She closed her eyes, licked her lips and tasted the salty air. Her feet curled under her, pressed into the cool white sand that stretched for miles in every direction. Her long hair whipped around her in the violent wind. Waves crashed against the shore, and she shuddered in the cold.

Elenore was alone, there was nothing she could see that gave her any hint which way to go. She had no idea where home was. She trembled, struggling to her feet, and brushed sand from her shift, rubbed her sleepy eyes. Her cheeks flushed in the cold, she blinked, squinted into the wind.

Behind her stood a lone beech tree, its white bark almost blue in the moonlight. She turned and stumbled toward it, caught herself against the trunk. She held on, the tree her only anchor to reality. If she fell asleep again…

She couldn’t. That part of the dream was always the worst. She’d never gone this far. If she could just stay awake…

Her small body sagged against the tree, and she slid down, asleep in the sand.