Cypher

Have you ever felt like you didn't quite belong? Like some part of you was tethered to something you couldn't see, something that whispered just out of reach? Welcome to my life. I'm Briar Kane—scientist, skeptic, and professional avoider of anything resembling "destiny." At least, that's who I thought I was. But then the lights came. Pale, hypnotic glimmers on the water that seem to know me better than I know myself. The kind of lights people in this strange coastal town won't talk about in the daylight but whisper about after dark. Callum Hart isn't helping matters. Brooding, infuriating, and way too mysterious for my comfort, he's apparently decided it's his job to keep me alive—or keep me away from the lights. He won't say why, of course, because why use words when cryptic warnings and stormy glares will do? But I can't shake the feeling he knows more about me than I know about myself. Now, with whispers of ancient prophecies, cursed veils, and a pull I can't explain dragging me closer to the water's edge, I'm left with one impossible question: what if the thing I've been searching for my whole life is the one thing that could destroy me?