Chapter One

Nico Setopoulis stepped out of his unit and moved carefully over the wet ground. The winds were blowing around him and despite it being a few days before Valentine’s Day, it was cold. Growing up in the Northwest, he told himself he should have long adjusted to how erratic the weather could be. Regardless of what the calendar or the weather people claimed it should be.

He saw the now familiar gold colored cap near the gate to the employee entrance but today she wasn’t moving. She leaned against the fender of one of the cars, ignoring the light rain coming down. He pushed the locked gate wide and stepped into the parking area where the resort cart waited for him. A chill ran down his spine when she looked up from the ground at him, an unusual nothingness in her stare that made him stop.

“Hello,” he began carefully, stepping up to her and leaning heavily on the cane in his left hand. “Are you alright?”

Lashes a mix between pale and red-gold blinked at him. It felt like she was sitting back and watching the inside of her brain, she thought vaguely. Hundreds of little lights flying around but not touching one another. That’s how she saw her thoughts, her memories. There was nothing connected, she realized, her mouth opening and closing, her head tilted to the side.

“I don’t know,” she answered finally. “I…”