high school · gossip queen · childhood best friend · quiet protagonist · social dynamics · drama · romance · mystery · ensemble cast
Hollowford lay drowned in mist—grey moors, an ancient forest, and the heavy silence of The Drowned Fox Inn. People vanished here often; explanations were rare. Until Iris disappeared. Vesper, the razor-tongued queen of gossip with cold blue eyes and a ruthless smirk, was the last to see her. Her rumor page fell silent, not for lack of secrets, but from a deep-seated terror. She had seen a pale, sickly light among the trees, a figure in white that smiled back. Rhys, Iris's childhood best friend, tall and once warmly generous, had his light extinguished. He stopped playing basketball, stopped laughing, and began walking the treeline each night at 3 a.m., the precise moment Iris's phone last sent a signal. He carried his basketball like a charm against the dark. Iris, the quiet star with f…