Prologue

This is the story of a little girl whose imagination was far too big to be contained. It stretched further than the glittering cosmic animals that dotted the night skies, as she closed her eyes and wished she could fly into those honeyed stars. But her nightgown, light as a cheesecloth, rooted her to the earth. Still, she waited, cupping her palms and gazed into the absence of gravity. She hoped to sprout wings out of her tiny shoulderblades, to dig a hole and wind up in a mystical land, far away from home. And when the dawn appeared, framed by cotton candy clouds, she slipped into her bedroom and read stories about little girls like her - girls who dreamed about escaping. This is that little girl, twelve years later. This is her escape.