Jared leaned back in his chair and sighed. Everything about Mayvis’s home was magnificent. The grounds were beautiful. They had everything they could ever want or need there. They had everything, that is, except for the one thing they all needed.

He glanced over at Ophelia. “It’s a trap,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s a pretty trap, I’ll admit, but it’s a trap all the same.”

Ophelia smiled. “Yeah, it stinks,” she said, nodding. “We get to live in safety and comfort, but we can’t leave.”

Logan leaned on the doorjamb and said, “Don’t let Mayvis hear that talk.” He glanced around quickly, as if he’d heard her. Then, he bit his lip and looked back at them. “Just… try to enjoy it?”

Ophelia rolled her eyes and Jared sighed. “I want to go home,” he breathed. “There’s all this comfort here, but… it’s a prison, Logan!”

“If you take a deep breath,” Ophelia said, nodding in agreement, “you can smell the reek of a dungeon’s mildew and iron bars.”

“Yeah, well,” Logan said, rolling his eyes as wall. “If you keep up with this talk, you won’t have to breathe all that deeply to smell those things. Mayvis will just toss you into one of the cells she has in her basement!”