THE TOWN OF EVERGLEN
Some towns keep secrets. Everglen was built on them.
Nestled in the Appalachian foothills, Everglen looks like the sort of place where everyone knows your name, somebody always has coffee waiting, and the town square somehow manages to host a festival for nearly every occasion.
That part is true.
What visitors don’t immediately notice are the witches, shifters, vampires, daemons, and other magical residents living quietly among everyone else—or the protections woven into the town more than three centuries ago.
Everglen was founded on a simple promise:
Protect Everglen. Protect Each Other. Keep the Magic Hidden.
Most of the time, the arrangement works beautifully.
And then somebody gets murdered.
PLACES YOU SHOULD PROBABLY KNOW
| PURE LUCK APOTHECARYProprietor: Jolie Corwyn Herbs, remedies, charms, tea, and the occasional item whose purpose is better left unexplained. Pure Luck sits just off the town square and serves both Everglen’s ordinary residents and those whose needs are a little less ordinary. Jolie Corwyn knows plants, potions, and people—although the last one occasionally requires more patience than the first two. If you smell something wonderful, it’s probably intentional. Probably. |
ALWAYS BOOKEDProprietor: Brad Hollingworth Books, gossip, and occasionally evidence. Always Booked sits on the town square, where low bookcases, comfortable chairs, and big front windows make it dangerously easy to lose an afternoon. The movable shelves give Brad Hollingworth room for author events, story hours, community gatherings, and whatever else Everglen decides requires rearranging the furniture that week. Brad has a gift for remembering what everyone reads—sometimes more accurately than they’d prefer. Browse carefully. Some stories are more dangerous than others. | |
| TOWN SQUAREKnown For: Festivals, flowers, gossip, and magic that occasionally forgets to be subtle. At the heart of Everglen, the town square is where everyone eventually ends up—whether they intended to or not. The fountain anchors the center, surrounded by flower gardens, benches, winding paths, and storefronts that have watched generations of residents come and go. Markets fill the square throughout the year, festivals take over with alarming regularity, and there is nearly always someone lingering near the fountain who knows considerably more than they should. The square also sits close to some of Everglen’s oldest protections. Most days, you’d never notice. Most days. Come for the flowers. Stay for the gossip. Try not to activate anything ancient. |
ARDEN BRIARKnown For: Old magic, older secrets, and a family history nobody can explain in one sitting. Arden Briar is the ancestral Corwyn estate, tucked beyond town where the roads narrow, the trees grow thicker, and Everglen’s oldest magic feels just a little closer to the surface. Generations of Corwyns have called it home, leaving behind stories, traditions, protections, and more than a few things best approached with patience and possibly tea. The house has survived centuries of family drama, changing times, and magic with opinions of its own. Respect the wards. Mind the history. And if something in the house moves by itself, there’s probably a reason. | |
| BRAMBLEMORE ESTATEHome of: The Laskaris Family. One of Everglen’s founding families, the Laskaris clan resides behind the imposing gates of Bramblemore Estate—a grand stone manor known for its gothic architecture, old-world elegance, and a truly unnecessary number of gargoyles. Set apart from town and wrapped in iron, ivy, and centuries of family history, Bramblemore is equal parts ancestral home, power statement, and warning label. The estate is beautiful, ancient, and not especially interested in making anyone feel comfortable. If the gates open for you, consider it an honor. If the gargoyles seem to be judging you, they probably are. |
DEVON'S DELIGHTSProprietor: Devon Drake Known For: Excellent coffee, dangerous pastries, and conversations that somehow last much longer than planned. Devon’s Delights is Everglen’s neighborhood café—the place locals stop for breakfast, meet for lunch, hide from errands, and occasionally conduct conversations they absolutely insist are not gossip. Devon Drake keeps the coffee strong, the pastry case full, and the atmosphere warm enough that even people who only meant to grab something to go have a habit of finding themselves still sitting there an hour later. The menu changes with the seasons, but one rule remains constant: nobody leaves hungry. Come for the coffee. Stay because somebody just said, “You didn’t hear this from me, but…” | |
| EVERGLEN POLICE STATIONSheriff: Morgan Woodhouse Known For: Keeping the peace, asking inconvenient questions, and paperwork that occasionally involves things not covered at the academy. Everglen’s police station sits just off the town square in a handsome old brick municipal building that has seen generations of sheriffs, deputies, lost dogs, festival mishaps, and residents insisting that whatever happened was technically not magic. Sheriff Morgan Woodhouse has the unenviable job of protecting a town where ordinary crimes sometimes come with distinctly extraordinary complications. Fortunately, very little surprises him anymore. If the sheriff asks where you were last night, “It’s complicated” is rarely the best opening answer. |
FENWICK FARMSProprietor: Montague Fenwick-Dunmore Known For: Award-winning garlic, old family traditions, and a proprietor with very strong opinions about both history and tartan. Fenwick Farms sits in the rolling hills outside Everglen, where rows of garlic, heirloom varieties, stone paths, and a weathered barn make it look like the sort of place that has been there forever. Monty Fenwick-Dunmore is Everglen’s resident historian and the keeper of more local stories than most people realize exist. He runs the farm with precision, patience, and a wardrobe that suggests tartan is less a preference and more a personal philosophy. His garlic has earned more than a few awards. His knowledge of Everglen’s past is considerably harder to measure. Good garlic. Long memory. Excellent tailoring. | |