Lina loved sneaking out at dawn to sit by Crescent Lake. It was the one place where she could think, breathe, and escape the noise of her uncle's house. But on one misty morning, she wasn't alone.
A boy stood at the edge of the water, barefoot, the fog curling around him as if it were afraid to touch him. His hair looked silver under the early light, though the sun hadn't even risen.
When Lina stepped closer, the boy spoke softly:
"You shouldn't be here yet."
No greeting. No explanation.
And before she could ask what he meant, the boy disappeared—literally vanished—with a ripple of the fog.
Lina returned home convinced she had imagined it…
until she found something shimmering in the grass where he had stood:
A glass pendant shaped like a crescent moon, warm to the touch.