This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.

The letter arrived on a Tuesday morning, carried by a postman who seemed unusually eager to complete his delivery and depart. Helena Blackwood held the cream-colored envelope with trembling fingers, recognizing the spidery handwriting of her great-aunt Cordelia immediately. She had not heard from the woman in nearly fifteen years, not since that uncomfortable visit when Helena was twelve and had sworn she'd seen things moving in the shadows of Ravenshollow Manor.

"My dearest Helena," the letter began, "if you are reading this, then I have passed beyond the veil, and Ravenshollow Manor is now yours. I pray you will have the strength to do what I could not. The portrait in the east wing must be destroyed. It has been the bane of our family for seven generations. Do not let its beauty deceive you, child. Some things are too dangerous to preserve, no matter how precious they appear. The key to the east wing is hidden behind the loose stone in the kitchen hearth. Burn the portrait before it claims another soul. Your loving aunt, Cordelia Blackwood."

Helena set the letter down with shaking hands. She had inherited a manor she barely remembered, save for the persistent feeling of being watched that had haunted her dreams for years afterward. Now, at twenty-seven, she was a successful art restorer in London, specializing in Renaissance paintings. The irony was not lost on her that her aunt's final request was to destroy what was undoubtedly a work of art.

Three days later, Helena found herself standing before the imposing gates of Ravenshollow Manor. The October sky hung heavy with storm clouds, and the bare branches of ancient oaks reached toward the house like gnarled fingers. The manor itself was a study in Gothic architecture, with its pointed arches, flying buttresses, and towers that seemed to pierce the gray sky.