Sally Bosco

Ari bets her future on reforming a murderer. The only problem—she’s dead and he’s her killer. 

When Ari and her boyfriend Jace sneak off to a cabin for what she thinks will be the best night of her life, things take a disastrous turn… she’s sedated and murdered.

An ethereal guide gives Ari the opportunity to solve the mystery of who killed her and win back her life. But in order to unravel it, Ari has to inhabit the body of her murderer.

________________________________________________________________________________________

This May Not End Well (excerpt)

A twisty young adult, paranormal suspense novel.

by Sally Bosco

Prologue

I’m going to tell you about the night I died.

Now that I’ve arrived here in the life-between lives, everything has changed.

In this idyllic world of soft-focus mountains and watercolor trees, I now view my life on earth with perfect clarity. It’s a paradox, I know, but you’ll understand when you arrive here.

While you’re alive, every action appears so final. You feel that the events happening at the moment are important and absolute. Well, I assure you, they’re not. You get many second chances.

This is my take on the whole thing: when you’re alive in the world, you’re sitting in a movie theater watching a riveting film. You have the starring role, and all the action revolves around you. You’re so engrossed in watching the movie of your life, you actually begin to see through the main character’s eyes.

It’s not until you leave the theater that the reality of your time on earth falls down around you like a stage set, all make-believe. Now I see my life like a word shouted into an empty sound stage. The echo reverberates in ever decreasing intensity, and it grows less significant as time goes on.

But don’t feel sad for me. It’s not about that right now. It’s more about getting at the truth of who murdered me.

Chapter 1

I feel like an imposter here. 

Like at any moment, this idyllic life of mine will crash and burn. Then I’ll have to gather all of my belongings into a black garbage bag and move on to the next family. 

At the moment, working on my book was the most important thing to me, so I toiled over my laptop until the last possible moment. My labor of love was a memoir, a true recounting of my experiences in the foster system. Having been shuffled around to more than twenty homes in my first fourteen years, I could speak from experience.

But for now, I needed to stop expecting myself to be flawless. Tonight, I was going to break all the rules.

Mom had bought me a fancy cat mask full of rhinestones and sequins for tonight’s costume party. I had to take deep breaths when I even thought about anything covering my face. But I would wear this mask. I settled on a black turtleneck and black jeans. That would make me look “cat woman” enough. I finished off the outfit with a faux leopard coat I’d scored at a local consignment shop and some black leather boots.

The chime of the doorbell made my pulse zing. 

I stood at the top of the stairs and watched as my mom gave my boyfriend a big hug. “Jace. Wonderful to see you.” My mom, Arlene, was thirty-eight, but still cool. A social worker, she took a chance on adopting me when I was fourteen and impossible to place. Yeah. Arlene and Bill changed my life in huge ways.

“Come on in, son.” Dad vigorously shook Jace’s hand, patting his shoulder, all fatherly. My dad, Bill, was about the same age as Mom, but he looked older, probably due to being outdoors a lot. He built environmentally friendly houses.

My mom said to Jace, “Are you going to be warm enough in that? It’s bitter cold outside. I’ve got an extra scarf…”

“Thanks, Mrs. Walsh. I’ll be fine.”

“Ari’s getting ready. She’ll be down in a minute.” Mom called up to me, “Ari! Jace is here.”

“In a minute, Mom.” I descended the stairs, taking my time, since I didn’t want to appear too eager. Standing on the last step, I gazed at Jace, not believing that he was my boyfriend. “Hey there,” was all I could say.

The sparkle in Jace’s eyes as he gazed up at me grew to an intensity of a thousand suns. His dark blue eyes with their gold flecks, fringed with dark lashes, were unusual and so striking. “You look so amazing. But then you always do.” He moved toward me, and in the hallway, out of view of my parents, he gave me a luscious kiss. My Jace.

Before we left, I took one last look around the house. The entranceway had a big watercolor of a bird feeding her baby chicks that I painted freshman year. The living room was cozy with a fireplace that wafted a smoky wood scent through the air. This mingled with the fragrance of the pine tree that Mom decorated so beautifully for Christmas. Mom and Dad sat on the couch, Dad reading from his tablet. I got kind of a lump in my throat when I looked at them. I had no idea it would be the last time I’d see them.

“Remember, I’m staying over at Colette’s house tonight,” I reminded Mom.

“That’s fine, dear. Just don’t drink and drive.”

