Beneath the moon

Chapter Two

Chapter Two: The Sheriff’s Warning

The town of Ashwood hadn't grown, not even an inch. Same old diner with its flickering neon sign, same post office with the cracked window, and the same dusty roads weaving between aging buildings like veins through a tired heart. Elena pulled her hood up against the morning chill and walked the short path to the sheriff’s office.

She hadn’t slept. Something about the forest last night had kept her wide awake its silence too deep, too perfect. The memory of that sound in the bushes stayed with her, as if the trees themselves had held their breath until she closed the door.

Inside the sheriff’s office, the air smelled of burnt coffee and paper. A fan hummed lazily in the corner, pushing around air that did little to freshen up the room. Sheriff Malcolm Cade looked up from his desk as she entered. His once-black hair had faded to salt-and-pepper, and the creases around his eyes had deepened since she’d last seen him.

“Elena Ward,” he said, standing. “You’re a long way from state parks and city labs.”

She managed a half-smile. “Still remember me, huh?”

“Hard to forget a Ward. You’ve got your mother’s stare.”

He gestured to the seat across from him, and she sat, scanning the wall behind his desk. Dozens of photos lined the corkboard missing people, wildlife tracking maps, even blurry prints that looked more like claw marks than boot treads.

“I read the reports,” she said, getting straight to it. “Whatever’s out there, it’s not just a rogue bear. Three bodies in six weeks. All torn apart. No signs of feeding. That’s not normal.”

He leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled. “No, it’s not.”

“Then why call it that?”

Cade didn’t answer right away. He looked at her like a man debating whether to lock a door or throw it wide open.

“We’ve had stories in Ashwood since before I was born,” he finally said. “People say things live out in those woods things older than the town itself. Most folks forget. Move on. But every now and then, something reminds them.”

Elena frowned. “You think this is one of those times?”

He opened a drawer and slid a folder across the desk. “This is what I didn’t send in the official report.”

Inside were photographs deep gashes in trees, enormous prints in the dirt, fur samples that didn’t match any known species. But what caught her eye was the image of the most recent victim. The body was barely recognizable. What remained of the clothing was shredded, but there was something clutched in the man’s fist. A pendant. Old, silver, and shaped like a crescent moon with strange markings carved into it.

“I’ve seen this before,” she murmured.

Cade’s eyes narrowed. “Where?”

She hesitated. Her brother had worn one. A matching symbol was carved into the tree outside their old treehouse, the one deep in the woods. The one her father never let them visit after dark.

“Elena,” Cade said quietly, “these attacks they’re not random. Every victim had a connection to your family. Your father, your brother… and now you.”

A chill crawled up her spine.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me this sooner?”

“Because you left,” he said simply. “And because we hoped it was over.”

She stood, the folder still open in her hands. “If something’s coming after the Wards, then I need to know what it is. And I need to know what happened to my brother.”

Cade didn’t stop her as she turned to leave. But his voice followed her out the door.

“Be careful, Elena. The woods reme

mber everything. And they don’t always forgive.”