Prologue

Nightmare at Croft Manor

To put it simply, Mr and Mrs Croft were comfortable.

Richard Croft held the title of 'Lord' and was CEO of Croft Holdings, a very profitable company. He was tall with a friendly face and brown hair that never seemed to be neat no matter how much it was combed. He had two daughters who were the light of his life. While his first love, Amelia, died tragically their daughter together reminded him of all the blessings he had left. He loved his second wife, Ophelia, almost as much as his first, and he loved their daughter together just as much as his eldest.

Ophelia Croft was thin and blonde and had a beautiful face she invested a lot in. She was a socialite from a wealthy family. She spent her days doing pilates and her evenings planning and going to fundraisers, galas and balls. She loved Richard, and she enjoyed his title and social standing. She loved her daughter, Persephone, more than anything.

It was in this home, lavish and posh, but full of love and happiness that Persephone Croft spent her first seven years of life not knowing anything of the cruelness or darkness that lied in the world.


"Daddy will you tell me a bedtime story?" A young Persephone requested. It was bedtime, the small girl looked even smaller in the middle of her pink fluffy bed.

Her father, Richard Croft, tucked the girl in."Of course, and what would my princess like to hear? Another fairytale?"

"Only if it's true."

Her father chuckled. "Deal. Once upon a time, there was a young maiden who was so beautiful and radiant that everyone who met her fell in love. Her beauty and kindness was even able to melt the icy heart of a dark prince, who ruled the kingdom of the dead." A shiver ran up Persephone's spine. "Our maiden loved to spend her days in the garden amongst the flowers and the dark prince would often watch her there, hidden behind the large trunk of a burnt tree."

"Why did he hide?" She asked.

"Because the two were from different worlds, him from the land of the dead and her from the world of the living. He was afraid she would never love him because of it. Well, one day while she was picking flowers the earth opened up and swallowed her."

"Why?!"

"Because the Earth was the prince's mother. She hated watching her son pine over a woman he thought he could never have, so she lashed out thinking it would be resolved one way or another. Luckily the dark prince was there and his kingdom resided underground. He was able to save her from falling into the river of the dead, but she was in no condition to return above ground. So he kept her in his castle of earth and bones and nursed her back to health. In this time the maiden, who was finally able to see him, fell in love with the prince."

"How did they fall in love?" Persephone asked innocently.

"Well, Princess, Love is a funny thing. Sometimes you meet someone and you know instantly that you love them. Sometimes it happens gradually, over time. Each moment adding together until it equals love. And sometimes, as in the case of the maiden and her prince, a single moment can make you realize that you love that person and then it seems like you've always loved them."

Persephone egged her father on, "So? What was their moment?"

"The prince could tell the maiden was missing the land above, but she still wasn't well enough to return. Instead he brought a piece of the living world to the land of the dead; a beautiful garden with all of her favorite flowers. The maiden loved the garden, even though they both knew it wouldn't last without the sun. It was that moment she knew she loved him."

"And did they live happily ever after?"

"Not at first. You see, while the maiden was underground her mother, a powerful witch, had laid waste to the land in search of her missing daughter. Nothing had grown in months and the people were suffering for it. The maiden and her lover were torn. The maiden knew that if she went back up to the land of the living she wouldn't be able to return until her death. Meanwhile, the prince recognized that the maiden didn't belong in the land of the dead. She was alive, and while he tried to bring life and light underground in the form of the garden, he knew it would never be enough. Living things can't flourish surrounded by the dead."

"So what did they do?"

"The prince went to the King of all things and pleaded for a pardon to allow the maiden to pass between the two worlds like the prince was able to do. The King looked at the suffering of his subjects at the hands of the maiden's mother and the love shared between the prince and the maiden, and he agreed. The maiden spent the rest of her years split between her mother and her prince."

"And then they all lived happily ever after?" Persephone asked between yawns. Persephone would learn much later that this was a version of the story of Persephone and Hades, and that her father often passed off these modified versions of ancient myths as children's fairy tales.

"Yes, they lived happily ever after. Goodnight, Princess." Her father kissed the top her head, turned off the lights, and left her to dream.


There were no sweet dreams for Persephone that night, however, she had terrible visions of blood and fire and skulls. She awoke in the middle of the night, startled from her nightmare.

Once her eyes adjusted to the dim light she screamed. The figure of a man in dark robes and a silver glinting mask stood at the side of her bed.

Persephone scrambled out of her blankets and dodged the attempt to grasp her. She didn't know when, but her room had caught fire. She screamed again.

Footsteps bounded to her door and her father entered, telling Persephone to find her mother, to run out of the house. Her father grappled with the strange man. The silver mask falling off the man. As Persephone ran out she caught sight of the man whispering strange words ('Avada Kedavra!') and a green light flash from a stick the man was holding. Her father fell limply to ground.

She let out one last scream of grief for her father. Looking into the eyes of his killer before they disappeared behind a wall of flames.

Outside within her mother's arms, surrounded by police and firemen, Persephone felt no safer than if she was still inside with the killer. The fire could be seen taking on the upper left wing of her family's estate. A mysterious green cloud, similar in shape to a colossal skull with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue, rose higher and higher above the Croft estate, etched against the black sky like a cruel, mocking joke from god.

This was the night Persephone was introduced to the darkness in the world. And it was not an introduction she would ever forget.