Awa did not leave that night. The rain returned shortly after midnight, drumming softly against the roof while she sat alone at the round table in the center of her house. Ashford County had long been a place where such boundaries wore thin. It was, in truth, one of the principal reasons she had settled there. Regions where reality weakened tended to gather peculiar things. Uncommon plants appeared where they ought not grow. Creatures occasionally wandered through open gates and found themselves hopelessly stranded. Unfortunately, not all visitors were harmless.

The first traces of morning light filtered through the curtains. Awa pushed herself away from the table with a weary sigh. If people were disappearing, she needed information. This, of course, required her to go into the nearby town. 

She always tried her best to stay out of the lives of the humans she lived alongside. She spent a millennia watching them evolve and advance their civilizations all across this place. Even still, some of their customs and quirks were slightly alien to her. This included their clothing.

A loose light-blue hoodie hung from her shoulders. A gray miniskirt fell above her knees, and a pair of faded pink canvas sneakers completed the ensemble. Awa looked at herself in the mirror as she focused on making sure her much-too-obvious horns and tail shrank back into her body. The effect was reasonably successful, though one unavoidable complication remained.

Her vivid purple hair.

“Close enough,” she said, hoping that the elders and more conservative types assumed she was just another freak living the “alternative lifestyle.”

From across the room, the pink chainsaw resting against the wall seemed almost judgmental.

“You’re staying here.”

The weapon offered no objection.

“Good.”

With that, she collected her satchel and departed.

The journey to Millhaven occupied the better part of the morning. A narrow country road wound through a landscape of low hills, neglected pastures, and intermittent stretches of woodland. Dew lingered in the grass beside the roadway, soaking the edges of Awa’s shoes whenever she drifted too near the shoulder.

Gradually, signs of habitation became more frequent. Power lines stretched across the fields, and mailboxes appeared beside long gravel drives vanishing into clusters of trees. Occasionally a truck would pass, its driver acknowledging her with a brief gesture from behind the wheel. After witnessing this custom several times, Awa began returning the gesture herself.

By the fourth attempt, she almost appeared to know what she was doing. The air carried the scent of wet earth and pine. Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked with the persistent determination peculiar to rural communities. Compared to the infernal realm of her birth, the countryside felt peaceful. Almost impossibly so.

The road eventually curved around a low rise. Beyond it lay Millhaven. Awa stopped. The town occupied a shallow valley and appeared, at first glance, entirely ordinary. Red-brick storefronts lined the main thoroughfare. Newer businesses occupied renovated buildings whose architecture hinted at more prosperous decades. A church steeple rose above the rooftops, while a water tower stood watch from the outskirts like a silent sentinel. It all felt contained. It’s the sort of place where generations accumulated rather than moved away.

As she entered the town proper, she became aware of a quiet but unmistakable curiosity among its residents. Several teenagers seated outside a convenience store looked up from their phones and followed her progress with mild interest. Across the street, an elderly couple tending flowers paused briefly in their work as she passed. None of it felt hostile. If anything, the people of Millhaven seemed unusually close-knit. 

Awa did her best to attract no additional attention. Unfortunately, bright purple hair proved remarkably effective at accomplishing the opposite. Because of this, she noticed more than a few double takes. One small girl pointed directly at her. Awa returned the gesture and pointed back. The girl’s mother immediately apologized and shuffled her in the opposite direction. 

The first several hours produced little of practical value. Most of the stories she heard were rumors and a few were wildly exaggerated. Tall tales of UFOs or bloodthirsty Satanists jammed in between truths that came from last night’s broadcast. One older man insisted he had heard voices calling his name from the woods despite finding himself entirely alone. Another local high schooler claimed he had discovered a scattering of dollar bills along an old trail. According to him, the blessing vanished the moment he looked away.

That detail interested Awa considerably. An interesting lure that surely came from something closer to her than the sleepy residents of Millhaven. She filed the information away and continued her interrogations.

By midday, she found herself seated outside a diner whose tea she regarded as deeply disappointing. Nevertheless, she remained there long enough to overhear a substantial amount of local gossip.

Eventually a waitress approached.

“You’re asking about the disappearances?”

Awa looked up.

“That obvious?”

“You’ve talked to half the town.”

“Fair.”

The waitress laughed softly, which made her fiery hair bounce off her shoulders. Awa glanced at the small, golden nametag pinned to her uniform.

“Lilly”, she said, extending her hand

“Uhh…Jane”

She had heard that name in a song once, and it soon became her go-to alias

“Nice to meet ya, Jane.” “If you’re really serious about learning something, you ought to speak with Mr. Whitaker.”

“Who’s that?”

“The librarian.”

Awa raised an eyebrow.

“The librarian?”

“Yeah, he’s kind of a local legend around here. Most people go to him when they want to know something.”

The waitress lowered her voice.

“And lately he’s been warning people to stay away from the Pit.” Something about that immediately caught Awa’s attention. “It’s the old cave system north of town,” Lilly said, shrugging, and rolling her eyes. “The county closed the entrance up years ago, but I guess it went about as well as everything else they try to fix. Bunch of lazy idiots if you ask me.” 

