Chapter 1
AWAKENED BY SHADOWS
By Call Me Lilac
Chapter 1
The train glided through the Japanese countryside with a quiet rhythm, its steel wheels humming against the tracks as mountains slowly gave way to the sparkling coastline. Afternoon sunlight poured through the windows, warming the nearly empty carriage. A businessman slept with his briefcase balanced on his lap. An elderly woman quietly knitted by the aisle. Two children whispered excitedly over a handheld game, their laughter barely louder than the train itself.
To everyone else, it was just another Monday.
Harper rested her head against the cool glass window, watching the scenery rush by in blurred streaks of green and blue. Small fishing villages flashed past, followed by stretches of forest so dense they seemed untouched by time. In the distance, the ocean shimmered beneath the afternoon sun like polished glass.
Beautiful.
Ordinary.
Almost enough to make someone forget what hid in the darkness after sunset.
She reached down and absentmindedly tightened her grip on the black duffel bag resting beside her feet. Hidden beneath neatly folded clothes was a rose-colored katana, wrapped carefully in dark cloth. It had been with her longer than she could remember. Every scratch on its sheath, every thread woven into the handle, every tiny imperfection—it was all engraved into her memory.
Not that she needed to memorize it.
She never forgot anything.
“You’re staring.”
Harper blinked and looked across the aisle.
Her Master sat with perfect posture, a thick leather-bound book open in his hands. He hadn’t looked away from the page once, yet somehow he always knew exactly what she was doing.
“I wasn’t staring,” Harper replied quietly.
“You’ve looked out that window every twelve seconds for the last twenty-three minutes.”
She sighed.
“I was wondering if Bayville looks different from the brochure.”
“The brochure was meant to attract tourists.”
“And?”
“And tourists aren’t interested in the truth.”
A faint smile tugged at the corner of Harper’s lips.
That sounded like him.
Conversations with her Master were always like this—half answers, half lessons.
She had stopped expecting direct explanations years ago.
The silence between them settled comfortably once more. Unlike most people, they didn’t need to fill every quiet moment with conversation. Thirteen years of traveling together had made silence feel almost familiar.
Harper looked back outside.
She had lived in twelve countries.
Thirty-four different homes.
Seven languages.
More schools than she cared to count.
Every move had begun the same way.
A new city.
A new house.
A new promise that this one would only be temporary.
She wondered if Bayville would be any different.
Probably not.
“You’ve started thinking again.”
“I always think.”
“You overthink.”
Harper couldn’t argue with that.
She had always been like that.
When other children forgot names after a week, she remembered them years later. Faces. Conversations. License plates. Street signs. She could recall an entire page of a book after reading it once. Her Master had called it a gift.
Sometimes...
It felt more like a burden.
The train’s speakers crackled to life.
“Now arriving at Bayville Station. Please ensure you have all personal belongings before exiting the train.”
Harper straightened in her seat.
Her Master calmly closed his book.
“Ready?”
She nodded.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Bayville Station was smaller than Harper expected.
The platform overlooked the sea, and a salty breeze drifted through the open-air station, carrying the distant cries of seagulls. Students in navy-blue uniforms hurried toward the exit, chatting excitedly about homework and after-school plans. Salary workers walked with practiced efficiency, barely glancing at the world around them.
Normal.
Everything looked so painfully normal.
No signs of monsters.
No signs of hunters.
No signs that, according to her Master, Bayville held one of the highest concentrations of supernatural activity in Japan.
Either he had exaggerated...
Or everyone here had become very good at pretending.
The moving truck arrived almost an hour later.
Their new house stood on a quiet residential street lined with maple trees and neatly trimmed hedges. It wasn’t large, but it had two floors, a small front garden, and a wide porch that creaked softly beneath Harper’s shoes as she stepped onto it.
She took a slow breath.
The scent of the ocean mixed with freshly cut grass.
For the first time in years...
They weren’t staying in a motel.
Or a rented apartment.
Or an abandoned cabin deep in the mountains.
It almost felt...
Permanent.
“Don’t get attached,” her Master said as he unlocked the front door.
She looked at him.
“Were you reading my mind?”
“No.”
“You always answer questions I haven’t asked.”
“Because you always ask the same ones.”
Harper rolled her eyes with the smallest hint of a smile.
The inside of the house was quiet, still carrying the faint smell of fresh paint. Sunlight poured through the windows, illuminating polished wooden floors and empty rooms waiting to be filled.
Her Master carried in the first box.
“You can choose your room.”
Harper didn’t need to think.
She climbed the stairs and walked to the bedroom overlooking the street.
Perfect.
She set her bag beside the bed before crossing to the window.
Outside, she could see three neighboring houses.
The one directly across the street had a second-floor bedroom whose window faced hers almost perfectly.
Its curtains were closed.
To the left stood another home surrounded by colorful flowerbeds.
The front gate swung open.
A girl about her age stepped outside carrying a watering can.
She had shoulder-length dark hair tied into a loose ponytail and hummed cheerfully to herself as she watered bright pink flowers lining the path.
Without warning, she looked up.
Their eyes met.
The girl froze.
Then her entire face lit up.
She waved so enthusiastically Harper instinctively looked down to make sure there wasn’t someone else standing there.
There wasn’t.
Harper hesitated before giving a small wave back.
Less than a minute later, the front doorbell rang.
“...That was fast.”
She walked downstairs to find her Master already opening the door.
Standing outside was the same girl, slightly out of breath from running.
“Hi!” she said brightly. “I’m Evelyn! I live next door. My mom saw the moving truck and told me to come say hello before she embarrassed me by bringing cookies.”
She held up an empty plate.
“...I forgot the cookies.”
There was a brief silence.
Then Harper laughed.
Not loudly.
Not for very long.
But enough to surprise herself.
Evelyn blinked before smiling even wider.
“Oh! You laugh! That’s a good sign.”
Harper cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure.
“I’m Harper.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Harper.”
Evelyn glanced toward the hallway.
“Still unpacking?”
“Kind of.”
“Need help?”
Harper instinctively started to refuse.
She always did.
Before she could answer, her Master spoke.
“I think she’d appreciate that.”
Harper shot him a look.
He ignored it completely.
Evelyn clapped her hands together.
“Great! Give me ten minutes. I’ll bring snacks too.”
She spun around and jogged back toward her house.
Harper watched her disappear before slowly closing the front door.
“...You planned that.”
Her Master removed his coat and hung it by the entrance.
“I did.”
“You’ve never encouraged me to make friends before.”
“I’ve never seen a reason.”
“And now?”
He looked toward the window overlooking the quiet neighborhood.
“Now there is.”
His tone had changed.
Only slightly.
But Harper noticed.
She always noticed.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Instead of answering, he reached into his pocket and placed a small brass key on the hallway table.
“The basement.”
Harper frowned.
“I thought this house didn’t have one.”
“It wasn’t on the floor plan.”
“...What?”
“You’ll see tonight.”
Before Harper could ask another question, he picked up another moving box and walked toward the kitchen, leaving her standing alone in the hallway.
Outside, Bayville basked peacefully beneath the afternoon sun.
Children laughed in the distance.
Wind rustled the maple leaves.
Somewhere, a dog barked.
It looked like the safest town in the world.
Harper had learned long ago that appearances meant very little.
Especially when the sun went down.
End of Chapter 1
