Shadow of the Lunar Curse

Elara Voss got out of her car and the door made a loud noise as she closed it. The air in Silverbrook smelled like pine trees and wet dirt, which was very different from the air in the city she came from. It had been ten years since Elara Voss was last in Silverbrook but everything looked the same. The old sign was still there. It said "Silverbrook: Where the Forest Meets the Soul" in letters that were not as bright as they used to be.

Elara Voss remembered this sign; it was the same when she left Silverbrook ten years ago. Silverbrook was a town and Elara Voss was back but she did not know what to expect. The smell of pine trees and the quiet of Silverbrook were a change from the city life Elara Voss was used to. She let out a laugh to herself. The idea of a soul is funny. To me it is like the place where dreams go to die. The soul just seems like a thing where dreams go to die.

She put her backpack on one shoulder. I walked to the Silverbrook Gazette office on Main Street. The Silverbrook Gazette is really old. The building is two stories high. The paint is coming off. The windows are probably really dirty because they have not been cleaned in a while. She needed a job. The Silverbrook Gazette was hiring. She used to work in a city but she lost her job because they did not have enough money. Now the Silverbrook Gazette is her chance to have a job again.

She kept telling herself that the Silverbrook Gazette was an opportunity for her. She felt it inside that the thing that was really bringing her to this place was the fact that her parents died and nobody knew what happened to them. It was like something was pulling on her heart and that something was the mystery of her parents death. The mystery of her parents' death was what was really pulling her to this place.

Inside the office the editor, Mr. Harlan said hello to her with a nod. Mr. Harlan was a man who was probably around sixty years old. He had a mustache that was really thick. "You are Voss right? I looked at your resume. It says you are good at figuring out mysteries. We need someone like that now. There have been some things happening with animals. They have been attacking people. It is really scaring everyone. These animal attacks are very weird. The people in this town are really spooked because of these animal attacks.

Elara was really curious. "What kind of attacks are we talking about?"

Harlan leaned back in his chair. The wood made a loud noise under his weight. He said "There have been some maulings. These maulings started a month ago. The Sheriff is saying that bears are doing it. Some people say it is something else. The old timers are talking