Chapter One
The Road Beneath the Ash
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Mara first saw the ash falling before the sun went down.
It drifted through the trees in slow gray spirals, too pale for snow and too dry for rain. By the time it touched the road, it had already begun to gather along the roots and wheel ruts like the remains of a fire no one remembered lighting.
She stopped beneath the leaning pines and listened.
Nothing moved.
That was what frightened her.