Christmas Eve with Krampus (The Beasts of Blackmoor #2)

Prologue

PROLOGUE

B lackmoor is a myth.

A legend.

A place on the other side of the world from where I lived by myself in middle-of-nowhere Alabama, rumors run that it’s the same forest spoken of in every single fairytale ever told… and after spending the last three years obsessed with the idea that it might be real, I’ve found it.

I’m here .

Because it is real. It exists . And if the forest does—and the council can be believed—so do the monsters they make it their home. The ones in those very same stories… and the ones I’ll have to survive if I want to win .

I’m here, and after two weeks of interviews, of tests, of my blood being drawn and every part of my body—the good and the bad—being poked and prodded while I held my breath… after two weeks of knowing I could be sent packing if the council doesn’t approve my application to test myself against the infamous forest, I’m going to sacrifice three days to the woods—and, if I make it out of them alive at the stroke of midnight on the 26th, I’ll earn the one thing I want in this world.

The odds aren’t in my favor, but I’m going to go through with this anyway. I’ll bet on myself to get that prize, and even if no one else has ever had faith in me, I always will.

Watch out, monsters?—

You better not pout. You better not cry.

Because this Christmas?

Josie is coming for you.