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Prologue
Ten Months Ago…
Rain pounded on the soft top of Whitney Carlisle’s convertible Miata as she pulled out of the empty parking lot of the mayor’s office. The storm raging outside, combined with her blurring vision, made driving along the coast toward Rejuvenation a hazard, but Whitney didn’t have much choice. Her mom had taken a turn for the worse, contracting a severe lung infection that had her confined to her bed.
Intense crashing waves breaking against the shoreline was normally a breathtaking view on days like this, but today, they looked dangerous and uninviting. An involuntary shiver ran along her spine as she peered through the swishing windshield wipers.
Her vision had been terrible all day, slowing her progress at work. After several hours staring at the computer screen, her line of sight would narrow, and waves of dizziness had been tougher and tougher to fight. If Trent were in town, he’d be driving that evening, but he was away at a conference and wouldn’t be back until the following week.
Cliffs to her right were jagged and deep, and large rock formations jutted from the ocean waves. Whitney’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. She blinked several times to refocus on the lines of the road separating her lane from oncoming traffic. The asphalt felt slick under her tires, and heavy rain beat against the windshield, the wipers on full speed barely able to keep it clear.
A storm warning had been issued for that evening, and on the local radio station, officials continued to caution people to stay off the roads.
Maybe she should turn around at the next exit and head home.
She could call Rejuvenation and let them know she wasn’t going to make it that evening.
But three days with no visit was too long. Her mother was sick, and she was refusing her meds again. Whitney knew the time clock was running out on her days at Rejuvenation. Moving her to a new, stricter facility farther away would break Whitney’s heart, but she needed to do what was best for her mom.
Her gaze drifted through the window at the steep, winding curve ahead, and she swallowed hard, her knuckles white as she approached the turn, slowing her speed a little just in time to make the bend safely.
To her right, several small rocks tumbled down the mountainside and bounced across the road in front of the car. One hit the windshield, and she jumped. Then swore under her breath as the tiny rock chip spiderwebbed across the windshield.
Her eyesight narrowed, and she blinked several times, then squinted when it didn’t work.
This shitty week could end anytime now.
Her mother always said that troubles always looked darker and more insurmountable at night. Daybreak brought with it a new perspective, a new hope…
Whitney clung to that sentiment now just as a larger boulder appeared out of nowhere, cascading down the mountainside. Her blocky vision hadn’t noticed it until it was too late. She gripped the wheel and hit the brake. Colliding with the boulder was sure death, but now the car swerved on the flooded road and started to spin.
Whitney held on tight as she lost control of the vehicle. Panic rising in the back of her throat prevented her ability to scream as the car crossed the yellow line, hit the shoulder, and flew over the short guardrail.
Airborne for seconds that felt like an eternity, Whitney closed her eyes and braced for impact.
The shriek of crushing metal.
Intense, searing pain.
And everything went black.
Chapter One
Now…
“Do you think the severed arm is too gory?”
Whitney glanced up from her laptop at the plastic Halloween decoration her friend Sarah was holding. With bruised-looking skin, a fractured bone protruding, and dark-red blood, the fake limb was eerily realistic, and she had to force aside her aversion to the upcoming spooky season as she contemplated critically.
“I think it will be fine for the adult tours. Maybe twelve and over?”
Sarah nodded and placed it in the “yes” pile, then continued sorting through the stack of decorations she’d bought in L.A. the day before—as soon as the Halloween pop-up shops opened in the city. Unlike Whitney, Sarah lived for anything Halloween. As kids, she always had the most elaborate, homemade costumes and won the prize for “most school spirit” more than anyone else. She spent her own money decorating the family home with tombstones, ghosts, witches, and goblins and had been featured on the local news for her extreme efforts.
This year, Sarah’s recently renovated inheritance, Dove’s Nest B&B event venue, would be transformed into a spooky haunted house for the whole month of October and host various Halloween events in their small coastal town of Blue Moon Bay. Sarah’s fiancé and business partner, Wes, had already started on the exterior decor of a decrepit, crumbling facade. Though he had voiced the irony that they could have left the inn in its former condemned state and saved themselves a lot of work restoring the place.
As head of marketing and tourism in Blue Moon Bay, working out of the mayor’s office, Whitney was designing the haunted house announcement and marketing materials that would be distributed throughout Southern California the following week to announce the upcoming events. Small towns loved their holidays, and Blue Moon Bay was no exception. Tourist numbers being low in recent years, they needed anything they could get to draw people back to the community.
Seated next to Whitney on the comfy outdoor furniture on the B&B’s deck, her best friend, Jessica, was scrolling through gory desserts on her cell phone. “Ohhhh, these frozen eyeballs would be perfect for the drinks.”
