ALEX.
By the time I stepped fully into the living room, the smell of gingerbread and sugar was already thick in the air. The twins were on the floor, hunched over the gingerbread house with fierce concentration, their sleeves rolled up, fingers sticky with icing. Sofia was carefully pressing gumdrops into one wall while Lucas worked on what looked like an overly ambitious candy chimney.
“Alex!” Lucas exclaimed when he saw me, instantly jumping to his feet.
Sofia followed suit, her face lighting up. “You’re back!”
They both started toward me, abandoning the fragile structure in the middle of the rug but Madam Katarina’s voice cut through the room, smooth and commanding.
“Careful, children,” she said gently. “If you leave now, the house might collapse. You should stay and look after it.
