Prologue
Chelsea sighed as she stepped in the cab. She was all ready to leave her crowded home in New York City. Her mother stood on the steps of their apartment building crying into her father's shoulder as her younger brother, Nick, waved enthusiastically as he himself blinked back his tears. Chelsea smiled warmly at him. Fifteen year old Nick had been the only person in her family who had supported her when she proclaimed that she wanted to leave the city to find work. Nick knew how much Chelsea had always hated New York with its smoggy atmosphere, heavily populated and polluted streets, loud traffic, and most of all, lack of nature. Chelsea had just turned seventeen and was looking through the job ads when she found a job as a rancher on Verdure Island. It was located on the crystal waters of the Pacific Ocean, once part of a large cluster of islands of which many of them had been sunk. The only islands left were Verdure Island, which was attached to Ranch Island, and Meadow Island. Not only that, but rumors of magic and fairy folk surrounded the islands. Chelsea was greatly intrigued by the mystery of the islands, not to mention the idea of being paid to raise animals and grow crops. It was her dream job. As soon as she had told Nick about it, he proceeded to convince her that she should take it. However her parents had been less keen on the idea of their daughter living and working so far away. After much persisting and reminding them over and over that she was seventeen now, no longer a child, her parents finally agreed. So Chelsea had called the number on the ad and spoken to an older man named Taro who hired her immediately without so much as a job application. Excited at the prospect of an adventure Chelsea had begun to pack as soon as she got off the phone with Taro, while her mother stood over her shoulder lecturing her about the importance of going to college and how she should be more worried about school now and getting a job later. Chelsea disregarded her mother's words though. Her grades were excellent, school could wait, right now it was her dreams that she wanted to pursue. So that morning, a rainy spring day, Chelsea lugged her suitcase downstairs and threw it in the back of the cab that would be taking her to the airport. She sat in the cab going over the past few days. Allowing herself one brief tear for the family she was leaving behind, Chelsea waved one last time as the cab began to move forward and sped off into the countryside with New York disappearing in the distance.
