NOCTE (Nocte Trilogy #1) by Courtney Cole
Foreward
I once considered not writing this story. It was too dark, too twisted, too much, too, too, too.
Obviously, I changed my mind. But I re-wrote in four different ways first, trying to make it different, more easily palatable, softer.
It didn’t work.
So I went back to my original idea, the idea that I loved. The idea that I dreamed about and lived and breathed until it was done the way I wanted it, the way it has to be.
I know you’re capable of reading it. I know you’re capable of putting yourselves back together again when it’s all over. I have faith in you.
Is this story dark?
Yes.
It is twisted?
At times.
Will it slap you in the face?
Absolutely.
Will it have you flipping the pages, trying to figure it out, trying to get to the climax, trying to breathe?
God, I hope so.
I wrote this story the way it needed to be written. I couldn’t sugarcoat it. I couldn’t water it down. It is this way because the story demands it.
I’m not sorry.
Dedication
Insomniacs know that there is something about the night.
A darkness, an energy, a mystery that shrouds things.
It hides things at the same time as it illuminates them.
It is this thing
that allows us to examine our thoughts
in a way that we can’t during the day,
It is this thing that brings truth and clarity.
This book is for Tristan.
My son who I’ve passed insomnia to.
Always trust your own mind.
You know it best.
“By night, I am free.
No one hears my monsters but me.
My freedom is fragile, though,
Because every morning,
Over and over,
The night is broken
by the sun.
It’s a good way to die.”
--An early entry from the journal of Finn Price
I can’t I can’t I can’t
Hear.
I can’t see
light
anymore.
Calla calla calla calla
Save me, save you.
Save me.
Serva me, servabo te.
Save me and I will save you.
-- A later entry from the journal of Finn Price
There is nothing quite so terrifying as the descension of the human mind into insanity.
-Calla Price
“Secrets. Everybody’s got ‘em.”
-Dare DuBray