Sophia
The moment we arrived in Smallville, something in the air felt… different.
It wasn’t just the faint chill that came with evening or the way the streets looked quieter than I remembered it was the people.
Their eyes. Their stares.
As soon as I stepped out of the car, I noticed heads turned.
The usual friendly greetings that filled the village streets were replaced by uneasy silence and whispered murmurs.
I frowned, adjusting my shawl around my shoulders. What on earth…?
Mrs. Ross was busy thanking the driver, and Max was pulling our suitcases from the trunk, but I could feel dozens of eyes on me.
Men standing by the corner shop, women at the bakery, even children peeking out from behind their mothers’ skirts. They were all watching me.
It wasn’t the kind of attention that
