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The egg…

It occurred to her that she should probably be looking for it already Melody scanned the property On the other side of the path, a row of thatched stone houses ran in a thin, low-slung row There was a carriage house too, and beside it a barn — big and weathered but fully restored to its for could be anywhere But she’d check the mansion first

The grass swished against her dress as she walked Melody turned her head back one last tiate was To imprint her exit point in her mind, so that when—

What the hell?

The gate was gone Right where it used to be, a thick, rolling mist had enveloped the treeline

“Great,” she thought “Already I’m lost”

She stopped walking and peered into the , or ht The treeline also see three ti as she had

It didn’t make any sense

Melody had run trac

k, all throughout high school She knew distances well, and the point at which she entered the field had to be at least a hundred and fifty yards away The ly stopped But left and right…

She shivered, despite the heat Left and right the th of the property, on both sides of the path It created a big serounds

Keep s obeyed without being asked Melody hiked her dress higher and started taking longer strides The field which had been so beautiful onlyher out now

She looked up about halfway to the house Oddly it seee sense of intrusion stole over her, as if she were some kind of interloper — unwanted and uninvited Sorounds Sorass

All of a sudden she wanted to be on the path She could turn toward it — all she’d have to do was hang a right at a large woodpile and cut beneath the oaks It would be easier walking for sure And it would also—

Her head snapped to the left She heard a noise Saw movement