“Thanks, Mom. I won’t.” My parents trusted me. I was bizarrely good, getting good grades, doing everything I was supposed to. I had a small tinge of guilt because that night I was going to betray their trust. Jace and I had planned it.

Chapter 2

“Let’s go.” I took Jace’s hand, and we walked out to his car, a red, slightly beat up Toyota Corolla. It had a deep scratch down one side where someone had keyed it. The frost of yesterday’s snowfall crunched beneath my boots as the cold air bit into my face. 

We were headed to Colette’s Winter Solstice party. She held it every year, and it was really fun. During previous years I’d been so shy, so afraid to talk to anyone. But now my ever-increasing confidence made me feel like I could navigate the maze of assorted kids who would be partying at Colette’s mother’s lavish house.

Jace opened my door for me and pressed lips soft as rose petals to mine. I closed my eyes to recover from the dizzying sensation. Though his kisses were always mind-blowing, that night, they held a special significance for me.

While Jace drove, we went over our secret strategy for the night.

“We’ll go to Colette’s party and stay for about an hour, then we’ll make our getaway, right?” I glanced over at Jace.

When he grasped my gloved hand and rubbed it, I felt the heat, even through the material. He grinned and briefly glanced away from the road to share a meaningful look with me. “Everything’s in place.” 

“Even the location?”

The car swerved and nearly crashed into a ditch, but Jace recovered. 

“Hey, watch the road, okay?”

“Sorry about that. Yes, everything’s going to be great. Trust me.”

And I did. Jace was one of those rare birds—a guy who was nice and hot, so I was able to trust every single thing he did. Even though I tried not to show it, I was so excited my whole body buzzed.

“Ari, before we go to the party, we need to talk, okay?”

“Yes, sure.” I swallowed hard. This couldn’t be good.

Jace pulled off to the side of the road and stared straight ahead, his profile silhouetted by the moonlight. He had medium long dark brown hair. His long lashes, just-right nose, and full lips looked like poetry to me. “I’ve been wanting to tell you something.”

My mood sank. It sounded like he was going to break up with me. “What?” I held my breath, wondering what he was about to say.

He turned to face me with an expression of someone who was about to tell you your dog died. “I’ve been accepted by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.”

A dull ache squeezed my chest. “And you’re going to go there? You’re going to California?”

“Yes,” he said softly. 

That wasn’t fair. We’d made plans. “What about Julliard? That was your dream school.”

He glanced down at his hands. The moonlight caught his long lashes and made a shadow against his cheek. “They didn’t come through with a scholarship.”

“Even after you won that award?” Jace had won the Outstanding New Talent award from the National Federation of Pianists. He went to New York and competed at Lincoln Center, playing Beethoven’s “Sonata Pathétique.” I was in the audience. His performance was compelling, so powerful yet tender, that it brought me to tears. His brooding Lord Byron looks along with his virtuoso playing made the video of his performance go viral for a time.

“We had plans that you’d go to Julliard and I’d go to NYU, so we’d be close together.” I was trying hard not to sound pathetic, but the news shifted my world.

He sighed and glanced downward. “I know, but plans change. I’m so sorry.”

“I can’t stand the thought of not being with you.” A growing heat behind my eyes threatened to make me tear up, but I held fast.

“Ari, they offered me a full-ride scholarship. My parents can’t afford the tuition at Julliard, not even with loans.”

“Congratulations on the scholarship, but what about my scholarship to NYU? I worked hard for that. They have one of the best creative writing programs in the country.” My eyes prickled.

“Then you should go there.”

“What?” My chest caved as though someone had punched me in the gut.

“I didn’t mean it to sound like that. It’s just that you deserve to follow your path as much as I do. You’re a wonderful writer, Ari.”

He was right. I needed to follow my own dreams. But, if we were going to schools three thousand miles apart, that would be as good as breaking up. “You should go to San Francisco then.” As I lost the battle to keep my eyes from misting over, I turned my head away.

“I’ve made you sad. I didn’t mean to do that.” He put one finger under my chin and turned my head toward him. 

That nearly made me lose it, but I took a deep breath. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. But I know how we might be able to work this out. Maybe you can go to school on the west coast.”

“Jace, I got a scholarship to NYU. I’m not going to ask my parents to pay tuition for a school in California.”

“Maybe you could get a scholarship to a school out there.”

He was being unrealistic and selfish, and it irritated me. “At this point, it’s too late to even get accepted, let alone win a scholarship.”

“Listen, I’ll get this degree, then we’ll have the rest of our lives to be together.”

