Our little town had become disturbingly quiet.
Not the peaceful kind of quiet either.
The kind that made your skin crawl.
There were no children racing through the streets anymore, no laughter echoing from the playground, and no teenagers crowding our usual hangout spots after school. The basketball courts stood empty. The swings swayed lazily in the autumn breeze, untouched. Even the small diner that was usually packed every Friday evening barely had a handful of customers.
Everyone stayed indoors.
Everyone was afraid.
The death toll had risen by twenty.
Twenty.
It was a number that had become impossible to ignore, yet nobody seemed to have an explanation for why people kept dying. Every family in Bailey Falls had begun locking their doors before sunset. Curtains stayed drawn. Porch lights burned throughout the night as though they could somehow keep whatever was out there from getting in.
Deep down…
I knew they couldn't.
Ever since Cam and Nurys came home from college, I hadn't been visiting Parker and Kennedy as often.
Not because I didn't want to.
I simply had something much bigger to deal with.
Convincing my siblings that I wasn't losing my mind.
Every conversation somehow circled back to the creature.
The dreams.
The scar.
The old couple I'd met inside that strange cave.
Harold and Charity.
Sometimes Cam would sit quietly, listening without interrupting. Other times, Nurys would ask so many questions that even I didn't know how to answer them.
Neither of them outright called me crazy.
But neither of them fully believed me either.
I couldn't blame them.
If someone had told me all of this just a week ago, I would've laughed in their face.
…
Despite everything happening around town, the Elders had decided not to cancel our annual school sleepover.
Honestly…
I was shocked.
You'd think twenty unexplained deaths would be enough reason to postpone a school event.
Apparently not.
Every year, Bailey Boys' High and Bailey Girls' Academy hosted one giant overnight gathering. The boys would arrive Friday morning, spend the entire day and night with us, and leave sometime Saturday evening.
Both schools practically merged for twenty-four hours.
We shared two of the largest assembly halls on campus, attended games together, watched movies, competed in team challenges, and, of course, stayed up far later than any teacher officially approved.
It was easily everyone's favorite school event.
Especially because the boys and girls were actually allowed to mingle.
For teenagers trapped in a tiny town like Bailey Falls…
That was basically the social event of the year.
Normally, I'd have been excited too.
This year…
Not so much.
I couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was going to happen.
The monster hadn't exactly shown itself to care about schedules.
Or traditions.
Or innocent people.
…
Friday morning arrived colder than usual.
A crisp autumn wind drifted through the open windows of the meeting hall as students gathered inside, their voices bouncing off the high ceiling.
Some people stood around chatting.
Others sat on the floor in little circles.
Teachers wandered through the crowd every now and then, pretending they weren't just as nervous as everyone else.
I leaned against one of the wooden pillars, absentmindedly watching the room.
Near the opposite end of the hall, a group of girls huddled together, giggling so loudly that several people turned to stare.
I couldn't hear every word from where I stood.
Didn't need to.
Reading lips had become second nature to me years ago.
"…He's definitely asking me to dance."
"No way. Conrad barely knows you exist."
"Please. Did you see the way he smiled at me yesterday?"
The girls dissolved into another round of laughter.
I rolled my eyes.
Typical.
The town could literally be haunted, and somehow people's biggest concern was whether the captain of Bailey Boys' High smiled in their direction.
"Sup, Puppy?"
Kennedy suddenly appeared beside me, throwing an arm over my shoulders.
I immediately shrugged it off.
"You are not authorized to call me that."
She blinked dramatically.
"Oh, that's right." She snapped her fingers. "Only Cammy and Nurys have the royal permission."
"Exactly."
I folded my arms.
"Only Cammy and Nurys."
I exaggerated her voice with an overly dramatic pout.
Kennedy gasped.
"You little brat."
"I learned from the best."
She laughed before lightly punching my shoulder.
"There she is."
"What?"
"The D I know."
I frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"You've been… different lately."
Her smile softened.
"Quieter."
I looked away.
She wasn't wrong.
I had been quieter.
When your nights were spent running from monsters in another world, normal conversations suddenly became exhausting.
Before I could answer, a loud horn echoed through the school grounds.
Every head inside the hall turned at once.
"They're here!"
Someone shouted.
Within seconds, the entire room exploded into excitement.
Students rushed toward the balconies overlooking the parking lot.
Kennedy grabbed my wrist before I could protest.
"Come on!"
We squeezed through the crowd until we reached the third-floor balcony.
Below us, three large buses rolled into the school compound, their engines rumbling before slowly coming to a stop.
The words Bailey Boys' High stretched proudly across each bus in bold navy lettering.
The doors folded open.
One by one…
The boys stepped out.
A chorus of squeals erupted around me.
"Oh my gosh…"
"They're finally here!"
"I call dibs on Ethan!"
"No, you don't!"
The excitement was almost contagious.
Almost.
The chilly autumn wind swept across the balcony, slipping beneath my jacket and sending goosebumps racing along my arms.
I instinctively hugged myself.
"Conrad is seriously gorgeous."
The comment came from a girl standing a few feet away.
She had freckles scattered across her cheeks and her blonde hair pulled into a painfully tight bun.
"Tell me about it," another girl agreed dreamily. "Those shoulders… and he's so tall."
I followed their gaze.
Conrad.
Six-foot-one.
Dark hair.
Emerald-green eyes.
Athletic build.
Captain of nearly every sports team imaginable.
The definition of the stereotypical high school jock.
Apparently every girl in Bailey Falls had collectively decided he was irresistible.
Even Parker and Kennedy weren't immune.
Personally…
I didn't get it.
Sure, he was objectively attractive.
But people acted as though he had descended from heaven wearing a varsity jacket.
The obsession was honestly concerning.
Still…
I knew better than to say that out loud.
Some of these girls looked fully prepared to start a war over Conrad.