Chapter One
Kyle Anderson decided something was wrong with Greywick on a Tuesday, which annoyed him because Tuesdays were supposed to be uneventful.
He noticed it while standing outside Greywick High, backpack slung over one shoulder, watching Elizabeth Carter argue with the front doors.
They weren't locked.
Liz pulled on the handle anyway, frowned, and tried again. She stepped back, tilted her head, and stared at the door like it had personally offended her.
Kyle smiled despite himself.
"Maybe it's shy," he said. "You have to encourage it."
Liz turned slowly. Her eyes narrowed in a way that meant she was deciding whether Kyle was worth the energy it would take to respond.
"Kyle," she said, "the school doors do not have feelings."
"You don't know that," he replied. "This one looks sensitive."
She sighed, the sound long-suffering but not genuinely annoyed, and tried the door a third time. It opened easily.
Kyle raised an eyebrow. "See? Positive reinforcement."
Liz shot him a look that was absolutely meant to be irritated—and absolutely failed. The corner of her mouth twitched before she caught it.
Kyle noticed.
He always did.
They walked inside together, matching pace without thinking about it. That was their thing: unplanned synchronization. They never talked about it. Talking about it would make it weird.
The hallway smelled like disinfectant and old paper. Lockers lined the walls, exactly where they had been yesterday. Kyle checked anyway.
"Did you hear the siren last night?" Liz asked.
"Which one?"
"The one at nine seventeen."
Kyle shrugged. "I was at the pier. It sounded… shorter."
Liz stopped walking.
Kyle stopped too, half a step ahead. He turned back, already knowing what her face would look like.
Focused. Thoughtful. A little too interested.
"It was shorter yesterday," she said. "And longer the night before. I timed it."
Kyle leaned against a locker. "You timed the town siren."
"I timed the sound," Liz corrected. "There's a difference."
"Of course there is."
She frowned at him. "You don't think that's strange?"
Kyle considered lying. He did that sometimes. It was easier.
Instead, he said, "I think a lot of things in Greywick are strange."
That got her attention.
Liz studied him for a moment, like she was trying to decide how much he already knew. Kyle let her. He liked when she looked at him like that—curious, careful, like he mattered.
The bell rang before she could ask anything else.
They moved again, slipping into the flow of students. Kyle walked her to her locker even though it was technically out of his way. Liz didn't comment on it. She never did.
As she spun the lock, papers slid out of her notebook and fluttered to the floor.
Kyle crouched immediately, scooping them up.
"Hey," she said. "You don't have to—"
"Already done," he replied, handing them back.
Their fingers brushed.
It wasn't dramatic. It wasn't electric. It was just enough to make both of them pause for half a second longer than necessary.
Liz took the papers.
Kyle stood.
They didn't say anything about it.
"Meet after school?" Kyle asked casually. "Pier?"
Liz hesitated. She always did. Then she nodded. "I want to check something first."
Kyle grinned. "Of course you do."
She rolled her eyes. "You're coming."
"Wasn't planning not to."
Liz closed her locker and finally looked directly at him. "Kyle… if something's wrong with this town—"
He softened, just a little. "Then we'll figure it out."
She searched his face, then nodded.
That trust settled between them, quiet and unspoken.
As Liz walked toward her classroom, Kyle watched her go, unaware of the way the hallway behind her shifted—just slightly—like it was correcting itself.
Greywick noticed them.
And it was paying attention now.