CHAPTER 1: promise in the snow
Snow fell heavily over the small town of Everhollow.The streets were empty, the river was frozen,And twelve-year-old Rosalie Arden was exactly where her mother had told her not to be,she trudged through the snow with a basket hanging from her arm, humming quietly to herself. The world looked like a painting covered in white,Then she heard it, A groan, Rosalie stopped.Her eyes widened, The sound came from behind a cluster of frozen bushes near the riverbank, For a moment, fear rooted her in place,Then curiosity won,Slowly she approached.
“Hello?” she called.
No answer, another groan, Rosalie pushed aside the branches,A boy lay in the snow,He couldn’t have been older than thirteen,Dark hair,Pale skin,Blood stained his coat,Rosalie gasped.
“Oh my God.”The boy’s eyes opened slightly, They were the strangest eyes she had ever seen. Gray. Cold. Like winter itself, Yet they looked terrified.
“Don’t tell them,” he whispered, Rosalie knelt beside him.“Tell who?” The boy shook his head,
His body trembled violently,he looked exhausted, Broken, Alone,Rosalie glanced toward town
Her parents would be furious Strange boys weren’t her responsibility But she couldn’t leave him
here He would die.
“Can you stand?” she asked, The boy laughed weakly.
“No.”
“Then I’ll help.”
For the next hour she struggled to drag him toward an abandoned hunting cabin hidden in the
woods the task nearly defeated her several times she almost gave up, the boy lost
consciousness twice But somehow she managed, Inside the cabin she started a fire the warmth
slowly filled the room, the boy remained silent while she cleaned the wound on his shoulder,
Every touch made him flinch as if he expected pain Rosalie frowned.
“Who hurt you?”Silence.
“Your parents?” Silence.
She sighed.
"Fine. Don’t tell me.”She said rolling her eyes.
For three days she returned she brought bread, soup, bandages, medicine stolen from her
mother’s cabinet, every day the boy grew stronger and every day he spoke a little more his name
was Adrian.At least that was the name he gave her, she wasn’t sure it was real, he never
answered questions about his family, never explained the men he seemed afraid of, never
explained the expensive watch on his wrist, or the scar across his back, But Rosalie stopped
asking.Some people carried wounds deeper than broken skin.
One evening they sat beside the fireplace,snowstorm winds rattled the cabin walls, Adrian
stared into the flames.“Why are you helping me?”Rosalie shrugged. “You needed help.” "That’s
it?” “What other reason should there be?” He looked genuinely confused, as though kindness
was a language he didn’t understand.
“My father says people only help when they want something.”
“Your father sounds miserable.” and to her surprise Adrian laughed, the sound was awkward,
Rosalie smiled.
“There you go. You can laugh.”
"I don’t laugh.”
“You just did.”
“It was an accident.”She rolled her eyes, for a while neither spoke, the fire crackled, Outside the
storm continued,
Then Adrian reached into his pocket,he pulled out a small silver pendant shaped like a star it
looked expensive, Very expensive,he placed it in her hand, Rosalie stared.
“I can’t take this.”
“Yes, you can.”
“It’s yours.”
“You saved my life.”Rosalie closed his fingers around it.
“I don’t want payment." For a moment Adrian simply stared at her.
No one had ever refused anything from him before, not gifts,not money,not favors, Rosalie was
different, Eventually he pressed the pendant back into her palm.
“Keep it anyway.”
“Why?”His gaze softened just slightly.
“So I can find you again.” Rosalie laughed.
“You think we’re going to meet again?”
“I know we will.”His voice carried a certainty that surprised her.
The next morning he was gone, no goodbye, no note, only footprints disappearing into the snow,
Rosalie stood outside the cabin staring at them,for reasons she couldn’t explain, her chest hurt
then she noticed something shining near the doorway.
The silver pendant, She picked it up, smiling despite herself.