Awa chuckled. “Well, I guess I’ll go talk to this Mr. Whitaker then.” “Thanks a lot for your help.” She grabbed her bag and stood up. “Um, you kinda have to pay for that,” Lilly said, motioning towards Awa’s empty cup. “Oh, right.” Awa reached into her bag and grabbed the few loose dollars she kept and handed them to Lilly. 

“I like you; we should keep in touch,” Lilly said while writing out Awa’s receipt. “I’ll give you my number, and maybe you can let me know if you find something out from Mr. Whitaker.” She smiled, and Awa smiled back, thinking that this would probably be a good excuse for her to get a phone after all this time.

By the time Awa had finally made her way through the poorly paved streets of Millhaven, the sun was starting to settle itself below the swaying treeline. The narrow one-way street that led up to the old library was dotted with little weeds that grew proudly over the asphalt. A set of stairs started abruptly off to the side of what Awa could only assume was a neglected parking lot. When she had reached the top, she stood for a second to admire the architecture in front of her. It was a large but squat building with marble columns stretching from the ground to the roof. Vines hung from planters built straight into the walls, making the structure seem much older than it probably was. A decaying fountain stood guard over an array of flowers that were being taken over by grass. Awa made her way to the large wooden doors and stepped inside. Once her eyes had adjusted to the dimly lit interior, she noticed that everything seemed slightly familiar. Wall-to-ceiling bookshelves, small reading tables, and various documents haphazardly hung up on the walls. 

“How can I help you today, Missy?” a voice called from a dark corner.

A larger lamp clicked on, allowing Awa to locate the source of the voice.

“Hello, yes, I’m here to see Mr. Whitaker,” Awa said uncertainly

“Well, you’re looking at him.”

Mr. Whitaker was a tall, slender man with a white goatee that was tamed into a clean point. He had a long, heavy drawl that seemed to date him older than the town itself. 

“It’s nice to meet you, sir.” “I came to see what you could tell me about the people going missing around here. Most everyone I talked to has mixed ideas about what’s going on.” Awa moved closer to the corner desk.

“Ah, yes, you’re about the fourth person to come in today,” Mr Whitaker said, scratching his chin. “I’ve already added this whole deal to my list of weird things that happen around these parts.” “But first it seems you already know who I am, so who do I have the pleasure of speaking with tonight?”

“Jane,” Awa said almost too quickly.

“Well, it’s mighty fine to know you, Jane.”

Awa caught a strange glint dancing in Mr. Whitaker’s icy-blue eyes. This made her uneasy, but she quickly brushed it off.

“I suspect all the poor souls going missing are somehow getting into trouble down by the old cave system. We’ve pulled people out of there before, but it was nowhere close to this many at once.” Mr. Whitaker sighed. “Six in Millhaven alone. No telling how many from the other towns.” 

“Six?” Awa said, a little surprised. “That must be why they sent out the announcement.”

Mr. Whitaker nodded in agreement. 

The sun had completely set now. The tall windows of the library had been all but demoted to mirrors that amplified the amber glow of the reading lamps. Airy scents of aged paper and leather teased Awa’s nose and reminded her that she really wanted to be sitting at home filling out her notes.

“Here, I’ll show you the area we’re dealing with.” Mr. Whitaker reached under his desk and felt around for a moment. “There you are,” he said, pulling out a large print of what looked like the town and surrounding forest. “The cave entrance itself is about an hour’s walk into the woods, but there are twelve or so trails that snake to and through it. If I were going to go check it out, I’d definitely take this one.” He pointed to a thin line cutting across the forest from one side to the other. “It’ll lead you straight to the entrance. Or what used to be the entrance.”

“Right, I heard the county closed it up years ago,” Awa said, tracing back along the line with her finger.

“They tried, but those idiots can’t do nothing right”

“Lilly said the same thing,” Awa said jokingly

“You talked to Lilly?” Mr. Whitaker perked up a little. “That girl right there is a good one. She’d give you the shirt off her back if you asked for it.” 

Awa nodded. “I can tell.” She smiled, remembering how kind Lilly seemed.

Mr Whitaker looked back down at the map. “There’s a few more things I’ll tell you before you go prancing off into those woods, though”

Awa shifted her stance. “I didn’t say I was going in; I just wanted to get the facts straight.”

“You really want me to believe you came all the way up here just to ask a couple of questions?” Mr. Whitaker insisted, smirking.

“You said a few more things?” Awa asked as her bluff dissipated

“First of all, there is no reason you need to be out there too late at night. I’m not the conspiratorial type, but there is enough talk about stuff crawling around to mean that it’s not a good idea.”

“Right, got it.”

“Second, It’s best to stay on the trails at all times.” Mr. Whitaker narrowed his eyes. “If you do get off the trail, watch your feet and follow the foxfire.”

“What’s foxfire?” Awa asked.

“You’ll know it when you see it. You’re a smart girl, Himari.”

Ice crept through all of the veins in Awa’s body. Her ears twitched in disbelief as she stared unblinkingly at the spindly old man sitting calmly in front of her. “What did you just say?” A thickness had filled the air in the room. The words seemed to linger there, suspended like smoke that refused to disperse. Even the faint crackle of the lantern on the table had dwindled into an uneasy murmur. Awa became suddenly aware of every sound her own body made.

Then suddenly, the world outside erupted as a nearby townhouse was devoured by flames.