THIS ENTIRE BOOK IS DEDICATED TO MY GOOD FRIEND, RAE, WHO IS ANOTHER PUBLISHER ON WATTPAD AND YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT HER BOOKS. IT IS DEDICATED TO HER BECAUSE THROUGHOUT MY ENTIRE TIME WRITING IT, SHE HAS BEEN THERE CHEERING ME ON AND JUST BEING REALLY EXCITED FOR IT. THANKS GIRL THANKS.

"...And they're still trying to find the murderer of Jenny Hastings."

"What makes you so sure that she was murdered?"

"She was nailed to a tree, covered in animal blood with her throat cut. If anything, it was a sacrifice."

"Oh, turn that shit off Lucy," My dad scoffed. My mum leaned over and turned the radio to a station that actually played music.

"No point," I muttered. "We're about to cross that invisible border of hell that messes with the frequencies."

"Alexander," Mum said firmly. She had this whole thing with hating me hate Northrun. I don't see why, she did too.

"How are you feeling Alex?" Dad asked. "We can stop somewhere to get water."

"We are literally half way through the middle of nowhere, dad," I rolled my eyes and stared out the window.

Northrun was four hours away from any other city. It was in the middle of this dense, annoying forest that cut off any transition to the outside world. To get an ambulance, they had to drive me out to where there was a signal. They called the ambulance and met up halfway. 

On the way in, it was just dirt and an occasional dead tree. Right up until just bam. Trees, everywhere. There was about three and a half hours of thick forest that surrounded Northrun.

Northrun was in the very centre of it all. It used to be forest, but people came and chopped some of it down until there was just a big square in the middle, Northrun.

Finally, my dad pulled into our driveway. We didn't have numbers or streets here in Northrun. Everyone just knew where everyone lived, we never got mail as well. Which should be strange, but wasn't here in Northrun.

I stepped out of the car and sighed. I'd been in hospital for the past three weeks and they couldn't find a single thing wrong with me.

"It was just a random seizure."

That's what the doctor had told my mum. I wish I had of taken a photo of her face when she heard him. She was like an explosion, screaming and cursing the doctor to hell.

My dad grabbed my suitcase and mum opened the front door or me.

"Surprise!"

I jumped a little and scanned the faces in my living room. My brother, Jones, my cousin, Harley Danzer and my best friend, Lincoln Jones, were all standing around with grins on their faces.

"What's going on?" I asked cautiously.

"It's a welcome home party," Lincoln grinned.

"Jones" Mum hissed. "I thought I told you to keep it small"

For those of you who didn't know my mother, this was her highest level of humor.

"Thank The Lord I didn't invite Oprah then," Jones snorted and Harley laughed.

"I've rented some movies as well," Lincoln told me, "your favorites of course."

"So none of them?" I rose an eyebrow.

"Don't get smart Alex," She snapped.

"Well, I'm going to shower," Mum told us. "After spending almost a month in that place... Ugh."

"At least the water was cleaner there than it is here," I scoffed.

"Watch it Alex," Jones smirked. "Anyone would think you liked it outside of Northrun."

***

"So what's new?" I asked Lincoln as the credits rolled for Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn.

"What do you mean?" She rose an eyebrow and made no effort to change the movie.

"I mean," I rolled my eyes, "since I've been in hospital. What's happened with the murders?"

"Oh!" She gasped. "Alex, the FBI is here. The goddamn FBI!"

"Really?" I grinned. "Do they know who the other two victims are?"

"Here's where it gets weird," Lincoln pulled her eyebrows together and scrunched up her nose. She pulled a scrunched up piece of paper from her pocket and flattened it out. From where I was sitting, I could see a lot of words written there. "They were both girls, Judy Brown who was seventeen and Claire Hawkins who turned eighteen a month and a half ago."

"Brown and Hawkins?" I asked. "No one in Northrun has them last names."

"Yeah, I know," she shrugged, "so I did some digging and found out that Judy came from England. There were no records of her ever coming here or leaving England."

"And Claire?"

"Well exactly a month and a half ago, the day she turned eighteen, she dropped out of school and ran away from home. Her parents reported a missing person report in America but she wasn't found until two weeks ago."

"Two weeks ago was when she was killed."

"Exactly. So Jenny was sixteen, then Judy was seventeen and Claire was eighteen. There was a pattern and so I looked into how they were killed."

"And...?"

"And... Harley and Jones weren't joking when they said it was like a sacrifice."

