The Celestial Globe: The Kronos Chronicles: Book II by Marie Rutkoski Page B

things you couldn’t imagine, and things you wouldn’t want to. I met the wisest people, the craftiest, the kindest, the laziest, the lost, and those who would cut my throat as soon as cough. I’ve never given up the study of people—what they need, want, and are willing to do. When Madinia and Margaret were born, I became interested in twins, and I discovered that this kind of birth is the most likely to produce chimeras. Especially if one child dies.”
    “My twin brother was stillborn,” Petra admitted.
    “And what did Ariel call you? ‘Silver-singer.’ ‘Dream-thinker.’ What have you inherited, Petra? Ariel’s first name for you is easy to understand. Your father has an extraordinary gift for metal. You shattered the Staro Clock’s metal heart.”
    “I don’t know how I did that. That was an accident.”
    “Forgive me if I don’t believe you.”
    “Really,” she insisted. “The heart probably had some kind of automatic destruction mode and I triggered it.”
    “Yes, of course,” Dee said.
    Then he snatched a knife from the folds of his cloak and flung it at her.
    Without thinking, Petra plucked it out of the air. She stared at the knife in her hand and dropped it to the floor. “You could have killed me!”
    “But I didn’t. Come, don’t pout.”
    “Pout? You threw a
knife
at my
head
!”
    “I was reasonably certain you would dodge it. I
am
impressed that you managed to catch it without doing your fingers any harm. Your gift for metal is obvious. Why deny it? Because you can’t make that blade rise off the floor and dance a waltz like your father could? That is hardly surprising. As a chimera, you possess more than one magical talent. Consider them separately, and you might find that they each seem weaker than they should be. Combined, however, you will have something rare, and very powerful. Now, what might your second talent be, dream-thinker?”
    Petra didn’t respond.
    “I wonder,” Dee said. “Have you ever had a nightmare that came true?”
    She remembered the red brocade flowers.
    “Perhaps you heard something that no one else did?”
    The scream of the Gray Men, throbbing in her bones.
    “Or felt something that wasn’t there?” Dee suggested.
    Neel’s ghost fingers, untying the purse tucked under her shirt.
    “I believe that you are gifted with mind-magic, Petra Kronos.”
    “No,” she said.
    “Consider the evidence. For example, you and I enjoy a strong link between our minds.”
    “Enjoy?”
Petra choked.
    “And I forged it easily, Petra, so easily that I confess I was astonished. When you called for help, it was loud, unmistakable, insistent: a clarion call. That takes talent, and usually training.”
    “I told you before: I didn’t mean to do that. I wish you’d leave me alone. What am I to you? Just some Bohemian nobody youarm-twisted into doing your dirty work. You saved my life, but your weird and totally unwelcome responsibility to me is
over
. I have to get back to my country. I’ve got things to do, and a father to find.”
    “I think not. You asked me for help, Petra. I interpret that to mean protecting your life and making certain you’re able to do the same. Let me train you for a year, and then I’ll return you to Bohemia.”
    “A
year
? Never.”
    “Or you can be locked in a room in my home indefinitely.”
    “A month,” she bargained.
    He just looked at her.
    “I don’t even have a month!” said Petra. “The prince arrested my father!”
    “Mikal Kronos is in no immediate danger of dying.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yes.”
    There was nothing to make Petra believe Dee was telling the truth—nothing, except that she desperately wanted to believe him.
    “Nine months,” Dee offered.
    Petra hesitated. “Six.”
    “Nine, and when you leave London I’ll give you all the information I have on your father.”
    “Done,” she said.
    They didn’t shake hands.
    “T HIS WILL NOT DO .” Astrophil wrung his legs. He and Petra had returned to