“Come on. Going to separate schools means it’s over between us, and you know it.”

“No. We’ll be together forever. It has to be that way. I can’t be with anybody but you.” Jace focused his eyes on me. He had a way of looking so intense.

“Promise we’ll be together?” I said, feeling stupid. I knew all too well that promises were fluid.

“Absolutely.” He leaned over to kiss me, but I felt a rift between us. One that I hoped wouldn’t grow bigger as time went on. Now I wasn’t sure about going through with tonight’s plans.

Jace started up the car, and we headed toward the party.

We pulled up to my friend Colette’s house, a large, white colonial with distinctive black New England shutters. The house was set back into the woods. Cars crammed the long driveway. We parked as close as we could, which was still pretty far away due to all the guests.

The snow crunched below our feet, and the night sky shined as we trudged up her driveway. Pine trees laden with snow sparkled in the glow of the streetlights.

Without knocking, we entered the door and found an entryway adorned with historical portraits. One of them was of a stern woman who wore a black dress and jet beads, obviously in mourning. Another was of a man posed, all self-important, in front of a bookcase. The paintings looked like they were from the 1920s.

The scent of fireplaces and mulled wine lit up my senses.

An assortment of kids from school crowded every inch of the house. They wore makeshift costumes like kitty-cats, angels and devils, nothing too terribly inspired, but having worn only a cat mask and faux leopard-skin coat myself, I wasn’t one to talk. The music blasted. I yelled to Jace. “Good thing there aren’t any neighbors close by, otherwise someone would definitely call the cops.”

“Yeah, really.”

Colette’s mom was conveniently out of town. Also, conveniently, Colette had an older sister who was able to get us stocked up with the basics—beer and blackberry brandy. The beer I didn’t care about so much, but the blackberry brandy, that was essential for keeping us warmed up for our inevitable outdoor excursions.

I didn’t think her mother would disapprove, being a party type herself. On the contrary, she’d be proud of her daughter.

Three girls dressed like slutty fairies stood in the hallway and snickered at me. I’d seen them around school, but I didn’t know them well. “That’s that girl who was a foster kid.”

“Nobody wanted her, right?” The X-rated Tinkerbell with long blonde hair looked straight at me and sneered.

“She got that coat from Goodwill.” The fairy with pixie-cut black hair put her hand to her mouth and laughed.

Usually, I would have been able to say whatever and go about my business, but tonight this wounded me, so I mustered all my courage. “I don’t need your negativity,” I said, glaring at them.

Pixie cut stood back and said, “Woah,” then roared with laughter.

“Stop, just stop.” They were so freakin’ juvenile.

X-rated Tinkerbell stepped forward. “Who’s going to make me?”

Jace walked up to them and got right in their faces. “Don’t talk about my girlfriend like that. She’s better and smarter than all of you put together.”

Pixie cut looked Jace up and down. “I think you could do way better than her, honey.”

Jace didn’t back down. “Just leave her alone if you know what’s good for you.”

The three fairies looked defiant at first, but soon they scurried like cockroaches.

He’d defended me at Colette’s party in front of everyone, and it touched me deeply. “Thanks for that, Jace.” But why was I surprised? That’s the kind of guy Jace was.

“It just bugs me when those trashy girls do that.” His face was red with anger, as though he could barely contain himself. “They’re jealous of you.”

I grasped his arm and leaned my face into his shoulder. “You’re the best.”

“No, you are,” he said, poking me in the chest and smiling.

This kind of cleared the air between us.

We moved from one of the smaller rooms into the living room, an expansive space that had a fireplace on one wall flanked by two leather couches and comfortable chairs. Kids hung all over the furniture and stood in every available space. A white grand piano, adorned with a candelabra, sat majestically at the far end of the room. On the wall opposite the fireplace, a bar and snack table offered all kinds of goodies. 

A song came on that we both liked. “Come on, let’s dance,” Jace said.

After a flash of insecurity, I agreed, swaying a little, trying to pick up the beat. Soon, Jace pulled me toward him, and we rocked back and forth to the song, then we drifted over to the snack table.

“I should have known I’d find you by the food.” It was Collette, dressed like a 1920s version of an Egyptian princess: floor length golden gown with flowing bugle beaded drapery, and a gold headdress vaguely in the shape of a beehive hairdo. She held a long, ivory cigarette holder with a bright teal cocktail cigarette, which she pretended to smoke.

 “Colette! I was beginning to think you were lost in a bedroom somewhere with some hot freshman.”

