Winter Rose, Book 1

The Nightmare Returns

"Sorry about the mess." Adam, as the English boy had identified himself, apologized sheepishly as he led the two young women into his disaster of an office. There were bits and pieces of all sorts of things, likely all alien in some nature, all over the place.

"Mr. Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing, so long as I deliver the goods." He dug around in his mess for a second while the two girls stared at him quietly, unsure of what to do with their situation. A moment later he handed a hunk of metal to Win, looking at her with excited eyes that made her a bit uncomfortable

"What do you think that is?" He asked her, biting his lip slightly. Though Win ignored his actions as she turned the scrap around in her hands. The tell-tale heat forming behind her right eye as she got a short flash of an image.

"This was torn off a ship during an interstellar battle." Win stated, shocking Adam while Rose smirked at her white haired friend. Flipping the metal over again she pointed to the darkened edge.

"See the burn damage? It was hit with a laser cannon. Would have blown the whole side of the ship wide open and the shrapnel would have gone in every direction." Win explained, not really caring for Adam's slack jawed expression, though he quickly recovered, chuckling to himself.

"Good story, I'd expect nothing less from such a famous author. Though you are correct in that it's part of a spaceship, or at least I'm pretty sure it is." Both Rose and Win frowned as Adam brushed Win's knowledge aside. A coldness frosting Win's expression as she handed the scrap metal back.

"The thing is, it's all true!" Adam exclaimed excitedly, not taking notice of the cold expression Win now wore. "Everything the United Nations tries to keep quiet; spacecraft's, aliens, visitors to Earth, they all really exist!" Win rolled her eyes while Rose pulled a fake smile when the boy looked at her.

"That's amazing!" The sarcasm was practically dripping from Rose's words, but Adam was oblivious.

"I know it sounds incredible, but I honestly believe the whole universe is just teeming with life." He grinned at them before focusing on Win. "Maybe there's a world out there just like the one in your best book!" Win raised an eyebrow at him.

"Which would that be?" She asked him, already dreading the answer. Adam's eyes sparked with admiration.

"Man of Many Sorrows, It is hands down the greatest book ever written!" Win's mouth tugged into a frown.

"You would wish such horrors to be real?" She barely kept the anger from her voice. Win and the Doctor hadn't told Rose about their discovery regarding that book. That the book wasn't a fantasy, it was real. All of those horrifying things had happened. And this idiot was grinning at just the idea of it.

"Well they're aliens." Adam shrugged uncaringly. "Their problems haven't got anything to do with us." Realizing that Win was seconds from blowing a fuse on Adam, Rose quickly diverted the conversation. Though Rose had to agree with Win, she would not wish that to be real. She'd only read the first few chapters of the before she couldn't bear it anymore.

"So you, what? Sit down here and catalog it all?" Rose asked him and he grinned happily as though nothing was wrong and Win wasn't seconds from murdering him.

"Best job in the world!" Adam boasted. "Plus I've got plenty of free time to read Wintriah's books!" He turned back to Win with those sparkly eyes again. Like he thought he was the luckiest man in the world to meet her in person. It was known to all of Win's readers that she was an extremely private woman. She didn't even do that many book signings, and when she did the line ups would stretch for hours. And to think Win had only just recently turned nineteen.