Nearly twelve years had passed since the Havenwoods took in Lily. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass numbers on the Havenwood's front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Havenwood had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Mrs. Havenwood was already up, sitting on the sofa with her knitting needles clicking rhythmically, a habit she had developed over the years.

Yet Lily Matthews was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. Her Aunt was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.

"Up! Get up! Now!"

Lily woke with a start. Her aunt rapped on the door again.

Lily was jolted awake by her Aunt's screech, "Up!" She could hear her footsteps approaching the kitchen, followed by the clanging of a frying pan being put on the stove. Rolling onto her back, Lily attempted to recall the dream she had just been having. It was a delightful dream with flying brooms, magic spells being cast with wands, and the cutest woodland creatures imaginable. A sense of longing lingered as the dream dissipated from her memory like sand slipping through her fingers. 

Her aunt was back outside the door.

"Are you up yet?" She demanded. 

"Nearly," Lily said.

"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Sarah's birthday." Sarah was the oldest child now. Her Aunt and Uncle had adopted her a few years ago.

Lily groaned.

"What did you say?" her aunt snapped through the door.

"Nothing, nothing..."

Lily got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. She found a pair under her bed and put them on.

After getting dressed, she made her way down the hallway toward the kitchen. As she entered the room, she couldn't help but notice the table was almost completely obscured by a pile of brightly wrapped presents. It was evident that Sarah had received the gifts she had wished for, including the new computer and a second television.

Uncle George entered the kitchen as Lily was turning the bacon.

"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.

Every week, like clockwork, Uncle George would peek over his newspaper and bellow that Lily needed a haircut. Despite having had more haircuts than all the girls in her class combined, her hair seemed to grow every which way and never looked neat. Lily didn't mind her hair, though. She liked the way it felt when it was long and wild, and sometimes she even imagined it was like the mane of a lion or the wings of a bird. But she knew better than to argue with Uncle George about it.

Lily was frying eggs by the time Sarah arrived in the kitchen with her Aunt. Aunt Marie often said that Sarah looked like a baby angel—Lily often said that Sarah looked like a bird of prey with dying feathers and a permanent scowl where a smile should have been. Sarah was dressed in a new pink outfit, her hair styled in perfect ringlets, a stark contrast to Lily's own simple attire and unruly hair.

Lily put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Sarah, meanwhile, was counting her presents. Her face fell.

"Fourty-Three," she said, looking up at them. "That's three less than last year."

"Darling, you haven't counted grandma's pearls present, see, it's here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy." 

Lily, who could see a huge tantrum coming on, began wolfing down her bacon as fast as possible in case Sarah turned the table over. Sarah had a bit of a temper and could fly off the handle at the slightest provocation.

Aunt Marie obviously sensed danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that,? Two more presents. Is that all right?"

Sarah thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally, she said slowly, "So I'll have forty... forty..."

"Forty-Six sweetie," said Aunt Marie.

Oh." Sarah sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."

At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Marie went to answer it while Lily and Uncle George watched Sarah unwrap the racing bike, a hoverboard, a cellphone, sixteen new videogames, and a laptop. She was ripping the paper off a gold necklace when Aunt Marie came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.

Bad news, George," she said. "Mrs. Garret's broken her leg. She can't take her." She jerked her head in Lily's direction.

Sarah's mouth fell open in horror, but Lily's heart gave a leap. Every year on Sarah's birthday, her parents took her and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Lily was left behind with Mrs. Garret, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Lily hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Garret made her look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.

"Now what?" said Aunt Marie, looking furiously at Lily as though she had planned this. Lily knew she ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Garret had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when she reminded herself it would be a whole year before she had to look at Simba, Luna, Whiskers, and Mittans again.

"We could phone Ginger," Uncle George suggested.

"Don't be silly, she hates the girl."

The Havenwoods frequently discussed Lily in a manner that made it seem as though she wasn't present, or worse as if she were a repulsive creature incapable of comprehending them, much like a slug.

"You could just leave me here," Lily put in hopefully (She would be able to watch what she wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Sarah's Videogame system).

Marie looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.

"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.

"I won't blow up the house," said Lily, but they weren't listening.

"I suppose we could take her to the zoo," said Marie slowly, "...and leave her in the car..."

"That car's new, she is not sitting in it alone..."

"I... don't... want... her... t-t-to come!" Sarah yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "She always sp-spoils everything!" She shot Lily a nasty grin through the gap in her mother's arms.

Just then, the doorbell rang—"Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Marie frantically—and a moment later, Sarah's best friend, Agatha, walked in with her mother. Agatha was a scrawny girl with a face like a rat. 

Lily couldn't believe her luck as she sat in the backseat of the car with Sarah and Agatha, en route to the zoo for the very first time in her life. Her aunt and uncle hadn't been able to come up with anything else to do with her, but before leaving, Uncle George had pulled Lily aside and warned her in a stern voice.

"I'm warning you," he said, his face looming inches away from Lily's, "any funny business, anything at all, and you'll be locked up in that attic until Christmas."

The problem was, strange things often happened around Lily and it was just no good telling the Havenwoods she didn't make them happen.

There was a time when Marie grew tired of Lily returning from the hair salon looking as if she had not been there at all. Frustrated, Marie grabbed a pair of kitchen scissors and chopped off Lily's hair so short that she was almost bald, except for her bangs. But the following morning, to everyone's surprise, Lily's hair had grown back to its original length, leaving Marie perplexed. Despite Lily's attempts to explain that she didn't know how it had happened, she was still punished with a week in the attic. From that day on, Lily became convinced that there was something strange about her that she didn't understand. She spent hours staring at herself in the mirror, searching for some sort of explanation for the peculiar things that always seemed to happen around her.