"Well, yeah," I nodded, "when we were driving back from Gregory County they said the same thing on the radio."

"I had to go into the library archives to find a book that dealt with this kind of stuff," Lincoln sighed. "The only thing I could find was some myth that Aztecs used to use certain sacrifices as a kind of beacon."

"But... This is Northrun, Link," I scoffed, "it can't be a beacon,"

"It's just a myth," she told me, "and I've just been bored since you've been in hospital. Hell, I was sleep deprived when I was going through my mum's files. I probably messed up all the details."

"But seriously Link," I sighed, "there's got to be some cute FBI guy that could whisk you away from Northrun. Your mum is the sheriff, you had to of met one of them."

"Well, now that you mention it," she smirked, "there was a guy who came to the house when mum wasn't there. And he's only twenty two."

"Lincoln Jane if this, I imagine, gorgeous guy leaves Northrun without you then I will take you out into the forest and lose you there."

Sudden shouting made Lincoln jump... And apparently the lights as well.

"What the hell?" I frowned. "Where is that coming from?"

"Your neighbors," Lincoln answered quietly.

"Neighbours?" I scoffed. "No one's lived in that house for years... In fact, I can't remember someone ever living there."

"They moved in almost a week after you left for the hospital," She said.

"No way," I shook my head and got to my feet. Lincoln followed me towards the front of the house, my room was downstairs, and out of the door.

"Hey, Alex!" Jones shouted as we walked past him and Harley. "Mum told me you have to stay inside!"

I slammed my fist on the door and then folded my hands across my chest. The shouting inside had stopped and Lincoln finally caught up to me.

"Alex," she whispered, "they aren't the kind of people you should talk to."

"Alex!" Jones hissed and grabbed my arm. "We need to leave."

"Yeah," Harley agreed. I yanked my arm out of Jones' grip and banged on the door again.

"They're going to eat her," Lincoln panicked and I could hear some footsteps coming from the other side of the door.

"We still have time to leave," Harley begged. I huffed and stood my ground, knocking yet another time as loud as I could.

The door swung open and I narrowly missed hitting the boy in his pretty little face. I couldn't help combing over his features, his pale skin, his high cheekbones, his narrow nose...

"What?" He hissed.

"Who are you?" I asked. "I want details. Where did you come from? What is your highest education level? Are you married? How many children? How do you get you hair so shiny? I would prefer a nicely formatted letter that you could slip under my door with the answers to these questions."

"I don't want any Girl Scout cookies," the guy snapped, "now get off of my property"

"Wow, uh... Rude," I scrunched my nose up. The boy went to close the door but I put my hand in the way to stop him. "Hey, I have just come back from the hospital to find that my boring town is suddenly cool. You owe me some answers."

"No, I don't," he told me blankly, "seriously, scram."

"At least tell me your name," I pleaded.

"I am fluent in several different languages," he huffed, "how many do I have to tell you to get lost in before you get the message?"

"Cultured?" I smirked.

"Pissed, actually," he grabbed my wrist and shoved it forward. Before I could even make a sound, he slammed the door and it hit me on the nose.

"Ow!" I screamed and hit the door once.

"Fuck off!" He shouted from the other side. I looked back in shock and Lincoln had that 'I told you so' face.

"Alex, look around," Jones ordered me, "there are blinds open, fresh newspapers on lawns, bins out... Northrun is changing."

"How many?" I frowned and looked around. Jones was right, there were subtle changes that meant people were now living in those homes.

"Well... We didn't really keep track of..." Harley started.

"Forty two," Lincoln cut him off, "I-I... Forty two. I kept count of them."

"Oh..." I breathed. "And this guy?"

"Jesus Alex, I'm not on first name basis with any of the newcomers," she answered.

"We should get out of here," Harley mumbled, "Aunt Lucy and Uncle Byron are going to be back soon."

"Harley is right," Jones nodded, "come on, get back inside"

A/N
The first chapter is up!

I hope you're as excited for this story as I am because man I am pretty damn excited.

This is the first fantasy book I've written, and the idea for it has been floating around for a long time now and I was sitting on a train that I was going to be on for the next three hours and I just thought, 'fuck it'.

If you notice that something has changed throughout the story (i.e I start calling Jones Malcolm or something) please please please tell me as I will fix it all up right away.

Also, this is a short chapter, the chapters to come will be longer and hopefully more interesting.

It will be updated every Monday and Friday. If you notice a mistake, please leave a comment and I'll be sure to fix it. 

Thanks and I hope you enjoy!

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