First published 2026
A bone-white crow arrives in Sylvie Singer's backyard, bringing trouble with it. An FBI raid exposes her father's secret life and destroys everything she knew. The town of Pine Ridge Hollow already despised her for her father's crimes, and now she has nowhere left to go except the abandoned railway station deep in the cursed West Woods. She dodges the carnivorous white deer that prowl there and counts down her remaining high school days until she can escape forever. Then Sylvie meets Illican, a horned god trapped in the West Woods who suffers even more than she does. He offers to teach her magic that could rescue both her town and herself. But Illican is dying, and Pine Ridge Hollow wants nothing from Sylvie Singer. The town sits ready to explode, and Sylvie holds the power to ignite salvation or destruction.
Genres: coming-of-age, fantasy, horror, supernatural, young-adult, dark-fantasy
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, eerie, emotional, haunting, suspenseful
Tropes: chosen-one, enemies-to-lovers, forbidden-connection, found-family
Setting: Pine Ridge Hollow, West Woods, railway station
384 pages · Hardcover · Sarah Barley Books / Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Content warnings: death, violence