She fake punched me, then we hugged. “You know I only date hot seniors.” She swiped her hand through the air. 

Colette lived a larger-than-life existence, throwing parties, skipping school to go on exotic trips. Like she had to live up to her mother’s expectations. Her mother, Joycelyn Wilde, had a few hit movies back in the day. Summer Thing and Tatyana being the most famous of the bunch. Then she starred in a long-running TV series Life on the Fringes. But that was fifteen years ago, and she hasn’t worked since. Still, the caché of having an actress mother stuck.

“What do you think of my party?” she asked. She always had this wondrous citrus scent, which I found out was lime basil and mandarin. Delicious.

“You’ve outdone yourself. What are there, two hundred kids in here?”

“Seriously, no. More like three hundred. But I have a cleaning crew coming in tomorrow to tidy up the wreckage.”

“You have it all figured out, don’t you, Colette?” Jace said.

“Whatever.” She made a little hmmph sound and turned her head away from him.

Jace had some feelings about Colette I couldn’t quite put my finger on. He disapproved of her extravagant lifestyle and partying, but I sensed there was more to the story. I sometimes thought he was jealous of our friendship. Often Colette acted like Jace was trying to control me, which wasn’t the case at all. I wished they could have been friends.

“You have to see our masks.” I put on my sparkly cat mask. I had to take deep breaths to overcome the feeling of being swallowed up by it. My claustrophobia again. Jace put on his really cool Venetian mask. The gold mask had scroll work and concealed his face, leaving only his eyes visible.

“Very nice.” Colette fake-flicked the ashes of her unlit cigarette onto the floor. “Where did you get that awesome mask?” 

“My mom bought it for me.”

“She has great taste.”

The feel and smell of the plastic mask made me gasp for air. As soon as Colette turned to greet some other guests, I pulled it off.

“That thing’s bothering you, huh?” Jace asked.

“Yeah, a little bit.” Actually, a lot. Having my face behind it made me feel like I was locked in a dark, dank closet.

Colette grinned in a mischievous way and took Jace by the arm. 

He glanced down at his arm as if to say, What are you doing?

She looked at me, then at Jace. “I wonder if you’d do us the honor of playing something for us. That fabulous grand piano over there looks pretty lonely.”

I knew from experience that Jace hated to be put on the spot to play the piano.

“I’m sorry, Colette. I appreciate the offer.” He pulled away from her.

“Oh, come on. After that wonderful video of you playing Beethoven’s something-or-other, couldn’t you give our guests a treat?”

“It wouldn’t go with the party music.”

“We can shut that off. No problem.”

Jace looked over at me.

“Come on, Jace,” I said, taking Colette’s side. “Play something.”

He grudgingly dragged himself over to the grand piano, sat on the bench and opened the keyboard. The party music stopped and everyone wondered what was going on. Colette said, “Quiet everybody. Jace Osborn is going to play something for us.” The partiers continued to yell and make noise. At that point, Colette grasped the microphone that was on a stand by the piano and screamed, “I said, quiet down. Jace is going to play for us.” The group settled. “That’s more like it.”

Jace sat for a moment until the room quieted, and kids gathered around him. He gingerly put his hands on the keyboard and played the initial notes of Debussy’s “Claire De Lune.” This was one of my favorites. I stood back from the general crowd and admired the way he took command of the rowdy bunch of partiers. Everyone actually stopped and listened.

Jace played with great emotion, occasionally shutting his eyes to experience the music. Few songs transported me like this one. I’d heard him play a lot of music, but this one conjured up magical waves lapping on a shore or an evening walk through an enchanted garden.

When he finished, everyone was silent. Then Colette led the applause. “Let’s hear it for Jace.” She leaned in toward him. “Jace, can you play another?”

Heading Colette off, I said, “No, we have plans. Let’s go.” I took Jace’s arm and led him toward the front door.

Collette inclined her head toward the back of the house. “I know you have to leave, but let’s go outside. Just for a minute. They’ve made a huge bonfire. We’ll be able to stay snug even though it’s f-ing freezing outside.” 

These parties usually ended up outside. That’s why I’d bundled up in my warm coat. “Sure. Let’s go.”

We walked toward the den at the back of the house. Another smaller fireplace crackled in this room.

Greg, Colette’s boyfriend of the moment, sat on the couch, wriggling his fingers at the toasty flames. He was dressed like a goth pirate with a long mane of black hair and a gold earring in one ear. 

“Greg, are you up for a walk outside?” she asked.

