Page 23 of Obscurity
The memory brought with it others she tried to avoid—conversations with Jason back in high school when they’d been young and naive and full of impossible dreams. They’d talked about getting married someday and hiking the Appalachian Trail together.
She’d been willing to give hiking another shot—but only with Jason.
They’d also talked about buying a house in the mountains and raising kids who knew how to build campfires and identify constellations.
Big plans from two teenagers who thought love could conquer anything. Those were the days before her father had woken her and the family at three a.m. and told them to pack only what mattered because they were leaving and never coming back. He forbade her from staying in touch with anyone in town, saying it was a matter of life or death.
“If not for yourself, then think of your sisters,”her dad had warned her.
Olive would have done anything for Jules and Jessie.
Those conversations had taken place before Olive’s heart had been broken so completely that she’d spent years learning how to keep people at a distance.
She should have known better than to get attached. But she’d gotten attached anyway.
Opening up her heart had been her biggest mistake. She couldn’t go through that again.
She sat up straighter and pushed the memories aside. “We should head down for breakfast. Get a feel for who else is going on this hike.”
Jason nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
She still felt the strain stretching between them, and more than anything, she wished she could erase it.
But unfortunately, erasing tension wasn’t one of her superpowers.
Instead, just like so many things in her life, she would need to learn to live with it and try to make the best of things.
The dining room buzzed with electric excitement, the air thick with anticipation and caffeine-fueled energy. Olive picked at her eggs and bacon while watching everyone around her, but it was hard to concentrate over the infectious enthusiasm filling the space.
Outside the dining room windows, a steady stream of vehicles was pulling into the parking area. Subarus and Priuses with festival stickers, luxury SUVs with roof-mounted gear, evena few vintage VW buses that looked like they’d driven straight out of Woodstock.
Groups of twenty-somethings spilled out of cars, their laughter and excited chatter floating through the windows as they unloaded hiking gear and compared their expensive festival wristbands. Several of them wore cowboy hats. A couple carried guitars in soft-carry cases.
Multiple flat-screen TVs mounted around the room played a slick promotional video on repeat, the footage so professionally shot it could have been advertising Coachella or Bonnaroo.
Aerial drone shots swept over misty mountains before cutting to intimate performance footage—artists silhouetted against dramatic lighting and crowds swaying with hands raised.
It was the kind of authentic moments that took teams of videographers to capture. The production values were stunning, with a soundtrack that made even breakfast feel epic.
The footage clearly wasn’t from the Grayfall Music Fest since this was the first year it was taking place. But organizers had worked hard—and spent a lot of money—to make this.
Olive had seen it before. The video had been all over social media. And she could understand why music lovers might flock to this opportunity.
Her breath caught when she saw Chloe on the screen.
Olive exchanged a look with Jason.
Chloe? She hadn’t been in the original promo video.
Somehow, this felt important.
Olive leaned closer, not wanting to miss any details.
CHAPTER 14
Chloe Kingston laughed on screen as a crowd behind her partied.
Her blonde hair caught the golden hour light as she gestured enthusiastically toward the camera, her voice carrying over the music. “Grayfall isn’t just a festival—it’s a transformation. We’re creating something that’s never been done before, where music and wilderness and human connection become one incredible experience.”
