CHAPTER 3

Elara's POV

I couldn't sleep.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw that boy's dead face. Saw the photograph clutched in his hand. Saw those words written in blood:

"She's next."

My grandmother had dragged me home from the town square after the sheriff broke down crying over his son's body. The whole ride back, she kept saying everything would be okay. But I could hear the fear in her voice.

Nothing was okay. Nothing would ever be okay again.

Now it was past midnight and I lay in my bed, staring at the ceiling. The house was too quiet. Outside, the forest was silent. No wind. No animals. Just heavy, waiting silence.

I couldn't take it anymore.

I got out of bed and pulled on jeans and a thick sweater. If someone was hunting me, if something wanted me dead, I needed answers. I needed to know why.

That woman who died in our yard yesterday morning, she'd been holding my scarf. That had to mean something. Maybe she'd been trying to warn me. Maybe she knew who was behind all this.

I needed to find out who she was.

I crept down the hallway, careful not to wake my grandmother. I grabbed my coat from the hook by the door and the silver knife Grandma had given me years ago. She'd told me to always carry it. I never understood why until now.

The morgue was on the edge of town. It was small, just two rooms in the back of the funeral home. Black Hollow wasn't big enough to need anything fancy.

I walked through the dark streets, my heart pounding. Every shadow looked like a threat. Every sound made me jump.

But I made it to the funeral home without seeing anyone. The building was dark and locked. But I knew the back door had a broken lock. Everyone in town knew but nobody bothered to fix it.

I slipped inside, my breath loud in the silence.

The morgue was in the back. A single dim light was always left on. I found the room and pushed open the door.

Cold air hit me. The smell of chemicals burned my nose. Three metal tables sat in the middle of the room. Two were empty.

One had a body covered with a white sheet.

I walked toward it slowly, my knife gripped tight in my hand. I knew it was the woman from our yard. They would have brought her here.

I reached for the sheet with a shaking hand. I had to see her face. Had to see if I recognized her.

I pulled the sheet back.

The woman's face was pale and still. Her blonde hair was clean now, the blood washed away. Her throat was stitched up where it had been torn.

She looked peaceful. Almost like she was sleeping.

I didn't recognize her. I'd never seen her before in my life.

But then I noticed something. A tattoo on her inner wrist. I leaned closer to see it better.

It was a symbol. A circle with strange marks inside. I'd seen it before. In my mother's old journal. The one my grandmother kept locked in a drawer.

My heart raced. This woman knew something about my mother. About me.

I looked at her other hand. It was clenched in a fist just like when I'd found her.

Carefully, I opened her stiff fingers.

A piece of paper fell out. Small and folded. The police must have missed it.

I unfolded it with trembling hands.

Three words were written in shaky handwriting:

"They're coming. Run."

Fear shot through me. Who was coming? When?

I heard a sound behind me.

I spun around, the knife raised.

Kael stood in the doorway, his silver eyes glowing in the dim light.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered, my voice shaking.

"I could ask you the same thing." He stepped into the room.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for you to be out alone?"

"I needed answers." I held up the paper. "This woman was trying to warn me. She knew something."

Kael crossed the room in three long steps and took the paper from my hand. He read it and his jaw tightened.

"She was a messenger," he said quietly.

"Sent to warn you. But they killed her before she could deliver the message properly."

"Who killed her? Who's 'they'?"

Before Kael could answer, the body on the table moved.

I screamed and jumped back.

The dead woman's eyes snapped open. But they weren't normal. They glowed bright red.

"Oh god," I whispered, backing toward the wall.

The corpse sat up slowly. Its movements were jerky and wrong. Like a puppet being pulled by strings.

"What's happening?" I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.

Kael moved in front of me, blocking the corpse from reaching me.

"Dark magic. Someone's using her body."

The corpse's head turned toward us. Its mouth opened but the voice that came out wasn't human. It was deep and hollow and wrong.

"The red wolf must die before the blood moon rises." The words echoed through the small room.

"Three nights. Three deaths. Then her."

"Three nights?" I whispered. "That's—"

"Two nights from now," Kael finished.

The corpse's red eyes locked onto mine.

"I can smell what you are. I can smell the ancient one inside you. It's waking up."

Then the body collapsed back onto the table. Completely still. Dead again.

Silence filled the room. Heavy and terrifying.

"We need to leave," Kael said, grabbing my arm.

"Right now."

He pulled me toward the door. I was too shocked to resist. My mind was spinning. Ancient one? What did that mean?

We made it to the hallway when I heard it.

A sound. Small and quiet. Like footsteps.

I turned and saw a little girl standing at the end of the hallway. She looked maybe twelve years old. Blonde pigtails. Wearing a pink nightgown.

"Hello?" I called out.

"Are you okay? You shouldn't be here."

The girl didn't answer. She just stared at us with empty black eyes.

"Elara, get behind me," Kael said quietly. His voice was tense.

"She's just a child—"

"That's not a child."

The girl tilted her head to the side. Too far. At an angle that would break a normal person's neck.

I heard a crack.

The girl's neck snapped. Her head hung at a horrible twisted angle. She should have fallen. Should have died.

But she didn't.

She started walking toward us. Her broken neck swinging with each step. Her black eyes never leaving mine.

"I can smell what you are," she said in a voice that didn't match her small body.

"Run!" Kael shouted, pushing me toward the back door.

I ran. My feet pounded against the floor. Behind me, I could hear the girl's footsteps. Slow and steady. Not running. Just walking.

But when I looked back, she was closer than she should be. Much closer.

"She's not alive!" Kael yelled.

"Someone's controlling her body!"

We burst through the back door into the cold night. I kept running, not looking back. My lungs burned. My legs ached.

But I could still hear those footsteps behind us. Getting closer.

We ran into the forest. The trees were thick and dark. Branches scratched at my face and arms. I couldn't see where I was going.

I tripped over a root and fell hard. Pain shot through my hands and knees.

"Elara!" Kael stopped and came back for me.

I looked up and saw the girl standing between the trees. Her broken neck still twisted at that horrible angle. She smiled. Too wide. Too many teeth.

Then she opened her mouth impossibly wide and screamed.

It wasn't a human sound. It was high and terrible. It hurt my ears. Made my head feel like it was splitting.

Kael grabbed me and pulled me to my feet.

"We need to keep moving!"

We ran deeper into the forest. The screaming followed us. And then I heard other sounds. Howling. Multiple wolves howling in response to the scream.

"They're coming," Kael said. His voice was grim.

"The ferals. That scream called them."

"How many?" I gasped, trying to keep running.

"Too many."

The howling got louder. Closer. I could hear crashing through the trees. Things running toward us from every direction.

We were surrounded.

Kael stopped running. He turned to face the darkness, pushing me behind him.

"Stay close to me," he said.

"No matter what happens, don't run."

Red eyes appeared in the darkness. Dozens of them. Circling us.

The feral wolves stepped into view. They were massive. Bigger than normal wolves. Their fur was matted and dirty. Foam dripped from their jaws. Their red eyes were wild and empty.

One of them stepped forward. It was the biggest. Its lips pulled back showing teeth stained with blood.

It looked directly at me. And I knew. This was the thing that had killed all those people. This was the monster hunting me.

The feral wolf opened its mouth and roared.

Then it charged straight at me.