Chapter 1

Chapter One

I t wasn't the first time Ryan had left her stranded. In the short six months they'd been dating, this was the third time she'd had to find her own ride somewhere. This was the first time he'd left her this far from anywhere, though. The other two times, she had been able to take an Uber home.

She doubted that she'd be able to hire a car to drive her to Hidden Creek this far out in the country.

Her luck with men had never been good. She'd believed that Ryan was different. Sure, she hadn't strayed far from her type as far as looks go. She couldn't help but fall for the muscular types. Meatheads. Jocks. She'd believed he was different from all her other boyfriends because Ryan was a runner, not a football player. He'd fooled her.

The fact that he'd called her a crazy bitch, well, that was odd. It wasn't the first time someone had called her bitch or crazy, but both at once? Never.

This was the last time she'd fall for someone like him. Being stranded at the hotel roughly twenty miles from home was a nuisance. Well, her old home, at any rate. For the past year, she'd called her small one-room apartment in Atlanta home. She hadn't strayed far from where she'd grown up, but at least she had technically been out of Hidden Creek.

She and Ryan had broken things off at least once before. This time, however, when he came crawling back to her, there was nothing he could do to change her mind. The relationship was finally over. Actually, thinking about it, she might just take a break from men altogether.

Why not take a year or two to focus on herself? School had been going great and even though she had to work a stupid job to keep up with her classes, she might just redefine who she was.

Find herself.

For now, however, she had to get back to Hidden Creek somehow.

The next morning, with few other choices, she headed over to the diner across the road from the hotel. Normally, she would have called her brother, since her parents were out of town for a month-long trip to Alaska.

The only reason she worried about calling Joe and his wife Liz to come get her was that they were expecting their first child any day now. That was the whole reason she and Ryan had been heading back to Hidden Creek in the first place. They had planned on staying at her parents' place until her new nephew or niece was born.

Why her folks had planned an extensive trip when their first grandchild was due was beyond her.

Joe and Liz were keeping the gender of the baby a secret, so she'd bought neutral-colored gifts. But they were still in Ryan's car. Good luck getting those gifts back from him. Ryan had also taken off with her purse. Her bad habit of always leaving it in her car stung now.

At least she'd had her cell phone and ten dollars in her pocket, which would pay for her breakfast.

Dressed in her worn jeans and one of Ryan's old college sweatshirts that he'd left behind, she headed across the street to the diner. Her makeup bag had been in the car, so she went without. Her brush was in the same bag, so she tied her long blonde hair in a braid.

It was lucky that she'd decided to head to the diner. She'd still been debating waking Joe up, but knowing he worked at the liquor store that he'd inherited a few years back from their uncle, she'd hesitated.

Then she'd spotted the cute couple sitting at the diner and had overheard them mentioning Hidden Creek. It wasn't that strange, as they were less than twenty miles from the town and, along this stretch of highway, you were either heading towards the small town she'd grown up in or back to Atlanta. A fifty-fifty shot.

Besides, the woman, an Asian beauty roughly her age, kept glancing at her as if she knew her. Had she gone to school with her?

She stood up and instantly felt like sitting back down. But then she locked eyes with the woman and something drew her across the room towards them.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," she said, feeling as if she had no control over her own body, "but did I overhear that you are heading to Hidden Creek?"

"We are," the man answered smoothly, as if they'd been waiting for her.

What was she doing? Why couldn't she turn around and go sit back down?

"I hate to ask, but can I get a ride with you?" she said, totally shocked that she was asking strangers for a ride. This wasn't like her. "I'm from there and, well, my boyfriend…" She rattled on and rolled her eyes. "Well, now he's my ex. He just broke up with me and left me at the hotel. He even took my purse, and I only had ten dollars in my pocket. I'm Amy, by the way. Amy Reed." Shut up. Why couldn't she just shut up? "My brother Joe owns a liquor store in Hidden Creek. Hidden Creek Wine & Liquor, if you've heard of it. You can look me up. I'm not some crazy woman, I swear." Oh god, this was just going horribly. She felt her face heat as she continued to just vomit words. "I was going to call my brother and have him come give me a ride, but…" She shrugged and glanced out the window wishing she was anywhere but here. Why was she doing this? She always did this. "I didn't want to wake him or Liz up this early in the morning since they work late at the store and, well, Liz is pregnant."

"Why don't you have a seat?" The man motioned towards the spot next to the woman.

"Thanks," she said and, to her horror, she actually sat down.

"I swear Ryan normally doesn't do this. Just up and leave me." She sighed. "Joe's been warning me about the guy for months. I guess he was right." She sagged in her chair. "Gosh, you two are such a cute couple. What are your names?" she asked as she bit her lip. There, that would force her to shut up.

The man motioned to the woman. "This is Mia. I'm Lucas."

"Are you just visiting Hidden Creek?" she asked as she fidgeted in her seat.

"We're… thinking of moving there," Mia admitted.

"I actually know your brother," Lucas said, surprising her.

"You do?" Mia and Amy said at the same time.

Lucas smiled and nodded. "I met him the last time I was in Hidden Creek. He helped me with… a problem that I had. We rented a house a few miles from their house," Lucas said.

"Oh, cool." Amy relaxed slightly. The fact that the man already knew her brother made her feel better about barging in on the couple.

For the next half hour, while they waited for her food, they chatted about the town, what each of them did for a living, and how they had met. She found the story of them meeting through a mutual friend very interesting. They left out a lot of details, but Amy didn't mind. She could tell they were in love and far closer to each other than she and Ryan, or any other boyfriend she'd had for that matter, had ever been.

Once they were finished eating, they climbed into Lucas's car and headed towards town. They were about a mile out of Hidden Creek when Mia asked Lucas to pull over.

