The Door At Duck

he hills surrounding Blackwood Manor. A heavy silence clung to the house, broken only by th

had merged with her very heartbeat. Her dreams had been restless-visions of shadowy corridors, flickerin

nding

ocating, the faded wallpaper curling at the edges like peeling skin. Outside, the forest wh

ooking out at the endless sea of pines. Somewhere benea

to see Aunt Miriam standing in the doo

riam said, her voi

e cellar last night. The door-the

ened. "You shouldn

There's something beneath this house, something alive. The journal

oor behind her. "Your father never wanted you i

n the key. "But I'm here n

re are things about your bloodline you don't understand. Powers, cu

d. "What do you me

nly they can walk the Hollowway without being consu

a's spine. "What happe

fear and regret. "Then the Hollow will ris

on her like the heavy stone walls of the manor. She w

arm. The house was still and watchful, every creak and groan making her pulse quicken. She fou

orknob, hesitation crawling up her arm

brittle tomes and yellowed manuscripts, rose to a vaulted ceiling lost in shadows. At

to the frantic last entries. Her eyes scanned the scrawled handwritin

he earth, a place where th

made long ago to keep

the bloodline, de

showing the manor's grounds with strange symbols marked around the perimeter. One mark

Miriam had warned her not to wander too far, bu

cket pocket and slipped from the library,

e trees stood tall and silent, their dark trunks rising like silent sentinels. T

ng carefully over roots and moss. After a long

eneath her feet, and a faint mist hovered low to the earth. In the ce

hat vibrated beneath the manor. She reached out

orming shapes-ghostly figures flickering like candle flames. Faces sta

Aria whispered,

ot from the mist,

The broken. Bou

eat of the key at her neck. The lost souls reached out to

e shadows stepped a figure cloaked in black, a pale f

voice cold but not unkind. "And you've

er shoulders.

of the Hollow's edge. I've watched the manor fo

r me," Aria

t the choice is yours: to bind the

er. The ghosts writhed in the mis

" she

one who belongs to the Hollow and one who is pur

caught. "Sac

deepening his gaze. "That

he Veil, the ghosts swirling, the stone archway humming with power.

ons-and a destiny she could nei

sting long shadows across the cleari

ust a place of forgotten

nning of someth

e only one who