The Secret Of Spruce Knoll: A Channeler Novel

Prologue

Moonlight gave the wintry forest a sinister glow that made it hard to find good footing. One wrong step would bury him up to his waist in snow and his attempted escape would come to a brutal end. Though his heart hammered against the cage of his chest, he pushed himself harder until every ragged breath was like fire scorching down his throat. His wobbling legs could scarcely afford to slip on the snow, yet he couldn’t fight the need to cast a fearful glance over his shoulder. He couldn’t see them, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there, flitting through the shadows like a wraith upon his tail.

     Just ahead of him ran his wife. Her speed was superior to his and he prayed that it may save at least her.

     Fate couldn’t possibly be so cruel as to take them both from their daughter right before she was about to come into her powers, could it?

     No, he couldn’t allow himself to get distracted. He and his wife were not warriors. The only way they would survive this was if they outran or outwitted the Hunters.

     Legs aching from exertion, he staggered atop the hill, barely avoiding a collision with a massive ponderosa. Pulling back from the feathery boughs that were weighed down by the snow, he dodged around it and pushed on, forcing his weary feet to obey him. Tears of sweet relief sprang to his eyes at the sight of glowing light behind windows in a town not far below. The safety of civilization was almost within his reach.

     “Run Lilly! Don’t wait for me!” he called to his wife.

     Her long black hair flew in a shining arc as she whipped her head around to look at him. Despite the reluctance in her eyes, she sped up. Weakness washed from his muscles in a dizzying rush of hot adrenaline and he flew down the snowy hillside. Breathing hard, he sucked in the pine-scented night air, wincing at the feel of the cold on his raw throat. The blood pounding in his ears almost drowned out the sound of his pursuer following behind him. Almost.

     Below, the glowing beacon of civilization loomed ever closer until finally he could make out a few plowed roads winding between the buildings. Hot tears streamed down his face as he dared to hope that they were going to make it. But just before he reached the road his foot slipped and he went sprawling. An involuntary cry escaped him before he slammed into the snow and lost the air in his lungs.

     Pushing himself up, his eyes searched desperately for his wife. She stood frozen in the middle of the road, her cell phone clutched in her hand. There was no signal out here in the middle of nowhere. But she wasn’t trying to make a phone call. She was snapping a picture of the tall hooded man that stood only a few feet from her, staring her down.

Those horrible dark eyes moved to him for a moment and white teeth gleamed from within the man’s hood. He knew those eyes. They flicked back to his wife and time slowed to an agonizing crawl. The light of the moon caught on something long and sleek in the man’s hand; a dagger. The man leaped for his wife, collided with her, and took her to the ground. Screaming, he launched himself to his feet and tried to run to her. But something heavy fell upon his back and pinned him to the ground. The flash of a blade was the last thing he saw before he was swallowed by darkness.