She opened her eyes to see the wall of the cottage, and sighed in relief, her shoulders drooping as she thought it was just a nightmare. Something behind her knocked the pitcher off the washstand and it crashed to the floor. Foul breath washed over her neck, and she whipped around in fear, her eyes wide. And then she saw it. Pure evil emanated from the form, the form that was hidden by darkness. Her heart leaped to her throat as the thing lunged for her, enveloping her in a cloak of darkness as a searing pain traveled up her side. Thick acrid smoke filled her mouth and nose as a scream ripped from her throat before she blacked out, stretched across the floor. When she woke, her parents and brother were gone without a trace. No tracks, no blood, nothing except a lingering sense that nothing would ever be the same again. ~ ~ ~ On the Isle of the Rock, something that Raven had long left behind her starts to arise again, making her doubt everything that she'd once thought she knew