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PROLOGUE

COLDWATER, MAINE FOURTEEN MONTHS AGO

THE FINGERS OF THE THORN-APPLE TREE CLAWED at the pane behind Harrison Grey, and he dog-eared his page, no longer able to read through the racket A furious spring wind had hurled itself against the far the shutters to sla! The calendar may have been turned to March, but Harrison knew better than to think spring was on its way With a stor in, he wouldn’t be surprised to find the countryside frozen in icy whiteness by

To drown out the wind’s piercing cry, Harrison punched the re up Bononcini’s “O hiht the farmhouse had he kno much fuel it took to warm one little room, let alone all nine

The phone shrilled

Harrison picked it up halfway through the second ring, expecting to hear the voice of his daughter’s best friend, who had the annoying habit of calling at the latest possible hour the night before homeas due

shallow, rapid breathing sounded in his ear before a voice broke the static “We need to meet How soon can you be here?”

The voice floated through Harrison, a ghost fro ti it now could onlyHe realized the phone in his hand was slick with sweat, his posture rigid

“An hour,” he answered flatly

He was slow to replace the handset He shut his eyes, hisback There had been a tio, when he froze at the sound of the phone ringing, the seconds pounding out like drums as he waited for the voice on the other end to speak Over time, as one peaceful year replaced another, he’d eventually convinced himself he was aa nor to fear

In the kitchen, standing over the sink, Harrison poured hilass of water and tossed it back It was full dark outside, and his waxen reflection stared back froht ahead Harrison nodded, as if to tell hiht But his eyes were heavy with lies

He loosened his tie to relieve the tightness within hilass The seelass The water swa to come back up

Setting the glass in the basin of the sink, he reached for the car keys on the counter, hesitating once as if to change his mind

Harrison eased the car to the curb and killed the headlights

Sitting in darkness, breath s, he took in the ramshackle brick row houses in a seedy section of Portland It had been years—fifteen to be exact—since he had set foot in the neighborhood, and relying on his rusty ht place He popped open the glove box and retrieved a ti out of the car, but the silence on the streets bothered hi beneath his seat, he pulled out a loaded Smith & Wesson and tucked it into the waistband of his pants at the se, and never outside a shooting range The only clear thought in his throbbing head was that he hoped he could still say as much an hour from now

The tap of Harrison’s shoes sounded loud on the deserted pave instead to focus his attention on the shadows cast by the silverdeeper into his coat, he passed cramped dirt yards boxed in by chain-link fences, the houses beyond the followed, but when he glanced back, there was no one

At 1565 Monroe, he let hiate and circled around to the back of the house He knocked once and saw a shadow move behind the lace curtains

The door cracked

“It’shis voice low

The door opened just wide enough to admit him

“Were you followed?” he was asked

“No ”

“She’s in trouble ”

Harrison’s heart quickened “What kind of trouble?”

“Once she turns sixteen, he’ll come for her You need to take her far away Someplace where he’ll never find her ” Harrison shook his head “I don’t understand—” He was cut off by a rees you couldn’t understand Sixteen is a cursed age in—in my world That’s all you need to know,” he finished brusquely

The two ave a wary nod

“You have to cover your tracks,” he was told “Wherever you go, you have to start over No one can know you ca for her Do you understand?”

“I understand ” But would his wife? Would Nora?

Harrison’s vision was adapting to the darkness, and he noted with curious disbelief that the ed a day since their last e, when they’d met as roommates and become fast friends A trick of the shadows?

Harrison wondered There was nothing else to attribute it to