The tall pine trees were covered with sunlight. Andy noticed this as he struggled to free himself first from the seat belt which had decided to hate him, and secondly from the meowing, clawing bundle of kittens as they slowly awoke from their peaceful purring, and made it a point to climb up his shirt. Violet was already pounding at the door, Mr. Grace was trying to get her to quit, and Jules the Talking Tomato was bouncing all around Deker's shoulder in hopes of seeing his Author's grandmother. Finally, after about five minutes of shouting and gallivanting, the three Grace siblings stood holding various bags, bundles, suitcases and laptop bags, and looking up at the sprawling manor. It was a very old house, and wild ivy choked the dark wooden walls. A mess of honeysuckle was in full bloom around the side, where a small balcony jutted out from Andy's room. He'd claimed the room with the balcony the first time the Graces had spent the summer with their grandmother. The inspiration of the wind blowing his hair as he stood atop his balcony near a pine tree, looking out at the sparkling lake, was worth the fight with Violet for the room.

Mr. Grace finally pried Violet away from the door and, straightening her unruly mop of hair as best he could, rang the doorbell like a civil guest. He stepped back and the four waited while the wind blew gently on their flushed faces, which were hot from traveling so long. Deker looked around the forest which engulfed the surroundings, and thought he saw Caspar grinning at him from one of the shadows...but he couldn't be sure. Andy had managed to stuff his three fluffy kittens into a pillow case, where they giggled and tumbled over one another. Violet winked at Jake the young dragon, balancing perched in a pine limb, the shafts of sunlight glittering in his multicolored wings.

Suddenly the door swung open and the Graces beheld their grandmother. They'd nearly forgotten her tight little bun, the wrinkles in her powdered face, the erect way she carried herself, like a proper Victorian gentlewoman.

"GRANDMA!" screamed Violet, and gave the old woman a bear hug. Andy was more polite about his greeting: "Hi, Granny, how are you doing?" Their grandmother finally freed herself from Violet's excited grip with a little gasp, and forced a smile. "Just the same. Terrible!" Mr. Grace laughed and put an arm around the thin shoulders.

"I'm sure happy you three have decided to waste your summer with an old woman like me," sniffed Granny, and smiled. She was stern, but she could also be fun when the mood struck.

Granny led her three grandchildren and Mr. Grace into the dimly lit parlor. Fine china vases and valuable figurines adorned the wooden shelves and embroidered pillows lay upon the peach colored couch. Andy looked around at the breakables, peeped into his pillow case at the kittens, and gulped.

"Would you care for some tea?" Granny asked Mr. Grace, who heartily accepted. She led him into the tiny kitchen, stuffed with teas, spices, strings of onions and hickory-cured hams dragged up from Virginia. Violet was bouncing up and down shouting something about her room, and Granny smiled down at her. Andy couldn't help but notice the cold, semi-hidden disapproval in his grandmother's eyes, but quickly shrugged off the feeling. She was just a kind old lady.

"You three can go and settle into your rooms," she said. Violet shrieked and flew up the red carpeted stairs, Barbie dolls dropping out of her Wal-Mart sacks of "things to keep her busy". Andy cast a sideways look at Granny, grabbed a gingersnap from a small glass cookie jar, and scuttled up the stairs smiling to himself.

Violet burst into her room in the second story of Granny's great house. It was a large purple room with a big window seat stuffed with toys and pillows from last summer. A television set stood in one corner and various playthings were thrown all about the room. "I need to CLEAN!" she yelled at herself. But instead of cleaning, Violet opened all the windows and turned on her CD player the loudest it could go. The carpet was made of thick stuff, dyed pink and purple swirls. She flipped on the fan, hurled a doll into a plastic toaster, ripped out the rainbow barrettes from her hair and jumped into the empty bathtub. Violet cooed with pleasure at the spa buttons on her deep slippery bathtub. The small adjoining bathroom was painted bright pink and lacy decorations hung above the sink. She could hardly wait for that evening, when she could soak in her own private spa!

