Epigraphs are like little appetizers to the great entrée of a story. They illuminate important aspects of the story, and they get us headed in the right direction.
THE EVERNEATH.
History books call it the Underworld. Or even hell. But I know it's neither. It is really called the Everneath, and it's not a place for the dead. It's a place for the Everliving—beings who have discovered the secret to eternal life. It's a place for their Forfeits—the humans who give up everything to nourish the Everliving. It's the world caught between this one and the next, a layer between Earth and hell. I know because I was a Forfeit. I would give anything to change this.
Hey there, serious epigraph that is full of depressing information about this creepy place called the Everneath. How you doin'?
The nice thing about this epigraph is that it helps set the scene for the plot of the book, which requires us to accept that Nikki really has been to the Everneath. If the Everneath didn't exist, the story would look like this: high school girl vanishes for six months and reappears, causing everyone around her angst. She was probably on drugs. The end.
Kids, don't do drugs. Also, don't write books where nothing really happens. But thankfully, since we have this handy epigraph telling us about the Everneath, it sets us up to be open to hearing about the weird supernatural things that have happened to Nikki and continue to haunt her. Game on, Shmoopers.