I'm surprised this doesn't have more reviews. Anyway, the characters are brilliant; they do an excellent job of drawing a reader in, and you make it very easy to picture them all. I really liked Mr Varnum, and there's some nice contrast between him and Trinket. I like how Calist remainds almost oblivious to things, too; it's clear she doesn't fully understand what's going on, but it's easy to see her motives and why she follows along. Great stuff - this is making for a very enjoyable read. I look forward to seeing more.

A really interesting opening chapter. I think you managed to convey the personality of the main character quite well, though if you do re-write this, you could make it more focused on her POV (while keeping the third person). it feels like it should be her POV but it doesn't come across fully; maybe play around with a 'child's voice', so to speak? It could help add a bit more mystery to the strange man and the things that are going on. Also, I noticed that even thought you have 'said' and 'he said' with lower-case, you tend to put 'Asked' after dialogue. May want to correct that. But yeah, like I said, the first chapter is really interesting and very gripping.

seems really interesting do far, can't wait to hear more!