Chapter 1

The tremor hit when I was halfway to the town hall, the USB drive clutched in my sweaty palm, proof of GlobalCorp's poison.

One minute, I was rehearsing my speech, the words that would save Havenwood.

The next, the ground bucked like an angry horse.

I stumbled, my heart lurching with a sickening dread that had nothing to do with the shaking earth.

This wasn't natural.

This was what I'd tried to warn them about.

Then the screams started.

By the time I reached the town square, chaos was king. Dust filled the air, thick and choking. People ran, their faces masks of terror.

The fountain in the center of the square, usually a gentle burble, was dry, its stone basin cracked.

And the Founder's Oak, Havenwood's ancient heart, our symbol of resilience for over two hundred years, was already wilting, its leaves turning a sickly, unnatural brown before my eyes.

"It's her!" a voice shrieked, cutting through the din.

Mrs. Henderson, her face contorted.

"Sarah Miller! She did this!"

Heads turned. Accusing eyes, hundreds of them, burned into me.

Veronica Hayes, ever the picture of calm concern, stepped forward from beside my adoptive father, Mayor Thompson. Her voice, usually so smooth, now dripped with false sorrow.

"Sarah, what have you done?"

My father, the Mayor, looked at me, his face pale, not with concern for me, but with a dawning horror that I knew was for his own reputation.

My adoptive brother, Ethan, who once swore to protect me from everything, stood beside him, his expression hardening into something I didn't recognize, something cold and accusatory.

Mark Peterson, my Mark, the boy who'd promised me forever, was already at Veronica's side, his arm protectively around her.

He wouldn't even meet my eyes.

"I didn't do anything!" I yelled, my voice raw. "It's GlobalCorp! Their fracking, it's unstable! I have proof!"

I held up the USB drive.

Veronica let out a small, theatrical gasp.

"Proof? Or is that the device you used to trigger this... this catastrophe?"

She pointed a perfectly manicured finger at me.

"We all know you were against the GlobalCorp project, Sarah. You've made threats. You called it poison."

"She was down by the old well last night!" someone shouted. "Near the Founder's Oak! I saw her!"

It was true, I had been. After my father and Ethan had dismissed my warnings again, calling me hysterical, I'd gone to GlobalCorp's main drilling equipment site.

In a desperate, last-ditch effort, I'd sabotaged a crucial valve, not to cause harm, but to make it malfunction spectacularly if they tried to operate it, to force them to reveal its shoddy, dangerous nature.

I thought it would be a small, contained failure, an embarrassment for them, a wake-up call for the town.

I never imagined... this.

My act, meant to expose a flaw, was now being twisted into the cause of an earthquake and the poisoning of our land.

"She tried to blow up the equipment!" Veronica declared, her voice ringing with conviction. "Eco-terrorism! And now look what she's done to our town, to our Founder's Oak!"

The crowd surged, a wave of anger and fear.

"Monster!"

"Traitor!"

"She's cursed us!"

My father stepped forward, not to defend me, but to address the mob.

"People of Havenwood," he began, his voice shaky but firm. "We will get to the bottom of this. If... if my daughter is responsible, she will face justice."

He wouldn't look at me. He was already sacrificing me to save himself, to appease GlobalCorp, who I knew were already threatening lawsuits if their project was hindered.

Ethan grabbed my arm, his grip like iron.

"You need to leave, Sarah. Now. Before they tear you apart."

His eyes were full of a terrible mixture of fear and disgust. He, too, believed it. Or found it convenient to.

"But I'm innocent!" I pleaded, tears stinging my eyes. "Ethan, you have to believe me!"

"Believe you?" He laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. "After all the trouble you've caused this family? All the shame? Just go!"

He shoved me towards the edge of the square. The path was clear for a moment, a silent corridor in the screaming mob.

I knew then I was truly alone.

My family, my friends, my town – they had all condemned me.

I ran.

I didn't know where I was going, only that I had to get away.

Behind me, I heard Veronica's voice, soothing the crowd, promising them that GlobalCorp would help Havenwood rebuild, that justice would be swift for the person who had brought this ruin upon them.

Me.

My "disappearance" was convenient for everyone. Some said I fled in disgrace. Others whispered I'd met with a fatal "accident" out in the woods, a fitting end for an eco-terrorist.

The truth was, I barely made it out of Havenwood, the image of the dying Founder's Oak burned into my mind, a symbol of my own destroyed life.

I was Sarah Miller, the town scapegoat, the rebellious adopted daughter who had finally, catastrophically, lived down to everyone's worst expectations.

My social demise was complete, my name a curse on their lips.