Hey Diary,

  I'm doing it! I'm on an adventure! We left home last night at one in the morning, walked until dawn, napped for an hour, and continued walking.

  So far, adventuring has mostly been walking.

  But it’s been fun. Last night we met my giant ferret friends, and they agreed to stay away from town for a day or two in case Dad asks if they saw us. Then this morning I met a flock of ducks who helped us fish in exchange for a muffin Luke’s mom made. And in the afternoon a couple squirrels followed us for a while, telling stories. Squirrels have the funniest stories.

  They left when there was a tiny earthquake. There’s been like one earthquake a week lately, but the squirrels still aren’t used to them I guess. They ran off yelling about their nuts.

  After that, I was able to spend hours talking to Maeve. The guys were behind us, practicing knife moves or something, so we got to talk about anything and everything. It’s been too long since I've been able to pour my heart out to my cousin.

  She poured her heart out to me, too. We cried a couple times.

  And the best thing is, there were no little sisters anywhere to be seen! We escaped without Wisp noticing! If she’d followed, I probably would have charmed her into going home. Illegal or not.

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  I kinda wonder if Mom and Dad are going to try tracking us down. I hope not. I mean, I'm doing this. I’m not going home. So if they come and insist I go back, it’ll just get messy. But if they come and just say goodbye, I'd feel super guilty about sneaking away.

  I left Dad a letter. I assume Mom will read it, too, but I'm kinda not as close to her as I am Dad. Wisp is Mom’s baby, and it’s clear which of us is her favorite. Especially since Wisp likes to help in the kitchen. But I prefer hanging out with Dad and working with animals like he does. So, yeah.

  Anyways, I told them basically what Maki said. I'm legally an adult, and I want to go see the world, so that’s what I'm going to do. I don't want to argue, or for them to try talking me out of it, so we decided to leave at night.

  Honestly, Dad’s main concern would be that Luke is coming with us, but he hasn't seen how obvious of a crush Maeve has on him now. Besides, we all have the proper curses and protections in place.

  Oh, when we get to the city, Maeve and I will stay at her friend’s house, while Maki and Luke are going to stay with Mas. Or at least that’s the plan. We haven't confirmed this with anyone, but they’re positive it’ll be ok.

  If it isn’t, I'll get to spend a night in an inn! I've never been to an inn, so that’ll be exciting. And I'll be able to eat food that isn't Mom’s! If someone wrote out the number of times I've had a meal that a relative hasn't cooked, it’d probably be less than a dozen.

  There are so many foods and flavors I've never experienced.

  I'm glad I'm going to the city with my cousin. She knows all the good places to visit, and can teach me everything.

  I hope I don't act like too much of a country girl. I hope I don't do anything to embarrass Maeve in front of her friends.

  Maybe I need to ask Maeve for a code word in case I'm doing anything dumb…

  Signing off,