Description

Nine-year-old Chris dreams of growing a beautiful garden on his small balcony in New York City. His first planting is a packet of sunflower seeds, one of which gets blown onto a patch of soil in his neighbor’s rooftop garden. The neighbor, Mr. Thompson, invites Chris to tea and shares a story about how he and his late wife used to plant sunflowers. He gives Chris a packet of seeds for his garden. A sprout emerges on Chris’s balcony and next to it, he finds a mysterious, intricately carved pendant. The sprout and pendant exhibit magical properties—growing rapidly and glowing. Chris recalls a childhood story from his grandmother about a magical garden and wonders if it might be real. As he researches the pendant and the growing sprout’s peculiar behavior, a shadowy figure appears on his balcony, watching him. The pendant’s hum grows louder as the figure steps into the light, ending the story on a cliffhanger.