Page 1 of Dawn Unearthed

Chapter One

Sage

Isquinted as I looked at the GPS, trying to make sense of the directions. I had been across the Pennsylvania border for over an hour now, and I needed to find the right exit that would take me off the main highway and onto one of the many smaller roads that encompassed Pennsylvania. I needed to get to my new home, or at least what others would have me call my new home. I still wasn’t quite sure what that would mean as of yet.

My hands clenched the steering wheel, and I told myself everything would be okay. I was making a dramatic move, with even more unknown changes to come, but it was for a purpose.

Because Ravenwood, Pennsylvania called to me.

I shook my head, frowning at myself as I checked the next exit.

The town wasn’t calling to me. That was preposterous. Towns didn’t reach out to people. And I did my best to ignore the odd whispers in my head, the pull to a place I’d never been to nor even thought of before. I pushed away the idea of a shadow person filling my vision. I wasn’t being pulled toward anyone either. That was silly. The only people I knew in Ravenwood were my aunt and Rowen, who had sold me the building where I was setting up my business. Ravenwood was a place. Somewhere I would make my new home.

I couldn’t go back to where I had been for so many years. I couldn’t rebuild my life from the ashes in a place that still sparked with embers of sorrow and pain. I did my best to empty those thoughts from my mind because they wouldn’t help anyone.

I was moving to a new place, in a new state, to a new home.

Ravenwood was a small town north of Philadelphia, and one I had only heard of because my aunt lived there. If asked to name cities in Pennsylvania, most people wouldn’t even think of the town. She owned a small bookshop called Ravenwood Pages and frequently spoke of the warmth radiating through the town and how everybody was welcome.

Rupert and I had always meant to come north from Norfolk, Virginia, where we had lived for the entirety of our marriage, but things had never worked out. Between work, our conflicting plans, and life in general, we hadn’t been able to visit my aunt Penelope at her bookshop. Looking back, I didn’t know why. It wasn’t as if it was too far of a drive—not when it meant seeing my aunt in her home. Now that I thought about it more, it felt as if something had been pushing us away. And, once again, that was an odd thought to have.

My aunt usually came down to visit us for holidays, or we went to Rupert’s family’s place. I last saw Penelope after the funeral when she came to make sure I was okay. Not that I couldbeokay. Nothing about losing one’s husband at twenty-four years old was okay.

Everyone kept saying that we had our entire lives before us, that they couldn’t wait to see what would happen between Rupert and me. They wanted us to thrive, have babies, and create a whole family in our Virginia town. That hadn’t happened. No, nothing had happened the way it should have. Rupert was gone. And so quickly, I could barely even pause to catch my breath.

A brain tumor had taken him before I’d even had a chance to come to terms with the idea that I might lose my husband. Now, he was gone, leaving nothing for me. Not his family, nor the rest of mine. Rupert’s family hadn’t wanted anything to do with me after Rupert died. They saw my painandtheirs etched onto my face every time they looked at me and had pushed me away because of it.

Now, I was on the long road to a new beginning, one where I needed to stop feeling the melancholy stretching over me, digging its claws into my flesh as I struggled to cope.

I shook away my thoughts, doing my best to breathe. That was all I needed to do. Breathe.

My dash lit up, and the sound of an incoming phone call filled the car. My lips turned up into a small smile as I saw the readout and answered.

“Aunt Penelope,” I said softly, waiting for the next exit as I kept my attention on the road.

“Are you almost here?” she asked, her voice warm, soothing. She was always that way, as if every time I was near her, she infused me with warmth and magic. Not real magic, of course. Though my mother joked that my aunt was a witch, I knew that wasn’t the case.

Magic didn’t exist.

And, once again, here I was having odd thoughts.

“I’m almost there. I think it’s the next exit.”

My aunt was silent for a moment before she spoke again. “Take the exit and make sure you stay on the path. Don’t take a detour or stop for anything that might come your way. Ravenwood is waiting for you.”

I frowned, looking at the GPS again. “What do you mean?” Her words were weird. Then again, everything I’d been thinking for the past hour had been strange.

Another pause. “Nothing, darling. You’ll be here soon. Finally. And Ravenwood will welcome you home. As will I.”

“I hope so,” I muttered as tension rolled over me again at the momentous changes I was barreling through. “Are we sure you need a bakery? It’s a small town. There has to be one already.”

“There was one a few years ago, but the tenants moved on. Lately, we’ve been dealing with the supermarket and their baked goods. Not that they aren’t adequate, but there’s nothing like bread and sweet treats from a true bakery. Fromyourbakery. The town needs you, Sage. The building is ready and outfitted to your specifications. You’ll be able to start soon.”

My stomach clenched, but I still smiled. I hadn’t made it up to Ravenwood yet because I had been dealing with estate issues and Rupert’s family. Closing up my life and my house back in Norfolk while trying to open a bakery and a small business in a town I had never even been to, had been all-consuming. I still couldn’t believe I was doing it, but things were falling into place.

Maybe they needed to after everything else had shattered around me. Grief wrapped its spindly fingers around my throat, squeezing, suffocating, the mere force of it overwhelming.

“It will be good to see you,” I said, my voice choked.

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