Rose Abrams longs for adventure outside of her hometown of Brixham, England. Her small, monotonous town hasn't seen sickness or strife in many years, and the townspeople never seem to be open to any sort of change--or differences. While Rose and her father try to make a fair living off of the library that they own and do their best not to make ripples and fit in with their predictable (and prejudiced) neighbors, Rose knows that she is seen as different from the others in her town, and because of it, she and her father are falling on hard times. When debt finally catches up to the struggling pair, Rose beseeches the mysterious inhabitant of an old mansion, who offers her a deal that she finds she can't refuse. In return for paying off the debt, Rose must stay and work in the mansion as a servant. But this mysterious inhabitant harbors more secrets than they let on, and when Rose discovers that this mysterious person isn't all that they seem to be, she finds herself caught up in more adventure than she had ever dreamed Brixham would offer. *Takes place during the events of "Cress".* Disclaimer: Credit for a lot of character, event, and item mentions (Cinder, Eastern Commonwealth, letumosis, etc.) goes to Marissa Meyer. I only own the characters that I created and the plot. The fairy tale "excerpts" were created by me. The original tale I wanted to use did not offer good quotes for my purpose, so I made my own.