PROLOGUE

"Arizona, hurry up so you don't miss your flight!!!"

"I'm coming, mamma."

I was finally getting to leave home after living here my whole life.

My name is Arizona. Yes, like the state, but I grew up in Philly, Pennsylvania. So what was so special about me leaving home?

I never got to do so. I lived in a small town in Philadelphia with my parents. And, when I say small town, I mean one cinema, one grocery store, one barbershop, and one church—where my father was the pastor. It was a town where everybody knew everybody, a town of limited possibilities.

But all that was about to change for me because I had just gotten a scholarship to study at Synergy University, Russia. One of the most prestigious universities in the world. Since I knew what the internet was, I'd spent a lot of time looking at pictures and videos of places and sights that I'd never gotten to see. My parents had only let me have a phone two years ago, because in their words, 'the internet is a negative and sinful place that stains you.'

And I agreed with them. From what I'd seen, the internet could be very negative.

I couldn't wait to see the world; I couldn't wait to explore. My parents were proud of me, of course. I was the first girl in town to leave on a full scholarship, and even though I knew that most everyone was happy for me, some were envious. You could see it in the way they looked at me when they thought my attention was elsewhere. Most of the other kids had tried leaving town, but somehow, they all came back, and for very bad reasons. I knew deep down that I had to watch myself and mind my next steps.

My dad had hired Mr. Joe to drive us to the airport and had insisted that he and my mother come with us. The city was beautiful. There were so many tall buildings and pretty cars. Pretty people in pretty clothes. Everything was beautiful.

When my flight was announced, my parents began talking to me, and honestly, I was just hearing sounds. I wasn't even listening. My father must have noticed this because he took me by the shoulders and shook me hard.

"Listen to me, Arizona, if you didn't hear anything I said to you just now, remember this: If you ever lose your way, please don't forget your home. We'll always be here. That is the most important rule."

Those words sank into my brain and with them came the realization that I wasn't going to the next town over. I was going to a whole new country, without my parents' guidance. I could feel the panic rising until my mother hugged me and whispered in my ear that everything was going to be okay.

And with those parting words, yours truly was off to the land of onion castles.