Chapter 28 Shadow
The city swallowed them whole, the crowd carrying Aiden and Evie forward like driftwood in a current.
I trailed close, closer than I’d ever dared, hidden in plain sight.
No shadows this time, no car parked half a block down with the engine idling.
Just me, walking with the rest of them, shoulder to shoulder with strangers who would never realize what they were brushing past.
The summer festival in downtown Havenwood was the perfect place for me to blend right in.
Evie didn’t even know how exposed she was here—or maybe she didn’t care. Among all these people, she thought she was safe. She thought anonymity was protection. But anonymity only makes you blind—it lets the predator step right up beside you.
I matched their pace, not more than a dozen feet behind.
Her laugh rose above the noise, sharp and bright, cutting me open.
Aiden leaned down, whispering something against her ear, and she smiled like she couldn’t help it.
My stomach twisted. Every time she smiled at him, it was like she was taking something from me, something she had no right to.
I edged closer, weaving through the bodies between us, feeling the thrum of the crowd like it was electricity in my veins. I could smell her perfume when the wind shifted—sweet, light—nothing like the venom she really hid beneath the surface.
And then it happened.
She turned her head, scanning the tide of people, her gaze cutting across faces without pause. Until it landed on mine.
The world seemed to stop.
Her eyes held mine, steady for a breath.
I couldn’t move—didn’t even try to. I wanted her to see me. I wanted her to look. I wanted her to wonder.
Something flickered across her face. Recognition? Confusion? A faint crease formed between her brows, like she almost knew me, like I wasn’t another stranger in the crowd. My pulse hammered, and for a dizzy second, I thought she might say something to Aiden, might point me out, might—
But then he tugged her arm, pulling her attention back to him, dragging her away like he always does. The connection snapped. She didn’t look again.
The current of people surged between us, but I didn’t let myself get swept back.
I stayed close, riding that razor edge where one wrong step would put me right at her shoulder.
My hand flexed at my side, itching to reach out, to brush against her coat sleeve, to prove to myself she was real and within reach.
I didn’t. Not yet.
Instead I watched the way her body moved through the crowd, the little shifts of her shoulders as she made space for Aiden, the way she tilted her head when he leaned down again.
It could be me beside her. She could have turned that smile on me.
Maybe she will.
Because she saw me. I know she did. Maybe she’ll lie to herself later and say I was no one. Just another face. But it won’t matter. I’ll be the face she remembers when she lies awake at night, the one that lingers in the back of her mind when she tries to forget.
That’s the beauty of being close. Once they’ve looked at you, really looked, you can’t be erased.
I let the crowd thicken between us again, slipping a little farther back. It was dangerous to press too hard tonight. But I didn’t need more than that single glance. It was enough to keep me alive for days, weeks. Enough to keep me hungry.
And the next time—I won’t stop at a fleeting glance.