Lily had found herself in hot water for an incident in which she was caught on the roof of her school. Sarah and her friends had been chasing her, as usual, when to everyone's surprise, Lily was sitting on the roof. The headmistress had written an angry letter to the Havenwoods, accusing her of climbing the school buildings. In reality, all Lily had intended to do was hide behind the trash cans outside.

But today, nothing was going to go wrong.

"I had a dream about a broom," said Lily, remembering suddenly. "It was flying." By the time Lily had tried to take back her statement, it was too late. Uncle George had already flown off the handle.

He nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Lily, his face like a gigantic beet: "BROOMS DON'T FLY!"

"I know they don't," said Lily. "It was only a dream." She slumped down in her seat as Sarah and Agatha the rat laughed at her.

If there was one thing they didn't like, it was her talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon—they seemed to think she might get dangerous ideas.

Lily had the best morning she's had in a long time. They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Sarah had a tantrum because her sundae didn't have enough ice cream on top, George bought her another one and Lily was allowed to finish the first.

Lily should have known it wouldn't last.

After lunch, they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Sarah and Agatha wanted to see huge tarantulas.

Lily was not one bit fond of the hairy beast that slunk behind the walls. She feared they would perform the great escape and cover every inch of her body. She shuddered at the thought of it.

Sarah stood with her nose pressed against the glass.

"Make it move," she whined. Uncle George tapped on the glass, but the spider didn't budge.

"Again," she ordered. George rapped the glass with his knuckles, but the spider stayed unmoving.

Lily moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the spider.  She couldn't understand why she stepped so close to that glass while Godzilla lay behind it staring at her. Something was different it felt to Lily like -- and never in a thousand years would she have thunk it -- it wanted her to save it. To set it free. 

The spider suddenly blinked and shifted its legs. Slowly, very slowly, it turned its body until its eyes were on a level with Lily's.

The spider jerked its head toward her very annoying company. It gave Lily a look that said quite plainly:

"I want to get out of here."

"I know," Lily murmured through the glass, though she wasn't sure the spider could hear her. "It must be really annoying."

The spider nodded vigorously.

"Where do you come from, anyway?" She asked.

The spider walked toward the sign on its tail at a glass. Lily peered at it.

Brazil.

"Was it nice there?"

The spider stayed against the sign. Lily read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see—so you've never been to Brazil?"

As the spider moved around, a deafening shout behind LIly made both of them jump. "SARAH! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SPIDER! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"

Sarah came waddling toward them as fast as she could.

"Move it, you!" she barked, jabbing her elbow into Lily's ribs. Caught off guard, Lily tumbled onto the unforgiving concrete. The next events unfolded in a blur, leaving witnesses unsure of what had just happened. In one moment, Agatha and Sarah had been pressed up against the glass, peering intently. In the next moment, they leapt back with howls of horror.

As Lily sat up, her heart racing, she noticed that the glass enclosure housing the tarantula had disappeared. Panic surged through her as she watched the spider and its fellow inhabitants crawl out and scramble up the walls in search of escape. Chaos erupted throughout the zoo as visitors screamed and ran toward the exits.

Amidst the commotion, Lily saw the tarantula scurry towards her and halt. To her surprise, she felt a strange sense of gratitude emanating from the arachnid as it appeared to bow before rushing off to join the other escapees in their pursuit of freedom.

The keeper of the zoo was in shock.

"But the glass," he kept saying, "Where did the glass go?"

The zoo director himself made Aunt Marie a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. As far as Lilyy had seen, the spider hadn't done anything except scurry playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in the car, Sarah was telling them how it had nearly bitten off her leg. Lily couldn't help but roll her eyes as Sarah continued to exaggerate the encounter with the spider. She knew that her cousin had always been prone to drama, but this was getting ridiculous. "Come on, Sarah," she said, trying to keep her tone light. "It was just a spider. It wasn't going to hurt you." Sarah scowled at her, clearly not pleased with the dismissal of her story. "You don't know that," she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.

Uncle George waited until Agatha was safely out of the house before starting on Lily. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go—attic—stay—no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Marie had to run and get him a large brandy.

Lily lay in her dark attic much later, wishing she had a watch. She didn't know what time it was and she couldn't be sure the Havenwoods were asleep yet. Until they were, she couldn't risk sneaking into the kitchen for some food.

She had lived with the Havenwoods for almost twelve years, twelve miserable years, as long as she could remember, ever since she had been a baby and her parents had died in that car crash. She couldn't remember her parents at all. Her aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course, she was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house. The Havenwoods had made it clear that she was a burden, an unwanted guest in their home. They gave her the bare minimum to survive - food, shelter, and clothing - but nothing more. They never hugged her or showed her any affection. She was just another mouth to feed, another chore to be done.

In her younger years, she had indulged in the fanciful notion of being rescued by some unknown relative, but such a miracle had never occurred. Nevertheless, at times, she couldn't help but wonder (or perhaps hope) if certain strangers passing by on the street recognized her. These strangers were peculiar characters indeed. Once, a tiny man donning a violet top hat had even tipped his hat to her while she was out shopping. Upon noticing him, Marie had quickly whisked them away from the store, much to Lily's bewilderment. Another time, a strange-looking old woman dressed entirely in green had cheerfully waved at her from a bus. And just recently, a bald man in a lengthy purple coat had unexpectedly shaken her hand before disappearing without a single word. What made these people all the more bizarre was how they would vanish into thin air the moment she tried to take a closer look.