I am Elizabeth, a close relation to Isabella Wolgoth. I say close, for I do not know how close, but I am assured at least a stone’s throw away in terms of family. Once, I was Isabella’s progenitor, or at least that’s what the journals tell me. What that means remains to be seen.

Coming to consciousness in a ramshackle house in the Yew forest, my mind was in tatters. Broken recollections, scenes from a broken series of events haunted me. Before I knew what I was, I spent days in the fetid cellar of the old place, dealing with hunger. A whole shelf of preserves offered to me a feast, but my stomach would not hold the food down for long. Upon accident, I later came across a freshly slain deer in my nocturnal travels, paw marks still fresh on its neck. The predator had fled my coming. The…