“Let’s hang out inside, where it’s warm. I’m not in the mood to freeze my butt off.” 

“Suit yourself. You can stay here. I’m going outside with the cool kids,” Colette said with a wry smile. Then she grabbed a couple of bottles of blackberry brandy, handed me one, and the three of us exited through the back door.

“Wait a minute,” Greg said. “We’re the cool kids. Oh whatever.” He waved his hand towards her in a dismissive manner. “Just go.”

I didn’t understand why Colette was with Greg, of all people. She could have done so much better. Not that there was anything wrong with him. It was just that she shined so much more brightly.

I figured we’d better go along with her so we could finally leave. It was getting late, after all. Once we stepped outside, cold air slapped me in the face and stabbed into my clothes. Jace and I hung onto each other as we slugged down the blackberry brandy.

On a freezing December night, my friends and I tromped outside through a snow-crunchy pasture towards a blazing bonfire. Why did we always end up outside? Probably force of habit. We often didn’t have a house to go to, so we made the outdoors our playground. 

Out in an open field, the bonfire stood taller than me and looked to be about ten feet in diameter. I got as close to it as I could without burning up and held out my hands toward it. “This isn’t so bad.”

“No, it’s awesome, actually,” Jace said.

Dragonflies buzzed around in my stomach—neon, magical dragonflies that left trails of stardust as they flew. I pushed the memory of our school discussion out of my mind. It was still December, and college wouldn’t begin until fall. Plenty of time for things to change. Nothing was going to ruin this night.

Being a manic planner, I’d gotten on the pill last month, so nothing would go wrong. Tonight would be the night. Why was I seventeen and so f’ing pure? My life as a foster kid had been so uncertain. My virginity had been the one thing I wanted to keep for myself. I’d had my share of handsy foster fathers, but I felt like something had protected me from the worst of it.

Snow and ice hung from the trees like fake tinsel. Someone had a bluetooth speaker, and we danced to a song fittingly enough called, Dancing in the Moonlight. Jace whirled me around and around. Of course, we were both tipsy from the blackberry brandy we continued to slug down. What the heck, it was medicinal. It protected us from the cold.

“That was really great of you to play for Colette’s party. I know you don’t like being asked like that.” I threaded my hand under his arm and snuggled against him.

“I’m happy to do it, but it was for you, not Colette.”

“Let’s go. We need to go through with our plans. You still want to, right?” I asked Jace. Our earlier discussion may have put a damper on the evening.

“Yes. Ari, I love you. I want to always be with you. So, if you still want to, so do I.”

“Let’s do it.”

He revived my faith in him by saying, “Come away with me, Ari. Come away.” He caught me around the waist and kissed me. His lips were so soft and warm. On that freezing night, he heated me through and through.

“Sure, where to? The suspense is killing me.”

“I found a place. It’s a little cabin. My parents’ friends own it, but they’re not using it, and I have the key.” He pulled a key from his pocket like a magician pulling off a spectacular trick. It was attached to a tiny Coleman lantern keychain that lit up. 

“I don’t know…” I teased, trying to sound reluctant. Actually, fireworks exploded in my brain.

“Come on…” Jace moved my scarf to the side and kissed my neck.

“Well, this is…”

“… our big night.” Jace finished my sentence for me. He knew me so well.                                     

 “Sounds like it would be a cool place to get away to, and I did tell my mom I was staying over at Colette’s.” My skin tingled with anticipation.

“Cool, let’s do it.”

So we broke away from our friends on that frozen night and hopped into Jace’s car. 

He’d been drinking a little—I had too—but not so much that it would impair his driving. He did sway a little as he opened the car door for me. We just needed to get to the cabin, then we wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore.

My whole body tingled at the thought of our adventure to come.

Chapter 3

Jace drove for several miles up into the foothills of the mountain, well, actually just steep hills, as there were no real mountains in our part of Connecticut. After pulling off onto a side road, he parked in front of a trail that led into the woods. One look at the dark, twisty path and I said, “You’ve got to be kidding. For one thing, it’s sub-zero out there, or at least it feels like it. I’m wearing slippery boots, and that path is freakin’ scary.”

“Come on. Where’s your spirit of adventure? I’ve been here lots of times. The path is not that long, and it leads to a cozy cabin. It has a fireplace and a comfy couch… And an inviting bed.”

Warning signs fired off in my brain. Not about being with Jace, but about going off into the dark woods. “Um…I don’t know. It looks creepy. Why don’t we just come back during the day?”

