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Jack went to the frontand froze The cabin sat in a clearing, beyond which the forest grew dense and dark A thick tangle of wildflowers blooes and reds, colors so rich that they erased all rays of Dawson

He shook his head How could any of this be real? He thought of stories he had read in whichpath in the woods and found theone only for days by their reckoning but reeressed years in their absence

Jack clutched the sides of his head, trying too late to deny the reality of this place How long had he slept? Where had he truly woken? How had he come to be here?

He snatched his coat fro it on as he stumbled to the stove to retrieve his boots He stepped into the them and moved toward the back of the cabin, but as he passed theon that side, he froze yet again, this tiarden, half an acre overgroith a arden he saw apple and pear trees, and vines heavy with grapes

"Son of a bitch," he whispered

And then a breeze caressed the back of his neck Even as he turned, he realized he had not heard the door opening

The girl stood just inside, the sun strea the outline of her body beneath her cotton dress Despite his fear and bewilderment, her beauty struck him speechless

And then she smiled with such innocence and sweetness, only to blink in surprise, her face collapsing in genuine sadness when she realized he had planned to leave

"What did I do wrong?" she asked, cocking her head "Didn’t you like the stew?"

CHAPTER TEN

ECHOES IN OLD WOOD

JACK COULD NOT TAKE his eyes off her Nor could he shake the regret that seized him when he realized that he had caused her sadness In her voice and in her expression he saw not an ounce of guile While both her home and her beauty were otherworldly, the disappointaze were unquestionably hulanced around at the siic, perhaps, for what else could he call a cabin ht whispered through his head, of Hansel and Gretel, a candy cottage, and a witch’s oven, but he did not dwell on it That really had been a fairy tale, and witch or not, the girl who stood on the cabin’s threshold was inarguably real

Her gaze dropped, and her lips bowed into a tiny pout "Not enough salt," she said, and it took hi about her stew She had spotted the half-eaten bowl atop the bookshelf

Jack sed, throat dry He glanced out theat the wild garden in the back, and a realization struck hio? He had no idea how far he had come from the river where the slavers had ca uncoh his other injuries would not slow hith and vigor he had lost, nor stave off scurvy long enough for him to return to civilization He had no weapons, no food, no supplies of any kind…and the Wendigo still roamed somewhere out there

"The stew is perfect," Jack said

She brightened instantly, her s with the shyness she’d had when he had first seen her But then her expression grew troubled again

"You , but you did not finish it" Alestured to the abandoned bowl

Fighting his doubts, wary of her and of her ho the way she had protected him thus far, he took two steps back toward the center of the cabin

"That’shappily "That’s good, then"

The girl picked up the bowl and carried it to the table, passing within a few feet of Jack He caught the scent of cinnamon as she passed, and his senses were overco atop hi in her exhaled breath and that warm sweet smell of her

"Don’t you want the rest?" she asked as she set the bon and turned to look at him

Jack found that he did, very rowled, and he still had the taste of rabbit stew in his lass of water or whiskey would also be welcoetables…he wanted to stay

"What’s your name?" he asked

She turned toward him so quickly that it was al "Lesya I am Lesya"