The digital clock on the nightstand hadn’t even blinked to 5:00 AM when Seraphina bolted upright, her gasping breath cutting through the heavy silence of her darkened bedroom. Her skin was slick with cold sweat, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.

It was a nightmare. This time it was different. Not the usual fire nightmare. She had been having the fire one for as long as she could remember but this one was new.

In the dream, she was running through an endless, ...