The tires of Luna Carter's car crunched against the gravel as she pulled over to the side of the road. The fog settled low over Crescent Valley, clinging to the thick trees that crowded the narrow road. She rolled down her window, breathing in the familiar scent of pine and damp earth, tinged with something sharp she couldn't place.
Luna hadn't set foot here since she was sixteen, but she was back now, even if the reasons were hazy. Something unexplainable had drawn her home, pulling her from the city, from the life she'd spent years building. She didn't understand it, but somehow, her return felt inevitable.
She gazed out over the valley, watching the mist shift and stir, almost alive. For a moment, she felt a prickling at the back of her neck, as if someone were watching her. Turning her head, her eyes caught a figure standing at the edge of the woods across the valley.
He was tall, his silhouette strong and still as a statue, and his piercing gaze seemed to meet hers even from this distance. For a heartbeat, she felt caught, held in place. But then the figure turned and disappeared into the trees, leaving her with a faint shiver.
As she pulled back onto the road, Luna couldn't shake the feeling that her life was about to change in ways she couldn't begin to understand.