InkstainedPeony
"ɪ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ʜᴀᴛᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪ'ᴠᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡɴ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀᴄʀᴏꜱꜱ ʟɪꜰᴇᴛɪᴍᴇꜱ," ʜᴇ ꜱᴀɪᴅ ꜱᴏꜰᴛʟʏ. "ᴏʀ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴅɪꜰꜰᴇʀᴇɴᴛ ɴᴏᴡ."
ʜɪꜱ ʜᴏɴᴇʏ-ʙʀᴏᴡɴ ᴇʏᴇꜱ ʜᴇʟᴅ ʜᴇʀꜱ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴏɴʟɪɢʜᴛ.
"ɪ ʜᴀᴛᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴅ ᴛᴏ ʀᴜɴ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴍᴇ."
┊┊┊✧ ⁺ ⁺ °
In Hillsbrook, the woods are a scar. Thin enough for something older to cut open and bleed through.
Calista Birdsong has always felt it. Dreams she can't explain. Painting faces of a man she does not know, and yet-there he is. Different times, but always, always him.
Angel Casteñada has spent the last year pretending that he isn't haunted. Not by his fear of the woods, nor responsibility, nor the girl who shattered his heart "protecting" him.
And when something leaks from the tear in the woods, hunting them, they're forced to cross worlds together. The Overgrown, a realm run parallel to their own, a tangle of nature spirits, knows them.
Even if they don't know It.
And questing against a world they've never known, fighting to get back home, hinges on how fast they learn the most important rule:
some debts do not end in death.
[This story is complete; I'll be posting 3 chapters a week for formatting and editing.]