The woods were alive tonight.
The air pulsed with the low thrum of a thousand unseen things insects whispers of wind maybe something bigger something breathing. Ivy Cross stood at the edge of the bonfire her arms crossed tightly over her chest pretending she wasn't listening to the way the trees seemed to moan under the weight of the darkness.
"You're chickening out aren't you?" Mason jeered a half-empty beer can swinging from his fingers.
Ivy smirked though her palms were slick with sweat. "Please. I'm not scared of a bunch of trees."
Behind her the other seniors from Hollow's Edge High roared with laughter and drunken encouragement. It was an unspoken tradition every year at the end-of-year bonfire someone was dared to step into the Deadwoods. A real step. Past the first broken fence where the warnings started past the point where sane people turned back.
And this year it was Ivy's turn.
"You only have to cross to the old well" Mason said a mock-casual shrug hiding the glint of cruelty in his eye. "It's barely a five-minute walk."
"You mean the well where people used to disappear?" Ivy tossed back cocking a brow. "Sounds totally safe."
"If you're scared just say so" another voice cut in Tara her on-again-off-again friend the one who smiled too wide when Ivy stumbled.
Ivy's jaw clenched. She hated the way they all watched her the outsider girl the pity case with no real family always trying too hard to act like she belonged.
Screw that.
"Fine" Ivy said coolly grabbing the flashlight someone shoved at her. "I'll be back before you losers can miss me."
A chorus of whoops followed her as she hopped the sagging fence. Her heart thudded in her chest louder than the cheers fading behind her.
The woods swallowed the sound almost immediately.
The flashlight's beam cut a thin silver line through the night illuminating twisted branches and mossy rocks. Ivy picked her way carefully forward the smell of damp earth thick in her nose.
She had no idea where the well actually was.
Nobody really talked about the Deadwoods. Oh they told campfire stories about hunters who went missing about glimpses of monstrous shapes moving between the trees. But Ivy had always figured it was just small-town superstition the kind of thing people clung to when there wasn't much else to talk about.
Still the stories had one common thread: Stay out of the woods.
Branches cracked somewhere to her right. Ivy spun flashlight trembling slightly.
"Probably just a deer" she muttered to herself though her voice sounded paper-thin.
The woods felt... wrong. Not just dark but heavy like wading through invisible sludge. The deeper she walked the worse it got a pressure building behind her eyes.
Five minutes. That's all she needed.
Maybe less if she ran.
She quickened her pace ignoring the way the shadows seemed to ripple in the corners of her vision. The ground dipped suddenly and her ankle twisted on a hidden root. Ivy stumbled cursing under her breath.
That's when she heard it low and deep a growl that vibrated straight through her bones.
Her blood froze.
The flashlight wobbled wildly as she swung it toward the sound. Nothing. Just empty woods and swaying branches.
Another growl closer this time.
Panic clawed up her throat.
"I'm not here to bother anything" she called out her voice cracking. "Justjust passing through."
Something massive moved in the darkness ahead a blur too big to be anything natural. Ivy took a stumbling step back.
Then she ran.
Her breath sawed in and out of her lungs as she sprinted blindly through the trees. Branches lashed at her arms thorns snagging her jeans. The flashlight flew from her hand vanishing into the underbrush.
Behind her paws thundered across the ground.
No. No. No.
She burst into a small clearing heart hammering wildly. For one brief agonizing second she thought she saw the old stone well half-buried under vines but then a shape lunged from the trees.
Ivy screamed.
A blur of gray fur and snarling teeth slammed into her knocking her flat on her back. Pain exploded through her shoulder where claws raked her skin.
She thrashed wildly kicking screaming tears blurring her vision.
The wolf it had to be a wolf snarled breath hot and fetid against her face. Its eyes were wrong though not animal not natural. Burning red full of hatred.
It reared back for the killing blow
and something even bigger hit it from the side.
The two creatures tumbled away from her in a blur of teeth and muscle. Ivy scrambled backward her hands slick with blood and mud. She watched in frozen terror as a second wolf darker larger slammed the rogue into the ground.
No not just a wolf. This one moved differently. Smarter. Almost... human.
The dark wolf pinned the rogue fangs bared then tore its throat out in one brutal motion.
Silence fell thick and choking.
Ivy's limbs wouldn't move. Her brain screamed at her to run but she was rooted to the spot trembling.
The dark wolf turned to her slowly.
Its eyes glowing a bright unnatural gold locked with hers.
For a heartbeat the world held still.
Then the creature shuddered and shifted.
Bones cracked fur receded limbs twisted. Ivy gagged half-horrified half-fascinated as the beast transformed into a man tall broad-shouldered shirtless his skin marked with scars that told a hundred battles' worth of stories.
And gods help her he was beautiful.
Wild dark hair sharp jaw a mouth set in a grim line.
His bare chest rose and fell as he stared at her something fierce and furious burning behind his gold-lit eyes.
"You shouldn't be here" he growled his voice rough as gravel.
Ivy opened her mouth no sound came out.
Her head swam. The world tilted.
The last thing she saw was the stranger reaching for her callused hands outstretched before darkness swallowed her whole.