HIDDEN ROOTS
The hunt continues. The contamination spreads. And Grace Pritchard is running out of time.
Six months after burying the first cursed objects from the Confession Tree, Grace has learned three things: Malcolm's protective methods only slow the inevitable. The contamination spreading through her body will never stop. And she can't do this alone.
Enter Marcus Webb Jr.-son of the man her brother murdered at the tree more than twenty years ago. He should hate her. Instead, he becomes her unlikely partner, helping Grace track ten more cursed objects across North Carolina. A cradle that drives new mothers to madness. A spinning wheel that won't let go. A rocking horse in the hands of a monster.
With each collection, the wood grain climbs higher. Grace's hands crack like old timber. Her eyes reflect light in ways that make people look away. Malcolm's equipment and rituals buy her time, but everyone can see the truth: Grace is transforming into something that isn't quite human anymore.
The Grounding Ritual nearly kills her. Forty-eight hours of agony, peeling away strips of wooden flesh, screaming until her voice breaks. It works-barely. But Malcolm warns her the next time might not.
Because deep beneath the surface, something is stirring.
The Confession Tree was cut down. Its wood carved into forty-three objects. But some roots run deeper than anyone knew. And Grace is about to discover that her hunt is far from over.
Book 2 of The Darkwood Legacy - Where body horror meets Appalachian folklore, and redemption has a price measured in pieces of yourself.
For readers who loved THE TWISTED ONES by T. Kingfisher and BETWEEN TWO FIRES by Christopher Buehlman.
R.D. Parrish is an American author whose work blends atmospheric horror, Southern Gothic melancholy, and deeply human storytelling. A Marine Corps veteran and longtime resident of the American South, Parrish draws inspiration from the quiet places-flooded fields, forgotten towns, and the heavy, humid stillness where memory clings to the earth.
His debut novel, Hollow Ground, is an intimate rural-horror tale set in the fictional Mississippi Delta community of Gethsemane Parish, where relentless rain awakens an ancient, listening intelligence beneath the soil. Parrish is known for crafting horror that is slow-burning, emotional, and rooted in character-stories where fear emerges not from monsters, but from misunderstanding, grief, and the fragile ways humans try to connect.
Parrish writes with a focus on atmosphere, psychological depth, and the strange beauty of the natural world. When he isn't writing, he enjoys time with his family, exploring small-town history, and working on the next haunting story set in the world just beneath our feet.
He lives in the United States with his wife, De.
