Hiding out in an abandoned shack from their abusive pasts, Allison and Ethan Bryson entertain themselves by imaging all sorts of curious characters near the frozen lake outside their hut. But after Allison witnesses a man murder a young woman and discard her body beneath the icy lake, the line between real and imagine blurs. The struggle to survive increases when the young man discovers their shack and attempts to befriend the siblings. ***** The full-length, completed, stand-alone companion to Passing the Torch https://www.wattpad.com/story/90505120-passing-the-torch ***** [Wattpad Picks: Friday the 13th] 🏆 Long-listed in the #wattys2018! 🏆 1st place Winner of The Butterfly Awards 2019 in Mystery/Thriller. 🏆 1st place Winner of the Materia Awards 2019 in Thriller. 🏆 3rd place Winner of Top Shelf Teen Fiction Awards 2019 in Mystery. Copyright © 2019 by L.L. Sanders

Kristie Sandford's vacation is interrupted when a man jumps out in front of her car. She avoids hitting him, but when she stops to see if he's hurt, he demands she help him escape from the people chasing him. Kristie has an odd "gift"-she occasionally gets warning messages, and she gets one saying he needs her help or he'll die. Jason Hunter is an SBI (N.C. State Bureau of Investigation) agent working on his own time searching for a friend, an investigative reporter who disappeared while tracking down rumors of corruption in the bureaucracy of a small, North Carolina mountain town. Jason is grateful to Kristie for rescuing him, but dubious when she insists she has to continue helping him. Kristie is attracted to Jason, but the edge of danger she senses in him reminds her too much of the abusive family she escaped as soon as she could. Still, the message said he'd die if she didn't help him, and the messages have been right before.