Prologue
Fall 2007
September
There weren’t many things I didn’t like about Kai when I first met him in the crowded restaurant in Manhattan, aside from his inscrutable nature. Was he interested or was he a polite Southern boy simply passing time? And why had he run off like that?
As our group gathered outside the bar, I spotted him standing under a cone of pale light, attempting to hail a passing cab. His hand raised in the air; a shadow passed over his face as his shape began to waver against the dark shadows of passing traffic. All at once, his knees buckled, body toppling over like a sack of doorknobs to the hard sidewalk. The long fall ended with a hollow thud that echoed back and forth against the side of the tall buildings at my back.
I watched in terror as his kind eyes turned to two white slits on his pain-stricken face. Watching him lay there, a broken marionette with all its strings cut, I helplessly clawed from the inside to reset the clock.
Oh my God…is he... dead?!
