Chapter 1
The Discovery
The cottage smelled of dust and memories. Maya dropped her suitcase by the door and looked around at the faded wallpaper, the antique furniture draped in white sheets like sleeping ghosts.
Her grandmother had left her this place—a small inheritance from a woman she barely remembered. The lawyer’s letter had been brief: the cottage, the land, and “whatever secrets it holds.”
Strange wording, Maya had thought at the time.
Now, standing in the dim afternoon light filtering through grimy windows, she understood why her mother had always avoided talking about this place.
There was something here. Something waiting.
She pushed open the back door and stepped into an overgrown garden. Roses had gone wild, climbing over everything. Ivy strangled the stone walls. And at the far end…
A gate she hadn’t noticed in any of the property photos.
Maya walked toward it, her heart beating faster with each step.
The iron was cold under her fingers, and when she pushed, the gate swung open without a sound.
Beyond it lay a garden that couldn’t exist.