“I am the hand of fate, Princess,” he says, “the all-seeing eye in the sky; myth maker, spinner of yarns, that man behind the curtain, twister of truth.” He rises and bows to her, “The storyteller — at your service.”
Chapter One: Once Upon a Time
August 2010 has not been kind to Alyssa Caine. Her father, Paxton Walker, dies of a heart attack while golfing, August 2, then, Alyssa learns a friend, Rebecca Asher, she hasn’t seen for several years, was killed in a car accident not long after Alyssa last saw her. On the afternoon of her wedding anniversary, Alyssa swerves to avoid another accident and crashes her minivan, sending her to the emergency room . When she awakens nearly a week later, she claims she’s Rebecca and asks to speak to her brother, Steven.
“I am who I am, that’s all that I am,” Alyssa says, almost singing the words. “Sorry. I like riddles. Mama always tells me to speak plainly. Riddles are fun, though.”
Chapter Two: Snapshot McCall
Early on, Alyssa finds herself trudging through the woods in a tattered princess outfit, where she encounters The Storyteller, a mysterious figure who seems to know everything about her. He assigns her a companion and gives her three tasks to complete: protect the boy; reconcile with the fair maiden; confront the dragon. Once she accomplishes these, she will find her way home.
[Melinda] feels the darkness close in on her, but she’s not afraid. She left fear behind with her earthly remains. Instead, she waits to see what comes next. She does not know how long she’s there, before a single thought comes to her, not a word, but a name, “Genevieve.” In her mind, Melinda answers, “I accept.”
Chapter Four: The Ghost Queen
Alyssa’s older sister, Leah, with whom she’s had a strained relationship since the death of their mother, sets out to learn why Alyssa has taken on Rebecca’s personality. While visiting Steven, Leah meets his aunt Rachel and her friend Claire, and they agree to work together to get to the bottom of Alyssa’s behavior. Their plain focuses on The Dragon, who they interpret to be Owen Asher, Rebecca and Steven’s father, who abandoned them as children. What will happen when the daughter who has lost her father confronts the father who has lost his daughter?
One evening, halfway through her junior year, as [Rebecca] returned to her dorm, she was startled by a familiar voice calling her name as she moved through the lobby. She turned to see a tall, middle-aged, well-tanned man with dark, curly hair approaching her. Though it had been years, she recognized him immediately.
Chapter Seven: The Dragon
Links to purchase Rebecca, Too
