Chapter 1: The Town of Black Hollow
The fog rolled in thick as Elara stepped off the bus, her boots crunching against the gravel road. Black Hollow greeted her with silence—no welcome signs, no curious glances, just the whisper of wind through skeletal trees. She pulled her coat tighter around her shoulders and stared at the forest that loomed behind her new home. It was ancient, tangled, and alive in a way that made her skin prickle.
The house was a relic, inherited from a grandmother she barely remembered. Ivy clung to its stone walls, and the windows stared like blind eyes into the woods. Inside, dust coated every surface, and the air smelled of forgotten stories. That night, as she unpacked, she heard it—a howl, low and mournful, echoing through the trees. She froze. The sound wasn't human. And it wasn't far.