In the year of her 18th birthday, the sleepwalking had begun.

It started suddenly in the warm months of the summer, but it had become a serious problem when it started happening nightly with the arrival of the biting cold of winter. By that time, she had made it as far as the forest’s edge before waking with no memory of why or how she had gotten there.

Her father always seemed to reach her before she could travel any farther, but as he repeatedly wrapped her in a blanket and guided her, barefoot into their small cottage, she felt as though she could still hear the voice of someone calling her, someone who was just out of reach.   As the months wore on, she became more and more distracted from her duties. Her daily routine bored her more than it ever had before, and she was becoming consumed with finding the source of the sweet voice that now lingered in her ears, even in her waking hours.   Her mother often scolded her. "Such flights of fancy are not good for you."   Her father also noticed the change in her, and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her gently.   “There is nothing in that forest for you, girl.”   She loved her mother and father, and truly believed that they meant well, but she did not believe them.  They did not hear the sounds that she could, and just lately they could not meet her eyes. And the calls were getting so much louder.

“There is more out there than you kno