"What's wrong?" he asked when she jumped out of the car.

Amy worried that Mia was going to be sick. Had she eaten something bad at the restaurant? She knew that bird flu had passed through the state a few weeks back so maybe it was that.

"Are you okay?" Amy asked Mia when she climbed out of the car after her.

"You need to come with me," Mia said, shocking her, then she took her hand and started pulling her through the tall grass. "Trust me."

She frowned over at Lucas, who shrugged. "Let's take a walk," he suggested, and the three of them walked through the field.

"Here." Mia stopped frowning as she did a full circle.

"Wrong time?" Lucas asked.

Mia was glancing up at the sky. "We need to come back," she said finally.

"What's going on?" Amy asked. "Why are we in the Anderson's field?" She knew this field well. Actually, her parents' place was less than a mile from here. If she wanted, she could just walk home.

Lucas turned to her and then did a circle. "Where's the silo?" he surprised her by asking.

"Gosh, you know about that?" Amy smiled. Then she turned and pointed in the direction of the old military silo. It wasn't as if it was a town secret. In the past few years, there had been plenty of stories circulating about strange things happening down there. Some of which included her brother and his wife, along with their new group of friends. "Just over there. Jacob keeps the entrance locked now. We used to go down there and party all the time in school," she admitted.

"We will need the others," Lucas said to Mia. "For now…" He glanced at his watch. "I can text them to meet us at the Harvest Moon Family Restaurant. We just ate, but I bet everyone else would enjoy brunch." Lucas turned to Amy and smiled. "My sister Tara owns the new place."

"Oh, I'd heard that it opened up a few weeks back. I've been out of town for… a while." She shrugged. "I can walk from here," she suggested when they headed back to the car. She didn't want to bother the couple any further.

"No, it's okay. I'll text Joe and have him meet us there too," Lucas said, pulling out his phone.

By the time they'd all climbed back into the car, his phone chimed with her brother's reply.

"They're heading there now," he said to the car.

"Thanks," Amy said and sat back. She was quiet for the rest of the trip, deep in thought about what she was going to tell her brother about being abandoned outside of town.

When they pulled into town, all of the tension Amy had been feeling for the past few hours disappeared.

She hated to admit it, but being home felt right.

When she stepped into the new restaurant, she instantly wanted to make her escape. But a few more people came in and, for some reason, she became too curious to leave. Introductions were made over lunch. Everyone was there.

She knew everyone. Some had grown up in the small town while others were new. She had known Xtina for years and had met her husband Michael at least once before. They had a daughter named Harper.

Brea and Ethan were both new to town. Ethan was Michael's twin. They had a son named Milo.

Both Jess and Jacob were locals and had a son Reed. It had been a shock to find out a few years back that Jacob was Michael and Ethan's older brother, who had been given up for adoption against their parents' wishes when they'd been teenagers. Jacob was the law in town and had taken over for his adopted father a few years back.

There was a woman named Joleen and her husband Mason.

Lucas's sisters, Tara and Selene, were also there with Tara's fiancé Colt and Selene's boyfriend Scott. Selene and Scott were very friendly with Mia and Lucas, while Tara and Colt acted as if they'd only met the couple a few times before.

When Joe and Liz walked in, Amy felt a rush of embarrassment hit her when her brother wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm going to kill him for leaving you stranded," he whispered in her ear. "Later."

She wanted to argue with him, but in truth, she wanted to get her hands on Ryan just as badly.

"I'll let you," she said back.

Tara and Colt had just opened the restaurant, Harvest Moon Family Restaurant, and since neither of them had had a chance to sit down and talk much, she didn't know much about them.

"We don't close for a few more hours," Tara said to the entire group when she stopped by their table to refill everyone's water. "But if you want, we can all meet out at Xtina and Michael's place this evening?"

"That'll do. We want to go check into our rental and maybe have a shower and change," Lucas said.

"Let's say eight?" Xtina suggested.

Amy didn't think their conversation had anything to do with her, so she happily nibbled on the onion rings her brother bought for her while the rest of the group talked about cooking dinner at Xtina and Michael's place.

She planned to get to her parents' place, shower, change into some old clothes that she kept there, and watch an old movie while she ate all the junk food her mother kept hidden around the house.

After they finished their food, they all left and went their separate ways. Joe dropped her off at her parents' place and she took a very long bubble bath and enjoyed her parents' jacuzzi tub and her mother's expensive bath salts and shampoos.

Then she pulled on her thickest and most comfortable pajamas, the ones with the cows all over them, and climbed into bed. Even though it was two in the afternoon, she fell fast asleep.

At first, she didn't realize that she was dreaming. The mist circling her blocked her vision, making her believe that she was in a large room filled with smoke. Her lungs burned with the dampness of the space. Her skin, muscles, and even her bones ached as if she'd been beaten.

All the time she heard water dripping. Slowly. Methodically. Annoyingly.

She was freezing and soaked to the bone.

"Hey," someone whispered. "Are you okay?"

She blinked and a dark figure formed across the space.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

"Hey," the voice came again, sounding more worried.

She blinked and looked up into dark eyes filled with concern. Eyes she oddly knew. Eyes that awakened something deep down in her soul.

A blast of something she'd never felt before caused every fiber of her body to jolt. She screamed and jerked under its power.

"Hey!" Drip, Drip. "Wake up!"

Her eyes jerked open as she sat up, breathless, covered in sweat. Her body shook.

It took her a few moments to get herself back under control. Everything she was wearing was soaked. Either from sweat or… had she been in that damp room? No, that was impossible.

Besides, there was no way that she'd just seen her high school crush, Dante Hicks, standing over her wearing some sort of a gladiator's outfit.