Prologue
“RUN,” HE ROARED. “Cometo me before ‘tis too late!”
As always, she wore a long blue dress and ran into a dimly lit forest before a large set of castle doors appeared. Beckoned her. Called to her every bit as much as the man without a face. The stranger who had haunted her day after day. Year after year. Sometimes she loved him. Sometimes she hated him.
But she always needed to get to him.
The door.
What lay beyond.
She reached for one of the large handles. Tried to wrap her hand around it but somehow never got close enough. No matter how hard she tried, the door seemed further and further away.
Until it didn’t.
A warm glowing light sparked to life inside, and she, at long last, clasped the cool handle and opened the door only to stop short. She didn’t stand at the threshold of a castle but at the edge of a cliff, looking down on a cave entrance. Her heart lurched into her throat at the dizzying drop.
The warm light faded.
Darkness fell.
“Hurry.” His voice sounded so sinister now it sent chills down her spine. “Come outside now!”
However frightened, she felt compelled to listen.
Go to him.
Be with him.
So she stepped over the edge of the cliff only to jolt awake when someone yanked her back.
Chapter One
North Salem, New Hampshire
Present Day
