PROLOGUE
~~~
Maya stood in the middle of a road she had never seen before.
Rain fell hard enough to blur everything beyond a few feet, soaking her hair and running cold against the back of her neck. She looked down at herself, confused by the clothes she was wearing, then turned slowly in a circle.
There were no houses. No cars. No streetlights.
Only the road.
It stretched ahead of her until the darkness swallowed it.
“Eli?”
Her voice disappeared into the rain.
She waited.
Nothing.
Maya wiped the water from her face and looked down the road again.
Someone was standing beneath a streetlight.
She couldn't see his face clearly, but she knew the way he stood. The slight bend in his shoulders. His hands hanging loosely by his sides.
“Eli?”
The figure didn't answer.
Maya started walking toward him.
“Eli, what are you doing here?”
He remained still.
She was close enough now to see his face.
It was her brother.
But something was wrong.
He looked at her as though he had never seen her before.
Maya slowed down.
“What's wrong?”
Eli looked past her.
His eyes fixed on something behind her.
“Eli?”
He finally looked at her.
“You shouldn't be here.”
Maya frowned. “Where?”
He didn't answer.
A phone began to ring.
Maya reached into her pocket and pulled it out.
The screen showed one name.
ELI.
She looked up.
Her brother was still standing in front of her.
“Why are you calling me?”
Eli's expression changed.
“Maya,” he said quietly, “don't answer it.”
The phone stopped ringing.
For a few seconds, neither of them moved.
Then it rang again.
This time, the sound wasn't coming from the phone in her hand.
It was coming from behind her.
Maya slowly turned.
A white door stood in the middle of the road.
There was no wall around it. No building. Nothing holding it upright.
Just a door.
The ringing came from the other side.
Maya took a step backward.
Eli moved toward her.
“Don't.”
She looked at him.
“What is that?”
“I don't know.”
That frightened her more than anything else.
Eli had an answer for everything.
Not always a good one, but always something.
She looked back at the door.
The ringing stopped.
Three knocks came from the other side.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Maya's fingers tightened around her phone.
“Eli…”
He was staring at the door.
“Don't open it.”
Another knock.
This one was softer.
Then a voice came from behind the door.
“Maya?”
She froze.
It was Eli's voice.
She looked at her brother.
He had gone pale.
“That isn't me,” he whispered.
The door handle began to turn.
Maya couldn't move.
“Eli…”
“Run.”
The door opened.
Maya screamed.
She woke up sitting upright in her bed, gasping for air.
For several seconds, she couldn't remember where she was.
Her room was dark.
Her blanket was twisted around her legs, and her heart was pounding so hard that she could hear it.
She reached for her phone.
3:17 a.m.
Maya stared at the screen.
Then she looked toward her bedroom door.
It was closed.
She pulled the blanket closer and listened.
Nothing.
Slowly, she let out the breath she'd been holding.
Then came three quiet knocks.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
