DreamBound: Book One (The Colors of Malent) by Tim Adams

Some dreams fade by morning. Alara’s do not. Every night, she wakes with bruises, splitting headaches, and a map of symbols she has never learned, carved into her memory. The only clue sits at the foot of her bed: a childhood blanket from her adoption, stitched with the same sharp strokes and half-spirals. When Alara shares the symbols online, the internet answers back with static, theories, and one private message that hits too close to home. A stranger begs to meet. Another warns her to stop digging. Then a man with influence and secrets offers a terrifying possibility. What is pulling Alara out of her life is real, and it wants her to follow the tether all the way to the world that keeps calling her name. But every step closer makes it harder to tell which threats are outside her door, which ones live in her sleep, and whether she will be able to come back after she crosses the line. DreamBound is Book One of the Colors of Malent series.