When I wake, I’m sitting up. The cold has followed me from the dream and my skin crawls. Something light but solid sits in my lap, my fingers curled around an object. Slowly, I force myself to look.

A small sketch pad sits in my lap, a pencil in my hand. The side of my fingers and palm are covered in graphite, the muscles cramped. Drawn on a page in the middle of my sketchbook is a basic replica of the scene from my dream.

I flip back a page. I’ve drawn the same scene moments earlier than the next page. I flip back another, and another, each one showing the scene a little earlier. Slamming the notebook shut, I place my thumb on the edge of the pages and flip rapidly through them. The pictures seem to move, bringing the scene to life until I reach the final page.

On it, the spirits churn around me, and Colin’s eyes are black as night.

With the Samhain party approaching, there’s more to do than ever around the house, and business is steadily creeping up. Nora, Aunt Elaine, and the twins are booked for psychic readings almost every day. Uncle Roy does fire shows in the evenings, hitting far-off targets and making ribbons of flame dance. Even the house is feeling the need to outdo itself, rattling windows and creaking floorboards in the dead of night. It even has Max changing its hat twice a day.

Meanwhile, I pick the moonflowers out of the garden to prevent guests from falling under their enchantments, string rowanberries together as party favors, and capture wisps to let loose come the big night.

I barely get a moment to myself, and I’ve started to suspect it’s all because of Nora. She wants to keep me busy instead of focusing on how little progress we’ve made with Kaden and his mysterious employer. Nora put the town on alert for signs of wraiths, but so far no one’s reported anything, and Rose’s girlfriend, Dilara, came out with another witch from the cottages to check on Ravenfall’s wards. But other than that, it’s been quiet. Almost too quiet, like the calm before the storm.

At first, I’m okay with it. Staying busy keeps me from worrying about Nora’s conversation with Aunt Elaine, or the strange dream of Colin I had that I’m starting to worry might have been some sort of vision.

There are lots of different types of vision powers. Some people get premonitions, enabling them to see the future; others have recognition and can see the past. I see death, and Nora sees both the future and past. But all of us, no matter our specific powers, sometimes get visions of other kinds, usually when really powerful magic is involved.