The rain had stopped around midnight, leaving behind a cold, sticky fog that smelled of rotting seaweed and damp cedar. Elias stood on the newly reinforced back porch, his hand resting on the smooth wood of the railing he had finished just a few hours before.

The silence of the night was broken only by the steady, rhythmic drip of water falling from the eaves onto the gravel. He stared into the darkness, straining his eyes to catch any sign of movement from the line of trees where the black sed