Silent Pretty Things

In Red Ivy, beauty is a warning.

The flowers bloom year-round. The lake is always still. And the girls who vanish are always described the same way- Pretty. Quiet. Gone.

Berlyn Palmer wasn't supposed to stay long. But when she's sent to live with her aunt in Red Ivy, she steps into a town that wears charm like perfume-sweet on the surface, rotting underneath. People smile, but never speak of the missing. The lake sparkles, but never gives back what it takes.

When another girl turns up dead, Berlyn starts to notice the patterns. The whispers. The fear behind the silence. And the more she digs, the more the town begins to turn its gaze on her.

Because in Red Ivy, the prettiest things don't last. They're chosen. They're claimed.

And they never leave quietly.