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Prologue

Crushing grief It’s all I know All I feel

The ache slithers throughirl I used to kno there’s just an apparition, a pale-faced creature whose flaxen braids belie a e of twelve I holdand exhaling will ic reality real

Each second crawls by in slow s burn for air I suck in a soundless breath as movement surrounds me

My uncle’s feet hitting the floor in lazy, unhurried steps

The burden of a stranger’s gaze

The dread that taints the air

“You er with the unfamiliar shiny black shoes

I don’t react to the statement, and Uncle Rowan’s brows slash into fierce lines of disproval “Please excuse my niece’s reticent behavior I’m afraid she hasn’t been herself since the plane crash”

“It’s quite understandable Such a sudden tragedy”

They talk aboutall over the rug my mother loved when she was alive I focus on the pattern underneath the pillow that cushionsthe kaleidoscope of browns and royal blues as I smooth my sweaty palms down the front of the dress Rowan made me wear

White for purity, I heard hi

He wanted h I don’t understand why I’er’s presence, I don’t mind because it means I can pretend he’s not really here I can be invisible like the heroines in ination

“Shall we get down to business?” asks the ive him a quick once-over He’s tall and broad, and I’ht spilling through the arched s in the sitting room I’ve never seen such a color on a man before

“Of course” My uncle gestures toward the archway leading into the study where ht this way, if you will”