Mary is a timid young girl who lives in the coastal town of Hampton, California. Her overprotective mother keeps her in the attic, safe from ghosts and monsters. Mary's father disappeared, and apparently so did someone named Laura who no one likes to talk about. Mary used to be content with being kept in the dark . . . until an abandoned rabbit gives her the courage to defy her family. Of course, courage inevitably leads to trouble. Her cruel brother sells her to a pirate disguised as Santa Claus. Believing herself to be abandoned like her rabbit, Mary has no choice but to start a new life under a new name. Although her new name is based on a fairy tale, her new life is nothing like one. She learns that and more, but her most important lessons come from an alley. There, she is counseled by a talking cat, the last bit of magic she clings to believing in.Will she remember those lessons by the time she can act on them? Or will she succumb to the same fate as Laura?

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