If someone offers you a deal that seems to be too good to be true… it usually is.

All my life, I'd thought the Ravenswind farmhouse was huge. But then Opal added another small family and another soon-to-be adopted daughter to the mix. The house's space was shrinking big time.

Kids can do that.

I'm really not complaining, mind you. I love the new family, and I'm really glad we can be there for them. Just saying that things are getting a little crowded, that's all.

So when Arc and Ruby approached me with a deal to buy a small mini-estate with not one but two houses, what was there really to think about? Especially when the owner was desperate for a sale and willing to make us a deal of a lifetime.

The owner didn't strike me as all too trustworthy, though, so we did things right. The contract was vetted by Dad, and we had a full home inspection done before signing on any dotted lines.

We really thought we'd covered all our bases.

Oh, how wrong we were.