Violet didn’t push any of the buttons. Neither did Tim. April thought that probably meant something—but she didn’t know what, exactly. She just knew that they sat together, perfectly still, while Tim’s arm lay across Violet’s shoulders and she looked like she was trying to dissolve into him, even as she kept her gaze on the pad of paper in her lap.
“I apologize, Tim,” Ms. Nelson said. “According to our records, Violet didn’t have a brother. We didn’t know.”
“I’m not her real brother,” he said, but Ms. Nelson smiled.
“Family isn’t always something we’re born into.”
He didn’t smile or speak or do anything but grip Violet a little bit tighter.
“You gonna get in trouble? For taking me?” he asked after a long time.
“Don’t worry about that,” Ms. Nelson said.
“What are you looking at?”
It took April a moment to realize that Tim was looking at her—talking to her.
“Nothing,” she said too quickly.
Then Ms. Nelson shifted and said, “Tim, Violet, this is April. April’s moving to Winterborne House today, too.”
She said it like that ought to make them Best Friends Forever, but April had met enough kids in the system to know that Tim and Violet got by because they had a lifeboat built for two. April wasn’t going to force herself in, risk making it tip over.
“Have you and Violet lived together long?” Ms. Nelson asked.
“A while,” Tim said with a shrug. Violet didn’t say anything. She just kept drawing on that little pad of paper until, finally, she ripped off the top sheet and handed it to April.
“For me?” April asked. She looked down at the paper and saw a perfect rendition of the emblem on her mother’s key. Panicked, April’s hand flew to her neck, and she realized that the key had somehow come out from beneath her shirt and was hanging there for all the world to see.
“That’s very good,” the woman said as she looked at the picture. “That’s the Winterborne crest. You’ll be seeing a great deal of it at your new home. The Winterbornes were wonderful people, but they did go a little overboard with the decorating,” she added like it was a secret, just between the four of them.
Then April felt the car begin to slow and turn. She practically plastered herself to the windows as they pulled through the tallest gates that April had ever seen. The car kept driving, around twisty bends and beneath the branches of tall trees, and then it came to a stop in front of a house that was bigger than the museum. Than the hospital. Than her school and every single house she’d ever lived in put together.
It was made out of dark gray stone and looked almost like a castle. April had to wonder if there were people locked up in any of the tall towers. She thought maybe there might be a moat and a drawbridge. Surely a place like this came with at least one dragon, she thought as she crawled from the back of the car, and out into a wind that smelled like salt and felt like rain.
April could hear the low rumbling sound of the waves. A bright green lawn stretched out to her right but then it seemed to just . . . stop. Disappear. And April looked up at the massive house again, hoping that the wind wasn’t strong enough to knock it into the sea.
But Ms. Nelson didn’t seem concerned at all as she walked toward the big double doors.
“Come along, children. Welcome home.”
Home.
And for some reason, April didn’t even try to correct her.
When the doors swung open, a tall slender man in a sleek black suit came out. He had gray hair, rosy cheeks, and a twinkle in his eyes, like a very skinny Santa Claus who’d just shaved off his beard.
“Everyone,” the woman said, “this is Smithers. Smithers, meet the newest residents of Winterborne House. This is April, Tim, and Violet.”
“Hello, Mr. Smithers,” April said, because Tim and Violet weren’t much for talking.
“No. Just Smithers, dear. He’s the butler.”
April wondered for a second if she’d misheard and tried to run through a list of all the words that rhyme with butler. But . . . well . . . nothing rhymes with butler, so she felt her eyes get really big.
“At your service, Miss April,” Smithers said with a bow.
April dropped into a curtsy and used her fanciest accent. “Charmed, I’m sure.”
He looked like maybe he wanted to laugh at her—or maybe with her—April wasn’t always sure of the difference. And the truth was that April didn’t really care.
She was standing on the threshold of a big, scary mansion with a butler and a woman who still hadn’t gotten any stains on her white coat. April’s life had officially entered uncharted territory, and she didn’t know which way to go but forward.
That’s the thing about fear, April had learned a long time ago. Sometimes the scariest thing of all is standing still.
“Smithers,” Ms. Nelson started, but didn’t get to finish because the door was flying open and someone was yelling, “I’m so glad you’re finally here!”
It wasn’t until they stepped inside that April saw her: a girl about April’s own age. She had dark skin and big brown eyes, and she wore a plaid jumper with the Winterborne crest over the heart. Her hair was in two kinds of balls on the top of her head with tiny red bows at the base of each one.
“Am I going to have to wear bows in my hair?” April whispered to Ms. Nelson, but the words were lost against the sound of the girl’s voice as she yelled, “Welcome to Winterborne House!”
The next thing April knew, she was being pulled into a giant hug. Even though April didn’t hug. Ever. She didn’t even really know how, so she kept her arms straight by her side and just kind of leaned into it. She was pretty sure she was doing it wrong when the girl pulled back and thrust her hand out for April to shake instead.
