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Prologue
The creak of the door alerts me to someone entering my room.
“Mama?” I roll over in bed expectedly.
But it’s Jaine, our neighbor. She rushes to me with wild hazel eyes and messy blonde hair, still in her blue nightgown with patches. Her face is pale, her breaths shallow and raspy. I remember the blood and tears drenching her cheeks when she first came to our settlement after the Shadow Monsters killed her family. It still scares me to remember the fear on her face… and now, she has the same look as she hurries into my room.
The hairs on the back of my neck lift, and I draw my blanket to my chest, a whimper falling from my lips. “What’s going on?”
“Meira, sweetie,” she whispers, breathing heavily. She is a bit younger than Mama, but already looks out for me. “Death stalks the day. We must be swift and silent now.” She chokes on her fast words as tears thread down her cheeks. There’s a glint in Jaine’s eyes, a window revealing a glimpse of her wolf lingering just below the surface. Her fear thickens the air in my room.
I shuffle to sit upright in bed, straightening my shoulders. “Where is Mama?” The morning light drenches my small room, and silhouettes dart past my windows outside. Their shadows are a frightening puppet show playing out across my drawn curtains.
They move fast.
There are too many of them. We’re made up of a dozen females hiding in this settlement from the danger outside. The ten-foot metal fences lined with barbed wire have always kept them out.
“Jaine, what’s going on?”
“The creatures are here.” She glances over her shoulder to the ajar door. “You need to hide.”
A chill fills my body. I hate the Shadow Monsters. I shiver, wrapping my arms around pajama top and pants. We’ve been on the run from the creatures before, then Mama and I found this place. Our refuge. Or so I thought.
“I have to find Mama,” I whisper.
But Jaine never answers me. She just snatches my arm and yanks me out of bed.
Pain flares through my limbs from the sickness I’ve suffered since birth. I wince as a pain, resembling claws, drags over my flesh. Mama insists it’s related to my wolf side trying to come out. I’m already fourteen and still haven’t experienced my first transformation. I shouldn’t to be alive as a result, but Mama says I’m her miracle girl. So for years we’ve fled the wolves who will have killed me for what I am and we joined other random female settlements to keep me safe. Mama lies to the other women and says I’m only eleven and not at puberty yet so they won’t want to kill me. I’m thin and look young for my age. Up to now, we’ve survived.
“Let’s be swift and silent, Meira. Repeat those words in your mind.”
My stomach hurts so bad. My gaze swings to the windows, at the commotion outside. Someone screams, and I cringe, grasping on to Jaine’s arm. Why isn’t Mama coming to get me? Where’s everyone else?
This is a safe haven. This is our home.
But Mama was wrong. The Shadow Monsters broke in like they always do.
Jaine leans down, gripping my shoulders, and looks me in the eyes. “Repeat the words: swift and silent. Over and over.”
Tears well in my eyes. One year of peace. That is all we’ve been granted, and now the demons are at our doorstep again.
Jaine takes my wrist, and we duck low as we hurry out of my bedroom and down the hall. She quietly opens the small cupboard door in the hallway where we keep brooms and winter boots. It’s where Mama made me practice hiding until I could find it blindfolded. There’s a lock on the inside of the door too.
“Swift and silent, baby girl, okay?” Jaine’s voice is panicked and shaky.
I stumble into the hiding spot and spin to face her. My heart pounds in my ears. “I’m scared.”
An explosive crash comes from somewhere in the background, rattling the whole house. Jaine shuts the door hastily, and darkness swallows me. With shaky fingers, I draw the metal lock into place and back away until my heels hit a bucket. Huddling down in the corner amid threadbare, I hug my knees.
I rock back and forth, trying not to whimper too loudly.
Swift and silent.
We were meant to be safe here. Mama promised me.
A woman screams in the distance, and I shudder.
Thundering growls, smashing glass, and scrambling footfalls hit the floorboards. I inhale my cries and wrap myself around my bent knees.
