In Chap­ter 248 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” Saint ven­tures out of town against a back­drop of approach­ing storm clouds and watch­ful local police. The rain pours heav­i­ly, prompt­ing her to tem­porar­i­ly halt her vehi­cle on a desert­ed road, search­ing for a moment of calm amidst the chaos. Her quest for tran­quil­i­ty is momen­tar­i­ly ful­filled when the house she has known all her life appears in front of her—the very same house that adorned the wall above her piano.

As she draws clos­er, the house seems ephemer­al, like a mirage that might dis­ap­pear at any sec­ond, leav­ing her once again in pur­suit of shad­ows. With­out hes­i­ta­tion, she parks her car at the gates, exits, and strolls up the dri­ve­way, seem­ing­ly obliv­i­ous to the tor­ren­tial down­pour soak­ing her clothes and mat­ting her hair.

Sain­t’s deter­mi­na­tion leads her to knock on the door before tak­ing a cue from Patch. She cir­cles the house, peer­ing through the win­dows in search of any sign of life, but the still­ness reveals noth­ing. The land sur­round­ing her is shroud­ed beneath dark clouds, rever­ber­at­ing with the deep rum­ble of thun­der that res­onates in her core.

Her gaze shifts towards the barns dot­ting the land­scape. One barn, paint­ed a vibrant red that still shines with the fresh­ness of new tim­ber, catch­es her eye. Ignor­ing the omi­nous light­ning strik­ing in the dis­tance, she strides across the wet grass towards the red barn, embold­ened by the charged atmos­phere. With a gen­tle push, she reach­es for the barn door, set­ting the stage for a momen­tous encounter in the heart of the storm.