I'd seen over ten rooms in this house by now. My favorite had to be the library. There was a fireplace far away from the books, and in front of it was a soft carpet with small chairs for reclining—sort of like beanbag chairs, but square.

Mr. Harmon had numerous books on animal taxidermy, surgery, and the human and animal body. There were no animals anywhere in the house, so I wasn't quite sure why he had them. Maybe he just enjoyed the concept of it.

Being in a mansion and all, there wasn't too much for Caleb to get into because everything was clean and delicate. Mr. Harmon told us that once Caleb's room was finished, he'd never want to leave it.

After Caleb and I had finished exploring the house, we got off our scooters and went into one of the gardens behind the mansion. The garden was huge and filled with flowers and plants. There were even a few miniature waterfalls.

Of course, Caleb wanted to play around them, but I told him no out of fear that Mrs. Harmon would get upset. I didn't want us to get off to a bad start.

Caleb spotted a couple of birds inside a large oval-shaped cage and skipped ahead of me toward them. I started to run after him but stopped short.

Caleb stopped too.

A few feet away from us stood a tall fountain, and in front of it was a woman watering plants.

A woman who definitely wasn't Mrs. Harmon.

She saw us but didn't say anything. She simply continued watering the plants in silence.

"Who is she?" Caleb asked.

"Probably the garden keeper?" I guessed.

Caleb shrugged.

"Mr. Harmon didn't mention a maid or anyone else," he whispered.

Wanting to make a good impression, I decided to greet her.

Caleb and I walked over. She stopped watering the plants and looked up at us.

I couldn't tell whether she was a maid or not. She wore a long white dress over a pair of white pants. Her light-brown hair was a little messy, and she didn't smile at us either.

"Good evening," she said in a sharp, monotone voice. "Who are you two?" She looked around as she talked, as if she heard other voices asking questions besides us.

"I'm Emily, and this is my brother, Caleb," I said. "The Harmons adopted us."

The woman smiled.

It wasn't a natural smile.

She smiled off into the distance, as though our being there was the greatest thing that had ever happened and she was suddenly the happiest person in the world.

Maybe I'm weird, but her smile struck me as odd.

"Emily and Caleb. A pleasure to meet you," she said, shaking both of our hands. "I'm the gardener. I come here to water the plants. It's my job. I like to keep the place alive, you know?"

She inhaled deeply through her nose.

"Alive," she repeated, clasping her hands near her chest. She smiled again.

Her attention shifted to a bird that flew past us. She sniffed the air again before looking back at Caleb and me.

She seemed even stranger than before.

Caleb scratched his head.

"What's your name?" he asked shyly.

"My name is Harper Rose. Call me Rose."

"That's a lovely name," I said.

Rose nodded and smiled.

"Well, my time is up for today. The sun is setting, and I should really—"

I expected her to finish her sentence, but she didn't. What is up with these people and not finishing their sentences? Everyone here danced on their words.

Instead, she waved goodbye and started walking away from us and away from the mansion until we could no longer see her.

If she worked here, shouldn't she have had some kind of transportation?

Where was she going?

All I saw were fields and fields of grass. The only house nearby was the gray, abandoned-looking one, and I wasn't even sure that was where she was headed.

I could have been wrong.

***

We were allowed to see our rooms after supper.

At least, that's what Mr. Harmon told us.

We were all sitting at the dining table, waiting for the food to be served.

Caleb was too small for the chairs, which seemed designed for people my size or taller. This dining table was twice the size of the one we had back home.

It was enormous.

There were four chairs on each side, and at the ends sat Mr. and Mrs. Harmon.

Caleb had been told he could eat on the couch in front of the television—a privilege we had never been allowed at home.

I sat at the table with the Harmons.

The silence felt awkward while we waited for dinner.

The food was amazing.

I couldn't believe Mrs. Harmon had cooked such a wonderful meal all by herself.

"Thank you for dinner," I said.

"You're welcome," she replied with a smile. "So, tell us about yourself, Emily."

Before I could answer, a moth flew out of nowhere and frantically fluttered around my head. It then drifted over toward Mr. Harmon.

Mr. Harmon slowly stood up and carefully raised his hands.

As gently as possible, he trapped the moth between them without hurting it.

"Are you going to kill it or add it to the collection?" Mrs. Harmon asked before taking a sip of her drink.

"Excuse me," Mr. Harmon said as he stepped away from the table. "This is exactly what I needed."

I looked at Mrs. Harmon.

"He collects moths?"

"No," she said, dabbing at her mouth with a napkin. "He uses them for his art projects."

I was about to ask another question, but Caleb interrupted.

"I don't like moths," he said.

Mrs. Harmon smiled.

"Then we'll make sure no moths get in here again, just for you."

She playfully poked his nose.

He hunched his shoulders up and smiled.

A few moments later, Mr. Harmon returned and sat back down.

"So, as we were saying," he said with a smile, "tell us about yourself."

I didn't go into too much detail.

I told them about my love of sports, video games, shopping, hanging out with friends, and playing hide-and-seek.

When I mentioned hide-and-seek, they looked at me as if they thought I was a little too old to be playing it.

That's what most adults think about fourteen-year-olds.

I explained that I didn't like regular hide-and-seek.

I preferred playing hide-and-seek in the dark.

They seemed intrigued by that.

Mrs. Harmon cleared her throat and folded her hands together.

"Well, I can assure you that there will be no hide-and-seek in this house," she said. "The house is far too large. Someone could get hurt or lost. Artwork could be damaged, and I wouldn't want any accidents."

To be honest, her excuse irritated me.

It upset me to know that I couldn't play my favorite game in my new house with my new foster parents.

Banning hide-and-seek seemed ridiculous.

It wasn't dangerous.

Still, I kept my feelings to myself and nodded.

There was no one here to play with anyway.

I accepted it.

I would just have to find something else to do.

Once I was alone in my room, I started to cry. I wish my parents were still alive. I didn't want to be here. I wanted to be home, where I could play hide-and-seek with Abby.