Chapter 1
The Letter Beneath the Floor
The night Eseosa discovered the letter, the moon turned black.
Not dark.
Black.
It hung above the village of Elowen like a hole punched through the sky, swallowing every trace of silver light. The stars had disappeared too, leaving the world beneath them strangely still.Eseosa noticed it from her bedroom window.
She had been awake for nearly an hour, listening to the rain tap against the glass. Sleep had refused to come, and she had finally given up trying.
Then the moon changed.Eseosa sat upright.Her breath caught.That wasn't supposed to happen.
Everyone in Elowen knew the old stories. The moon could turn red during the Blood Tide, and sometimes a pale blue ring appeared around it during the winter solstice.
But black?
Never.
A sharp chill crawled across her arms.Then she heard the sound.Knock.Eseosa froze. Another knock came from beneath her.
Knock. Knock.
She looked at the floor.Her room was empty."Who's there?"No answer.
The knocking came again.This time, it was followed by a whisper.
"Eseosa."
She stopped breathing.Nobody was supposed to know she was awake.
She climbed out of bed and reached for the candle beside her window. Her fingers trembled as she struck a match.
The tiny flame flickered.
For one second, she thought she saw a shadow move beneath her bed.
She jumped back.
"Who's there?"Nothing.
Eseosa swallowed and slowly lowered herself to the floor.The knocking had stopped.But something was different.
One of the wooden floorboards beside her bed was glowing.Not brightly.Just enough to reveal thin golden lines running through the cracks.She had lived in this room her entire life.She had never seen them before.Curiosity defeated fear.
Eseosa slipped her fingers beneath the edge of the board and pulled.It lifted surprisingly easily.Beneath it was a small wooden boxHer heart began pounding.There was no lock.Only a symbol carved into the lid.A crescent moon surrounded by three stars.
Eseosa stared at it.She knew that symbol.She had seen it once before.On the necklace her mother never allowed her to touch.
Her mother.The thought made Eseosa hesitate.She should put the box back.She should wake her parents.She should do anything except open it.Instead, she lifted the lid.
Inside was a single folded piece of parchment.And beneath it - a silver ring.Eseosa picked up the ring.The moment it touched her palm, the candle went out.
The room became completely dark.Then the ring began to glow.A voice whispered from somewhere in the darkness.
"You were never supposed to find this."Eseosa dropped the ring.
The voice came again."Because if you know the truth..."
A cold wind swept through her room."...they will know you're alive."
Eseosa's blood ran cold.They?Who were they?She grabbed the parchment and unfolded it.The handwriting was elegant and unfamiliar.But the first line made her stomach twist.
Eseosa ,
If you are reading this, then the magic has awakened inside you.
She read the next sentence.
Then the next.
With every word, the world she thought she knew began to crack.At the bottom of the page was a name.A name she had never heard before.A name that made no sense.Because beneath it were four words that changed everything.
Your mother is not human.
Eseosa stared at the page.Outside, thunder shook the village.And somewhere beyond the forest, something answered.
