![]() ![]() Having been offered a teaching position at one of the new land-grant colleges out in the North Plains Territory over a year ago, Papa finally accepts and moves his family, those young enough to still live at home, to Mill City, a town just east of the Great Barrier (a complex magical protective spell) and thus free of monsters such as Columbian sphinxes, woolly rhinoceros, spectral bears, swarming weasels, steam dragons, and many other yet to be named and discovered menaces among the flora and fauna. ![]() This event convinces Mama and Papa to move the family out West. So much so that one day when she is five her Uncle Earn brings a policeman to her home insisting that she be arrested for putting a curse on his house, as witnessed by his daughter who also happens to be one of Eff's biggest tormentors. Where Lan is held in high esteem and great things are expected from him because of his place in the family's birth order, only bad luck and tragedy are expected from Eff. ![]() The town is full of uncles, aunts, cousins and grandparents, most of whom consider Eff a blight who should have been drowned at birth, bound to turn bad sooner than later. When the story begins she and Lan are five and living in Helvan Shores, somewhere on the East Coast. While Eff Rothmer, the thirteenth child born into the family and also a twin to Lan, the seventh son of the seventh son, or a double seven as he comes to refer to himself, is the narrator of the story, she is often the quiet center of the storm. ![]()
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