PROLOGUE: BACK TO THE SUNRISE
Lucy sat straight up, staring at the empty wall of her room in her parents' basement. She was covered in a cold sweat and her hands were shaking so hard that she put them between her knees to stop them. It took her a moment to catch her bearings, looking systematically from one spot of her room to another, taking inventory. There was her dresser, worn and used from her days in high school and the black and white pictures she took while she was studying abroad in Paris.
By the time she got to the far corner, the one nearest her bed, a blurry figure was leaning there. Nothing about the figure seemed solid, except that Lucy knew that the figure was female. She knew it because it was the same figure that had haunted her dreams for the past three months. Lucy bit her lip.
"They're getting closer. It's only a matter of time before they find your parents."
A few long moments and Lucy couldn't take it anymore. Three months of no sleep and constant battlefields were she desperately tried to find higher ground. She was tired of fighting it. What was the point anymore? "Alright. Fine. I give up. Just… My parents are good people. Ya know, they went to church. I don't want to see them die. Just because I never did, never believed doesn't mean that… Promise me."
"Lucy, I'm not evil." The blurry woman moved forward. "I swear to you, promise you, vow to you, that they will be safe and the moment that they are not? I will bring you back to them and smite whatever threatens them. You're right. They're good people. They deserve to live through this war."
Lucy could feel the sting that told her the tears were coming. She climbed out of bed and went to her childhood dresser. If she was going to do this, give up her soul to this creature, she wasn't going to do it in a pair of her ex boyfriend's boxers and a tank top. Lucy had some dignity in her resignation, which even to her, seemed odd.
She put on a pair of dark jeans, a loose fitting t-shirt and pulled her light brown hair into a messy ponytail. Lucy even put on her favorite jewelry. When she was finished, she turned toward the blurred figure, who'd stood there the whole time patiently.
Panic gripped her. Nothing would ever be the same. She didn't know if she was going to die or if she'd just slip into unconsciousness. There was no way to tell what would happen to her exactly. It was terrifying. So she stalled. "The sunrise. Can I at least see the sunrise?"
The figure nodded. Lucy led the way up the carpeted stairs and out the backdoor of her parents' home. The sun was just coming up over the flat horizon. A mist was on the ground and the air had a bite to it. There was something magical that made Lucy wish she could hang on forever. If she could just stay there, with the sun and the mist and the cold, Lucy would never ask for another thing.
"Okay. Let's do it." Lucy turned her back to the view. "Yes. I give you permission, Phanuel."