After a while, Violet decided to travel across the hallway to Andy's room. Peering in, she watched her brother get settled in his bedroom. His room was divided into three different studios, one for writing, one for crafting and one for artwork. The walls were painted light blue; posters, pictures and decorations were hung all over it, just like his little nook at home in New York City. His bed was right smack dab in the middle, and the poufy mattress was covered with blankets and pillows. The door to the balcony was in the corner, and the door to Andy's closet was right beside it. He flew onto his bed and started the long and rather painful process of trying to pry his kittens from his slippers, tempting them with his gingersnap.

"Where's Jake?" Violet demanded, hands cocked on hips. Andy gasped as the little orange tabby delved into his backpack searching for food, shouting as it did so, "FRIDGE!"...which was the three kittens' password for snacktime.

"NO! You can't have a snick right now!" Andy wailed, wiping invisible perspiration from his pale forehead.

"Let's go and see if Deker knows where my naughty dragon is," Violet said. She brushed past her brother, flew into his closet, and opened the hidden door to a stairway in the side of the house leading up to the attic. Andy made sure his door was shut and that his kittens wouldn't be able to get out, and followed his little sister up the narrow, dark stairs, brushing aside the cobwebs and coughing at the dust that had settled since last summer.

Deker's room was a small shadowy attic cranny, with a skylight and cedarwood bookshelves that reached up into the low dark ceiling. Managing to stuff Jules into his pocket, Deker breathed in the scent of cedar and old books, his fantasy novels kept safely in the forests of New York for summer reading, and sat down on his thin cot, liking the squeak it made. Jules protested mightily at his uncomfortable situation, and Deker pulled him from his pocket and set him on the bed next to his black laptop computer bag.

"Man, what's up with thet, anyhoo?!" Jules demanded in his high-pitched voice. Deker ignored him and began unpacking. He didn't notice his two younger siblings as they stifled giggles and tried to creep up on him from behind. Deker looked up and saw that thick pine branches had obstructed his view through the skylight. He stood up on his cot, pushed the skylight window free of the branches, and jumped up to perch on the edge of the skylight to better clear off his skylight, and breathe in the fresh spicy air. Violet shrugged, not caring if her plan of scaring her older brother had flunked, and wandered around the attic after Andy.

There suddenly came a surprised exclamation and the scratching sounds of Deker clearing away the branches from his skylight windowpane stopped. "Jake's here on the roof," came his annoyed voice. Violet shouted and hopped up and down with anger.

"Jake, you get off the roof right now or you won't have any cupcakes!" she shrilled. Andy craned his neck to see his older brother crossing his arms and frowning in front of him.

"Now Jake," he said to the mischevious young dragon sitting perched on the roof before him, "obey your Authoress and come down this instant." Daimon, who'd been absent through most of this, strode into the room and gave a shocked gasp. "Is that young dragon misbehaving AGAIN?" he demanded, fingering the hilt of his sword. Violet glared at him and stuck out her tongue. She didn't much care for her brother's knight-character.

Suddenly Deker grew very quiet, stopping his pleadings for Jake to get down. His grandmother was standing below him on the ground, talking to him.

"Deker," she said, "who are you talking to?" Deker slowly turned around and grinned. "No one, Granny, it's alright; I was just clearing the branches away from my window." His excuse ended in a cough as Mr. Grace walked from the manor and waved up at him.

"Bye, kids, I love you!" Mr. Grace called. There was a chorus of shouted goodbyes and Mr. Grace drove off through the woods.

"Come down and get yourselves some dinner, and then you can carry on with your settling in," Granny said. Her eyebrow was raised, still looking past Deker to where only he, Andy and Violet could see the naughty dragon waving his tail back and forth, grinning like a crocodile.

Andy gave a small sigh; it was going to be a long summer.