Ellie has lived her entire life believing she is completely ordinary. She is twenty-three, living in northern England, the sort of place where it rains more than it shines and most evenings are spent wrapped in oversized jumpers, walking home under orange streetlights or making late night trips to Tesco. She is plus size and has never bothered trying to shrink herself to make other people comfortable. Her burgundy hair falls thick and heavy around her shoulders, her freckles scatter across her nose and cheeks like small constellations, and her green eyes always seem to notice things other people miss. She has a quiet, stubborn confidence about her, but she has also always felt slightly disconnected from the world around her, as though she is standing half a step out of sync with everyone else. Strange things have followed her her entire life, small things she has always brushed off as coincidence. Lights flicker when she walks past. Animals stare at her a little too long. Sometimes she knows someone is about to call or knock on the door seconds before it happens. The night feels strangely comforting to her in a way daylight never does, as though darkness itself recognizes her. But she has always ignored those feelings, chalking them up to imagination or intuition.