Chapter 1

Friday 15thAugust 2014

The drive from Santa Monica in California to Serenity Falls in Virginia was a hell of a long car trip. I think Mom is thankful I had my license, so we could take turns driving. I can tell she's exhausted underneath her carefully applied makeup, and I try my hardest not to annoy her.

Skylah spends most of the time in the car texting and listening to her iPod. She has made it quite clear that she wasn't happy about this whole thing, and honestly I think Mom and I are both glad that she's staying mute.

At fourteen, she had been the center of a large group of friends and had just discovered that some guys were actually worth the time it took to speak to them. So naturally she wasn't pleased with Mom for moving us on such short notice, or with me for supporting Mom. And self-entitled teenage girls would have to be the worst of the breed.

"We're almost there girls," Mom says to us, turning down yet another road. This one was dirt, and the way the trees seem to press in on us on both sides is a little disconcerting. Our car, Dad's old Chevy, bumps steadily over the grooves in the road, the trailer we're towing rattling loudly and swaying with every turn.

"So what does the house look like?" Sky asks in a bored voice, probably the most she's said since we left Cali. Her fingers are speeding busily over the screen of her iPhone and she barely looks up when Mom replies.

"It's very old, and quite big, and has a wonderful garden. Your grandmother says it hasn't changed one bit since it was built in the early 1900s."

Sky makes a disinterested sound and doesn't say anything else, just to make it quite plain that she isn't impressed.

I don't remember a lot from our time there, only bits and pieces. Mainly just Mom's face and warm embrace.

"Where's the closest town?" I ask, genuinely curious. We had passed plenty of towns in the last few hours, but nothing that seemed to be a desirable shopping destination.

"Well there's Marion that we went through a couple hours ago, where people do their more expensive shopping. Chilhowie is the one we went through about twenty minutes ago and that's where people do the bulk of their shopping."

I think that over. It wasn't going to be easy to go shopping then, unless I borrowed the car.

"What about school?"

Mom glances at me before returning her gaze to the bumpy road. "That's something we still need to discuss." And that was that.

I frown slightly, but she doesn't elaborate, so I let it go.

"And we should be there just about … now," Mom says a few minutes later, navigating the truck and trailer around a wide bend. Suddenly there is a town unfolding around us and I have a hard enough time trying to take everything in at once.

The dirt road had smoothly transitioned into black tar and led us almost directly onto the main street. Small stores sit comfortably behind cute window displays and colorful signs, and I can tell immediately that I was going to love it here. Even Skylah brings herself to look up from her phone.

People on the sidewalks turn to look and I can see some of them smiling. No one looked familiar at all. When a couple wave I'm surprised, but when I see the grin on Mom's face, I know she recognizes them.

We turn down a street about two-thirds the way down the main street, and we were confronted with beautifully crafted homes. They were all fairly timeworn houses and I had the feeling that this was a very old town. Turning onto another street, I felt my jaw drop. To our right was the biggest and most beautiful house I had seen yet, hiding behind wrought-iron gates and green hedges.

I almost squeal in delight when Mom slows to turn into the gateway. Oh my god. This was our house? We used to live here?

Obviously having lived in California, I was accustomed to seeing large houses and extravagant mansions, but we had lived in a three bedroom, one bathroom home, and I had been totally fine with that.

With the discovery that we will be living in this architectural masterpiece, my final misgivings about coming here fade away. Don't get me wrong, I'm not materialistic or think myself deserving of the world, but what girl hasn't dreamed about living in something that could only be described as a castle? Especially one with a wrought-iron gate that swings open without even having pressed a button, or with a sweeping circular driveway that takes you up to the front steps, where you can see that green ivy is creeping slowly up the stones of the front walls.

It isn't just me who is awestruck: Sky's even put her phone down. Which believe me, is something not easily accomplished.

"Grab what you can," Mom instructs as she gets out of the car. We do as she bid, collecting our overnight bags and my shoulder bag. I glance up at the front door and see an older looking lady standing there, smiling weakly and holding onto the door frame.

Her dark skin is leathery looking, as though she has spent her whole life outside, but pale like she had recently been ill. Her black hair is tied back in a long braid down her back and her eyes are a blue-green, cluing me in to who she is without the introductions. I have those exact same eyes, and so had my father.

Mom walks up to her with her arms outstretched. "Mother," she says, enveloping our grandmother in a long hug. Sky and I exchange nervous glances. We hadn't seen our father's mother since we had left here when we were younger. She was a total stranger to us and it's beyond odd seeing Mom holding onto her like that.

Finally she pulls away and I'm surprised to see the tears in her eyes before she swipes them away. The woman who is our grandmother stands there watching us and I have no idea what she could possibly be thinking; her face is blank, giving away no emotions. But the hand clutching my mother's arm is tight-gripped and white, and I realized she is just as apprehensive as we are.

I walk up the five steps to the porch, smiling cautiously, and give her a hug. As she hugs me back, a scent like pine needles and vanilla washes over me. She smells like home.

The inside of the house is just as gorgeous as the outside. I have no clue what era the architectural design is from, but it looks stunning regardless. The entry hall was wide and spacious, with minimal furnishings to clutter it. A huge staircase rises to the second story from the left side of the hall, the deep mahogany varnish glistening with the sunlight streaming in from the windows on either side of and above the door.

