It's not every day a girl learns about her past lives, an evil force pursuing her through the centuries, and a lost lover from one of those past lives intent on finishing unfinished business. Now here she was in the midst of her grandmother's reading, a family tradition of sorts. She was actually getting a little spooked, even though she knew it wasn't real. None of it could possibly be real. She glanced around the porch and discovered the the deepening shadows from the sun's descent surrounded them. They seemed to take on a menacing presence, as if the evil her grandmother warned her of was was not content to wait any longer. The quick advance of night echoed in the stillness of the air, whispering its warning time was growing short. She imagined she heard whispers in the silence, taunting her. He was confident in his eventual victory, knew her every weakness, laughed at her fears. She knew who he was too. Hadn't he starred in her nightmares for as long as her prince filled my dreams? Her eyes gazed out the windows overlooking the sea. The sun was all but gone and the moon had yet to rise to take its place. The end of light and the emergence of darkness were perfectly balanced over the constantly swelling waves. She saw her future perched precariously on the single moment of equilibrium. One misstep on her part and darkness would carry the day as surely as the fading sunlight was even now giving way to the night outside.