WillowBaird
"I know you're not dead," I whispered, staring at the last message. Her last message.
'Stop looking for me.' Ha! Yeah right, it was you who sent me on this wild goose chase in the first place. Would you stop, if it were reversed?
My grip tightened, knuckles cracking slightly. "That's not funny, Tori."
Astoria doesn't joke like that. Astoria doesn't disappear, doesn't... die. And Astoria Mullins definitely doesn't use our safe word unless something is wrong.
Something is very wrong.
---
In a town like Whitmoore, nothing is supposed to go wrong.
Seventeen year old Juniper Flint has grown up believing that is a good thing. The streets are clean, the schools are well funded, and people who cause trouble simply leave. Its quiet. Predictable. Safe.
At least, that is what she has always been told.
When her best friend, Astoria, is killed in a car accident, the town moves on quickly. The story is simple. Tragic accident, case closed. Funeral by the weekend.
But Juniper cannot ignore the message Astoria sent that same night. A single word, their safeword.
At first she tells herself it was a coincidence. But something's not quite adding up. A detail that doesn't sit where it should. A silence that lingers too long.
And once Juniper starts looking, she cannot stop.
Because Whitmoore is not as simple as it seems.
---
"I used to think not knowing meant I was safe. Now I think it just meant I was easy to lie to."
"Like a moth drawn to the light... no wonder I got burnt."
"Trust you? I don't even know you, princess."