The rain relented. Santa Barbara glittered in the darkness, necklaces of light across the hills.

He would not return the Explorer to Estella Rosewater just yet. Call her later. Come north again in a few days to collect his things at the motel and retrieve the rented Terrain Denali. Tonight, they would drive all the way to Corona del Mar. To the yellow bungalow with the white shutters, where the yellow porch swing waited to be swung and yellow hibiscus bloomed in abundance.

At last he said, “You know the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice.”

Her eyes were blue gems in the instrument-panel light. “Eurydice treads on a serpent and dies of its bite. Orpheus is a great poet and musician. He descends into the land of the dead, using music to charm his way past Charon and various demons, to rescue his beloved Eurydice.”

David said, “Hades allows him to take her, though Orpheus must vow that he won’t look back at her until he’s led her into the land of the living.”

She said, “At the last moment, he breaks the vow, looks back at her, and loses her forever.”

“Let’s start with that,” David said, as clouds began to tatter and beams of moonlight found the sea. “This time, I did not look back.”

About The Author

About the Author

International bestselling author Dean Koontz was only a senior in college when he won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition. He has never stopped writing since. Koontz is the author of fourteen number one New York Times bestsellers, including One Door Away from Heaven, From the Corner of His Eye, Midnight, Cold Fire, The Bad Place, Hideaway, Dragon Tears, Intensity, Sole Survivor, The Husband, Odd Hours, Relentless, What the Night Knows, and 77 Shadow Street. He’s been hailed by Rolling Stone as “America’s most popular suspense novelist,” and his books have been published in thirty-eight languages and have sold over five hundred million copies worldwide. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, he now lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirits of their goldens Trixie and Anna. For more information, visit his website at www.deankoontz.com.

Also By Dean Koontz

Also by Dean Koontz