Cheeks very red, Rosetta shook her head. “She didn’t want to come meet you,” she admitted. “She told me I could tell you as much, but I didn’t want to.”

“You were afraid it might upset me,” Mika guessed. “That was very kind of you, Rosetta. I promise I’m not upset. Terracotta can meet me whenever she’s ready.”

“Ahem,” Altamira cut in impatiently, her free hand scratching Circe’s golden head. “I still haven’t shown you the other rooms!”

“Woof,” Circe agreed.

“I’m so sorry,” said Mika at once. “Go ahead.”

“Well, that one is Lucie’s room, and that one is Jamie’s,” Altamira went on importantly. The doors of both rooms were only slightly ajar, so Mika couldn’t really see what was inside. “That’s the door to the upstairs bathroom. There’s another one downstairs. And this,” she added, bouncing on the balls of her feet again, “is where you’ll be staying!”

The source of Altamira’s excitement was a white door at the end of the hallway. She opened it to show them a short flight of stairs, which presumably led up to a loft or attic.

“I’ll be in the attic?” Mika asked, thrilled with this turn of events. “I’ve never lived in an attic before! How romantic. A witch in an attic!”

“It doesn’t sound romantic to me,” said Altamira doubtfully.

But there was a tiny smile on Rosetta’s serious face. “I was afraid you might think you’d been relegated to playing the part of the madwoman in the attic,” she said to Mika.

“It didn’t even cross my mind,” said Mika, grinning. “I do appreciate a child with a literary turn of mind, Rosetta!”

With an enthusiastic bark, Circe decided she would be the first to examine their new room and vanished up the stairs. Mika let the girls go next, trailing her suitcases behind them, and she followed with the boxes.