Publisher's Synopsis
The Mist
The second of the Kristina Trilogy...
Escaping the rigors of the NY trauma clinic Ned takes leave to trek from the Adriatic to the Black Sea. Crossing into the fabled lands of Transylvania, he makes camp at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. That evening a mysterious mist covers the lands shrouding his campsite and Ned awakens five hundred years back in time. Having been warned to leave, then being told he was never meant to. His destiny entangled with the Divine and a Witch's unspoken prophecy, lest it changes events. Trapped in a twilight realm, a young girl must leave to meet a man that would save the world. A Mother Superior longing for a death that would never come. A King longing for a sleep that will never arrive. A son longing for the crown that will never be and a woman he cannot have. Ottoman ride the land seeking a peace, only to find war. Can Ned escape the cursed land? A curse where beasts roam at the blood moon. A curse that can only be lifted if the Heart finds an innocent home, free from sin. Father Michael watches on impassively, his hands bound by the covenant between God and Vlad Tepes. Dracula. And a small boy screams...
Excerpt
The dilapidated train pulled into an ancient station wheezing its relief with a release of steam over the platform. Startling those standing too close. Rattling metal lungs coughed thick black diesel phlegm into the air before making a grumbling sound as if it were talking back to itself. Brakes screeched, jolting a sleeping passenger from a bizarre dream, as it completed the passage from Budapest. Over the Hungarian Steppe and deep into the heart of Transylvania.
Dazed, Ned sits upright and regains his senses. Squinting into bright exterior of the new day. His mind taking in the rambling scene out his cartage window. Running his fingers through unkempt hair and combing it from sleepy eyes. Scratching an irritation of a two week old beard. He had grown accustomed to the unclipped growth that had sprouted on his jaw. Wondering if he should keep when he returned to civilization. It had been weeks since he had last seen a mirror. Detaching himself from the outside world, from the hectic pace of New York. The bloody demands of the trauma clinic which he headed. He had left behind gunshot wounds and sleep deprivation for the mountain vistas and star lit evenings.
