“Hearts Entwined: The Shadow's Claim"

Arrival in the Shadows Astrid’s POV I should have known better than to believe I could settle in somewhere like this. I sensed it the instant I entered Moonshadow: the weight of something evil and ancient hiding under the surface. But following all I had been through, this town attracted me. Starting over here seemed like the proper spot to leave my past behind and reconstruct my life. As I strolled up the little road to my new house, the fog hung to the ground. The cottage was old, half-covered with a moss roof and aged stone walls. It was modest. Though not much, it was enough from everyone else to allow me to at last breathe. I opened the groaning wooden door. Though it was equally as old and battered, the inside had certain appeal: a little fireplace, some dusty books on the shelves, and a window staring out into the forest. I opened my bag on the ground and inhaled deeply. This would be my fresh start. Even as I attempted to believe I could make it work, though, a part of me felt uncomfortable as though I were being observed. I dismissed the sensation, reminding myself it was only jitters, and began sorting the few things I had packed. Though I had not spent more than a day in Moonshadow, I already knew this village was unique. The folks were still and quiet; their eyes flew to the shadows as though they were terrified of something. The woman at the store stared at me with a mix of pity and terror when I asked for directions to the cottage, as though she knew something I did not. This place had something about which the hair on the back of my neck stood on edge. Here the fog appeared to be heavier, the shadows darker. Even the woodland felt strange; the huge, motionless trees seemed to be guarding secrets. I understood what it was like to feel imprisoned and to live in anxiety. But this was different. This was something more than one person's control; it was something older, something that had endured for a great length of time. I felt I wasn't alone as I stood in the small living room. As though the cabin itself were observing me. Looking around the room, everything seemed regular. Still, the sensation of being observed would not vanish. I aimed to make the cottage livable and tried to ignore it. I attempted to make it feel like home by tidying, reorganizing the furniture. But no matter what I did, I kept having the impression that someone or something was observing me. Every time I peered out the window, I half-expected to see someone staring at me among the trees. Though the idea made me shudder down my spine, I resisted allowing dreadful rules. For too far had I come. The discomfort deepened as night fell. The cottage's shadows appeared to move on their own, stretched out. The old wooden timbers creaked as the wind outside howled. Lighting a fire, I hoped it would drive the chill that had seeped into my bones away. The cottage seemed chilly even with the fire though. The shadows appeared alive, reaching out for me and whirling. One felt more and more watched. Picking one of the dusty books from the shelf helped me try to divert myself but I couldn't concentrate. My head kept returning to the jungle and the sense of terror I had experienced upon landing Moonshadow. I actually was running from? Was it something deeper, darker, or the recollections of the person who had kept me captive? Lost in contemplation, I sat there and heard a small, hardly whisper-like sound. The heart skipped a beat. I listened, then held my breath. There it was once more, a gentle murmur like voices carried on the breeze. From the shadows now encircling the cabin, they seemed to be from the forest. My pulse sharpening, I got up. I reminded myself it was only the wind, the sounds of the forest at night. Deeply down, though, I knew better. Long ago, somewhere far from here, I had heard their voices before. My palm trembled as I went for the pendant around my neck—the lone item from my former life. Gift from my mother before she died was a little silver crescent moon. I gripped it hard, as though it might guard me from everything. The murmurs got louder and more definite. Though distorted and difficult to grasp, they were words nonetheless—not only voices. And they were phoning under my name. "Astrid..." My blood was frigid. How might they know my name? Here, buried from the world, from my past, I was meant to be safe. But it felt as though the past had followed me, casting its sinister shadows alongside. Heart hammering, I turned away from the window. The whispering got louder until I could hear nothing else. The shadows on the walls seemed to reach for me with open hands. And then the whispering stopped, quite as abruptly as they had begun. Still more terrible was the quiet that followed. The entire planet seemed to have stopped still, awaiting something to happen. Frozen, I stood there as my mind flew. Into what had I become involved? Had I simply swapped one jail for another, or was I really safe here? Thick and suffocating, the fog outside pressed against the windows, and I knew that whatever was out there wasn't going to let me go readily. I broke out from my thoughts at the sound of something scratching at the door. My eyes fixed on the door, my breath seized in my throat and I stepped back. Slow and deliberate, the scratching persisted like whatever was on the other side was playing with me. Though I wanted to run to go as far from Moonshadow as I could, I was unable to move. The hut as well as my own dread imprisoned me. The door shook, the handle moving slowly, and I knew I was about to run across whatever had been observing me. Just a bit, the door creaked open, but it was enough to set my heart pounding. I held the closest object I could find—a rusty old poker from the fireplace—out front. Though my hands shook, I pushed myself to be steady. The door opened more broadly, and in the darkness I saw bright eyes, red and threatening, looking at me. I knew I was in trouble as the creature advanced, it's dark form hovering over me. Then, though, the figure disappeared just as rapidly as it had shown. My heart thumping in my ears, the door closed, the wind outside roaring, and I was left standing there alone in the dark. I realized then I couldn't stay here. Moonshadow was a place where the past refused to remain buried, where secrets evolved into something horrible, not only a town with a sinister past. And nothing that was out there in the forest would stop until it got me. But right now I have come too far to turn back. One dream had evaded me; I was not ready to let another bring me down. I was more robust than this. I felt obliged to be. I would start seeking solutions early the following morning. No matter how far they were buried, I would find the secrets of Moonshadow. I knew I wouldn't be free if I didn't since. And Moonhadow's shadows would swallow me.