“I don’t want you to do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, so let’s go. We’ll have other nights.” Jace started up the car and began pulling away.

An emptiness gripped me. After all that planning, did I really want to blow our big night? Did I want my first time to be in a spooky cottage or some dumb motel room? On Monday, I’d be kicking myself for playing it safe. I put my hand on the steering wheel to stop him from leaving. “Wait. Let’s do it.”

“You’re sure about this?”

Now I was all-in. This was going to be the best night of my life, the night I’d remember for years to come. My skin prickled with excitement. “I’m sure. I want to do this.”

Jace turned around and looked behind as he backed up the car. He smiled at me. “Seriously, it’s not dangerous. It’s the same space it would be in the daylight. It’s just that the dark throws a different… feeling into it.”

“I’m trusting you.”

“Don’t worry about it, babe.” He leaned over and kissed me softly. The warmth that radiated from his lips made me feel I could do anything.

When I got out of the car, I immediately slipped on some black ice and fell. A sharp sting, and damn, I probably skinned my knee under my jeans. I should have taken it as a bad omen, but did I? No.

“Careful there.” Jace helped me up, and we started up the path.

My toes instantly became numb from the cold. “Where’s that blackberry brandy? I’m freezing.”

Jace produced a pint bottle, and we passed it between us as we trudged up the path. It was wide enough for comfortable travel, and the moonlight glinted off of ice patches on the trees, causing them to sparkle. I’d been silly to be frightened of this place. The bright moonlight made lacy patterns through the icy branches. In my somewhat inebriated state, I couldn’t get over how cool they looked, like the icicles you’d put on a Christmas tree. This place was friendly, no doubt about it. Plus, I always felt safe with Jace.

As we walked, my circulation pumped heat into my extremities and made me feel warmer. It took us about a half hour to get up the “short” path, but once we got there, I saw that Jace hadn’t lied. It was a snug little cottage that could have been made of gingerbread. It had two windows in front with blue-checkered curtains and a red door with an autumn wreath on it. Jace opened the door, revealing a couple of over-stuffed chairs, a small couch, an oval rug and a fireplace. 

Jace gave me a look that said, See? I told you it would be awesome. Using some logs and kindling someone had thoughtfully stacked by the hearth, he got right to work building a fire.

The kitchen was small but updated and had moose placemats with matching napkins. The bedroom had a queen-sized bed with a quilt on top, and a modern, clean bathroom. I looked in all the closets and under the bed. With the place thoroughly scrutinized, the door locked, and the fire roaring, we settled in, all cozy and comfortable.

“This was a good idea after all. I have to hand it to you, Jace, you’ve found a winner.” We drained the last of the blackberry brandy, and I felt a little woozy, so we looked around the kitchen for food. All that was there was a bag of salt-pepper rice cakes, which Jace made a face at, but we both eventually ate. We also found a bottle of red wine which we poured into plastic cups. 

“Cheers,” we both said as we toasted each other.

Then Jace added, “Here’s to us.”

We sat on the floor with our backs against the couch drinking our wine and gazing into the fire. I looked deeply into Jace’s warm, blue eyes and kissed him. We sank down into the plush rug in a heavenly swirl of lips and touch. The heat of the fire caressed our bodies as we lost ourselves in each other.

Though it was blissful being there with Jace in front of the fireplace, truth-be-told, neither of us was used to drinking, so the blackberry brandy and wine did us in. Curled up in front of the fire, we fell into a deep sleep.

When I woke, I couldn’t move my arms or legs. I lay flat on my back in the darkness, and when I jerked my head up, it bumped into something. What was going on? My heart felt like it would explode. The sickening realization dawned on me that I was in a coffin. I tried to draw air into my lungs, but all I could do was gasp and wheeze. Dizziness and nausea overcame me. I tried to scream, but all that would come out of me were gasping cries. I thrashed around, but couldn’t move my arms and legs, and oh my God, they were bound. I couldn’t stop crying, then I couldn’t breathe.

A prying sound made me jump. Thank God, someone was rescuing me. I had no idea what had happened, but it would be over soon.

When the coffin opened, a head appeared. Through my teary, foggy eyes, I couldn’t see much, but I focused in on Jace’s gold-flecked, blue eyes peering through the ornate Venetian mask. A moment of hope sparked in my brain. Jace was here to rescue me. But Jace’s eyes looked so different—maniacal, wild and scary. And they had a coldness I’d never seen before.

Read the rest…