( The flashback continues: Elias's story )
Spring, 1893 – Hollowmere, Carter Manor
The carriage groaned to a halt under the looming eaves of the Carter House!
Lightning split the sky, illuminating the aged timbers and ivy strangled stone, because the streetlights hardly did any job in such a downpour,the roads were pitch black!
The driver twisted around in his seat, his face pale as milk and lined with worry.
“Sir… I will say it again…this is madness,” he muttered, voice hoarse. “They speak of things in these woods… changeling things. Hollowmere won’t have it. You will be condemned for bringing her in, mark my words. She does not appear natural…”
Elias had already thrown the carriage door open, one arm protectively around the limp form of the girl.
“She is not a thing. She is a p
