Chapter 46

It seemed lonely, with no close neighbors. It stood near a ridge, the path from the mansion going downhill toward the church and the Reef. A decrepit old cottage that was once slave quarters stood on one side, and a graveyard guarded by stone soldiers on the other. The house was surrounded by ghosts of the past, and a carriage house with the same design as the house was out back, neglected. The wind blew through it, echoing through cracks and crevices.

He knew now what his dream had been about.

The wind that blew through those crevices made a sinister music all through the night, coloring his dreams and giving him pictures of spider webs that hung in the corners and bugs that crawled along the walls. The darkness that existed past the entrance seemed to heave with life.