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linden trees of rue Bonaparte.There were fourteen of them. She would find the horse chestnuts comely. There were nine. She would not like the smells. There were too many to count.
    Right now, Paris did not seem beautiful. Horse shit marred the cobbled roads. People urinated on the street lanterns. And yet, there was something about the city that spoke vibrantly of life. Nothing felt still. Even the stone gargoyles leaned offthe edges of buildings as if they were on the verge of flight. And nothing looked lonely. Terraces had the company of wicker chairs, and bright purple bougainvillea hugged stone walls. Not even the Seine River, which cut through Paris like a trail of ink, looked abandoned. Byday, boats zipped across it. By night, lamplight danced upon the surface.
    Zofia peeked at Hela’s newest letter, sneakinglines beneath every shining lantern. She read one sentence, then found that she could not stop. Every word brought back the sound of Hela’s voice.
    Zosia, please tell me you are going to the Exposition Universelle! If you do not, I will know. Trust me, dear sister, the laboratory can spare you for a day. Learn something outside the classroom for once. Besides, I heard the world fair will havea cursed diamond, and princes from exotic lands! Perhaps you might bring one home, then I will not have to play governess to our stingy stryk . How he can be father’s brother is a mystery for only God to ponder . Please go . You are sending back so much money lately that I worry you are not keeping enough for yourself. Are you hale and happy? Write to me soon, little light.
    Hela was half-wrong.Zofia was not in school. But she was learning plenty outside of a classroom. In the past year and a half, she had learned how to invent things the É cole des Beaux-Arts never imagined for her. She had learned how to open a savings account, which might—assuming the map S é verin acquired was all they’d hoped it to be—soon hold enough money to support Hela through medical school when she finally enrolled.But the worst lesson was learning how to lie to her sister. The first time she had lied in a letter, she’d thrown up. Guilt left her sobbing for hours until Laila had found and comforted her. She didn’t know how Laila knew what bothered her. She just did. And Zofia, who never quite grasped how to find her way through a conversation, simply felt grateful someone could do the work for her.
    Zofiawas still thinking about Hela when the marble entrance of the É cole des Beaux-Arts manifested before her. Zofia staggered back, nearly dropping the letters.
    The marble entrance did not move.
    Not only was the entrance Forged to appear before any matriculated students two blocks from the school, but it was also an exquisite example of solid matter and mind affinity working in tandem. A feat onlythose trained at the É cole could perform.
    Once, Zofia would have trained with them too.
    “You don’t want me,” she said softly.
    Tears stung her eyes. When she blinked, she saw the path to her expulsion. One year into schooling, her classmates had changed. Once, her skill awed them. Now, it offended them. Then the rumors started. No one seemed to care at first that she was Jewish. But that changed.Rumors sprang up that Jews could steal anything.
    Even someone else’s Forging affinity.
    It was completely false, and so she ignored it. She should have been more careful, but that was the problem with happiness. It blinds.
    For a while, Zofia was happy. And then, one afternoon, the other students’ whispers got the better of her. That day, she broke down in the laboratory. There were too manysounds. Too much laughing. Too much brightness escaping through the curtain. She’d forgotten her parents’ lesson to count backward until she felt calm. Whispers grew from that episode. Crazy Jew. A month later, ten students locked themselves in the lab with her. Again came the sounds, smells, laughing. The other students didn’t grab her. They