DEMI
I wake to the sound of someone trying to break my door down.
For a moment, I think I'm dreaming. My mind is still thick with sleep, my body warm beneath the covers, the faint gray light of early morning slipping through the thin curtains of the cottage bedroom. But then the banging comes again. It's louder this time, heavy and urgent.
My eyes fly open.
Who on earth…?
The knock comes again, three hard blows that rattle the doorframe.
I groan and push myself upright, rubbing my face. My heart is already beginning to thump faster as I swing my legs out of bed and pull on the sweater I tossed over a chair the night before.
The cottage is still unfamiliar in the way new places are when you've only slept in them once, yet I've been here a week. The creak of the floorboards, the faint scent of old wood and dust, the way the hallway seems longer in the half-light. All of it feels slightly unreal, like I'm still halfway between Danvarr and here.
