Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. To my mother, for teaching me the love of the written word. My father, for helping me embrace my love of the strange. And mostly, to my husband, for being my real life hero. Prologue "You've done it now, Jeannie," Gabriel whispered to the girl being led through the streets in a cart not fit to haul chattel, let alone the Maiden of Orleans. She stood with her hands bound in front of her, quietly witnessing the pyre as it drew closer and closer.