"The kitchen and dining room are through that door on the right," Mom tells me and Sky as we all stood around in the hall. I feel unbelievably uncomfortable, and I find myself wishing the floor would open up and swallow me whole.

Mom and my grandmother give us a tour of the house, and the wistful look on Mom's face pulls at my heartstrings. The last time she was here was just after Dad died, and even though that was a long time ago, I'm sure this place holds a lot of mixed feelings and memories for her.

The house is even bigger than I had originally thought. In addition to the kitchen, there is: a living room, three bedrooms, sun room and library, and two bathrooms all on the main floor. Upstairs was the top half of the library, four bedrooms, two offices, three bathrooms and a small storage room off the second-story landing.

It's hard to imagine myself in this giant's house, but when Mom shows me into what is going to be my room, I freeze in my shoes.

It's absolutely gorgeous. Empty, the furnishings picked clean of any decorations they may have once had, but still gorgeous.

The peach colored walls are probably the best feature in the room, speckled with hints of gold against the sunlight streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows stretching across the northern wall. Heavy grey velvet drapes hung at either end, ready to be pulled across when night time came. The oak furniture I'm told was carved by my great-grandfather, and I'm amazed at the intricate detailing on the posters of the bed and the legs of the nightstands and desk. Delicate vintage lace hanging from the rails on the bed gave it a royal feel, further enforcing my princess idea.

There was family history practically seeping from the walls, and I loved it.

The bookshelves on the western wall stretched to the ceiling and were partially-filled with leather-bound volumes and other hardbacks. Examining some, I hadn't heard of any of them and decided to look closer later.

There are a couple of oak and velvet couches in front of the shelves with a matching coffee table set in between them. It looks like the perfect place to sit with a book and a coffee, bathed in the light from the windows.

All of the furniture is larger than you would generally expect, and I get the notion that it is to help fill the huge space.

Looking to my right I'm startled to notice an archway. Walking over to it, my face almost splits in two with the size of my smile as I see that it leads into a walk-in-closet. Shelves and hanging spaces line the walls, with a grey velvet loveseat in the center. An oak vanity table and accompanying mirror sit under the light from a skylight in the ceiling, and I actually wish I was more into makeup just so I had an excuse to use it.

I have only ever seen something this awesome in movies, and even then they weren't done justice. This was officially my favorite place on earth, right here in my closet. Now I just had to find an interest in shopping so that I could fill the empty spaces.

I wander back out through the archway and find Mom standing near the bed, looking around. The expression on her face was hard to read but I thought it might have been almost melancholy.

"And this is the room that I'll be living in?" I ask, just to make doubly sure.

She smiles at me. "Yes. This used to be your father's room when he was alive. When we married I moved in here with him." Her voice cracked a little as she spoke, and I'm surprised to be hearing this. She never speaks about my father.

I look around the room with fresh eyes, trying to imagine the ghost of someone I didn't even know lounging on the couches, writing at the desk, looking out the window. I gave up on that idea quickly.

Mom's voice pulls me out of my sad thoughts. "Have you checked out the bathroom yet?" she asks, nodding towards the corner the bed hid view of.

I frown, confused. I had already seen the bathrooms out in the hall, each at a different corner of the house. I hoped I knew what she meant. I skirt the bed and was rewarded with another door. My heart leaping in my chest with anticipation, I open it quickly and find myself in an adjoining bathroom.

The cream tiles on the floor and halfway up the walls were balanced beautifully by the golden paint coating the rest of the room. High frosted windows let in enough natural light to stop the colors from looking tacky. A small chandelier hung from the ceiling, the crystals causing little rainbows to dance over every surface as they caught the light.

A huge iron-framed mirror hung above the delicate porcelain vanity, reflecting my shocked face in perfect detail. The shower was over-large, big enough to fit at least three people under the shower-head. An ornate free-standing bathtub sat in the corner inside the door, a set of oak shelves built into the wall beside it to house – I'm assuming – body wash and similar bath essentials.

It was totally awesome, but I couldn't help but feel a little incredulous. I had gone from a fairly normal, three-bedroom, one-bathroom house to this… splendor. Either I was the luckiest girl on the planet, or this was some cruel cosmic joke and I was just hallucinating this whole thing.

I wander back out into the bedroom. "There's no way all my stuff is even going to begin to fill up this room," I say to Mom, thinking of my meagre two packing boxes on the trailer. The suitcase doubling as an overnight bag was in the hallway, ready to be unpacked.

She laughs softly. "You'll have plenty of time to collect more things, I'm sure," she says, no doubt referencing my habit of going into a store and coming out with an armful of things each time. Thankfully for both my wallet and hers, I knew how to find a good bargain, and clearance racks were the first place I would make a beeline for. When I could actually be bothered with the whole ordeal of shopping, that is.

We walk out into the hall to find Sky just coming out of the bedroom furthest from the stairs. "This is definitely the one," she announces, a rare smile curving her glossy lips. She had had the pick of the other three bedrooms, and had obviously decided which one she wanted. I glance inside the door to find a very similar room to mine, minus the bathroom. She would be right across the hall from one of the bathrooms, though. The doors to the two offices were open, and the view of them empty as I walk passed made me feel strangely sad.

This house felt lonely, and I couldn't help but wonder how different it would be if Dad hadn't died and we had all stayed living here together.

"Time to unload the stuff, girls," Mom says, her forced cheerfulness making me wince internally. We obediently follow her back downstairs and out to the truck, groaning at the sight of the piled-high trailer.