The Girl in the Woods

Excerpts:

… A hint of lavender which was always on her skin since the days when they were children came to him on the warm spring air that lifted from the hollow below them, causing her long blonde hair to drift over her delicate shoulders and caress her face. Claire stopped within a step of Edsel. “I knew you would come,” she said. Her long eyelashes lifted a wisp of hair from her penetrating eyes.
“Hello Claire.” The young man could hardly contain his joy at seeing the girl in the woods.

… Even after the murder of her mother and the heartbreak that took away her father, Claire refused to lose her trust in the people of the village, especially the children. She knew the truth. So, when Grandmother Tree told her of the evil that was approaching, she braced herself for its arrival, for she knew that evil always returns to see its mark. And truth rises from its murky shadow.

… The rumor mill had turned hot in the wake of the murder of Ruby Heart. It was whispered that Claire was somehow involved in her mother’s death. There were even those who said that the black wolf who shadowed the girl in the woods was an extension of the girl’s soul.