The Mark of the Artist

Art has power, and Sebastian Albright is only just realizing how to wield that power. His paintings were beautiful, enchanting, and ever so real. Churning blue waves crashing on a rocky shore–so real you could smell the salt. His talents were seen as nothing more than a road to more wealth and fame by his father and stepmother. Sebastian wants none of that; he won't be just another cash cow for them. He is also haunted by a broken heart, always reminded of Annalisa Lenore—a strange and beautiful servant of his father's manor who was sent away for rumors she was a traveling gypsy. Only Anna knew what his art meant to him. She had been the person who saw through his temper and façade and saw the Artist for who he was. And now she was gone. In a city near the sea where Sebastian is in hiding with his best friend James, a good man with secrets of his own, a silver-haired old man calling himself Argento shows up with the intricately carved paintbrush Sebastian had long discarded. The old man's own paintings are masterful and eerie, and with this undeniable talent, Argento convinces Sebastian not to deny who he is—an Artist. Under Argento's tutelage, and with some exotic paints that leave a mark on his hands, Sebastian creates a wondrous masterpiece—a castle in the moonlight, blue and haunting, with a flag on the tower bearing a harlequin pattern of red, white, and black. And in the tower window is a woman: Anna, the one who had stolen the Artist's heart. She's in danger, held prisoner by a madman known as the Harlequin Man. Sebastian, James, and Argento embark on a frantic journey to get to Anna before something unspeakable happens to her…on the other side of the painting.