1 Prologue

"Caroline!"

The voice of her pursuer calls out to her, as she turns down the darkly lit corridor, hoping to elude them. But the footsteps only get closer, and closer. She runs down the end of the corridor, to a crossroad.

"Right or left?"

The footsteps get closer.

"Was the exit right or left?!"

She thinks to herself, as the voice once again calls out to her.

"Caroline! Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

"Right!"

She turns down the right corridor, and runs as fast as she's able. As she gets closer, a bright light shines through. Causing her to almost leaps with joy, she had chosen the right way! Or at least that's what she had thought. As she gets closer she realizes that this is in fact a dead end. The light was coming from a window taking up the majority of the wall. She turns to go back, but she's met with a familiar pair of vibrant, purple eyes, staring back at her from the end of the hallway. She freezes in fear, as the figure grins, and calmly walks towards her.

"Found you."

She looks between the figure, and the window; only a few feet behind her, at the end of the hallway. She weighs her options, and decides to take her chances with the window. She takes a deep breath, and runs toward it. She closes her eyes, and braces for an impact, that never comes.

Caroline’s eyes shoot open, and she immediately scans her surroundings, after realizing that she is still in her carriage, her breathing steadies.

“We've arrived.”

A deep voice pulls her out of her thoughts. She looks up to see her butler, Edgar Smith, holding his gloved hand out to her.

"Are you ready?"

"Y-Yes."

She stammers on her words, before taking his hand. He carefully helps her out of the carriage, and onto the pathway, leading up to the estate. A group of around twenty, or thirty servants, are lined up to greet her. A man, around the same age as Edgar, walks up to them. He politely bows to her, before he begins speaking.

"Welcome, to the Van Allen Estate, Countess. I’ll be taking care of you for the remainder of your stay here."

He gives her an eerie feeling, but she brushes it off, and curtseys.

“Thank you-”

“Please follow me, the Count wishes to meet with you before dinner.”

He begins walking up the stairs, not bothering to wait for Caroline's response. A man a year, or two younger than her opens the door for them. The butler leads her up a darkly lit corridor to the Count’s office. He stops a few feet from the door and turns to her.

“I’ll show Mr. Smith out, while you're meeting with the Count. When you're done Ms. Windsor will come, and show you to your sleeping corridors.”

He doesn't give Caroline the chance to respond. He begins walking back, in the direction they came from, and motions for Edgar to follow.

“Goodbye Lady Boushley, it's been an honor to serve you.”

He bows, before leaving.

Caroline turns around, and takes a deep breath, as the door opens, to reveal an oddly familiar pair of vibrant purple eyes.