Lottica and Nick probably could have dealt with the sudden death of their parents. They probably really could have coped. IF.

IF they hadn't had to deal with foreign grandparents who wanted to whisk them off to Lebreima, a small Old World country thousands of miles away from their friends and neighbors.

IF they weren't being pursued by a sinister figure in a cape (a cape of all things!) who may have killed their parents.

IF, in the ruins of their house, Lottica and Nick hadn't found what their dad had hidden there, along with secrets that were about to change the universe as they knew it.

IF (and this deserves the all caps) THEIR DEAD PARENTS HAD JUST STAYED DEAD.