Paige was staying at her uncle’s house for the holidays, enjoying her time away from school. He had a party going on downstairs, from which she had raided for its food. But she had no interest in actually sticking around; it was full of business types and stuck-up brown-nosers.  No, she much preferred hiding in her guest room, watching trashy reality TV and texting the boy she’d been crushing on since high school.

Her uncle barged in without even a knock, and Paige sat up quickly, as he looked around her room, aghast.

“How do you live like this?” He said, looking around at the piles of clothes already strewn across the floor. “Hasn’t the maid been here?”

Paige didn’t see much the matter with that. “I didn’t want to bother her,” she said. But Paige noticed the way her uncle looked. He was pale, his fingers ticking with nervous energy, something clearly worrying him.

“Uncle Paul, what’s wrong? How’s the party?”

He wiped some flop sweat from his brow before answering. “The party is good, but the charity auction is well below what I needed. People just aren’t giving the way they used to. And this year I had the most magical dolls.”

Paige frowned, thinking about it, about it. “Well, there are kind of classic dolls. They’re cute, but people want something cool and modern.”

Her uncle’s eyes went wide, “Electronic,” he said, his mind clearly racing with an idea.

“Unfortunately, it’s a bit too late now. But maybe it can help you next year.”

“No, no. This is it. This is what I needed. Maybe you can turn this whole mess around.” He said, giving Paige a hug. She managed a slight gasp before the magic overtook her.

When it was over, she was frozen in place, looking up at her giant of an uncle. “Your mother will kill me if she finds out,” he said, picking Paige up and taking her to be the newest toy beneath the Christmas tree.

There, she waited, quiet, and dormant, her programming ready to bring her to life.