Book 1: Big Little Secrets

Isla

I try to process what my mom is saying to me, but something about her words isn’t computing. I’m not sure why. What did I expect her to say? Yes, she did use to be the queen of an island kingdom called Maatua, and yes, I used to be a princess?

I mean, it’s not as if I really expected what Mystica said to be true. What are the chances, really, that my family is from royalty? For most of my life, I’ve required safety pins to keep my socks up. That doesn’t exactly sound like the princess life.

Still… there’s something about my mother’s tone that makes me think she’s not being completely straightforward with me. Her voice has that little quiver to it like it did when she told Ben that his cat went to live on a farm outside of the city. I had seen the cat’s body lying by the side of the road earlier that day, so I knew that Otis wasn’t going to live out a peaceful life chasing mice in a barn. Otis was dead.

Mom wasn’t a good liar.

“Oh,