Marek Puchon – författare

When the old parish burns to the ground, the people of Willow Ridge blame the storm. Sheriff Dale Fenton knows better. A single body lies buried in the ruin, and the scene feels wrong from the first step he takes into the ash. Heat still rises from the slab long after the flames are gone. The broken bell tower hides a door that should not exist. And the air beneath the ruin carries a cold breath that does not belong to any fire.As the town gathers to whisper names from the past, Fenton uncovers hidden rooms carved deep under the church. Rooms kept clean. Rooms supplied. Rooms used. A ledger sits in the dark with entries that were never meant for daylight. A drain runs beneath the stone with stains that no rain can erase. And someone in Willow Ridge has been walking those steps long after the town thought the place was silent.Fear spreads across the streets while old grudges rise again. Families are watched. Strangers appear with smiles that do not reach their eyes. People vanish from the edge of town. Every hour brings another sign that the fire was only the beginning.Fenton races to uncover the truth as the town turns ready to hunt its own. The deeper he digs, the more he realizes the danger is not the story people tell. It is the story someone has worked very hard to hide.Some fires destroy.Some fires reveal.This one does both.

Alex Carter has spent years chasing criminals, but nothing prepares him for the one enemy he cannot escape. His own mind. Night after night he is pulled into visions he cannot explain. A girl he has never met. A house he has never seen. A darkness that feels painfully real.Every dream leaves him more drained. Every morning feels heavier. And the line between what is real and what isn't begins to blur. When the visions tighten their grip and a desperate voice starts calling his name, Alex can no longer pretend the nightmares are only nightmares. Something out there is reaching for him. Something that wants to be found.Driven by fear he doesn't dare admit and a longing to understand the girl who haunts his sleep, Alex sets out to uncover the truth behind the visions. But the deeper he goes, the more he discovers that the shadows in his mind are not his only enemy. Some secrets will not stay buried. Some houses remember. And some cries for help refuse to fade.To save her he must face what he fears most. Himself.

Alex and Emma are still running from the darkness that found them, but the threat strikes again in the place where they expected safety. A murder outside their hotel room is only the beginning. Someone is hunting the ancient book in their possession, and every step they take pulls them deeper into a conspiracy older and far more powerful than anything they imagined.Their escape leads them through cities and forgotten places as they search for answers. Enemies stay close behind, always one silent breath away. Alex is troubled by visions he cannot control, symbols that return in his sleep and follow him into the waking world. Emma turns to her past for truth and uncovers a secret that breaks her sense of family and links her life to the Circle of Nine.Their trust in each other becomes both their strength and their weakness. Fear grows. Each truth they uncover feels larger and more dangerous than the last. And the Collector, a figure hidden in every trail they follow, moves closer with each revelation.To survive they must face the truth buried in history and within themselves. Some secrets demand courage. Some choices change everything. And the past waiting for them is far more dangerous than the enemies who chase them.Their only chance is to stand together before the darkness takes them.