He glanced at her but didn’t press. She suspected that he, good man that he was, meant to save her from the misery of recounting such a difficult moment in her life. But she was made of stronger stuff.

“I was fourteen years old. My family, in our travels, found ourselves at a crossroads. Those are dangerous places, you must realize. For while we might see only the meeting of two roads, crossroads are where the human world and the fairy world often meet as well. And not every creature that emerges into our sphere does so with good intentions.”

“Was that the case on that day?”

She nodded. “We were intending to pass the night in a small, nearby cottage and regain our strength. We had only just come to the crossroads when an enormous dog appeared. It had the look of a wolf but the size of a calf. When the light hit it in precisely the right way, we could see something even more extraordinary about this canine. It glowed an otherworldly green.

“My father shouted to all of us to run, that we must reach the cottage as quickly as possible. We immediately obeyed and ran as hard as we could toward the shelter in the distance. One piercing, terrifying howl called after us. The sound filled me with terror like I had never felt before. I ran faster, more desperately. My family did the same.

“Another howl pierced the evening air. I didn’t know this creature well, but the sound of its horrifying cries told me in ways words could not that it was to be feared and for good reason. The terror I felt nearly stopped me in my tracks, nearly froze me to the spot. I sensed that one more howl would literally stop my heart.

“The time was approaching when it must, with surety, howl once more. I reached the cottage, threw open the door, and tumbled inside. In the very next instant, that third howl sounded. I huddled in the corner with my back against a wall, shaking, terrified for my very life.”

“And your family?” he asked gently.

“I emerged the next morning after the light shining through the windows of the cottage revealed that I was in the home alone. I searched for my family but found nothing of them beyond my father’s hat. For days, I wandered those roads, hoping to find my family but terrified I would only find that dog again. I kept at my search, going to places we had been before, all the while losing hope. It was nearly a year later when Granny Winter found me and took me in.”

“You searched for a year?”