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Chapter One

With a wrenching screaht She stopped, swaying in thein anticipation of pain Blinking, she stared around her and slowly re on the dresser so she wouldnt wake into the clutches of darkness The s in their rose glass bohich told her shed had the nightmare soon after her head hit the pillow

Settling on the edge of the bed, her legs shaking, she scraped her hands through her hair and rocked herself for self-coo to the bathroom, but the narrow dooras a tunnel of darkness, and thecandle flame

Goddess, her heart wouldnt stop its racing, sending alarh her chest

Twenty-four was a little young for a heart attack, considering she was in pretty good shape and had no history of heart disease A panic attack was far ht the hell out of it Kicking her body, punching her face, overwhel helpless really meant

A lesson shed give anything to forget

Up until it had happened, shed been a firs happened for a reason To teach lessons, increase wisdoe for all parties involved But when so truly horrible happened, all that wonderful spiritualise bullshit peddled by celebrities She vacillated between anger, fear and soe it That was the worst thing of all

Helpit until the whisper grated on her ears For the first time she wished she lived in town, not in the rural area outside Tampa, in a rundown rented two-bedroo vines

A t this second, shed give up her tiny garden and natural sanctuary for the coht television or walking down the hallway frohtshift job

She was so tired Marguerite, her boss, would see the shadows It was one of the reasons Chloe called her M for short, because she was like the savvy head of MI-6 Once dawn cahty Chloe routine, call in and say she was staying houerite ay too s at Tea Leaves asat her own home Or used to

That was the crux of it, wasnt it? She was afraid of everything, enjoying nothing But she was being stupid She could get through this

Thump Thump

She scra over the side table, the lamp and the cell phone on it When she landed in the debris, the night table jabbed into her hip as she rolled over it Snatching up the laers, she scooted back into the corner, her intestines coiled in painful knots No, no, no

When the thuled to place it Gradually, over theof her heart, she realized it was the maple she hadnt cut back It held one of her bird feeders The as up and the feeder, as well as the branch holding it, were striking the backyard shed A noise shed heard a hundred times

She couldnt take it any crushed, her breath strangling in her throat This was a panic attack Full blown, and while one part of herout A s she let the las, her hand brushed a slip of paper that had fluttered to the floor when she knocked over the table Glancing down, she saw the folded note that shed slid under the lao