When the world went silent

Twelve days after the entire world loses power, Ava's isolated mountain town is learning how quickly ordinary life disappears-but the blackout is only the beginning. Pale, almost-human creatures have appeared at the edge of the forest, standing perfectly still, watching the survivors and vanishing before anyone can understand what they are. The more Ava studies them, the stranger they become: they react to certain sounds, seem to learn from the people watching them, and may not be the mindless monsters everyone assumes they are. Then Ava finds Ellie, a mysterious little girl alone in a world where she never should have been able to survive. Ellie understands the creatures in ways she can't-or won't-explain, and as Ava becomes determined to protect her, questions about the child begin leading toward something much darker: hidden experiments, secrets buried beneath the mountain, and a truth that reaches far beyond their dying little town. Every answer only uncovers another mystery, and Ava is beginning to realize that the most terrifying thing about the new world may not be the creatures watching from the trees-but discovering why they're there in the first place.