THE SLEEPER

Within the castle enchanted Beauty slept - while her rescuer dared peril and death with every step he drew nearer. As summer vacation starts, a college student, Linneus Vargas, takes a girl he is interested in to a small town to buy antiques. When he tries to seduce her, she gives him the brush. They enter an antique shop, and the proprietor talks him
into purchasing an ornate wooden box. After they return to the university dorm, Linneus discovers that the girl never had any feelings for him and is engaged to the football team's quarterback. He also finds an ancient key in the box. Later in the summer, Linneus travels to Eastern Europe where he visits relatives in Romania. He becomes intrigued by a ruined castle above the village. He is warned not to visit it. Nevertheless, he disregards this advice and hikes toward it anyway. It is surrounded by an impassible thorn bush that is yards think and has poisonous thorns. He uses a borrowed chain saw to make his way through this barrier and enters the castle. He discovers that the key that was in the antique box opens a bedroom in the ruined castle. Cover art: Laura Givens