The last day of summer break was supposed to feel like freedom, but for Ethan Cross it felt like waiting. He sat on the crooked wooden fence behind his house, sketchbook balanced on his knees, the late sun staining the sky with fire. Most kids his age were at the lake, squeezing the last drop of fun before school swallowed them whole. Ethan preferred the silence, the stillness that let him draw.
The pencil moved across the page in quick strokes—trees bending, shadows stretching long across the grass. He didn't draw people often; they never came out right. Faces slipped away from him, no matter how hard he tried.
But lately, he'd been trying.
Lately, he'd been haunted by a face he couldn't quite remember, like a dream slipping away in the morning.
The air shifted, a breeze carrying the scent of pine and something sharp he couldn't place. Ethan looked up. The woods at the edge of town always loomed dark, but tonight, the shadows seemed heavier. Something was in there. Watching.
He shook his head. His mom always said his imagination ran too wild. Still, he packed his sketchbook, climbed off the fence, and headed inside.
Tomorrow was the first day of junior year. Maybe this one would be different.
Morning came too fast. Ethan slipped into his usual seat near the back of homeroom, earbuds still dangling around his neck. Same walls, same tired faces. Except—
The door opened.
She walked in.
The girl was tall, her hair black as midnight, her eyes pale like silver glass. She didn't scan the room like new students usually did. She walked as if she already knew her place, as if the air bent around her.
"Class, this is Selene Veyra," the teacher said, mispronouncing it.
She corrected him softly, her voice low and smooth, the kind of voice that made the room lean in.
When she sat two seats away from Ethan, he swore the air shifted again. That same sharp scent from the woods filled his chest.
For the first time in a long while, Ethan's pencil itched for a face.
Her face.
And he knew, deep down, that nothing about this year would be normal.