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Then everything was silent.
The pain disappeared, replaced by bone-chilling cold. He began to shiver.
Light stabbed his eyes and he blinked. A sudden fog had rolled in, obscuring everything from his sight except the small patch of dock upon which he stood. He couldn’t see Jeffrey, his wife or his son.
Giacomo whirled, eyes straining to see into the fog, ears tuned for the sounds of splashing or a child’s frightened cries. He circled around to where he’d started and saw a masked man standing before him.
The same height and build as Giacomo, the man was dressed entirely in black. Black leather pants hugged his legs and a loose black shirt fluttered in the faint breeze off the invisible water. Most ominously, a black mask covered the upper half of his face.
“Did you see what happened?” Giacomo asked. “The woman and the boy, are they all right?”
The man lifted his shoulders in a liquid shrug. “That is no longer your concern.”
Giacomo took a step backward. The fog moved with him.
“You are, as you’ve no doubt just realized, well and thoroughly dead.”
“Are you the devil?”
The man smiled. “There are some similarities, but no. I am Master Dante. I am here to offer you a choice.”
Giacomo shivered and rubbed his arms. The friction did nothing to combat the cold threatening to consume him. He’d killed three people and died before he could confess. He was going to hell.
“You’re not going to hell,” Master Dante snapped. “At least not yet. You weren’t fated to die today. And you died trying to save others’ lives.”
He rolled his shoulders in another liquid shrug. “That you were saving them from an explosion you caused, well, that makes things difficult. But you have a choice. If you wish, you may serve your penance at the Monastery of Mastery and eventually be restored to complete your fated lifespan. Or you may go directly to hell.”
“I’ll serve my penance.”
“I thought that’s what you’d say.”
Chapter One
Present Day
Two days before her thirty-fifth birthday, Samantha Taylor received the phone call that ended her life, although it hadn’t seemed that way at the time.
“Mom needs you. Come home.” The voice of her sister Melinda sounded strained but not upset or tearful. Whatever their mother needed couldn’t be that serious.
“What are you talking about, Mel? Why didn’t Mom call if she needs my help?”
“She was carrying in some groceries, the bag broke and she fell. Thank God, she didn’t land on her cell phone. We just got back from the hospital. She cracked her vertebrae.”
“Not her hip?” Sam knew that was a potentially deadly injury among the elderly.
“Not her hip. And it’s only cracked, not broken. But she’s supposed to rest for four weeks. No bending. No lifting. No twisting. No driving.”
“She needs someone to stay with her.”
“Right. I can stay with her tonight while Bob watches the kids. But—”
“No problem. My new job with Central High doesn’t start for another two months. I can easily come down and stay with her for a month.” She took a deep breath. “How’s she taking it?”
“I think she was more upset about seeing a doctor who used to work with Dad than she was about the injury. It’s been almost a year since he died but she still cries when she thinks no one is watching. Since she was so upset, they gave her really strong painkillers and she’s sleeping now. She’ll probably sleep straight through the night. The fun will begin tomorrow when it starts sinking in how much of her usual routine she can’t do.”
“I’ll pack tonight and hit the road first thing tomorrow morning. Expect me in the late afternoon, around three or four o’clock, depending on how bad the I-75 traffic is.”
“Thanks, Sam. You’re a lifesaver.”
