Chapter 1
The sound of the shutters slamming against the outside wall woke me. A chill breeze swept through the open window. I shivered.
I threw back the covers and got out of bed, my plain white nightgown falling to my ankles. I shivered again, watching for a moment with fascination as the wind blew the curtains out. I had thought that Mother would have closed my window before she went to bed. Then again, ever since her illness, she didn't do a whole lot of moving around.
I went to the window and paused, breathing the chill air. It was late autumn, and nearly all the leaves had fallen from the trees in our village. The crops were finished, and Father had hired three strapping young men to help him take it in. Henry, Alex and Daniel were nice men, but I didn't enjoy having to feed them. They ate too much, and they were loud and boisterous, causing a disruption to our household. If only Father was able to bring in the harvest on his own. But he was helping out our neighbors with theirs, free of charge. We could afford to hire farmhands; the Walkers couldn't.
I reached my arms out of the window, reaching for the shutters as the cold wind bit at me thin nightgown. I could almost taste winter in its hands, and I hoped that we would be able to bring in the harvest before the snow fell.
Isabella…
I peered through the dark, my hands still on the shutters, and my heart almost stopped.
Standing in the middle of the road, directly across from the house, was a creature the likes of which I had never seen nor heard of. It stood like a man, but it was covered in the fur of a beast. As I watched, it turned its gaze away from the house and looked directly at me with cold, human-like yellow eyes.
I slammed the shutters closed, locking them immediately. My hands shook with fear. Then I closed the curtains and ran to my bed, covering my head with the blanket. I stayed like that until morning, shivering and unable to get back to sleep, those cold, intelligent eyes visiting me every time I closed my eyes.
