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Prologue: In the Dark of the Night
The wind whipped about her dark hair as she crept through the streets. She tenderly laid her her first child, her baby daughter, on the doorstep of a house where there was no child, one where she knew her baby would be loved.
"Be safe, my child," she whispered, before placing a slip of old parchment in her daughter's hand with a single word on it: Davena.
Chapter One- The Coming Storm
17 years later
Davena crept silently through the trees near the path through the woods. She wasn't supposed to stray off the path, but one thing she had learned about the wild parts of her town: if something was going to attack you, it wouldn't care if you were out in the open or not. Besides, she knew how to defend herself. The only reason she wasn't taking the path today was beacause she knew a quicker route to her haven through the trees. Her haven was an area that ran by a creek, then followed the creek to the ocean. Davena loved to sit in the sand and stare out at the waves, and she was always the first one to report news of a ship sailing into the port, since she knew the shortcuts to the guardpost. She reached the waves at last and tucked a stray lock of black hair behind her ear in the sudden sea breeze that nearly knocked her over.
A storm is coming, she thought. She gazed out at the horizon and saw several large, blackish-looking clouds, not to mention the streaks of grey coming from them that always meant heavy rains.
She dashed for the path to head straight back to town. A strom this ugly-looking was bound to do some damage, and it would be better to meet the guardsman on the way back. She made it back to town without running across anyone before she realized that he had stayed home sick today.
Davena headed straight for the governor's office to give him news of the coming storm.
Bang. Bang. Bang. Davena pounded on the door as hard as she could. The governor opened the door: "All right, all right, I'm coming!"
He saw her and the angry look on his face vanished. "What is it?" he asked.
"There's a bad storm coming," Davena said quickly. "The clouds are pretty far off, but they're almost black."
"Do we need to start boarding up windows and bringing things inside now?" Governor Smythe said.
"Couldn't hurt."
He nodded. "I'll alert the people. I want you to go home, tell your family, and stay there. No running off while the storm's coming and is here, you know we haven't fully recovered from the last one yet."
Davena nodded solemnly and headed off in the direction of her family's house.
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