"I'm from Chickentown, Minnesota. It's as exciting as it sounds, trust me. And I thought I was going to be trapped there until one day - totally boring day, nothing special happened - my teacher sent me to the principal's office per usual and I just walked out. I couldn't tell you why. I just did. I thought of the ocean, carrying me out of the school, carrying me out of Chickentown. It sort of moved my feet, this mental image, and I ended up in a field where I met someone. His name is John Mischief. Well. I met him and his brothers, but his brothers are faces that live in his antlers. Anyway, long story short, there's an ocean, the Isabella, that connected Chickentown to this other place, the Abarat. And a long time ago, before I was born there was a princess there named Boa. And she died before she was meant to. These priestesses, the Fantomaya, they came to Chickentown and put her soul in my body before I was born."