A Mandatory Vacation
- It stinks to be Kendra: her parents are dumping her and her brother Seth with their hermit-y grandparents while they go on vacation.
- Kendra's almost fourteen and Seth is eleven, so they spend most of the car ride to Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson's place complaining. But there's no changing the plan now: their other set of grandparents died and left a bunch of money for Kendra's mom, dad, aunts, and uncles to go on a cruise—minus the kids.
- An awkward memory of the funeral floats back to Kendra: her mom asked Grandpa Sorenson to take the kids, and he'd sounded really reluctant. So this'll be a fun two weeks, eh?
- As they reach their grandparents' land, Kendra sees a bunch of creepy signs about it being private property and how trespassers may be shot or killed. Yup—this should be a great time.
- It's weird, but most people in Kendra's family have never even seen this place—even Kendra's dad has hardly ever been here, and the Sorensons are his parents.
- At the house, they see Grandpa Sorenson (Grandma's visiting a dying relative or something), Lena (the housekeeper and an older lady who has faintly Asian features), and Dale, a tall guy who helps tend the grounds.
- Mom and Dad say their goodbyes, and Grandpa shows the kids to their room in the attic, which is actually pretty cool. There's a pet chicken, Goldilocks, they get to feed and take care of while their grandma's away, and there are also vintage toys and a telescope and stuff.
- Grandpa warns them that it's tick season, and tells them not to venture off the lawn surrounding the house, or else they'll be confined to the room for the rest of their visit. Same deal with the barn, as it's full of dangerous old equipment.
- Before leaving to do chores around the land, Grandpa hands Kendra a set of three small keys and says that each unlocks something in the room, and she can try to find those items.
- Seth immediately starts making a mess, which annoys Kendra. These seventeen days are gonna be torture.