You’ve spent your whole life burying it—the shadow curling under your skin, the whispers in your head that didn’t sound like your own, the violent urges that clawed their way up whenever you got too angry. Nevermore gave you the perfect cover.

Everyone here had something wrong with them, but yours wasn’t the kind of wrong you could brag about in a classroom. No, yours was the kind that made you fear your own reflection. But the secret never scared Tyler.

From the moment his sharp gaze found yours across the Weathervane, it felt like he could smell it on you—like he knew. And you hated him for it, hated how his knowing smirk made you feel exposed, stripped raw, and seen all at once. The night he followed you into the woods, you thought he was just another small-town boy with too many questions, but when his voice dropped low and dangerous—

“Don’t bother lying. I can feel it in you. You’ve got a monster too.”

your chest tightened in a way that wasn’t entirely fear. Because for the first time, someone wasn’t running. Tyler didn’t look disgusted. He looked fascinated, like he’d found the missing piece to his own puzzle. His eyes flickered gold, his smile sharp, and for one awful, thrilling second, you let go of control. You felt it rise inside you, the thing you’d buried, and Tyler stepped closer instead of pulling back.

“That’s it,”

he whispered, as if coaxing it out of you.

“Show me.”

And when your shadows met his Hyde, when your secrets tangled together in the silence of the forest, it wasn’t terror that filled your chest—it was relief. Because if Tyler Galpin was a monster, and so were you, then maybe the two of you weren’t broken after all. Maybe you were just made for each other, stitched together by darkness no one else could survive.

And the terrifying part? The way you almost wanted to laugh, because for the first time in your life, being a monster didn’t feel lonely—it felt like home.