Prologue
Marrow Lake , Ten Years Ago
At night, Marrow Lake looked almost black.
The water stretched wide beneath the trees, swallowing the moonlight instead of reflecting it. What little light survived fractured across the surface in thin silver ribbons that shivered with every slow movement of the lake.
The dock creaked softly as the water pressed against its supports.
Bella stood at the very end of it, toes hanging just over the edge. Each small wave lapped against her feet, cold enough to make her skin prickle, but she didn’t pull away. She watched the broken reflection of the moon drift across the water like something alive.
The air smelled faintly of wet wood and lake grass.
Behind her, the dock shifted.
A board gave a low groan.
Bella didn’t turn.
“You followed me,” she said.
The footsteps stopped a few paces away.
“You disappeared,” Alice answered.
Bella’s mouth curved slightly.
The wind skimmed across the lake and climbed onto the dock, lifting strands of Bella’s hair and brushing them across her face. She tucked them behind her ear without looking back.
“You shouldn’t be out here alone,” Alice said.
Bella let out a quiet breath of laughter.
“You say that like the lake is dangerous.”
Alice didn’t reply.
For a moment there was only the sound of the water touching the dock and the distant whisper of trees shifting in the wind.
Bella finally turned around.
Alice stood a few feet away with her arms folded tight across her chest, shoulders stiff like she had come prepared to drag Bella back to shore if necessary. The moonlight caught the sharp line of her jaw and the loose dark strands the wind had pulled free from behind her ears.
She looked unimpressed.
But Bella knew that expression too well.
Alice only looked like that when she cared more than she was willing to admit.
“You worry too much,” Bella said.
“I don’t worry.”
“You absolutely worry.”
Alice tilted her head slightly.
“I observe.”
Bella pushed herself away from the edge of the dock and stepped closer.
The old boards shifted under their weight with a dull creak.
Alice’s eyes dropped briefly to Bella’s bare feet still dangerously close to the edge.
“You’re going to fall in.”
Bella leaned back a little farther, letting her balance tip toward the dark water.
“Then you can save me.”
Alice exhaled slowly through her nose.
“You’re exhausting.”
“And yet you followed me all the way out here.”
“I was making sure you didn’t do something stupid.”
Bella’s smile widened.
“You say the sweetest things.”
She stepped closer again.
Now they were only inches apart.
Up close, Bella could see the pale scar beneath Alice’s jaw , a thin curved line that disappeared beneath her collar. Bella had noticed it years ago, but Alice had never said where it came from.
Alice’s eyes flicked downward.
Just for a second.
Toward Bella’s mouth.
Then she looked away.
Bella caught it instantly.
Her voice softened.
“See?” she said quietly. “You worry.”
Alice lifted her gaze again.
The space between them felt different now.
Charged.
“You should move away from the edge,” Alice said.
Bella tilted her head slightly.
“You should make me.”
Alice stared at her.
The wind pulled at their jackets. The dock groaned beneath their feet.
Then Alice moved.
She grabbed the front of Bella’s jacket and yanked her away from the edge of the dock.
Bella stumbled forward,
, and collided straight into her.
They stopped like that.
Close enough that Bella could feel Alice’s breath against her cheek.
Bella’s hands had come up instinctively to catch herself, resting lightly against Alice’s ribs. Through the thin fabric of her shirt she could feel the steady rise and fall of her breathing.
Steady.
But not quite calm.
“You did that on purpose,” Alice said quietly.
Bella looked up at her.
“Maybe.”
The wind slid across the lake again, colder now.
Bella didn’t step away.
Instead she asked softly,
“Are you going to let go?”
Alice’s grip loosened slightly.
But her hand stayed where it was.
Bella could feel her pulse quickening.
Alice’s eyes were still locked on hers.
“Bella, ”
Bella leaned up and kissed her.
It wasn’t hesitant.
It wasn’t careful.
It was quick and reckless and absolutely certain.
For a fraction of a second Alice went completely still.
Then she kissed her back.
The world seemed to narrow to the narrow strip of dock beneath their feet and the cold wind sliding across the lake.
Alice’s hand moved to Bella’s waist, pulling her closer.
Bella felt warmth rush through her chest so suddenly it almost startled her.
It felt dangerous.
It felt inevitable.
Then,
Footsteps struck the dock.
Heavy.
Sharp.
Bella pulled away first.
Alice turned.
A figure stood at the far end of the dock.
Evan Cross.
He had stopped just where the dock met the shore, like he wasn’t sure he wanted to come any closer. The moonlight caught the side of his face, turning his expression into something hard and twisted.
He looked from Alice to Bella.
And then back again.
“Well,” he said.
The word landed flat against the quiet water.
“This explains a lot.”
Neither of them answered.
Evan took a slow step forward.
The dock creaked under his weight.
Bella felt Alice’s body go rigid beside her.
Evan’s gaze lingered on their faces, then drifted to the place where Alice’s hand was still resting at Bella’s waist.
His mouth curved, but there was no humor in it.
“Guess the rumors weren’t rumors after all.”
Bella felt her stomach tighten.
“Evan,” Alice said.
Her voice was calm.
Too calm.
But Evan didn’t look at her.
He was still staring at Bella.
Something ugly flickered behind his eyes.
“You two really thought nobody would notice?”
The wind slid across the lake again.
The water below the dock shifted.
Dark.
Slow.
Watching.
Bella had the strange, sudden feeling that something about the night had tilted slightly off balance.
Like the lake itself was listening.
Evan stepped closer.
The boards groaned beneath his feet.
Ten years later, Bella would remember this moment with perfect clarity.
The cold wind.
The sound of the dock.
The way Alice’s hand tightened at her waist.
Because this was the last moment before everything went wrong.
Before the water closed over the sound of a scream and before Marrow Lake kept its first secret.
