1 Preface

A chill hung in the air, biting at my face with each howl of the wind. The sprawling branches of the old oak trees spread into the darkness of the graveyard, reaching like gnarled, groping fingers. Though for what they searched, I could not be sure. A thick mist clung low to the ground, slithering about my ankles as though the tendrils were alive.

Something about this place was so familiar...like the glow of a faded memory, or a life once lived. But while familiar, there was an eerie and haunting quality about it. The air lay thick with the stench of blood and death. The wind howling through the trees more closely resembled the wailing of forgotten souls. While I usually dismissed such things, I couldn't help but feel as though ghosts dwelled here.

I began to move quickly, though not by my own will. I peered down to see a large, smooth hand gripping my wrist. We were running.

"We have to keep moving" I shifted my gaze to the face of whoever was hastily pulling me through the trees, only to meet a pair of frantic green eyes shrouded in shaggy brown hair. His face and cloths were streaked with blood. "I won't let them hurt you, Ainsley". His voice was steady, but his eyes spoke the danger we were in, even if he did not.

Hurt me? Who would want to hurt me? None of this made any sense. I couldn't understand where I was, let alone how I'd arrived here. And who was this boy? Why was he...protecting me? And why despite never having seen him before, did I trust him to do just that.

Suddenly, I felt the grasp on my wrist release and I was soaring backward through the air. A sickening crack resounded through the air as I made impact with the stone wall of the old Mausoleum.

As I lay dying, blood seeping from my nose, the last sound I hear is the voice of the anguished green eyed boy.

"AINSLEY! NO!"