“Hello,” the girl said, sounding like a tiny businesswoman. “I’m Sadie Marie Simmons! But you can call me Sadie. Everyone calls me Sadie, so you should too, April. At least I’m assuming you must be April. And you must be . . .” But she trailed off when she saw the boy. “Who are you?”
“That’s Tim,” April said. “And Violet. She’s shy. He’s not.”
It took a split second for Sadie to process this new information, but then she just beamed and said, “Great! Welcome to Winterborne House. I’ve lived here for ages. Not to brag.” April wasn’t sure why that would be bragging, but she didn’t think it was the time to say so. “I’m so glad you’re here! I thought I’d give you a tour. If that’s okay with you, Ms. Nelson?” She looked up at the woman, who nodded.
“That’s an excellent idea, Sadie. Do you mind if I tag along?”
“That would be lovely.” The girl turned and said over her shoulder, “If you’d come with me.”
April was just starting to reconsider her first impression. Surely the girl wasn’t twelve. Surely she was thirty. Maybe forty. She spoke exactly like a grownup even if she did skip a little as she started for the stairs.
“Welcome to Winterborne House!” Sadie said again, but louder this time, and the words sounded more formal. Like this was the beginning of a recording that she’d made months ago and someone had just pressed Play.
“Winterborne House was built in 1812 by Reginald Winterborne the First, the patriarch of the Winterborne family.”
There were sweeping stairs and a long hall and a massive oil painting of a man who must have been the patriarch himself.
(April made a mental note to never, ever set it on fire.)
“The house was built in the Chateauesque style out of stone mined from the Winterborne quarry. Over the past two hundred years, it has seen several major additions and renovations and is currently ninety-seven thousand square feet with forty-two bedrooms, sixteen staircases, three dining rooms, a conservatory, and thirty-nine bathrooms, which were added at the end of the First World War.”
“What did they use before then?” April couldn’t help but ask.
Sadie shook her head. “You don’t want to know.”
When Sadie said that the house had two miles’ worth of stairways and hallways and corridors, April rolled her eyes, but thirty minutes later, she was a believer because her head hurt, her feet hurt, and through the windows, night was starting to fall.
Violet was already yawning by the time they reached the highest floor of the house. April could hear the wind blowing off the sea and feel the cold air soaking through the stones, but Sadie was practically vibrating as she threw open a door and shouted, “Welcome home!”
April supposed it was a bedroom (because there were beds and all), but it was like no bedroom she’d ever seen before. The beds had tall canopies and matching dressers. There were paintings on the walls and huge closets full of clothes, and a bathroom with a tub big enough to swim in.
The sun was already down as she walked toward the huge bay window with the wavy glass and plush cushions lining the window seat. The dark glass was like a mirror, and for a moment, April didn’t recognize herself in her new clothes in her new room, surrounded by so many new people. It wasn’t the first time April had found herself picked up and plunked down in a new house with a new family that wasn’t really a family at all. But her hand went to her key, felt its familiar weight, and April knew that this time would be different.
And that was when April saw the rope.
It took her a moment to wonder exactly why it was hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room, but when Sadie reached for it, she seemed especially excited. Possibly too excited, April realized a little too late, because in the next moment, Sadie was grasping the rope and giving it a massive tug.
Which turned on a ceiling fan.
Which jerked a wire, setting off a mousetrap that someone had stuck to the wall.
Which cut the string that was holding the tennis shoes.
Which dropped to the floor and landed on a skateboard.
Which went zooming to the other side of the room, careening into an iron that tipped over.
And burned the piece of yarn that ran through the pulleys and up to the windows.
Which caused all five window shades to drop in very dramatic fashion, revealing the words:
For a long time, everyone just stood there as if waiting for something else to fall or snap or burn or tip. But when nothing else happened, April began to think that they must have already seen the big finale.
“That was great,” she tried, and Sadie beamed.
“It’s one of my own inventions.” She seemed so . . . happy. April had never met a kid quite like her. “Do you love it?”
Sadie was pointing at the pretty beds with tall canopies and thick velvet curtains you could pull together to make a cozy cocoon. On the other side of the room, there was a fireplace and cushy armchairs surrounded by shelves and shelves of books.
And April had to think hard about her answer.
“This is our room,” Sadie went on. “Yours and mine and Violet’s. Ms. Nelson said we should all room together at first because the house is so big and confusing, and we girls have got to stick together. Not you.” She looked at Tim. “You and Colin will have a different room. No boys allowed!”
Sadie laughed then, but April was walking toward the bed. She looked up at the canopy overhead—at the Winterborne crest that was there, looking exactly like the key around her neck.
“Yeah, Sadie,” April had to say. “It’s perfect.”