AUTHOR'S POINT OF VIEW

"Oh, God! Oh, God!"

The shock of the ice-cold water did not merely wake Vespera; it pierced through her skin like a thousand tiny glass needles, violently ripping her from a nightmare only to thrust her into a harsher reality.

She choked, gasping for air as her lungs seized up against the freezing deluge. Her vision blurred, water streaming down her eyelashes and dripping from her soaked, tangled hair. Blindly thrashing against the damp, coarse wool of her cot, she ...