The Midnight Trial - sarah shah

Mara Vale has always felt invisible.

So when a forbidden carnival appears at the edge of town - silent, black-tented, and gone by morning - she can't resist sneaking inside.

What she finds isn't smoke and mirrors.

It's The Nocturne Caravan - a traveling collection of beings who shouldn't exist. A boy who can stop time. A woman who bends shadows like silk. A ringmaster who never blinks.

And they see her.

Caught between returning to her ordinary life or joining their world, Mara chooses the impossible.

But the Midnight Trial is not a performance.

It's a transformation.

When Mara survives, she doesn't become a vampire.

She becomes something far rarer - a Dream Drinker, able to walk through nightmares and feed on fear. Each dream makes her stronger.

Each one makes her less human.

Now a ruthless order known as the Dawn Guard is closing in, determined to wipe out the Caravan - and the girl who may be more dangerous than all of them combined.

Because Mara's power isn't just rare.

It's forbidden.

And the monsters hunting her might be right to be afraid.