Luca's thoughts - his hopes and dreams - centred on one thing, and one thing only: his neighbour, Laura. She was his first crush, and she had turned into a full-scale obsession. He liked to spy on her, watching her every move, and he was always making up excuses to run into her, but all his efforts seemed to be in vain. He had finally managed to arrange everything perfectly - he had the house to himself and he had screwed up his courage, ready to ask her out on a date - but those damn deer ruined everything. Those awful, too-big animals that could walk through walls were the last thing he needed. They weren't even ghosts, not by any stretch of the imagination, because they left devastation in their wake wherever they went. He had no idea where they could have come from, given that he and Laura lived right at the top of a skyscraper. But maybe they could provide the perfect opportunity to win Laura over, to show her how brave he was. If only he didn't have to contend with that pain-in-the-arse Parry, the dark-haired guy who lived across the hall. Parry was handsome, mournful and so tragic; and always so damn perfect. Of course Laura had fallen under his spell, the poor thing. Luca couldn't compete - he knew that all too well - Parry was just perfect in every way. But Parry had a secret: he knew perfectly well where the deer were coming from, and, moreover, why they were there. He knew that they were merely the vanguard of an ancient and deadly menace that was about to arrive, threatening them all.