CHAPTER 8Considering the size of the mansion, the small kitchen surprised Mara. It looked to be about the same dimensions as the one in her mother’s house—before the dragon burned it down. Given that the Progenitor’s Manor, as Ping referred to it, was five or six times the size of her house from childhood and beyond, the room struck her as disproportionate.
Ping had just placed a plate of sandwiches and a bowl of salad on the table when chimes rang out from somewhere else in the house. He jogged to the counter, grabbed a towel and wiped off his hands.
“Is that a doorbell?” Mara asked.
“It’s the front door. I’ll be right back,” he said, exiting through an arched entryway.
Mara could hear his footsteps echoing for what seemed a long time before the muffled sounds of a door latch being tu
