Page 1 of Pareidolia

PROLOGUE: THERE’S SOMETHING IN THE FOREST

Shadows obscure the faces settled around the firelight, but they’re all there for the same reason. It’s not so much a story as a ritual—when you come to the woods, you gather around the firepit that was dug out so long ago the stones laid around it are worn smooth, and you tell a story.

You offer it to the fire, to the embers, to the stars in the sky. You feed the earth terror.

At least you try.

And the young man who leans forward seems as if he wants to try. Like he wants to impress. His lips curl up in a wicked smile as he starts to speak.

“Did you hear the story of the beast that haunts the forest?” Before he can continue, the girl beside him laughs.

“We all have a story about creatures who haunt the woods. You have to be more specific, Malachi.”

His eyes swing to her, but she doesn’t wilt under his glare. When she holds his gaze, he’s finally the one to break, turning back to the fire.

“Well, this one is true. It’s a beast with wings—” He doesn’t let the little snort of derision from his companions stop him. “Enormous red and white wings, with black eyes in the center. Devil eyes, demon eyes. Dead eyes. It can smell your fear, your wants, your desires. It knows how to lure you in.”

“Malachi, that’s…”

“There was a boy walking through here alone once, right after his mother died. It could smell the sorrow on him. Do you know what it did? It talked to him in her voice, promised him he could see her again. And for a while, he could. For a while, he could see her face there in that swirl of red and white. So he stepped off the path and into the woods.”

There are no more interruptions now, maybe because Malachi’s voice sounds honest. Maybe because it doesn’t sound like a story so much as someone recounting something that happened to them.

Maybe because Malachi’s mother had died a few months earlier, and for a while, he’d gone missing. They’d just found him a week ago.

“What happened next?” When the girl speaks again, her voice is soft.

A little scared.

“He followed it into the woods, and it took him in its arms—so many arms. It bit him with sharp teeth, tore into him with vicious claws.” He reaches up and touches a spot on his shoulder. “And then he looked into its eyes… and for a while, he thought he’d lost his soul.”

When the kids around the fire look at Malachi again, they can see it there. Dark eyes, dead eyes. Fathomless.

Empty.

He’d just come back a week ago.

They’d all wanted him to.

They’d all missed him.

And then they heard his voice calling in the woods.

Only now, as he looks up and smiles—as sharp teeth flash in the firelight—they all realize…

Malachi has wings.

Red wings.

White wings.

Wings with eyes that burn as black as the night as they flutter and flick, making them all sway forward as the fire in front of them burns out.

And then there are only screams.

CHAPTER 1

ASPEN