Andrea
Venegas

To Queens Canyon. To the campfire Nana announces with her conch shell. To the circle of old friends who have grown up together in the shadow of the mountains, where the stories never get old, the river runs cold, and the world beyond the campground can wait a little longer.

For June Murphy, the August Campers are more than tradition. They are her people. She knows their rhythms, their weaknesses, the small things that make them who they are. And she knows when something is wrong.

So when two strangers appear at the edges of camp, watching a little too closely, June pays attention.

Then the five friends set out on an overnight hike into the Sierra Nevada wilderness, leaving the campground behind.

They meet the brothers on the trail. Friendly. Capable. Unhurried. Men who carry themselves like they belong to the mountains, and who know more about the people they’ve just met than they should.

By the time Kaia remembers where she has seen one of them before, they are days from help, their phones are useless, and the only trail back to civilization runs straight through the men waiting for them.

Because the brothers haven't come to kill anyone.

They've come to take them home.

Deep in a canyon that keeps its own secrets, five friends will discover that survival is not always about finding the way out. Sometimes it means knowing the land better than the people hunting you. Sometimes it means trusting the one person everyone else dismissed. And sometimes the only way home is through something far older than fear.

The mountains have been keeping secrets for generations. This August, five friends are about to learn why.