AUTHOR POV

Moonlight danced across the gentle swells of Los Pinos harbor as the pickup truck sputtered to a halt.

Tessa and Clarissa tumbled onto the damp dock, adrenaline still coursing hot through their veins.

The guard who had ferried them this far slipped away without a word, leaving them alone under the guardrail, the sea’s breath whispering promise and peril all at once.

Clarissa steadied herself against a wooden post, chest heaving. Tessa pressed a hand to her side—every muscle in her body trembled from the night’s horrors.

The harbor was deserted except for one car parked beneath the streetlamp, its headlights off and the engine purring softly.

A...