Hiding 8

Some monsters create monsters. Others create survivors.

Ireland was supposed to be a fresh start for Evie Bennett.

A new name. A new country. A chance to leave England, and everything that happened there, behind.

Now known as Éala O'Connolly, no one at Sacred Heart Primary knows the truth about the quiet little girl with haunted eyes. No one knows the darkness she escaped or the nightmares that still follow her. The only thing Éala wants is to be a normal child.

Then she meets Ollie Lynch.

Kind-hearted despite everything he endures, Ollie hides bruises behind easy smiles and carries burdens no child ever should. Trapped in an abusive home, he dreams of a life beyond survival, unaware that one day the Kavanaghs will become the family he never thought he deserved. Before then, it's Éala who becomes his safe place, the one person who never asks him to explain the pain he tries so hard to hide.

From Third Class onward, they become inseparable. Best friends. Each other's safe place. And somewhere between childhood adventures, teenage heartache, and growing up alongside the rest of the Boys of Tommen, friendship slowly blossoms into something neither of them ever saw coming.

But the past is patient.

It waits.

And just when Éala finally believes she's escaped it, someone begins watching from the shadows. Someone who remembers. Someone who hasn't forgotten her old name.

At eighteen, the life she's fought so hard to build begins to unravel, forcing Éala to confront the one thing she's spent years trying to outrun.

Because some stories don't end when you escape them.

Sometimes, they come back looking for you.