.

I was now completely naked when I saw the glass door.

It led out to a small verandah that overlooked the side of the house, and the building next door wasn't far — close enough that you could clearly see into their verandah from mine. I walked over and pulled the curtains open.

A guy was standing on the verandah next door.

Looking directly at me. 

Blue eyes. Dark hair. Very much awake and very much staring.

He waved and gave this very weird flirty smile that made me realise that I was completely stack naked!

I screamed so loud I scared myself. 

I yanked the curtains shut with both hands, stumbled backward, and did not stop moving until I was inside the bathroom with the door locked behind me. I sat on the edge of the tub with my heart hammering and my face burning and I stayed there for a very, very long time.

Welcome to RavenBane, Guinivere!