Chapter one

Emilie

EMILIE

The shadows were moving again,

I know how that sounds. Trust me, I've heard myself say it enough times to know it sounds completely insane. But there they were, twisting across my bedroom walls like living smoke, separating from the darkness and reaching toward me with fingers that shouldn't exist.

I was twenty-two years old and still afraid of the dark; Pathetic.

"You're being ridiculous," I whispered to the empty room, pulling my knees to my chest. "Shadows don't move on their own."

Except mine always had.

I did the breathing exercise Mrs. Hawthorne taught me when I was little, count to ten, close your eyes, think of something peaceful. When I opened them again, everything was normal. Just regular darkness doing what darkness does.

My phone said 3:33 AM. Of course it did. Every time the nightmares woke me up, it was always 3:33.

The nightmare was still fresh, playing on repeat behind my eyes. A burning kingdom,a man with silver eyes reaching for me, mouth moving in words I couldn't hear. Shadows swallowing everything the castle, the sky, the screaming people. And me, falling through darkness that tasted like death itself.

I'd been having that same dream for three weeks straight now.

I couldn't stay in bed, not with my skin crawling and that feeling like invisible eyes were watching me from the corners. I grabbed my phone and headed downstairs in bare feet, the old wooden floors groaning under my weight.

Light spilled from under Mrs. Hawthorne's door at the end of the hallway. She never slept anymore, not really. This past week especially, she'd been jumpy as hell, checking the locks obsessively, looking over her shoulder at nothing.

I knocked softly."Mrs. Hawthorne?"

"Come in, dear."

I pushed the door open and stopped dead.

Mrs. Hawthorne sat in her rocking chair by the window, but she wasn't knitting like usual. Her hands moved through empty air, weaving threads of actual light. Not metaphorical light actual, honest to god glowing threads that she was manipulating like they were yarn.

"What the hell are you doing?"

The light vanished instantly. She looked at me with those tired blue eyes. "Can't sleep again, Emilie?"

"Don't" I stepped into the room, heart pounding. "Don't do that thing where you pretend I didn't just see what I saw. Your hands. There was light real light."

"You're tired, dear. The nightmares"

"I'm not crazy!" My voice came out sharper than I meant. "I know what I saw. Just like I know the shadows in my room actually move. Just like I know all those bedtime stories you told me about magic and monsters weren't just stories, were they?"

Mrs. Hawthorne's whole face crumpled. She suddenly looked ancient, like she'd aged a hundred years in a single second. "I was hoping we'd have more time."

"More time for what?"

"To prepare you." She stood slowly, joints creaking, and walked to her dresser. When she turned back, she held a small wooden box. "Tomorrow is your twenty-second birthday, Emilie."

"I know when my birthday is."

"Twenty-two is when it happens. When the protection spell breaks and your true nature starts to surface." She opened the box and pulled out a silver necklace with a crescent moon pendant that seemed to pulse with its own internal light. "Your mother gave me this before she left you in my care."

The word hit me like a slap. "My mother? You told me my parents died in a car accident when I was a baby."

"I told you what I had to tell you to keep you safe." Mrs. Hawthorne moved closer, and for the first time in my life, I saw real fear in her eyes; Bone-deep, terrified fear. "Your parents aren't dead, Emilie. They're alive. And they gave you to me because keeping you was too dangerous. There are things in this world that want you. Things that would kill you or worse use you for something terrible."

My legs went weak; I sat down hard on her bed. "This doesn't make any sense."

"I know, dear. I know it sounds insane." She pressed the necklace into my hands. The pendant was warm, almost hot against my skin. "But tomorrow, when you turn twenty-two, everything changes. They'll be able to find you. The protection spell I've maintained around this house for twenty-two years will finally break, and they'll come for you."

"Who? Who's going to come for me?"

"The dark forces…The ones who serve the sorcerer." She grabbed my shoulders. "Listen to me very carefully. If anything happens to me and I mean anything you run. You run toward the mountains, toward Silvercrest territory. Find the marked son. He'll have a crescent moon birthmark on his left arm. Find him, Emilie. It's the only way you'll survive."

"Survive what? You're not making any sense!"

Thunder rolled outside, so loud the windows rattled.

Mrs. Hawthorne went pale. "No. They're early. You're not ready."

"What's early? What's happening?"

She grabbed my face with both hands, forcing me to look at her. "Promise me; Promise me you'll run if something happens. Promise me you'll find the marked son."

"I promise, but"

"And promise me you'll remember that you're good. ,Whatever happens, whatever you become, you're still the girl I raised. You're still good, Emilie. Don't forget that."

"You're scaring me."

She pulled me into a fierce hug. "I love you. I've loved you since the moment your mother placed you in my arms. I'm so sorry I couldn't give you the normal life you deserved."

Lightning flashed outside, bright enough to turn night into day for a split second.

And in that second, I saw them.

Dark shapes moving between the trees outside our house. Dozens of them. Coming closer.

Coming for us.