Thirteen-year-old Elara is one of the "quiet ones," a girl who feels the world's shadows more deeply than most. But when the ancient trees at the edge of her town begin to shift, she discovers a "Spectral Apparition" known as the Tree Bark Face. This isn't just a trick of the light; it's a "Residual Psychic Energy" tied to a forgotten history. To save her town and herself, Elara must enter the whispering woods and face a monster that is as much a part of the earth as it is a part of her own "inner shadows."