The Engagement

Evil doesn't always hide under the bed. Sometimes it lives in your feed.

A social media challenge showed up on Feed without warning. By morning, half of Brownsville had seen it. By evening, Ava Chapman's little brother Ethan had taken it.

Ava knows better than anyone how fast the internet can destroy a person. One viral moment cost her everything, and after her breakdown, she's worked hard on her recovery. She was finally getting close to normal again.

Close enough to realize that Ethan isn't himself anymore.

Like everyone who finishes the challenge, he goes viral overnight-and comes back wrong. Despite the warnings, more teens eagerly sign up, because being seen by millions is too good to question the cost.

But as they do, the algorithm won't stop feeding.

Ava knows what it takes to perform for the camera, but what she sees on Feed is something worse. The kids are performing for a powerfully hungry algorithm.

Whatever moves behind the challenge is old. It's older than Feed and even older than Brownsville itself. It has fed on human attention for over a century, hiding behind each new technology. It doesn't just want their performance. It wants the most real, the most raw, and the most flawed human part of them.

Whatever is controlling Feed has never been hungrier...and it already knows Ava's name.