Don't go outside past dark. Come straight home after church. And above all -- never, ever go into Red Wood. These are the rules Latavia's aunt gives her as soon as she arrives in Sanctum, Alabama, for the summer. Weird, but Latavia isn't her to solve any scary small-town mysteries; she's here for six weeks and six weeks only. Sanctum does have its perks -- mainly, the cute girl who works at the local ice cream shop. But Latavia can't ignore how strange her aunt's tiny town is. The residents are suspicious of her and at times outright hostile, and it's clear they see her as some kind of outside. Which is proven when Latavia is dragged out of her house in the dead of night, into the forbidden Red Wood, and presented as a human sacrifice to an ancient monster. Sanctum doens't know Latavia, though. She won't be eaten without a fight. She'll do whatever she has to do to survive -- even if that includes turning into a monster.