It Came From the Forest

On Submission

All 16-year-old Cassie Davis wants is to slip into quiet anonymity at her new school after she’s diagnosed with Autism, but when an old friend reappears in her life and invites her on a camping trip, she realizes she’ll do anything to fit in.

Sophomore Cassie is less than excited to start at her new school—she’s just been diagnosed with Autism and feels like she’ll never fit in anywhere. Plus, moving back to Seattle reminds her of her uncle, who was paralyzed on a hiking trip when she was younger. When Cassie runs into her childhood best friend, Jac, at Regency Cross Academy’s new student orientation, she agrees to go on the annual rising junior hiking trip, eager to get out of the house for a while. Maybe her mom’s predictions that she’ll end up forever alone are wrong.

On the trail, Cassie does her best to make friends, and finds herself leaning on Jac for support—and affection. Yet when she wakes up to an empty campsite, she assumes it’s a practical joke at her expense. Alone in the midst of a severe thunderstorm, Cassie makes the ill-advised decision to walk back to the trailhead. Something large moves in the trees, groaning in the branches. The trailhead never materializes, and Cassie runs blindly from the monster she’s sure is in pursuit. When she comes around from being struck by lightning, she finds herself on the outskirts of a village.

Hangenbaum is home to nearly fifty families, led by a pair of charismatic Elders and their Rorschach mystery daughter. They try to soothe her fears, promising to call the Forest Service to find her classmates. All she has to do is wait.

As days pass without rescue, Cassie finds silver bells and crow feathers hung at the perimeter of the forest. A stage and a salt circle are set up in town. The noises in the trees grow louder, and there are whispers of a dark ritual to keep the evil within the forest at bay. When Jac shows up, injured and scared, Cassie must make a choice: challenge the town elders and try to leave with Jac, or sit in uneasy silence. What if the silver on the edge of the forest isn’t to keep the evil out, but to keep it in?

One Liner

A teen newly diagnosed with Autism goes on a camping trip to make friends but finds herself in a strange village dominated by an odd family of elders and a maybe-cult.

Comps

SMALL FAVORS by Erin A. Craig, THE WHISPERING DARK by Kelly Andrew

Audience

Teens who enjoy books with strong mental health and queer representation backgrounded by folk horror

Word Count

70,000