House of the Bloodfruit

When sickness comes to the village, it takes the children first.

Xander is burning from the inside, his body wasting away while the healers whisper that nothing more can be done. Desperate to save her younger brother, Maeve turns to the only hope left—the forbidden orchard beyond the hills, where crimson fruit grows on twisted trees and the mist never lifts.

The villagers speak of it only in warnings. They say the fruit can heal any wound. They also say the orchard is alive.

Maeve steals the fruit and brings it home. Xander begins to recover, but something inside him has changed. And beyond the village, the orchard is stirring. Soon the bodies begin to appear—hollowed, bloodless, organs missing as though harvested by unseen hands.

The fruit gives life. But the orchard always takes something in return.