Board of Trade. “It was so kind of you to grant us our ordeals today. I’m sorry we haven’t planned a more formal celebration. A bigger cake, for one thing. Champagne and sandwiches will be here soon, though. Rogers is very good.”
“We won’t stay.” Madame Gillyflower rose. Mrs. Kipling and Miss Carey-Thomas followed suit. “You have done well today. We shall leave you to celebrate en famille.”
“It’s best we don’t become too familiar with you,” said Miss Carey-Thomas.
“Nor you with us,” added Mrs. Kipling crisply.
Ryker and Nell accompanied the Board of Trade out. Thalia let them go without her. Once she was alone in the music room, she took the chair Miss Carey-Thomas had occupied. Her knees had gone weak. She was now a true Trader, an adult, and quite literally a fully fledged one. She was safe from manticore attack, prey no longer, and since she would no longer attract them, she would endanger no one else. She would be of no interest to Aristides now. Thalia was surprised by how much that thought hurt.
Thalia could not only Trade and fly as a swan whenever she wished, she could come and go freely in her human form. The city was hers again. But where should she go? What should she do next?
Wherever Nutall had gone with the other Sylvestri, it was where he had chosen to go. Thalia had done her best to help him. Now she was on her own. Where would she choose to go? Her home was the theater, but she would need a new act, a solo, before she went back on the circuit. In the meantime, what to do?
It was tempting to plan an immediate visit to Philadelphia. Professor Philander Evans had been so wrong. There ought to be consequences for such ignorance. With regret, Thalia let that thought go. The responsibility for the error was all her own. Her mistake had been trusting in his knowledge without corroborating it.
What true knowledge about Traders existed? Where could Thalia find answers to her questions about Trader ways? She was certain Ryker and Nell would do their best to help her, but who were the authorities on the subject? Now that she knew how to Trade, how best could Thalia learn how to be the kind of person who Traded?
With a sinking feeling, Thalia admitted to herself her growing suspicion that the most reliable source of answers to her questions had walked out of the room with Madame Gillyflower and the other members of the Board of Trade.
* * *
The morning after the impromptu celebration of Nell’s and Thalia’s successful ordeals began far later than usual. Thalia, alone in the breakfast room with the morning editions of the newspapers, was cheered yet not surprised to read that all charges against David Nutall had been dropped. Miss Nora Uberti had confessed fully to her crime, which she had planned and carried out entirely alone. No charges were brought against any accomplice. Thalia, reading between the lines, thought she saw the words “especially not any member of the Ostrova family” implicit in every version of the story. The Ostrova Magic Company, although the site of the murderer’s arrest, was not connected with the crime in any way.
The only reporters Thalia had asked Madame Ostrova to invite to her special performance were those she trusted to keep their promise to report the events accurately. Madame Ostrova, she suspected, had elicited a promise of her own, to keep the reputation of the family business unsullied. Thalia wished she’d thought of that.
The gossip columns in the Solitaire newspapers noted that the first Mrs. Von Faber, clad in deepest mourning, had been seen at the opera two nights running. Rumor had it that Caruso had arranged for her to attend as a distraction from her mourning, although the Great Caruso himself had denied it. Wherever the tickets had come from, Mrs. Von Faber seemed to be enjoying herself.
It was a surprise to Thalia when Rogers appeared in the doorway bearing a card with that very name upon it. “Mrs. Von Faber wishes to see you, miss. She says it will take only a few moments of your time.” As Thalia rose, brushing out her skirts, he added, “She is in the parlor, miss.”
Thalia followed Rogers out of the room and went to the parlor. There she found Mrs. Von Faber examining the porcelain figurines ornamenting the mantel. Seeing her close to, Thalia was surprised how well the white Solitaire woman had retained