Book 15: Welcome Home

Marianna

“I think she likes it,” Mom says over my shoulder as we watch Skye scurry from room to room in the townhouse I found for rent only a mile from the exterior wall of the castle. Cream-colored plaster walls and narrow, but brightly lit, hallways connect three bedrooms upstairs. Sunlight dances across dark wood floors, dust motes hanging in suspension. It smells like flowers. Wisteria and bougainvillea are already trying to bloom in the snug front garden lined with a pale stone wall, where the bright green spring grass has been freshly mowed in time for our arrival.

It’s a quiet street based on what the realtor told me. Cars aren’t allowed, and there’s a village square just a block away with a grocery store, bakery, and a park. Everything we’d need is within reach, secured by a gate separating us from the rest of Moonrise, which is apparently one of the safest cities in the Allied Kingdoms and great for young families.

Skye peeks her head out