Chapter One

THE STORM CRASHED down behind me, lightning bolts chasing me like a pack of bloodhounds, thunder screaming at me. As light flooded the darkness, I looked up through the pounding rain and saw a wall of jutting rocks looming above the road, their long arms poised like executioners.

    The wind was a giant hand at my back, driving me on. I tried digging in my heels, but the road was mud, my feet indistinguishable from the swirling brown goo that sucked me downward.

    My heart pounded as if I were pursued by a midnight stalker. My body dripped like a deep gash in a dark cloud.

    Why did my right arm feel so heavy? My forefinger trembled. My right temple ached from a pressure I couldn't explain. I sensed a cold eye staring at me, a shadowy Cyclops threatening me, pushing itself toward me.

    Where was I? What was happening? How did I get on this road alone, bareheaded in this awful tempest?

    I remembered driving to my mountain cabin and then ... the rest was a blur.

    Gusts of wind kept shoving me forward, letting up a little, then pushing even harder. All I saw through dripping, stinging eyes was the ground passing beneath my feet. My jeans were drenched, my hunting jacket a soaked sponge. I shivered.

    My knees quaked and my mind started spinning in the gray violence. I could no longer tell ground from sky, earth from heaven.

    "Help me! God, help—" Catching myself I groaned. I might as well be talking to the tooth fairy for all the good it would do me.

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